Giving life to original instruments
Mark Wickersham is playing on historical instruments from open-air square dance festivals to concert halls.
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I came to the violin at age 5. And took private lessons every week until I was 18 with Mr. Albert Rendina, who played everything from little Italian “speakeasy” bars during our liquor prohibition in the 1920s to the KC Symphony. I fell in love with Baroque during that time. I played everything from Frescobaldi to Bach. My senior year competition piece was the fugue from Bach’s unaccompanied Sonata 1, in G minor.
I intended to become a professional musician and music teacher, but President Nixon and the Vietnam war had other ideas for me.
I took up arms in service. And one of the places I served had an active fencing club.
And, to this day, I play more Scottish, Irish, English and Italian music than I do French music. But the instrument I play is from Paris…
This is Mark Wickersham, from Kansas City, who plays the violoncello da Spalla in what I would like to call a folk style, in the truest sense of this therm as you play traditional music from baroque to American folk, to ballads from the 60s, and maybe even more! And he’s doing all this with... ...drums rolling... ...an original instrument! So, basically, he uses it in the same way it was used in its “previous life”: playing music at court, probably dance music...
Mark, Could you tell us how did you come across the Spalla?
I first saw Sigiswald Kuijken play his on YouTube… Must’ve been 10 years ago… I loved it. I researched the instrument and learned of Kuijken’s collaboration with Badiarov. And then read the papers they had done. But, Alas, I knew that such an instrument would be well past my ability to pay for it.
I was playing with a steampunk group called External Combustion Orchestra, who had asked me to sit in to replace their irreplaceable multi-instrumentalist who moved away. I was, at the time, a good enough violinist, playing on a 5 string violin, and I could do a bit of work on a regular ‘cello and was willing to work to get better.
But as soon as I saw a ‘spalla, I just knew that they must have been made for people like me. Violinists who wanted, or needed, to play tenor and bass parts from time to time.
What was (if there was) the obstacle in your mind that would have prevented you from buying and playing a violoncello da Spalla?
Money was the big obstacle, frankly. Dmitry was making them and, as far as I knew, was the only source. And while what he needed to get for them was an excellent value in every way, it did not fit with the economics of an amateur playing in an amateur group. We all had day jobs, we were all part-time musicians at best.
In December of 2016, I discovered that a Chinese factory maker was experimenting with making cellos da spalla. And the price being asked was within my range. My experience with that maker in the past was that the bodies were well carved, the varnish was tough but modern, and the fittings all have to be replaced. With that in mind, I bought one. The strings provided were terrible. The frets (yes… Frets) were off. The pegs were not well fit. All of this I expected. I immediately took it to a luthier that I had known for 40 years. He replaced the frets, improved the strings, redid the bridge, pegs, soundpost. It was much improved. I still play it at outdoor fairs. The varnish on it makes it waterproof, and the metal frets mean that I shall never use expensive strings on it. Still…
I began playing that Chinese instrument in local sessions and with the band. One of my bandmates held an amazing party and session on her 30th birthday. Gerald Trimble, who had more or less returned Irish and Scottish music to Kansas City in the late 70s / early 80s, and a bit of a legend for his interpretations… was there. He immediately asked to play mine. Which he played ‘da gamba’ because that is how he is trained… He handed it back to me and said, “This is really amazing that you have this. You know, I have two of them.”
WHAT! YOU HAVE TWO ‘CELLOS DA SPALLA???? “Yes,” he said. “Two original instruments. 18th century. I’d like to hear you play them.”
Before long, I became their caretaker. And I was asked to give them their voices back. To let the world hear them played.
I became a member of Gerald Trimble’s Jambaroque, Which performs 17th and 18th century Irish, English, and Scottish music, emphasizing division playing and improvisational technique that was common then but became nearly lost later. We also perform music from the “silk road”, showing influences from India, through the middle east and Mediterranean countries, including North Africa, flowing through Italy, Spain, and thence throughout the British Isles and Europe. And always emphasizing that improvisational ear that these earlier musicians lived by.
That first meeting was in the spring of 2017, and I’ve been playing those instruments with him and his group since then. It’s been a great pleasure.
What did you find as a result of playing a Spalla?
Well, the ‘spalla is extremely liberating. Gerald asked me to explore the idea of “the fifth voice” in music. The baritone/tenor who was free to support the other voices in a group in improvised ways. I spend a lot of time stealing bits of the violin parts and giving those parts depth and sonority.
What was that stroked you most about the violoncello da Spalla?
These are genuinely amazing instruments. I had played violin, usually first violin, all my life. Now I had an instrument that I could plumb the depths of the lower parts. Where I could carry melodies, or inner voices, or improvise countermelodies, or even play with continuo and ground. I can make it sound like a bassoon. I can make it sound like a double bass. I can do a lot of what woodwinds do in terms of tonality. It can be dark or bright. And it can play very, very fast. As fast as any fiddle.
Three other things that you like about it or that positively changed in your musical life thank to it.
1. I can sit in anywhere and be welcome. Everybody likes hearing the instrument, and I can support what others do without threatening them or getting in their way. Of course, when I do get to solo…
2. People love hearing that deep voice playing so dexterously. They love the way the instrument rings.
3. People <REALLY> love hearing an ancient instrument that hasn’t been heard in roughly 200 years. Restoring these to playable condition brings their voices back to the world. And the chance to do that has taken me all the way to performing for L’Academie Bach.
Would you recommend other players to buy one? Why?
I think this instrument is a love at first sight sort of thing. My recommendation isn’t needed. I did not know how I was ever going to get one, but I knew I wanted one the first time I saw one on YouTube.
Anything you’d like to add?
A little more about the Fontanieu instrument that I play. It is, to my best research, an instrument built by Pierre-Elizabeth Fontanieu, in 1761. His father was Gaspar Moise-Augustin de Fontanieu and was responsible for encouraging and supporting artisans in Paris (primarily) for the royal wardrobe. One of the things that Gaspar de Fontanieu arranged to help support Guersan was a series of workshops for amateur instrument builders. Primarily aristocrats. I believe this instrument is a result of that.
And, I would add, it's modern makers, like you, that will allow this instrument to truly flourish.
News from da Spalla world
I don’t have precise news to share, but this is not a quiet moment at all: wandering around on socials, it seems that all the Spalla luthiers are very busy making new Spallas! Woohoo! This movement is growing big!
Updates from our workshop
We had a meeting with Giacomo Fornari, the director of Bolzano’s Conservatory of Music, who is interested in organising a few presentations for us, and Alessandro has been interviewed on the local Rai Radio 3 at the “Spazio Haydn” show regarding his activity of luthier making cellos da Spalla.
I am now for a few weeks at my parents' place to take care of them, and I will use this time to learn to play the Wagner.
Featured video of the week
Cello da Spalla is elegant and agile, and shows up in the top concert halls. Here a video by Sergey Malov with hr-sinfonieorchester Frankfurt and Andrea Marcon.