Examine The Violin Maker: Finding A Centuries-Old Tradition In A Brooklyn Workshop Developed By John Marchese Presented In Ebook
a trip this was, Follow a modernday violin maker as he builds a violin for a topnotch violinist, Sounds boring It was not: you learn about thoseth century violin makers in Cremona, Italy, whose instruments are unsurpassed and it's not clear why the wood, the varnish.
. . the writing is very good, humourous, journalisticstyle, I had no idea I would love learning about violin making, I had no idea how intricate it was, and how far it delved into history, I loved everything about this book, I want to make a violin, What in the world. Like any craft, the people who make violins by hand for maestro performers are obsessed with the work they do, not necessarily for the sake of the performers for whom they make the instruments, but because of their desire to create, recreate, puzzle out, and discover for themselves.
John Marchese is a professional musician and writer who took it upon himself to take a close look at the world of those who make the finest violins and how they do it, the history of violin making through the preoccupation of violinists and makers with Stradivarius.
It's engaging to learn things you didn't know deeper understanding most often leads to deeper understanding, And the art of making a 'perfect' violin is hugely affected by the personalities, training, and history of the makers themselves, Written by someone who isnt a violin player, this book is full of wonder at the craft of making violins, written in a way that anyone interested in music can understand.
I loved it. Enjoyable read
Not that I play violin or even new about this deep topic, I have a music background and this was an enjoyable read, Well written but I just wasnt that into it, Not sure if its cause Im not interested in the subject or just something about me This nonfiction that, at time, encroaches on memoir not typically my favorite, was a really beautiful attempt to capture the magic of these amazing instruments.
I couldn't help but think of the wand selection process in the Harry Potter books when the author described the way a luthier considers the musician who is commissioning a fiddle.
Speaking of "fiddle", at one point I wondered if the author had changed his mind and decided to swap to using "fiddle" predominately, but then "violin" made a late recovery.
All in all, I enjoyed the glimpse, but was surprised at how quickly the book moved one curse of ebooks, particularly when it so often leaned memoir.
I still enjoyed it. I wished I was there and the author did a great job taking me there, I don't happen to be any sort of music expert, I listen to classical music when I work, I took piano lessons foryears and still have trouble sightreading, I played the trumpet for almost as long and was just kind of okay, I took blues guitar lessons and promptly forgot everything I ever learned, But I love music nonetheless, and especially the violin, And, I love stories of quiet, passionate people making beautiful things, This is both a history of violinmaking Stradivari and a chronicling of a new violin being made by one of America's foremost artisans for one of America's greatest violinists.
It's fascinating, inspiring, obsessed, funny, detailed, kind, . . all the things a good history should be, I went the library afterward and checked out too many CDs and wasn't sorry, I pretended I could hear the nuance, the years of practice, the love and history in the instruments, Really, it just helped me pay more attention, be more aware of the great gift that music isand the great gift it is that we have people willing to spend their lifetimes perfecting both making and playing instruments.
As a beginning, adult violinist, this book caught my eye as I was browsing the Abbey Bookshop during a vacation in Paris.
My decision to purchase the book, and ultimately my enjoyment of it, likely boils down to my heavy bias regarding the violin as the best and most beautiful musical instrument, a bias which the book happily indulges.
The author uses his status as a longtime semiprofessional trumpet player to lend the book some credibility musically, but ultimately the book is driven by well organized chapters which pad an extremely simple premise whether a new violin will replace a prominent violinist's strad.
The outcome of that setup is largely irrelevant, though, and the The Violin Maker's purpose is more to give readers the experience of the likely hitherto unknown culture surrounding million dollar violins.
While none of the book goes into much technical detail, most chapters succeed in introducing interesting topics surrounding violin making, playing or collecting.
Not all chapters support this goal I'm halfconvinced that the chapter on visiting Cremona was just for the author to get a free trip abroad, but overall the reader is granted a window into a new world.
The lack of depth is a blessing as the author is able to cover a lot of ground and I came out of the book with a few pieces of music added to my library, a few new famous luthiers and violinists in my lexicon, a healthy skepticism and appreciation for the old v.
new violin debate, and most importantly, an increased sense of magic surrounding the instrument itself, I'd recommend this book to anyone who's interested in violins or simply likes learning about some lesserknown areas of our cultural palette.
Beament wrote, "They do not make any different sound, and no audience can tell what instrument is being played, But if a palyer thinks he plays better on such an instrument, he will, "
Wright Mills wrote in his study of work in the book White Collar, "The craftsmans's way of livelihood determineds and infuses his entire mode of living.
