
The most famous of the Austrian-German luthiers, Jacob Stainer (1618-1683) – the violin maker who preceded the Stradivari and Guarneri juggernauts – lived and worked in the Baroque era (1600-1750). ...
For the uninitiated, the name “Wurlitzer” means 1950s-retro juke boxes. A smaller audience might know of the “Mighty Wurlitzer,” a pipe organ used in large venues such as early 20th ...
Anyone who thinks there is no physical exercise involved in playing a stringed musical instrument has never played a stringed musical instrument. Any professional or amateur who play ...
A recurring motif of the art of Marc Chagall (1887-1985) was stringed instruments, usually violins. Why was this?
Various art historians give us some clues. One is that the fiddlers he ...
Henry Ford is best remembered as the inventor of automobile mass-production (and mass production in general), taking a then-exotic invention and turning it into an ...
There’s an old fiddle joke, which we assume is told by American fiddle fans and players, that goes like this: What’s the difference between a violin and a fiddle? ...
The saying, “Those who can’t, teach,” has never been true. Without teachers, civilized societies would have nothing. Teaching itself requires intense rigor and an ...
The liner notes to Madonna’s 1992 Erotica album contain a name that might surprise classical music fans. It’s Glenn Dicterow, who is better known as the one-time ...
Art imitates life, they say. And there is no better example of that than the narrative of “The Red Violin,” an award-winning 1998 film. Written by Don McKellar (who also plays a role in the ...
It’s possible to travel the world and, in almost every capital and many secondary cities, particularly at great universities with music schools, you will find a museum dedicated to musical ...
The casual fan of orchestral music knows the first-chair violinist, the concertmaster, is the “number one,” the best of the violinists. They are the ones who tune the orchestra before the concert ...
Forgeries of fine art and fine stringed instruments go far back in history, including when the Romans copied statues seen in Greece. But it’s not always been regarded as ...
A rose by any other name is still a rose.
The same could be said of the 1733 Goffriller cello. The prized instrument of legendary cellist Pablo Casals, it was hiding in plain sight, believed ...
It would be wrong to diminish the influential career of one of history’s greatest violinists and composers, NiccolòPaganini (1782-1840). His name is familiar to anyone who listens to classical ...
On the most elementary level, even the beginner violinist understands that the vibration creating the sound of a stringed instrument is wholly dependent on the tautness ...
Of the 650 remaining Stradivarius instruments in existence – fine violins, of course, but also fine violas, cellos, guitars, and harps – only one remains in close condition to how it left the ...
Across the arc of violin making, selling, and collecting, it’s important to understand it all started as a story of European culture, economics, prestige, and financial gain, broadened more ...
Art historians know all about Picasso. They understand his oeuvre (“Cubism,” primarily), his various periods (Blue, Rose, Analytic Cubism, Synthetic Cubism), and the fact he frequently incorporated ...
If you peruse fine violin shops and auction sites online, a violin maker name you could well run into (depending on your price range preferences) is “Hopf.” An authentic Hopf, perhaps dating ...
The career of violinist and composer Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), while brilliant, is fairly consistent with other European virtuosos of the late 19th and 20th centuries. He was discovered to be talented ...
...
Every region on earth has its indigenous musical tradition and Norway is no exception. It is the country most associated with the Hardanger fiddle, used for centuries in folk music, some ...
Fundamentally, shopping online via Amazon in the 2020s is an awful lot like shopping by way of the Sears catalog in the early 1900s. The consumer then and now looked for what they wanted – ...
It’s an understatement to say that Itzhak Perlman has a storied career. And it’s erroneous to say that in the past tense – the 76-year-old virtuoso has a full tour schedule for 2022. He ...
When a feature writer for Great British Life magazine interviewed Sir Neville Marriner, the English violinist who founded and conducted the orchestra at the Academy of St. Martin in the ...
Just two years after his death, the auctioning of the fine violins, bows, and memorabilia from the estate of Isaac Stern (1920-2001) set the violin universe on fire – with nearly the energy of ...
