Pablo Picasso and the Violin

 

The crossover between visual and performing arts is not uncommon. But in his championing of Cubism, Picasso found his inspiration to paint in violins.

 

Art historians know all about Picasso. They understand his oeuvre (“Cubism,” primarily), his various periods (Blue, Rose, Analytic Cubism, Synthetic Cubism), and the fact he frequently incorporated violins and guitars into several of his paintings.

 

But not everyone is a student of visual art. If that’s your jam, or more accurately a lack thereof, this article is for you.

 

First, why all the disjointed faces and objects in his Cubist works? Well, in simplest terms it’s as if his eye took a picture of things (faces, violins, grapes, bottles, etc.) from different angles, then he pasted those pictures into a collage. The idea is to represent something in a more complete, multidimensional way – from different perspectives – within the confines of the two-dimensional medium of a canvas.

 

Next question: Where do violins, and more broadly, music fit into this? The fine stringed instruments are variously depicted with guitars, humans, bottles, and grapes in several Picasso works. But don’t expect to see a complete violin – he really only painted parts, usually the f-holes, sometimes the headstock, the curved body, and parallel lines meant to represent the strings. This is of course part of how Cubism works. Art historians say his use of violins are to evoke less about the instrument and more about the sounds, the movement of music that brings a type of life to the painting.

 

It bears noting that this then disqualifies Picasso’s work from being considered abstract. It might require study to find the objects, or parts of objects, in his work. But those violin parts are there, not some splotches of paint that evoke more of a mood than an actual Stradivarius.

 

Some of the most recognized Picasso works featuring imagery of fine violins are:

 

Violin (1911-1912), now in the Kroeller-Muller Museum in Otterlo, Netherlands

 

Man with a Violin (1911-1912), now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art

 

Violin (1912), now in the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts, Moscow, Russia

 

Violin and Grapes (1912), now in the Museum of Modern Art, New York

 

Guitar and Violin (1912-1913), now in the State Museum of New Western Art, Moscow, Russia

 

Three Musicians (1921), now seen in the Philadelphia Museum of Art: the other two musicians in the painting seem to be holding a clarinet or recorder, and a keyboard instrument, perhaps a version of an accordion.

 

It should be noted that Violin and Candlestick (1910), now in the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, was painted by fellow Cubist, Georges Braque, whose work is very similar to that of Picasso. The two considered themselves colleagues. Another Cubist who incorporated musical instruments was Jean Metzinger in his Violon et Flute (1918).

 

So if you’re more oriented to music, there is some indication that Cubism presaged or is otherwise represented in jazz phrasings (see Parker, Coltrane, and Monk). The balletic composition of Erik Satie, Parade (1917), is arguably a Cubist work. Some types of architecture from the 20^th century – from Le Corbusier to Libeskind to Gehry – trace to Cubism. The iconic Gehry concert halls in Los Angeles (Walt Disney) and Chicago (Prizker Pavilion) easily relate to Picasso’s work.

 

The crossovers between art forms are interesting to consider. It’s interesting to consider how violins seem to be a string that runs through much of it.

Need a Strad? Borrow One Here.

 

Patronage of artists has always been essential. But different ways that high priced instruments find young prodigies ensure those strings get bowed.

 

The arts, music in particular, have always survived due to generosity of the wealthy. Mozart – whose behaviors excluded him from support from the Church – found his support in a certain Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who also funded the work of Ludwig von Beethoven and Joseph Haydn. Hungary’s wealthy Esterhazy family also supported Haydn. The celebrated Italian violinist and violist Niccolò Paganini was sufficiently wealthy to have commissioned Berlioz to compose “Harold in Italy” in the early 19^th century.

 

It shouldn’t escape notice that Paganini commissioned that piece specifically to have something to play on a Stradivarius viola he had purchased.

 

Rare is the musician today with the wherewithal to outright purchase a Strad, much less able to pay composers to develop something just for them. In fact, the skyrocketing prices of Stradivari’s fine stringed instruments for sale have effectively put the purchase of these and other fine violins, violas and cellos crafted by other master makers out of reach.

