Russian Violin Makers

In terms of fame, and very likely in terms of expertise, Italian, French, and German violin makers have the Russians beat by a long shot. At least that’s the general opinion. Whether that is so because the violin was actually invented in Italy (around 1530) and the most prolific makers worked from there and were the first to become famous is anyone’s guess.  The names of da Salo, Amati, Stradivari, Tononi, Guarneri, Maggini, Carcassi, Storioni, Gagliano, Guadagnini, Ventapane, Rogeri, Ruggieri, Pressenda, Albani, Gobetti, and Montagnana, are certainly very well known.  Their violins are prized above all others.  On the other hand, Russian makers are not known at all.  This peculiarity is striking since the whole world knows that most of the world’s celebrated violinists are Russian.  To filter them further, most among these superlative Russian players are Jewish – Oistrakh, Goldstein, Kogan, Heifetz, Elman, Zimbalist, Seidel, Milstein, and Gitlis, to name a few.  So, why aren’t there any great Russian violin makers – makers whose names are household words – Jewish or otherwise?  Perhaps it has to do with tradition – like the tradition of exceptional French wine making or fine watch making by the Swiss.  After Amati (and his relatives) and other early makers started violin making enterprises, the violin construction economic engine took off; soon, imitators sprang up elsewhere in Italy - some of them really good.  Entire families (such as the Guarneris and the Stradivaris) got involved in the trade and the tradition of fine Italian violin making was thus established.  By the time the ideas and patterns for violin making spread to other parts of Europe, the Italians had been at it for more than fifty years.  Then the Italian violin virtuosos got going as well.  Up until 1750, they were dominant in the violin playing sphere.  Italian violinists like Corelli, Somis, Pugnani, Tartini, Geminiani, Vivaldi, Tommasini, and Locatelli had few (if any) corresponding contemporaries in the other European countries or Russia. There was a time when Spain ruled the seas.  There was also a time when the Roman Empire ruled the world.  Nothing lasts forever.  Who knows whether the Russian violin makers will not someday soon take over the business?  

Emanuel Borok

Emanuel Borok is a Russian (many would say American) violinist and teacher born (in Tashkent, Uzbekistan) on July 15, 1944.  Although he was Associate Concertmaster of the Boston Symphony for 11 years, he is best known for being the long-time concertmaster of the Dallas Symphony, a post from which he retired in 2010.  As a child, he studied violin at the Darzinya Music School in Riga (Latvia) with Voldemar Sturestep.  At age 15, he entered the well-known Gnessin Music School in Moscow.  One of his teachers there was Michael Garlitsky.  After winning some of the top prizes in the All Russian Republic and All Soviet Union Violin Competitions, he joined the Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra as Assistant Concertmaster in 1969.  He was 25 years old.  He became Second Concertmaster of the Moscow Philharmonic in 1971.  Two years later, he went to Israel to serve as concertmaster of the Israel Chamber Orchestra.  In 1974, he came to the U.S. to join the Boston Symphony as Associate Concertmaster, a post which automatically made him concertmaster of the famous Boston Pops Orchestra.  In 1985, he joined the Dallas Symphony as concertmaster.  He was 41 years old.  The Principal conductors under which he was concertmaster were Eduardo Mata, Andrew Litton, and Jaap Van Zweden.  Besides concertizing in South America, Canada, and Europe, he has several times partnered in solo appearances with Yehudi Menuhin, Pinchas Zukerman, and Janos Starker, among many others.  He continues to perform and teach at several music festivals in the U.S.  Borok has taught at the Tanglewood Music Center, the University of Houston, Southern Methodist University, and the University of North Texas.  However, he has also occasionally taught in Italy, Switzerland, France, Russia, the Czech Republic, and England.  In addition to the dozens of recordings with the Boston and Dallas orchestras, Borok has recorded as a soloist on the Eroica label and has also published cadenzas for the Mozart concertos.  A 1727 Stradivarius which Borok played was stolen from him in 1985 in Europe.  It was recovered 20 years later before being auctioned off by an unsuspecting auction house.  This is unusual because such thefts more than often go unsolved.  Erica Morini's stolen violin is still out there somewhere.  Borok now plays a 1608 Amati violin which he purchased in 1976.  It is definitely one of the oldest violins being played on a concert stage today.  You can hear the magnificent (gorgeous) tone of this Amati in this YouTube video.  

What you get for $5 million

As almost everyone knows, old Italian violins – especially Strads, Guarneris, and Guadagninis - are priced at far more than their weight in gold.  Their prices are now set so high hardly any artist can afford them.  In the old days, it was not unusual for someone in the nobility or a wealthy patron to gift a valuable instrument to a violinist.  Such a thing happened to Nicolo Paganini, Teresa Milanollo, and a host of other violinists.  Nowadays, pricy violins are owned by philanthropic foundations, banks, investors, or private collectors.  They usually lend their instruments out to worthy players – most of them young.  However, players are beginning to realize that many new instruments are as good as old ones – even the very best Strads – and the new ones can be purchased for less than two percent of the price of an old one.  That’s right, two percent.  During the time he owned it, Menuhin would take his (1934) replica of his Strad (the Khevenhuller - 1733) to concerts where he thought the original might be in danger.  Nobody knew.  Obviously, the sound did not give it away.  That tells you something.  Outstanding modern makers such as Sergio Peresson, Douglas Cox, David Burgess, Joseph Curtin, Greg Alf, Michael Darnton, David Gusset, Mario Miralles, Gregory Sapp, and quite a few others have constructed stupendous violins which have been praised by some of the world’s top violinists.  These violins are priced between ten and forty thousand dollars.  It has been stated that it can take a violin anywhere between six months to seventy five years to open up (though that, of course, is highly debatable.)  My own replica of Paganini’s famous Cannone was constructed by Daniel Houck from Ohio.  It is my second violin from Houck.  Since I am not a concert violinist with a sizable budget, I partly based my decision to commission Mr. Houck on price comparisons.  Houck’s price cannot be beat because he is at the beginning of his career as a maker.  The violin itself, which was completed just three weeks ago, is a wonderful instrument – it does everything a good violin should: it’s extremely responsive, clear, powerful, warm in quality, and even in tone across all strings.  What more can anyone ask?  The rest is entirely up to my bow arm. 

