Bergonzi Project
A few years ago we went to the Charlie Chaplin Film Festival at the Royal Festival Hall. There was live music performed to the silent films by players of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. In "City Lights" there were some heart warming violin solos and I wanted to find out, who played them so nicely and what the violin was. We were sitting at the very back of this large hall and the sound just travelled there wonderfully. That´s how I got in touch with Pieter Schoeman, since then I have shown him a few of my own instruments and some time after expressing my wish to take measurements of his Nicolo Bergonzi violin, he asked me, if I was interested in making a copy of it for him.
I happily accepted and in this section you can trace the making process, having taken snapshots as I went along, some stages in more detail, some in less, where I didn´t want to interrupt the working flow.
When making a copy, I am concerned with the measurements in the first place, the outlines, the archings, the graduations, the thicknesses of the top and back plates so to speak, the positioning and size of the f holes. Taking these factors plus the weight, some of the main resonances of the instrument and it´s set up into consideration, one can quite well achieve similarities in sound.
Furthermore I have a strong interest for stylistic matters, the look of the f holes give you a `facial´ expression, the scroll, the corners and the purfling convey a certain character. However, I do set some limits as to how far I go with copying. I cannot get obsessed with too many details as I usually don´t have the instrument to be copied on my workbench and because I enjoy making individual interpretations of a given model. It is hard to deny one´s own ´handwriting` and the outcome often doesn´t even look too successful if one tries too hard to do so. However I do have the greatest respect for makers in the present and the past, who have managed to do this successfully and have dedicated their work to being painstakingly accurate copyists.
This Nicolo Bergonzi is a late 18th century Cremonese violin, which is somewhat influenced by Guarneri del Gesu but shows a quite unusual graduation pattern more reminiscent of the Venetian School. It is a very interesting project for me, and it is definetely widening my horizon to study this maker´s work. Have fun looking at the photos!