 

Fine stringed instruments are very expensive

 

This is because the best stringed instruments exist in an economic equation that differs from great pianos, brass, and woodwind instruments, the modern versions of which are as good as the old ones. In contrast, there is a finite supply of the finest stringed instruments ever made (by Stradivarius and Guaneri, in particular) but there is a growing market. Supply-demand curves being what they are, this has pushed pricing of Strads to as high as $20 million (how much the “Messiah Stradivarius is believed to be worth, sitting in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England).

 

So how does the prodigy with Julliard tuition debt afford a violin, viola, or cello worthy of her or his talent?

 

Enter the patrons. While royal courts of Europe are much smaller (and poorer?) than in the past, the techpreneurs and others of wealth are picking up the slack.

 

A different kind of a violin loan

 

There are two organizations that exist to be matchmakers between talented musicians and the owners of these extremely valuable instruments. These patrons loan the instrument to the musician.

 

One such organization is The Stradivari Society, based in the Fine Arts Building on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Launched in 1985 by the wife of the president of Motorola, Mary Galvin, the organization loaned the Ruby Stradivarius (1708) to a young violinist, Dylana Jenson. Soon after, the organization arranged the loan of another violin for the prodigy, Midori, when she was just ten years old. Other recipients of great violins through this organization include Joshua Bell, Philippe Quint, Hilary Hahn and Maxim Vengerov.

 

The Stradivari Society has about two-dozen patrons. The artists must insure the instruments, and some are able to eventually purchase their Strads and Guarneris as their careers take off.

 

This arrangement comes with an implication of a partnership. The benefactor and beneficiary are friendly, there might be a free private concert here and there – who wouldn’t want Midori playing Pachelbel at their daughter’s wedding? – and the player is always in a position of obligation. It may skew their career choices.

 

A different arrangement was created around 2013, where the instrument is donated to a university or music school with which the artist is associated. The instrument can be on a lifetime loan to the musician or be purchased by the player. The lender-recipient relationship is eliminated.

 

The fine arts will probably always be subject to support from the well off. But the economic models are changing to support different relationships – still getting those great instruments out of museums and into the hands of great musicians.

Three Female Bowmakers Break Through the Pernambuco Ceiling

 

All aspects of orchestral music making – performers, conductors, composers, and instrument makers – have resisted women’s involvement. Until the 20^th century.

The place of women in music and instrument-making history follows a familiar path. The fairer sex has always been there, playing instruments, singing in the higher octaves that few men can achieve, composing, and making the instruments. But of course, they were relegated to subservient roles, hidden from the mainstream and sometimes heard but not seen.

 

Fortunately, that’s all changed in the 20^th and 21^st centuries. But they had to come a long way, baby.

 

Women in music: Talented, but largely hidden

 

With the exception of a female religious music composer in 12^th century Europe (Hildegard of Bingen), women prior to the 20^th century at best were instrumentalists who played for chambers, not large groups. It was part of being an upper-class woman to learn the violin, piano, guitar, or harp, or to develop vocal skills. The church, however, condemned large public performances by women. And where performance on a small scale was permissible, more complex matters of composition, counterpoint, and orchestration were denied them in their formal music education.

 

Thomas Jefferson’s wife, Martha Jefferson, was a musician but it wasn’t until 1913 that the first major orchestra (Queen’s Hall in London) hired women musicians. The Philadelphia Orchestra in 1930 was the first American organization to hire a woman, harpist Edna Phillips.

 

But one 17^th century composer was a woman, Elisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, who hailed from a French family of harpsichord makers, musicians, composers, and makers of other instruments. Her father did not deny his daughters a musical education alongside his sons. She eventually composed and performed for the court of Louis XIV.