There are several factors that determine the value of a violin, and for that matter, all stringed instruments. The maker is of course a large part of that, as that tells contemporary musicians and ...
In most major cities in the developed world, it’s a pretty common truism that leaving something on a car seat is an invitation to thieves. Something so worthless as an empty paper bag might be ...
When virtuoso violinist Ruggiero Ricci died in 2012 (b 1918), the obituaries tracked his storied career. From his status as a child prodigy (two of his five siblings also achieved professional status ...
As every new genre of music builds on what came before it, it’s always interesting to see how certain instruments are employed in completely different ways. The incorporation of classical musical ...
Frenchman Francois Tourte is widely credited with inventing the modern violin bow, in almost universal use today by violinists of all levels of ability. But given he worked about 200 years ...
In 20th century America, the music most popular among immigrants from Italy, and Naples in particular, is lively and very often full of comedy. That includes the Sceneggiata, a stage musical ...
The innovation of making things smaller – from furniture size radios in the 1930s to hand-held transistor radios in the 1960s, and “car phones” as big as tissue boxes to slim smartphones of today – has a ...
The ...
Perhaps one of the more curious aspects of musical expression is the unfettered creativity of instrument makers. It began with plucking strings stretched across the hard shell of gourds that, ...
Aspects of the cello that most matter when considering cello accessories and parts: The scroll, pegs, pegbox, neck, fingerboard, strings, upper bout, bridge, F-holes, C-bout, fine tuners, tailpiece (aka ...
...
Pity the viola? Not quite a violin, not quite a cello, and a far cry from the double bass. With its lower and deeper sound vis a vis the violin it has largely played the alto voice in most ...
It’s curious to know what led to the development of great instrument making in Europe hundreds of years ago. Certainly, an appreciation for music is at the center of all the centers of ...
We may have Mozart to thank for E=mc2.
The most famous scientific equation in the world, given us by none other than Albert Einstein, is a product of the man’s genius. As a theoretical ...
The stringed instruments made by the famed Cremonese luthier, Antonio Stradivari, have household name recognition, beyond the sphere of classical music fans and musicians. “Perhaps it’s a ...
...
In the world of very valuable things – think art, antiques, Stradivarius violins – there is a mix of beauty and threat that is ever present.
Fine art galleries have their works under 24/7 ...
The Medieval Era, roughly 500 CE to 1400 CE, was the time when the Church of Rome was the dominant ruling body and religion. Musically, the Catholic churches engaged people in the great cathedrals and humbler provincial churches with ...
The Medieval Era, roughly 500 CE to ...
The Renaissance was a period so associated with the new, the creative, the break from the status quo, particularly in the arts, it’s no wonder there was an explosion of new stringed ...
Hard as it may be to imagine, it was a practice in the 18th and 19th centuries to reduce the size of bass violins (bassos) to what we now know the cello to be. This was even done with one ...
The virtuoso violinist Nathan Mironovich Milstein (1903-1992) had a remarkable career by many indicators – his training, his colleagues, his interpretations of works from the Romantic period, and his own ...
The ...
The story of the Amati family of violin makers is closely intertwined with another, historically prominent clan: that of Catherine de’ Medici (1519-1589), the Italian noblewoman, queen consort ...
The Catholic Church, as well as with many other Christian denominations, has a, shall we say, evolving history with the use of instrumental support of liturgical music. The chants and polyphonic a ...
The place of women in music and instrument-making history follows a familiar path. The fairer sex has always been there, playing instruments, singing in the higher octaves that few men ...
The arts, music in particular, have always survived due to generosity of the wealthy. Mozart – whose behaviors excluded him from support from the Church – found his support in a certain Baron ...
To understand the parts of the bow used in stringed instruments – in Western music, the violin family (violin, cello, viola, bass, and the viola da gamba) – it helps to understand what is ...
The French poet, dramatist, novelist, writer, journalist, and critic Theophile Gautier is credited for birthing the phrase, “All passes, art alone endures.” Technically, it was “enduring” ...
When the coronavirus shut down much of the world in mid-March 2020, in-person music instruction failed to meet the criteria for “essential work.” But musical instructors and institutions ...
