New strings for old craft

The Chinese government recently established a centre for the production of European classical string instruments in Beijing.

Its director learned the craft of making violins, violas, cellos and double basses in Cremona, at the International Institute for Violin Making, which since 1938 has taught students from all over the world the complex and esoteric art of turning wood into fine musical instruments.

The Instituto Professionale Internazionale per l'Artigianato Liutario e del Legno has the status of a technical college under the Italian ministry of education. But its new director, Francesco Torrisi, feels it should also acquire greater international status as well as subsidies from the European Union. He would also like to forge permanent links with musical institutions in other countries.

"The institute is in practice the world's nerve-centre for teaching the craft of liuteria," he explains. "Most of our students are from aboard, only a minority are Italian. This reflects the fact that we cater to the needs of the world, not just of Italy or Europe."

Italian students usually enrol at 15 after finishing compulsory schooling. Those from abroad are older, in their late teens or early 20s. "Many in fact come for the four-year course after getting a degree in their own countries," said Mr Torrisi.

The institute teaches the classical Cremona method of violin-making, which can be subdivided into the styles developed in the 17th and 18th centuries by Cremona craftsmen, Amati (1596-1684), Stradivari (1648-1737) and Guarnieri (1698-1744).

"There are small differences in proportions which a layman does not notice but which are obvious to an expert, and differences in the sound that the instrument produces which are immediately apparent to a musician," Mr Torrisi explained.

The institute is housed in the 16th-century Palazzo Ralmondi, in the heart of the city and has about 100 students at any one time. "This means about 25 new students a year, so we have to be selective," says Mr Torrisi. "In particular we make sure that those admitted can speak Italian, can support themselves without working while they are here and, above all, are genuinely motivated."

The teachers are drawn from the best workshops that still flourish in Cremona and are therefore the cream of today's violin-makers. Vanna Zambelli is a master violin-maker who teaches in the fourth year. She says that today's violins are made exactly like those 250 years ago. "The only differences are in the neck, which over the centuries has been adapted slightly to the changing needs of the music and the musicians. But even an original Stradivari or Amati would probably have been modified during the 19th century. Apart from that, the techniques we teach today are absolutely identical."

The institute also has a museum with about 300 of the best instruments made by students over the past half century. There are also fragments of original instruments from the 17th and 18th centuries which are used as a basis for today's products.

One of Maestro Zambelli's students, Andrian Anreev from Bulgaria, is working on an exact copy of a famous Stradivari which is inlaid with ebony and ivory, painstakingly carving out the decorative designs with tiny instruments and filling them in with ebony paste.

In another class a Finnish student, Elina Kaljunen, was carving the neck of another instrument. "When I complete the course here I will try to work in one of the Cremona workshops, in particular to specialise in the restoration of old string instruments," she said. "Then I will probably go back to Finland to work."

Mr Torrisi, an accomplished amateur musician with a degree in engineering, explained that restoration is one area of the institute's teaching which he would like to expand. He hopes by next year to extend the four-year course to five to include one year dedicated exclusively to restoration.

"Today we have a situation in which the demand for top-quality restoration and conservation of important instruments almost outstrips the demand for new high- quality instruments. The violins, violas, cellos and basses we make are designed to last forever."