The Violinmaking School of Cremona

The traditions that gave us the best violins ever made continue in this northern Italian city. This heritage is even recognized by UNESCO.

It might be hard to understand the shared characteristic between traditional violin craftsmanship in Cremona, Italy and the following: polyphonic singing (Georgia), yoga (India), the hopping procession of Echternach (Luxembourg), the Charreria equestrian tradition (Mexico), wedding costume traditions of Tlemcen (Algeria), tango dancing (Argentina and Uruguay), lavash bread making (Armenia) and avalanche risk management (Switzerland and Austria).

All are on the UNESCO Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage, which seeks to protect “important intangible cultural heritages worldwide and the awareness of their significance.”

For the Cremonese, the pride they hold in their fine stringed instruments – violins, violas, cellos and bows – is both historical and contemporary. Beginning with the luthiers (violinmakers) of the 16th century, family names on instruments that survive today are revered by musicians, audiences and auction houses alike: Stradivari (yes, makers of the Stradivariuses), Amati, Guarneri, Rugeri and Bergonzi.

Some argue that the fine Italian violins, violas and cellos crafted in each violin shop of the early violin makers are due to the specific growing conditions for the maple and spruce woods at the time. A “mini Ice Age” occurred from the 15th to 17th centuries in Europe, where low summer temperatures led to slower growth of the trees and thus a more dense wood (tree rings were more closely spaced). This finding isn’t universally accepted, but what most people in the world of stringed instruments agree on – seconded by UNESCO – is that the methods of skilled craftsman are the reason violins made in this region have exceptional tonality and overall quality.

The Cremona International Violin Making School (Scuola Internazionale di Liuteria di Cremona), founded in 1938, is a key bulwark in keeping this tradition alive. Students study sound and technique, develop the craft, and learn the cultural background of the Cremona violinmaking heritage. Over 80 years of operations, the school has produced almost 1,000 graduates, a little more than a third of whom are Italians, another third non-Italian Europeans, and the remainder non-Europeans. In a recent year there were 176 enrolled students.

The Cremona technique is considered unique to all other violin making around the globe. As the 70 different molded pieces of wood of each instrument are made and applied, they are adapted to the other parts of the violin. Given the vagaries of wood, a natural product of trees, this means that every instrument varies from one to the next.

Two official bodies supervise the creation of violins in Cremona: the Stradiari Violin Makers Consortium, and the Violin Making Italian Association. Since 2013, the Violin Museum of Cremona, in the Palazzo dell’Arte, has a display of new and old instruments, in addition to an auditorium where performances by masters are held.

So let the Swiss save people from avalanches, the Armenians keep their bread traditions alive, and the people of Buenos Aires tango the night away. In Cremona, the working luthiers, faculty and students all ensure that new violins live up to the legacy of the city’s famed masters.

The History of the Baryton

The thick neck of this obscure stringed instrument speaks to the double duty it and its players serve to produce its rich tonality. Barytons are quite rare.

The baryton, a member of the viol family, is a rare but still-played instrument in the 21st century. Aficionados of the music of Joseph Haydn understand its beauty and place, particularly within the 123 trios the 18th century composer wrote for the baryton, cello and viola. A baryton is unlikely to be found in a catalog of fine stringed instruments for sale of any typical violin shop.

But the story of this impressive looking instrument, a relative of the bass viol but with a double set of strings – six gut strings in front, nine wire strings in back – has a strong relationship to the story of a quirky, influential Hungarian prince and his tastes in music.

Its specific origins are vague, likely beginning when a luthier in the early 17th century combined the viola da gamba and the bandora, a long-necked plucked string instrument similar to the cittern. Evidence of extant instruments or descriptions found in documents suggest that only 50 were ever built before modern versions in the 20th century (including one created by luthier Hans Benning of Benning Violins in Los Angeles in 1963).

Barytons have two sets of strings, one that is bowed and a second, behind the neck, that is plucked. A second function of the back strings, which are made of wire, is to vibrate sympathetically. The sympathetic tone was occasionally referred to as the buzzing of bees, however when plucked it’s not unlike the sound of a harpsichord. The player is required to have the same nimble mental skills of an organist, playing two lines of music simultaneously.

But it was Prince Nikolaus, a nobleman of the Esterhazy family that was among the landowner magnates of the Kingdom of Hungary, who brought the instrument to its highest levels of popularity in the 1760s and 1770s. Nikolaus had, as did much of the European aristocracy, his own court musicians; consider how in the time before recorded music it was mostly the rich who had music performed in their homes (castles, mansions and palaces), with cheaper recorders, lutes and human voices at best the instruments of the masses.

Nikolaus had the good fortune of inheriting Joseph Haydn, the Esterhazy Kapellmeister (master of music) from his deceased brother, along with the title prince. To please his new boss – and to make up for some indiscretions – Haydn honored Nikolaus’ wish for compositions for the baryton. Alas, the 123 trios are Haydn’s least-known works due to the rarity of the instrument.

The instrument has, after a century of neglect, been revisited and played in the 20th and 21st centuries. This began with a revival in 1936 in Munich, where a copy of the instrument was made for Christian Dobereiner, a German player and conductor who was a proponent of Early Music.

The Nikolaus baryton, made by J.J. Stadlmann in 1750, survived World War II and is preserved in the Hungarian National Museum. Haydn’s own baryton, also made by Stadlmann, is also preserved and housed in the collection of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Wien. The International Baryton Society was created in 1992 to assemble and disseminate information on the baryton and to organize events, including conferences and concerts. One such concert was held at the palace of the Esterhazy dynasty in modern Hungary.