 

Enter the contemporary female bowmakers

 

A familial relationship with music and specific segments of music making holds an advantage today for one stringed instrument bowmaker, Joséphine Thomachot. She is the daughter of Stephane Thomachot, himself a master of the French method of bow making. Based in Paris, Joséphine abandoned a career in geologic engineering to follow in her father’s profession – but she also trained with David Hawthorne (in Boston) and Arthur Dubroca, Alexandre Aumont, and Emmanuel Carlier (Paris), and Noel Burke (Ireland). She was awarded a certificate of merit for her workmanship for a viola bow from the Violin Society of America in 2016.

 

Another contemporary bowmaker, Peg Joanne Baumgartel, an American with a long list of accomplishments and awards, might be associated with her husband (Morgan Andersen), a bowmaker who is also internationally recognized. But Baumgartel got there on her own, initially training under Paul Siefried in Los Angeles before establishing her own bowmaking workshop as a maker and restorer. She participates in the Oberlin Bow Making Workshops, has written technical articles for professional publications, and has been the subject of articles in Smithsonian and Ladies Home Journal magazines.

 

The connection that yet another notable female bowmaker, Elizabeth Vander Veer Shaak, is not familial yet familiar: As did Joséphine Thomachot, she studied under Stephane Thomachot in Paris, among other fine bowmakers and restorers in multiple cities. One unnamed bowmaker in Paris told her, “Ah, but women should not be bowmakers. They should be restorers because they have an eye to detail.” She moved on because she thought making bows would make her better at restoring, if that was to be her path – and she was correct.

 

Vander Veer Shaak thinks beyond her workbench in Philadelphia. She is an advocate for planning the endangered pernambuco wood in Brazil, the preferred material of fine stringed instrument bows. She has her own stockpile of the precious wood purchased decades ago, but it’s clear this female bowmaker is looking out for future generations of bowmakers, regardless of their gender.

 

These three talented women have broken through the proverbial pernambuco ceiling to be recognized for their superior craftsmanship and creative vision. Their work can be found featured in catalogs of fine violin bows for sale offered by violin shops that deal in fine bows for violas and cellos as well.

German Violinmaking: The Klotz Family

Austria’s von Trapps might have a movie made about them, but the musical contributions of the Klotz luthiers are celebrated with a statue and a school.

The Catholic Church, as well as with many other Christian denominations, has a, shall we say, evolving history with the use of instrumental support of liturgical music. The chants and polyphonic a capella style are considered the original, and therefore most pure, expression of praise and worship.

So how is it that a statue of Mathias Klotz, patriarch of the Klotz family of violinmakers, stands prominently outside the Church of Saint Peter and Paul in Mittenwald, Germany? The statue was erected in 1890 and managed to survive two world wars.

The Church eventually has come to embrace, in fits and starts, organs and trumpets and flutes and, yes, violins, violas, cellos, and the stringed bass. Oddly, the bassoon was among the earlier instruments deemed acceptable as all types of instruments made their way from the secular to the sacred.

But the reason Saint Peter and Saint Paul so honors the first luthier of Mittenwald may be because Klotz saved the town from economic disaster. After centuries of being a market town a switch to Bolzano (both situated between Venice and Augsburg) devastated the local economy in one fell swoop. It was in 1679, when Klotz was 26 years old.

The son of a tailor, Klotz had been studying violin making under renowned luthiers Nicolo Amati of Italy and Jacobus Stainer, a German, although some historians say evidence thereof is thin. So he returned in 1684 to the place of his birth, which happens to have a good supply of premium tone woods from the nearby Karwendel mountain region. Still near trans-Alpine trade routes, both supplies and customers were easy for him to access.

Mathias Klotz continued working at his storied violin shop through much of his life, living to the age of 90, producing fine cellos, violas and violins. But that was the beginning of what turned out to be eight generations of Klotz luthiers, the last (Hans Klotz) having died in 1988.

And while it was this first Klotz luthier who established a tradition, it was his son Sebastian (1696-1775) who was more skilled at the craft. Surviving violins made by Sebastian are considered the most valuable of this remarkable family. Still, the Sebastian Klotz violins, and those of his children-protegés, come in a range of aesthetic and dimensional (length of body, height of ribs) variation. The common characteristics are a high table, curved peg box, and lavish baroque scroll.