Custom Violins

I will soon be ordering a custom violin - my very first. It will be a replica of the Paganini Cannone. I am not yet at liberty to disclose the maker but in time I will. I expect it will be a fabulous violin. It will not play itself of course, but playing Mozart and Beethoven on it will be that much more pleasurable. Perhaps Prokofiev and Poulenc as well.
I have long believed that 60% of the sound of any violin comes from the player - the violinist's bow arm. The rest comes from the instrument. If you don't believe me, go hear a concert by the San Francisco Symphony. The current concertmaster is playing Heifetz' Strad. I think it's the Dolphin. It does not sound the way it did when Heifetz had it. It has nothing to do with the technique because Barantschik is a great player. It is all bow arm and that comes from intuition. A great violin however, makes it that much easier to get the sound out - your sound.

Tasmin Little

Tasmin Little is an English violinist born on May 13, 1965. She studied at the Yehudi Menuhin School and at the Guildhall School of Music. She made her professional solo debut with the Halle Orchestra in 1988 and has been concertizing ever since. She has recently been promoting a project called the Naked Violin which is intended to bring serious music to the public at large, not regular concert goers. Little plays a 1757 Guadagnini violin as well as the Regent Stradivarius from 1708.

Mozart's violin

I was not there so I cannot guarantee this is correct - nonetheless, the Hill brothers from London say it is verifiable. Do you know what violin Mozart played? It was not a Strad and it was not a Guarneri. It was not a Kloz and it was not a Stadlmann. It was not a Montagnana and it was not a Storioni. It was not a Stainer either. It was a Pietro Antonio Dalla Costa. The violin on the left is a Dalla Costa, but it's not the one Mozart owned.

Girolamo Amati - 1609

This is one of Girolamo Amati's violins from 1609. It's an early violin, considering that the modern violin was developed (or took form) around 1520 - five hundred years ago. This one is by the first Girolamo (there are two, although the second one is sometimes referred to as Geronimo). He was the son of Andrea Amati. Girolamo (1551-1635) had two sons - Antonio and Nicolo. Nicolo (1596-1684) was the father of Geronimo (the second Girolamo - 1649-1740), who was the last in line of the Amati violin makers. If you click on the photo, it will probably give you an enlarged version so that you can see all the tiny scratches. This violin is probably worth more than $1,000,000, although I am just guessing.

Messiah Stradivarius

This is the famous Messiah Stradivarius. It is a beauty, no? It is currently housed in a British museum - the Ashmolean - almost in pristine condition. It is the closest thing to a virgin violin imaginable - it has never been played. According to most experts, it's priceless. For various reasons, I think it's a fake. If you care to research the history of this intriguing violin (I don't know why you would - you don't have the time), you might want to start with Stewart Pollens, one of the world's foremost authorities on this instrument. No one is allowed to get close to this magical violin - not since questions about its authenticity surfaced. It is rather sad that the truth about it cannot be conclusively determined, but only because commercial interests have decided not to rock the boat. Don't make too many inquiries or you might discover that Stradivari never existed.

Tattooed Violins

Here is an Amati from 1563 – the so-called King Charles – which has been decorated. It used to be fashionable to decorate violins like this. Even Guarneri and Stradivari decorated a few of their violins, though not many. You won’t find modern violin makers doing this. I knew a violinist who had a decorated Guarneri. I never saw it because he sold it way before I met him. He got drunk one day and sold it for $500. He had no idea the instrument was quite valuable. He just liked the way it sounded. This violin is decorated with figures of people and a corpulent floating angel. If you click on the photo, you might be able to see the drawings a little better. The decorations render the violin somewhat ugly. Experts are not even sure it’s by Amati, but the back of the violin has been attributed to Amati. Either way, I don’t like it.

Amati 1574

Andrea Amati is said to be the founder of what is called the Cremona school of violin making. He was born around 1520 and died in 1578, perhaps earlier and maybe later – only God knows. His earliest known violins date from about 1564. Amati is unfairly credited with the basic design of the modern violin since Gaspar Da Salo lived around the same time and built them the same way. Andreas’ sons were Antonio and Geronimus. Nicolo Amati (Andrea’s grandson) was Geronimus’ son and Girolamo was Nicolo’s son. It is said that Andrea Guarneri (1698-1744) and Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) studied with either Girolamo (1649-1740) or Nicolo Amati. There is no evidence to prove such a claim though. They had to apprentice with someone - you don't learn to do this stuff by yourself - we just don't know who. The Amati shown here is from 1574. If you want to see it in a slightly larger size, just click on it.