. . There is no split of work and play, "
He was coming to believe that the best innovation in his trade might simply be a fuller and more clearsighted understanding of the tradision he'd inherited.
" wonderful! this reads like a novel while also going into great detail about violin making and the legends/history of Stradivari, Slightly unsure if nonviolinists would enjoy it quite as much, as my violinist mother lent it to me, but I think many would at least enjoy it! I really loved this book! I dont know why it took me so long to finish.
I think i really wanted to savor the masterful way the author draws you into the mysterious world of violins, I highly recommend this book to anyone that has a vague interest in violin making, Beautiful story and well done! This book is about a violin maker in Brooklyn whos quickly risen to prominence in the violin world as making violins that musicians are switching to even over Stradivarius violins.
I enjoyed it a lot because I never knew about the art of making violins, The author also looks at the history of Stradivari and visits his hometown, Finally it gives more insight into the classical musical world which is really interesting, This book made me nostalgic for this book that I read when I was young called the Violin Hunter, I thought it was great to follow the violin making process and get a violin history lesson at the same time! Now I want to get recordings of the Emerson Quartet to hear the violin that was center stage in the story.
This is a difficult book to rate, I enjoyed it very much because
I love violins,
I love the Emerson Quartet,
I know of no other book quite like this, and
I like when knowledgable people who can perform Bach capably refer to their,instruments as "fiddles"
For all these reasons, I'm tempted to give the book four or five, but it just doesn't seem like that kind of book.
I think the story is made better by the fact that the author is a trumpet player with very little prior knowledge of stringed instruments.
He reveals details as he learns them, giving the reader a solid overview of what goes into making the instruments, but falling far short of any actual instruction.
Because he doesn't get bogged down in those details, he keeps things moving and creates a fairly compelling narrative, However, there were no moments when a reader is likely to pause and clasp the book to his/her chest in wonder, or to interrupt the spouse to read a particularly moving passage.
In the end, it comes off as more of a satisfying longform article than what I would rate as astar work of nonfiction.
Also, the book itself was an odd size, Tall and slender like those soft cover city guides I used to get before the days of Google, TripAdvisor, Yelp and the like.
But this one was hardcover, and It felt like it needed more space for the binding, I loved this book. Marchese skillfully mixes personalities with the technical details of violin making and the mysteries of sound, A lovely book. A short, levelheaded introduction to the world of violinmaking, If you're already familiar with the matter, you might not get much out of this book, as the technical information is quite basic, and anecdotes and trivia that can be found on various online forums are much more amusing.
However, I appreciate the author's effort to dispel some prevailing myths, mystifications, and outright lies, and it's certainly worth a read if you haven't come across the subject in the past.
Since Stradivarius and Guarneri died in the earlyth Century, the world has been frustrated: "I wish Strad had left us a little book or something.
" He didn't, and John Marchese whose avocation is jazz trumpet, does what dozens have done before him: try to find the secret.
He describes with amusement some quack violin builders' luthiers claims to have learned the mystery of Strad, or to
have uncovered a long buried notebook.
But no such thing exists, and no one knows why, not too long after the instrument was invented, three or four craftsman in Cremona, Italy in the latethearlyth Century produced the best violins cellos too ever made.
Of course, violin making didn't end in, But this book isn't just about research and the obligatory trip to the Po Valley, Rather, the author follows the making of a modern violin based on older models for Gene Drucker, a member of the former Emerson Quartet.
This is a new approach, and Brooklyn's Sam Zygmuntowicz is the top of that trade,
It's an interesting gambit, but ultimately unsuccessful, Readers will learn more about string instrument construction, Yet, for one thing, Sam and others admit most of a luthier's work is ordinary carpentry: "All we really do is make boxes.
The thing is, they're magical boxes, " And that's the second problem: sound isn't just indescribable, it's personal,
The finest Strads and Guarneis are worth up to aboutmillion, Sam charges under,for an instrument that attempts to combine the best features of thoseyearold boxes, And modern violins aren't so prone to abrupt changes in tone corresponding to heat and humiditypicture, for example, successive concerts in Helsinki and Houston.
Tremendous advantages, in theory.
The other three members of the Emerson Quartet like Sam's creations better than their prior instrument though none previously were playing a Strad.
They also liked the new one created for Drucker, No professional musician could tell the difference between Drucker's Strad and his new instrument in concert or recordingDrucker used both when the Quartet overdubbed itself to record Mendelssohn's Octet.
But what matters is what a violinist "hears beneath his ear, " Sound is so personal that the writing is incidental to the idiosyncratic decisions of the player, There's a little, but not much, of a book in that, .