Successive generations of the Klotz family luthiers brought further variation: unusually large sized instruments; innovate arch, fluting and sound hole design; and broad purfling.

The creativity and productivity of the Klotzes led the state of Bavaria to establish, in 1856, the region’s official school of violinmaking (Staatliche Berufsschule Mittenwald), which today offers a full-time, seven semester vocational training and degreed program in a range of instrument making (violins, bows, plucked instruments, woodwind instruments, and brass instruments).

No longer must the priests and monks chant a capella (unless they want to). Mittenwald meanwhile resounds with the sound of music from all those student luthiers aspiring to be like a Klotz.

Albert Einstein and the Violin

While scribbling difficult formulas about E=mc² on a chalkboard, it may have been Mozart’s Violin Sonata in C that coursed through his considerable brain.

 

We may have Mozart to thank for E=mc².

 

The most famous scientific equation in the world, given us by none other than Albert Einstein, is a product of the man’s genius. As a theoretical physicist, his theory of relativity is one of many contributions he made to the development of quantum mechanics. He was educated at the Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, Switzerland and later received a PhD from the University of Zurich. Einstein taught at many European and American universities, and was a resident scholar at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey.

 

But there is strong evidence, as well as direct quotes from Professor Einstein himself, that suggest his love of music may have played a key role in his cognitive development and in his work throughout his life.

 

Einstein’s mother, Pauline Koch, was herself a pianist of some accomplishment. She introduced young Albert at age 6 to the violin. He didn’t take to it at first, but at the age of 13 he became acquainted with Mozart’s violin sonatas. He more or less self-taught and achieved accolades from those who heard him. There is some debate on how accomplished he may have been – photographs of him playing with his beloved chamber ensembles show poor form, such as failing to bow the instrument perpendicular to the strings. But it was a lifelong passion. He carried a violin with him wherever he traveled and he enjoyed performing for friends and family until late in life.

 

In recent decades the role of music in cognitive development has been well established. Studies indicate that the study of music, and playing an instrument in particular, helps with language processing, memory retention, math, social skills development, academic success, and long-term success in life.

 

A study published in Frontiers in Neuroscience (“Longitudinal Analysis of Music Education on Executive Functions in Primary School Children,” Jaschke, Honing, Scherder, 2018) found “structured music lessons significantly enhance children’s cognitive abilities – including language based reasoning, short-term memory, planning, and inhibition – leading to improved academic performance.”

 

Reportedly, the great physicist said, “life without playing music is inconceivable for me. I live my daydreams in music. I see my life in terms of music. I get most joy in life out of music.”

 

Einstein owned several fine violins. In 2018, one sold at auction for $516,500, an amount far beyond its intrinsic valuation (Einstein memorabilia is a highly valued and finite category for collectors). Originally a gift to Einstein from Oscar Steger, a violin maker who was a member of the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, the Nobel Prize-winning scientist gave the instrument to a Princeton University janitor, Sylas Hibbs, whose son Lawrence was studying the violin.

 

Perhaps musical training also engenders generosity and empathy. But does it take a genius to figure that out?

The Concertmasters of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra

As the first chair of one of the world’s great orchestras, the LA Phil concertmasters often extend their credits by working on great cinematic scores.

 

The casual fan of orchestral music knows the first-chair violinist, the concertmaster, is the “number one,” the best of the violinists. They are the ones who tune the orchestra before the concert begins, shakes the hand of the conductor, and signal when it’s time for the orchestra to take a bow. It’s a prestigious position and one that comes with a top salary in professional symphony orchestras.

 

Another perk that often comes with the position is the use of fine violins owned by the orchestra. Professional orchestras, such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic acquire fine Italian violins by masters such as Stradivari, Amati and Guarneri. The current concertmaster of the LA Phil has performed on a 1711 Stradivarius violin, “the Kreisler”, and a 1729 Stradivarius violin, the “ex-Jack Benny”, for instance.

 

Globally recognized orchestras naturally have globally recognized concertmasters. Dating back to when the LA Phil was founded, those virtuosos have been (in chronological order):

 

Sylvain Noack (1880-1953) Trained in Amsterdam, Noack was the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s first concert master beginning in 1919, the year the orchestra was founded.