The nature of violinmaking is that the mastery thereof is part science, part art – and lots of patience. Just looking at one aspect of the process, determining if the raw wood has sufficiently ...
It was published more than 30 years ago, and all copies sit within a fine Moroccan goatskin cover. It’s available through the standard (today) ...
To understand the history of the Nyckelharpa – referred to in some circles as the Swedish fiddle – actually requires digging into the history of all stringed instruments.
The Nyckelharpa has ...
Few violinists consider their music to be a contact sport. Sure, there are competitions when the side eye from one player to the next might involve some mental darts and ocular daggers. But there is a ...
Few ...
Among the hundreds of surviving fine Italian violins crafted by renowned violin maker Antonio Stradivari, two were once in the hands of 19th century virtuoso Pablo de Sarasate. One, the ...
Violins and bows of the Baroque period (early 1600s to the mid 1700s) were physically different from their “modern” counterparts that are largely the standard of today. But when one ...
The Baroque Period, roughly the 17thand first half of the 18thcenturies, was not just about music but also of the visual arts, fashion and architecture. In each of those a bold and elaborate ...
Among the many parts of stringed instruments – violins, cellos, violas, basses – the bridge might appear to be just a simple wedge positioned there to elevate the strings. It is, after all, ...
The story of the stolen Stradivarius violin that is probably most familiar to Americans is that of the Totenberg-Ames Stradivari (circa 1734). This is because the first part of that name, ...
It’s somewhat challenging to identify when rosin met its first bow to produce music on a stringed instrument. A Google search fails to yield definitive information on where and when that would have ...
It’s ...
Jascha Heifetz (1901-1987), considered by many to be the greatest violinist of all time, was recognized for his virtuosity in the concert halls as much as virtue in some of the most important ...
“Antiques Roadshow” is one of the most-watched programs on the PBS television network, seen by up to 8 million viewers per week. But while appraisers on the show provide their services for free – ...
Whether in a strong economy where market-traded securities are performing well, or in economic downturns when such securities aren’t, a perennial topic among the investor class is the wisdom ...
It might be hard to understand the shared characteristic between traditional violin craftsmanship in Cremona, Italy and the following: polyphonic singing (Georgia), yoga (India), the hopping procession of ...
It might ...
What is the connection between virtuoso violinist Yehudi Menuhin (1916-1999) and Fallout video games, devised in the early 2000s? The former is among the foremost violinists of the 20th ...
The baryton, a member of the viol family, is a rare but still-played instrument in the 21stcentury. Aficionados of the music of Joseph Haydn understand its beauty and place, particularly ...
When music lovers describe the violinmaking school of Venice, they’re not referring to an educational system per sé, with buildings and faculty and matriculated students and an alumni ...
Students of stringed instruments who also have an affinity for physics are likely delighted with the subject of harmonics. They not only understand how vibrations are at the core of producing sounds, ...
...
The distance between Brescia and Cremona, Italy, two bastions of fine stringed instrument making in the 16thcentury forward, is only 29 miles (46 kilometers). But relative to the world ...
There’s an argument in education theory circles that the 21stcentury emphasis on STEM – preparing students for careers in science, technology, engineering, and math – leaves out something ...
To understand the history of violins in jazz music, one should understand the history of jazz itself. Violins aren’t typically the first jazz instrument that comes to mind – saxophones, ...
While violin performance competitions are well known to students and fans of fine stringed instruments (the cello, bass, and viola also have their competitions), a somewhat more obscure contest type ...
“There is something about the emphasis of the very low, and the very high register of the viola d’amore, that for me is quite profoundly moving.”
So wrote a champion of the somewhat obscure ...
In the simplest of terms, there are two kinds of violins in the world. One is made – painstakingly – by a professional luthier (violin maker), and the other is factory made. ...
Buy a fine violin, cello, viola or bass at auction? It may not be for the faint hearted, but auction sales of fine stringed instruments offer certain advantages.
One is that it is possible to purchase an ...
Buy a ...
