wowhd.co.uk

Spunicunifait is the curious name adopted by a group of five musicians, all of whom have a great deal of experience in chamber music as well as in prestigious orchestras such as the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; they have founded this ensemble to be able to devote themselves to the in-depth study and period instrument performance of Mozart's six string quintets. Their choice of a name is also a trifle facetious, copying the example set by Mozart in a letter to his cousin Maria Anna Thekla Mozart in which he wrote the three mysterious words "Spuni Cuni fait"; these could mean spun or woven / coney or rabbit / and "made," the past participle of the French verb faire: to make: something woven from rabbit skin, like the shawl his beloved cousin Basle wore in a self-portrait.