Alfred E. Megerlin (1880-1941) A native of Antwerp, he first served as the concertmaster at the Vlaamse Opera and the New York Philharmonic, next with the Minneapolis Philharmonic, becoming the lead violinist with the LA orchestra in 1926.

Henry Svedrofsky (birth and death unclear) While the records are scarce, what exists mentions Svedrofsky as a conductor of the Standard Symphony Orchestra of Los Angeles from 1941 to 1947 and several other orchestras as well. Concertmasters frequently are conductors as well.

 

Josef Borissoff (1889-1964) The US Library of Congress lists the book, “Foundation for violin technic,” by Borissoff as published by Carl Fischer, Inc. in 1925.He is also credited for being the soloist in the premier in Los Angeles (November 1929) of “Introduction and Rondo Capricciosos” by Camille Saint-Saens (1863).

John Pennington (birth and death unclear) Pennington’s tenure as concertmaster with the “LA Phil,” as it is affectionately known today, came after his time as first violinist with the London String Quartet, San Francisco Symphony, and the Paramount Pictures orchestra. He was the concertmaster with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in its first post-War assemblage in 1946. Archives indicate he performed in Los Angeles under conductor Otto Klemperer in 1937.

 

Bronislaw Gimpel (1911-1979) From a musical family in what is now Lviv, Ukraine, the accomplished violinist came to America in 1937 as the drums of war threatened people who, like him, were of Jewish ancestry.

Sascha Jacobsen (1895-1972) Born in Finland (then a part of Russia), he attended the Julliard School in New York and is credited with making the first complete recording of a Haydn quartet. He was the concertmaster in Los Angeles in the 1950s and played the Red Diamond Stradivarius violin.

Jacques Gasselin (birth and unclear) While officially listed in the list of Los Angeles Philharmonic concertmasters, the record of his life and performances are more Hollywood than Haydn. Working for Decca, Musicraft, Capitol Records, and Columbia, Gasselin worked with Katherine Hepburn in the move “Trigger,” playing a violinist, and recorded with Perry Como, Mel Tormé, and Doris Day, among many others.

 

David Frisina (1912-2000) Frisina was the first US-born and youngest (at age 28) concertmaster in the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He also contributed to 277 movie soundtracks as a studio musician. He held the position for 37 years, until 1973, but continued playing with the orchestra another five years (1978).

Sidney Harth (1926-2011) Harth was concertmaster in four philharmonics (New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Louisville), served as a conductor as well, including at the Los Angeles Philharmonic. But perhaps his greatest enduring influence was serving on the faculty at the Yale School of Music for 17 years.

Sidney Weiss (1928) Serving as the LA Philharmonic concertmaster from 1979 through 1994, he also recorded Elgar and Walton violin sonatas, and the Mendelssohn and Haydn Double Concerti with his wife, pianist Jeanne Weiss. Both met while studying music in their native Chicago.

 

Alexander Treger (1948) Assuming the role of concertmaster in Los Angeles in 1985, Treger emigrated from his native Russia in 1973 and began playing with the orchestra in 1974. In one notable concert in 2008, he soloed playing the theme music from Schindler’s List in a concert of composer John Williams’ film music.

Martin Chalifour (1961) As of 2022 Martin Chalifour is in his 25^th season as principal concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. The Canadian native previously was the associate concertmaster with the Atlanta Symphony and Cleveland Orchestra. Aside from an impressive list of appointments, concerts, and conducting engagements, it bears noting he began playing at age 4 with the Suzuki method.

So, should a visitor to Los Angeles ask how to get to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, the natural response from any concertmaster would be, simply, “practice.”

Types of Medieval Stringed Instruments

 

To understand stringed instruments of the European Middle Ages, it helps to understand medieval music itself.