The beginner violinist may think a small disk of coniferous tree sap, rosin, plays a minor or even unnecessary role in the creation of music. Au contraire! The right rosin, applied with ...
What does it mean that accomplished musicians perform for and even work with the most disenfranchised parts of society in Los Angeles? What do the musicians, music directors and educators ...
Today, a non-descript condominium building stands at 1416 W. Belmont Avenue in Chicago. This is in the re-gentrified Lakeview neighborhood of the city’s North Side, an area that not long ago ...
All stringed instruments – violins, cellos and violas – are in certain respects alive. The strings, the various components (neck, pegbox, pegs, strings, bow and bow strings, the body and finish, ...
Geared pegs are a newer innovation when it comes to useful – some may say ingenious – stringed instrument accessories. Widely available both online as well as at the local violin shop, these pegs boil down larger ...
Geared pegs are a ...
There are horror stories about fine stringed instruments getting damaged. You’ve heard them. Despite meticulous care and love a musician puts into his or her instrument, it can be destroyed in ...
...
Among the many perverse facts of the Holocaust is there were camp orchestras. Talented instrumentalists from the Jewish and “Gypsy” (Roma) communities involuntarily held by the murderous regime were ...
The sound a violinist produces, as well as the mastery he or she has with the technical aspects of the score, is considered the goal and achievement of the musician. But if the player develops ...
There are many reasons why education policy experts encourage adding an A, for arts, to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math), giving us STEAM. The general theory is that the engineer with a ...
There are ...
The Fibonacci Series might sound like a spy thriller, but it’s perhaps more exciting because it draws a direct, mathematical connection between the human perception of beauty and nature ...
In 2018, violin maker Gregg Alf curated a remarkable collection of fine stringed instruments by the iconic Antonio Stradivari. The event, the Tokyo Stradivarius Festival 2018, included ...
Players of fine cellos, violas and violins typically perform on fine cello, viola and violin bows. At some point in rehairing these bows, the question may arise: Should one go natural or ...
For every thing there is a season. Fine violins can perform in all four seasons (as Vivaldi well understood), as do cellos, violas, and string bass. The only thing to remember is that ...
Much is made of the fine violins made long ago. The names Stradivarius, Guarneri, and Amati immediately come to mind. The ages of those 16th, 17thand 18thcentury violins (and violas and ...
The enduringly popular Public Broadcast System program, “Antiques Roadshow,” has multiple episodes in its archives where a violin is appraised at large sums, as much as ...
The violin is perhaps among the most beautiful of musical instruments in both sound and appearance. A mere picture of violinist playing – or even just the instrument itself – conjures lovely images in the ...
The ...
Is it somehow unwholesome for the serious violinist with a firm grounding in classical music to toy with the idea of electric violins? Or for that matter, can players of cellos, violas, and the ...
Is it ...
Perhaps Vivaldi understood both the beauties and curses of nature. Arguably the composer’s most popular composition, “The Four Seasons” (Le Quattro Stagioni), celebrates the changes from spring through ...
Perhaps ...
We go to a concert hall and see virtuoso musicians performing some of the most adored musical compositions on some of the finest violins and cellos and pianos ever made. ...
Violin strings are typically tuned by setting the A string to 440 Hz. It’s a scientific metric applied to a tool of art, which in itself might seem odd. But just like pointillism was an optical tool used by ...
Violin ...
Students of the violin and Violin Articles >>
There are countless variables that affect the quality of music created by a skilled violinist and his or her violin. It is the talent, skill, and artistry of the violinist that seems most important. But ...
...
Violins, violas and cellos mostly get all the attention. They’re the principle instruments in the orchestra; they are played by the most recognized of string musicians (rare exception: Yo-Yo ...
When is a package or container almost as valued as its contents? One imagines the Fabergé eggs as an incomparable embodiment and celebration of the exterior. On a ...
Thank you for your interest in Benning Violins. If you have a question or concern, we would love to hear from you. Please visit our shop or contact us using any of the methods below.
11340 Ventura Blvd.,
Studio City, CA 91604
1-818-762-1374
1-818-762-7126