Fourth in an occasional series. The Daily Progress is charting the journey of two local artists as they try to reproduce a Pietro Antonio Landolfi violin.
The violin rested on the dining room table, slumbering in that otherworldly state betwixt birth and first breath.
The instrument’s raw beauty stirs hopeful anticipation of greatness in its maker, Oded Kishony. A few days before he had “closed the corpus,” when he glued the spruce top and maple back of the body together.
The violinmaker had brought the instrument to the Albemarle County home of internationally renowned violinist Max Rabinovitsj to show him the progress. The musician’s 235-year-old violin, made by Pietro Antonio Landolfi, serves as the inspiration for the one being created.
“It’s like the eighth month of pregnancy,” Rabinovitsj joked as he admired the violin, which at this stage is called “in the white,” because it hasn’t yet been varnished. “We’ve seen it go from being just various pieces of wood to this point where you can actually see the baby.
“Already I see that it’s very beautiful, and the workmanship is impeccable. The F-holes are absolutely stunning and carved to perfection. And look at the way the light works on the back of it, and the way Oded set the whole thing to be so beautifully aligned.
“And when you look at the ribs you see they are fabulous. And the curvature… It really is a creation, a work of art. To see it coming together like this is very exciting.”
Impulsively, without a word, Rabinovitsj picked up the Landolfi as Kishony lifted the new. They brought the two instruments within an inch or two of each other to compare the lines.
At that precise moment something wondrous was sensed rather than seen. It was as if an invisible connection had been made between the two violins — some absolute embrace of exquisite gentleness.
Everyone in the room felt it, and knowing glances and smiles were exchanged, but no one ventured a word of explanation. Who could say what it was that made the flesh tingle and two inanimate objects seem to be positively aware of one another?
The violin, after all, is a master of the mysterious. And the relationship that grows between it and the musician is often as complex and beautiful as a loving marriage.
“There’s something very strange about a violinist with his violin,” said Rabinovitsj, who for more than a half-century has entertained audiences in the world’s greatest music halls. “The truth is that every good violinist finds his own voice.
“No matter what the violin is that he’s playing on, eventually he will create his sound. That is the difference between an instrumentalist and a very good violinist.
“I was thinking this morning that this new instrument here will not make a sound until this little piece of wood called a sound post is placed between the top and back of it. The French call it ‘l’ame,’ which means the soul.
“But isn’t it curious that this very insignificant piece of equipment, with that very workmanlike name, is the soul of the instrument?”
The sound post, as critical as it is, is only about 2½ inches long and as big around as a pencil. It’s put into place through the F-hole with a special tool and, like everything with the violin it has to be perfectly precise.
“When the sound post is put in, because of a little upward pressure, it changes the angle of the area where the bridge sits,” Kishony said.
“So what I’m going to do is put in the sound post and get it at the right tension.
“Then, when I set the neck, I’m going to line it up with the fingerboard, bridge and button so that everything is perfectly aligned. The fun part is when you string it up, play it and hear what the voice of the instrument is going to be like.
“And the really fun part is going to be collaborating with Max to bring the best sound out of the instrument. I think this collaboration between the maker and the player to produce the sound of the instrument is really unique.”
Kishony explained that at this stage of creation, the violin is slightly overbuilt, with everything a bit too thick, too heavy and too stiff.
That’s in keeping with how he thinks the venerated Italian violinmakers like Landolfi and Antonio Stradivari created their masterpieces.
The violinmaker said there is evidence that the Italian masters finished their violins from the outside. So he will remove wood from the body of the violin until he and Rabinovitsj feel they have reached perfection in the sound.
But only time will tell if the Landolfi has indeed inspired greatness.
“It’s not likely this violin is going to be the same as the Landolfi, because the material is so different,” Kishony said. “And age is a big factor.
“But nothing compares to working with a great musician like Max, who is at the top of the field and has the kind of sensitivity and nuanced feelings for an instrument. It’s not only about sound.
“Of course, sound is a big factor, but it’s also about feel and response. What Max feels in his right hand on the bow is just as important as what is coming out of the instrument and what he feels in his left hand.”
Knowing when to stop removing translucent curls of wood is crucial, because if one goes too far, the instrument is ruined. The two men will rely largely on the sensitivity of their highly trained ears to know when the best sound has been achieved.
Kishony will know when that point is near.
“I know what everything weighs, and I know roughly what the violin should weigh at the end,” said Kishony, who has been making and repairing violins, violas and cellos for more than 30 years.
“That’s one critical indicator that we’re getting close. I also have a map I made of the thickness of the instrument, top and back. So I’ll know I can remove wood from here and there, and where I don’t want to remove any wood.
“But there is a certain randomness to violin making, because all the materials have their own properties and personalities.”
Like a baby, the newborn violin needs a lot of loving care starting out. It’s almost as if it takes the warmth of the human touch to bring the instrument to full expression.
“When a violin is first made, the wood needs to be vibrating all the time,” Rabinovitsj said. “It needs a period of about six months, during which the violin is played every day in order to loosen it and make everything lively and vibrant.
“The richness of the sound, and the ability for the sound to be projected, comes from the overtones the violin produces. The miracle of a great violin like the Landolfi is that the sound will carry in a hall with 3,000 people.
“You can have violins that sound very loud under your ear, but the sound won’t carry. The big test is whether the new violin has the overtones to make it project.”
Kishony said the breaking-in period is another mysterious aspect of the violin. He has discussed it at length with his colleagues, but no one has yet come up with a plausible explanation for what’s going on, or even if it can be measured.
What is certain is that a good violinist will impose his or her sound onto the instrument. And to a great extent that will be done with the bow, which can be even more important to the sound produced than the violin itself.
Rabinovitsj likens the bow in the right hand to the voice, and the left hand to the tongue.
“If you have a great right hand it will take every instrument and make it sound better than it is,” Rabinovitsj said. “You’ll find a way.
“In my many years of teaching I’ve had students say, ‘Well, you have a good instrument, and that’s why you can do what you do. I have a bad instrument and I can’t.’ I will take their instrument and make it sound great, and then say, ‘You see? There’s hardly any difference.’
“However, it’s still nicer to drive a Rolls-Royce than the Pinto.”
Kishony has strived painstakingly to create a violin that sounds and handles beautifully. To do so, he has merged techniques of the old Italian masters with the technology of the modern era into the violin.
Like Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri ’del Gesu before him, he has brushed the inside of the violin with a mixture of color and egg white. This helps seal the instrument, makes it more stable and prevents it from absorbing moisture too quickly.
Kishony also has employed advanced computer programs to precisely measure dimensions and acoustical values of the Landolfi in order to approximate them in the new violin.
So when exactly will the new violin come to life?
“About 150 years after it’s finished,” Kishony said with a laugh.
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