December 2010

The Last Violin & the question of the day

December 29, 2010 23:52

The verdict is in-- he is The Last Violin made by Knute Reindahl.

The violin I call Ole Freyr, July 18, 1935, has been an obsession of mine from the moment I 'discovered' him a brief 6.5 weeks ago. I feel a deep sense of responsibility to be his latest guardian- a quite unexpected state of mind. He also heaps upon me feelings of chagrin, a sense of awe, a dose of anger, sorrow, and bemusement that I find myself so wrapped up in his story. He is an enigma. He is a charity case. His date, his varnish, his crack-- little about him was clear 5 weeks ago when I first laid eyes upon him. Was he to be a monetary black hole? Was he a prince in the guise of a frog? Was he varnished in China?

Knute Reindahl turned 78 one month after affixing his label to this instrument. For 41 years, he had been following his obsession- he built instruments as long as he was physically and mentally able. Just a few months after creating this violin, he passed away.

35 years later, Knute's youngest daughter sold the violin to a fiddler/repairman. It was this repairman, whom I curse, who led us to the history of this violin. The repair guy bought the instrument 40 years ago, sold it, then had an opportunity, just 6 years ago, to do more work on the violin. He claims he did nothing to the violin that might have reduced its value, but also said he may have put on a clear top coat of varnish because the existing varnish was quite soft and easily marred. Because of his efforts (and Ole's unrepaired but well varnished cracks), I sent the violin to yet another fiddler/repairman/restorer. When the top came off, a few more questions were raised, and a few more answered.

It turns out that Knute had not been able to completely finish the violin. It sat for 11 years until his daughter sent it to Milwaukee to be varnished. A handwritten note inside the violin says it was reassembled and varnished by another Norweigian-American violin maker, Olav Breivik, in 1946. So most of the multiple coats of varnish are not original. If the varnish is not original, does that mean it does not add any value to the instrument? If that is the case, then removing it would not detract any value from the instrument. (?)

So the question of the day-- heck-- the question of the year: What is the most appropriate fate for Ole Freyr? To remain coated in his heavy, unauthentic coats of varnish? To have his coats stripped off and left as close to unfinished as possible? To strip him, restore/renovate him using similar varnishes and replicating the style of antiqueing so characteristic of Knute's violins? or _____ ? What would you do?

10 replies | Archive link

bouncing bow? make lemonade!

December 26, 2010 21:46

I love V.com! Where else could i get the inspiration to turn a bowing problem into an asset? In a whistling e string thread I read advice to figure out when whistling happens and practice making the whistle. Learn the technique to do it, and in the effort you'll learn the technique to avoid! I think I read the same type of advice on another topic and tonight, as I was struggling with my bouncing bow problem, the advice came crashing home-- i should learn to love the bounce!!!

In my return to the violin after a 30 year hiatus, I had a number of pressing problems that had to be dealt with: retrain the ear for intonation, retrain the fingers for intonation & shifting (still ongoing), and retrain posture for better ergonomics. Then secondary issues popped up-- retrain bow arm for altered posture, etc. While I was doing this, a teacher also suggested a new bow hold and flattening out my bow. I think that flattening out the bow seemed to cause more bouncing issues- especially noticable in Kriesler's Preludium. So now I probably need to focus on bowing techniques.

Last night I went through the "Right Hand" online MasterClasses I learned about right here on V.com. Tonight, as my bouncing issue surfaced, I had an epiphany! Learn ricochet!

next problem- what to do with my new ricochet?

:-)

2 replies | Archive link

December 2010

The Last Violin & the question of the day

bouncing bow? make lemonade!

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