Rambling around

A week in New York: art and urban landscape

We spent our last week in New York City. It was the first time for me, and we concentrated on the surroundings of Manhattan, as there’s so much to see.

We didn’t find Violoncello da Spalla related art or news there. Still, some interesting iconography that I didn’t know well, and I couldn’t imagine, from the catalogue pics, that it was so rich in details. I hope you don’t mind me sharing it with you.

This beautiful painting is hung in the musical instrument collection room. I love the detail about the knots on the strings, at half distance between the tailpiece and bridge.

This is a long time favourite for me. For a pretty mundane reason! Twenty years ago, I played in a baroque orchestra in Mondovì, Italy, and there was a bar where I had breakfast every morning that had this as a fresco on the ceiling.

Seeing the original de La Hyre live, I couldn’t avoid noticing how detailed it is, showing the knots and the colour of the strings. Look below at the detail of the violin neck in the same painting:

The painting is Laurent de la Hyre, Paris 1649. The statue is Cristoforo Stati, Florence, around 1600. The Wagner Violoncello da Spalla is from Borstendorff 1750.

The first thing your brain probably thinks looking at that is: oh, that’s awkward, the painter didn’t draw it carefully. Which is a bit strange given the care he put into painting the texture of the strings and the music score.

Compare it with the neck below, this time a marble statue. Right the same shape, and even here your brain refuses to consider it, because even if the violin has beautiful details, the playing position accounts for a 19 century “fake” (and even this should be food for the brain, I didn’t know yu could play baroque violin supporting with a left hand in this position).

I am not sure I’d dare to make a violin neck like those, but I did a Violoncello da Spalla like this, copying the shape from the original Wagner in Lübeck. The lenght is the same of the violin’s and if you consider the curve it’s actually very similar to the previous ones. And it is the most comfortable neck I played on.

So many musicians in such a little space. A recurring subject 😅! This is something like a 2x3 inches piece of art.

On with miniatures, a Limoges Enamel with Apollo playing something that is not entirely a Lyra 😅.

In Italian there is only one word, libertà, for liberty and freedom. So I had a look for the difference: “Thus liberty entails the responsible use of freedom under the rule of law without depriving anyone else of their freedom. Freedom is broader in that it represents a total lack of restraint or the unrestrained ability to fulfill one's desires.” (Wikipaedia). So here is it, Liberty Violoncello da Spalla!

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Updates from our workshop

We had a great time in New York City. We met Jeemin Kim, with whom I developed a good friendship during last year, but only on facebook, this was the first time we met live! She is the co-founder of Women in Luthierie, and a well-established restaurer working on high end instruments. She is now opening her own workshop right in the heart of Manhattan, on the 57th street, side by side with the new Stainway building (yes, the historical Stainway hall is now the luxury entrance of a private condominium) and almost in front of the Carnegie Hall.

Say “cheese!”

The other news is that my Violoncello da Spalla found a home in Philadelphia, with a violinist who plays also viola, from baroque to modern and also amplified. I am sure she will do great things with it as she could play it fluently from the first try!

This will be a month of rambling: first our trip in US, tomorrow we are driving to Wien (a bit of Violoncello da Spalla related things there). Expect this newsletter to be late next week, but be sure it will come.

In the first half of May we will have a recording (with Violoncello da Spalla) and a presentation. We are getting anxious about spending so much time far from our workshop and our tools. After the pandemic we are not used any more to traveling and being so busy!

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Featured video of the week

New video from Sergey Malov, an insatiable researcher of new repertoire