February 10, 2010
Readers of the Blind faith article that is reprinted on this blog, may have noted the reference to a BBC radio program that was broadcast in the mid-1970s (the exact year is uncertain).
This program consisted of a short blind listening test of four violins, followed by a panel discussion. The participants included Charles Beare (one of the world’s leading violin experts) as well as Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman (both noted violinists). The instruments played were the “Chaconne” Stradivarius, a 1739 Guarneri del Gesú, an 1846 Vuillaume, and a new violin made by Ronald Praill, a British violin maker. They were played behind a screen by the violinist Manoug Parikian, who performed a short excerpt from the Bach Chaconne and the start of the Bruch violin concerto in G minor.
Read more ›
February 09, 2010
by Adele Beardsmore (originally published in The Strad, Feb 2008)
In 1987, when I left the Newark School of Violin Making, I found myself in the position of most novice violin makers – still searching for a good varnish. For a while I took the easy way out and used a commercial preparation, but I soon discovered that the colours were unstable over time. It wasn’t until I met my husband, Alan Coggins, that the situation was remedied. Fortuitously, Alan has a science degree in analytical chemistry and he set about applying himself to varnish research.
As is the case in many traditional approaches to varnishing, the materials and methods we selected were based on examples found in historical records. The varnish recipe itself came from a British Museum document known as the De Mayerne Manuscript (BM Sloane 2052), which was written in the first half of the 17th Century. The relevant item reads: ‘Four parts of linseed oil, two parts pine resin, one part horse aloe. Boil these things until they turn golden colour and yield a varnish’.
Read more ›
February 07, 2010
by Alan Coggins and Michael Lea (originally published in The Strad, July 2004)
“There is no town in the world where so much music is consumed as London.” So wrote Hector Berlioz after his visit there to assist in the judging of musical instruments at the Great Exhibition in 1851. All over England, music could be found in churches, clubs and taverns as well as on the street, and large audiences would regularly flock to hear orchestras and ensembles. Domestic playing was also popular, spurred on by individuals wanting to emulate the skills of the virtuosos or at least to enjoy at home the tunes they had heard in the early music halls. For musical instrument makers and repairers, business must have been booming.
On the other side of the globe, Australia in the 1850s was a very different place. The discomforts of heat and flies (not to mention the snakes and spiders) were being overshadowed by a much more powerful attraction – gold. Its discovery in various locations in New South Wales and Victoria led to a dramatic increase in population. In Victoria for example, the population jumped from just 67,000 in 1851 to more than half a million over the next decade. Melbourne, the closest city to the gold rush towns of Ballarat and Bendigo, was rapidly being ‘built with gold’.
Read more ›
by Alan Coggins (originally published in The Strad, March 2005)
It sometimes appears that there is a tug of war being waged over some of our most valuable instruments. On one side are musicians, bows raised, demanding to use them for what is undoubtedly their primary purpose – making music. Opposing them are the white-gloved museum staff, seemingly intent on locking the instruments away in store rooms or behind glass so that they can be studied and appreciated by future generations.
In a letter to The Strad (Soundpost, March 2004) Lawrence Nagle lamented the fact that two Stradivari violins, the 1677 ‘Sunrise’ and 1679 ‘Hellier’, were to be placed on permanent display in the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, a move he saw as designed to “protect them from the grubby hands of musicians”. But it is not all one-way traffic. The 1742 ‘David’ Guarneri del Gesù, bequested to the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco by Jascha Heifetz, has recently been returned to active service. The violin is now on loan to the San Francisco Symphony in an arrangement which allows the concertmaster, Alexander Barantschik, exclusive use of the violin for all his orchestral and chamber performances for three years.
Read more ›
by Alan Coggins (originally published in The Strad, October 2003)
Mention the word ‘Henley’ to anyone in the string world and the image that comes to mind will not be that of an accomplished English violinist, teacher and composer. Instead, one will invariably think of a thick, heavy book with the words ‘Universal Dictionary of Violin and Bow Makers’ printed on the spine. It is one of the most commonly found books on the shelves of violin makers, dealers and collectors throughout the world and has become a standard reference work, with entries for around 9,000 makers. And it is universally referred to as just ‘Henley’.
William Henley was in fact a talented violinist who began touring at the age of twelve. He was billed as The Wonder Boy Paganini, not only due to his skill on the violin but also because he shared Paganini’s birthday, exactly 100 years later. As a young man he studied in London with August Wilhemj and the two became very close, often performing together in Wilhemj’s house.
Read more ›
