Polish Violin within the Musée de la Musique in Paris
Jan Bartoś
96PP ISBN 9788365727671
Wydawnictwo Akademii
Muzycznej w Poznaniu €50
In 2016 Jan Bartoś co-authored the superb publication The Polish Faculty of Violin Making from Groblicz to Dankwart. He has adopted this up with an examination of an instrument within the Musée de la Musique in Paris, the primary in a projected sequence of monographs. What at first look would possibly seem like a uninspiring learn, regarding a hitherto nameless violin within the museum’s reserve assortment, seems to be a captivating research of a violin clearly steeped within the Polish college.
This research utilised the normal strategies of violin consultants and the assets of the Musée de la Musique and the institute of the Paderewski Academy of Music in Poznań. The examination course of is clearly described within the introductory passages by Jean-Philippe Échard, curator of stringed devices on the Musée de la Musique.
The primary of the 4 chapters offers a data-rich account of the historic background of Polish making within the seventeenth and 18th centuries. It concludes by outlining the bodily traits of the Polish violin college, which actually are like no different: the wooden alternative, uncommon pegbox shapes and carved heads, the Maggini-inspired full-bodied devices with lengthy decrease bouts and hen’s-eye maple, and notably the f-holes with their unusual wings disappearing to some extent make the college actually fairly distinctive.
Chapter two describes how the method of analysing the instrument was undertaken, with all strategies clearly described. Utilizing UV and endoscopy the researchers examined the alterations that had been made, which included some re-cutting of the f-holes. Bartoś then describes the lengths he went to in recreating what the f-holes might need seemed like. The monograph accommodates a wonderful poster which, together with the knowledge within the e-book, is sufficient to encourage a maker to create a duplicate of the violin. The images are clear and effectively printed on matt paper.
Chapter three offers an in depth, virtually forensic description of the violin, and the way the creator got here to the conclusion that the violin was made in Poland after 1670. Whereas this will not sound groundbreaking, we’re taken by the painstaking journey of attribution. In his conclusions Bartoś passionately outlines the following steps utilizing CT scanners, chemical evaluation and extra analysis within the Polish archives, which can proceed to fill the gaps within the fast-moving and intriguing story of Polish violin making. This can be a laudable addition to the luthier’s and seller’s library.
PHILIP BROWN