 

The Medieval Era, roughly 500 CE to 1400 CE, was the time when the Church of Rome was the dominant ruling body and religion. Musically, the Catholic churches engaged people in the great cathedrals and humbler provincial churches with sacred music that was at times drawn from secular, folk melodies. It was characterized by chants, primarily in the monophonic (one voice, no melody) form; polyphonic music came later.

 

Of note, while sacred music was by far the dominant form, it was secular music that might have driven greater creative range, free of the strictures of church liturgy. Secular music allowed for love songs, songs about wine, political satire, drama, and dancing. It also gave rise to new musical instruments.

 

Percussion was part of medieval music (cymbals, frame drums, timbrels), as were wind instruments (recorders, tabor pipes, organs, bladder pipe, bellows pipe, bagpipes). And vocals were the center of the sound. But the variety of stringed instruments of the medieval era – most of which would not be found in a modern catalog of fine stringed instruments for sale – speak to a time of nuanced expression:

 

Citole: Also known by several other names (cetera, chytara, sitole, zitol) it was picked or strummed with an ivory or wood plectrum (pick). The only surviving example is in the British Museum and was made around 1300, however it seems to have been converted into a more violin-like instrument in the 16^th century.

 

Dulcimer: A version of a zither, it involved striking its many strings with “hammers,” with the fretted version (used in later times in Appalachian music) having only three or four strings. A banjo dulcimer has a resonating membrane, as with the banjo.

 

Fiddle-vielle: Played with a bow, this has a longer and deeper oval body than a violin, with three to five gut strings. As its earliest name was the “fidel,” making it easy to see how the more modern word “fiddle” came into being. The instrument was quite popular among troubadours and jongleurs in the medieval era, although it might be derived from the Arabic rebab of an earlier time.

 

Gittern: Also called the guiterre in French, this small gut-stringed and round-backed instrument is considered by scholars to be an ancestor of the modern guitar; along the way the guitarra latina and guitarra morisca were Spanish and Moorish versions thereof. Seen in 13th century art, it seems to have evolved to a flat back by the 16th century. The gittern (giterne) is referenced in medieval literature, including Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

 

Harp: With roots in antiquity (the Judeo-Christian bible has 66 verses that mention harps or lyres), and variations of harps were known in Africa and Asia as well as Europe, it was particularly popular in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. By definition, the harp has multiple strings affixed at an angle to a soundboard. The Celtic harp, commonly seen in Irish iconography, is strongly associated with medieval Gaelic music.

 

Hurdy-gurdy: It might be acceptable to refer to this as the platypus of stringed instruments as it incorporates several disparate pieces. It has a thick body with almost no neck and multiple strings (the number and presence of sympathetic drone strings have changed over time); in place of a bow the strings are stroked with a rosined, rotating wheel operated by a crank, while the player’s fingers from the second hand work a keyboard. And like the duckbilled, semi-aquatic, beaver-tailed, egg-laying mammal, it has survived remarkably into the 21st century, often played as a substitute for bagpipes for its similar sound. Earlier versions were called organistrums.

 

Lute: Defined by its mid-length neck, a deep round back, and a sound hole. Strings are plucked and given pitch via a fingerboard, and as a smaller instrument it has a quiet sound. The progenitor instrument to lutes is the oud, which has a teardrop-shaped body and is derived from the Middle Eastern Islamic and pre-Islamic cultures. The oud made its way to Europe by way of the Iberian Peninsula (Moorish Spain), Provence and French troubadours.

 

Psaltery (Psalterium): Better recognized as a modern zither, it is harp-like in appearance and function, plucked with fingers or a plectrum. Its popularity in the 12th through 15th centuries is evident in its depictions in European manuscripts and paintings as well as sculpture. The psalterium is a cousin with a boxier shape, large, primarily used for drone chords and even considered a “string drum” because its role is primarily to provide rhythm accompaniment.

 

Many of these instruments are still collected and played. Some have evolved into other, more modern versions, and, of course, many are extinct, with the last few behind glass in museums. The good news about those instruments that still do exist? While the modern violin maker focuses primarily on fine violins, violas and cellos, most are willing and able to perform maintenance and restoration work on these old medieval instruments.