Quartet Objectives

Since a musical instrument is a tool for a musician, and musicians vary so much in technique and artistic vision, the idea of building a set of instruments for unknown players can seem problematic. Chamber musicians respond, however, not only to the other members of their ensemble, but also to the instruments they and their colleagues are playing. This interactive process between players and instruments suggests that a particular quartet of instruments can lead to new and exciting—if not entirely predictable—results.

One important concept I took away from the violin listening exercises at the Oberlin Acoustics Workshop is that the true communicative value of an instrument lies less in its intrinsic quality of sound than in its ability to convey meaning through contrasts of volume and color, or the shapability and flexibility of the sound in the players hands. I’ve found that I value the clarity and harmonious interaction of the voices in the quartet over a seamless blend, and I want to keep in touch with each vocal personality as the music unfolds. So I aim for individual strength of character and personality in each instrument, with enough flexibility in each to allow for seamless blend when desired.

Not knowing who will be playing this set over the years, I thought it best to keep the instrument size and proportion in the average range. Because I love working in the style of Guarneri del Gesù, I chose that style as a unifying visual and tonal theme. I also chose similar top wood—the material that does most to affect power and ease of response—to help achieve balance of power. The Engelmann spruce for the upper three instruments comes from the same log. I chose contrasting back wood—which does most to affect the tone color of the instrument—to help provide each instrument with its own voice and personality.

In the fall of 2006 Lawrence University asked me to build four new instruments to be used by their Conservatory’s Veridian String Quartet. Since I had built a quartet for the Violin Society of America competition in 1984 and have worked with a number of individual players on instruments for quartet use since then, I welcomed the opportunity to explore further what an effective quartet needs to do and how it should be built.

After corresponding with the string faculty at Lawrence to get their ideas on what would work best for their intended use, I selected wood and instrument models during the spring of 2007. In addition to the input I received from Lawrence, I made these decisions based on my understanding of effective relationships between the instruments of a quartet, where I thought my strengths as a maker lie, and what I thought would be fun. Over the summer, I discussed acoustic issues with violin making colleagues at the VSA Oberlin Acoustics Workshop and talked with a number of distinguished quartet players at the Yellow Barn and Marlboro music festivals.

I built the instruments during the fall of 2007. As is my practice, the sealed instruments were sun treated before I varnished them in April and set them up in mid-May of 2008. The summer of 2008 provided numerous opportunities for the instruments to be evaluated individually and as a quartet, and I continued to make minor adjustments during this period.

The quartet will be delivered to Lawrence University at a gala concert and reception on November 14, 2008. I look forward to building another quartet in the near future to apply and test what I have learned from this process.

The First Violin

For the first violin I chose the Kreisler del Gesù violin of ca. 1730 as the model. This is perhaps the most Strad-like of del Gesù’s models and in my experience gives good power and flexibility with a medium warm tone color. I was looking for healthy, strong core and middle, typical violin sound to serve as the front for the quartet.

The Second Violin

One of the greatest influences on my making has been the mentoring and guidance of the late Robert Koff, the founding second violin of the Juilliard Quartet and professor of violin at Brandeis University. Robert was always clear that the second violin in a quartet needed to be naturally more powerful than the first in order to provide balance from its position behind, and usually at lower pitches than the first. With that in mind, my goal was a very powerful violin with brilliant highs, but dark, woody low-end to provide some transition to the viola sound. I have found that the very late “Leduc” del Gesù pattern provides these qualities, and I chose back wood from stock I know to provide a dark, woody color.

The Viola

The size range of the viola was the first consideration. The 16 3/8” body length is a good all round average of what most serious professional violists can handle, but not overly large. The pattern from Andrea Guarneri (grandfather of del Gesù) is very harmonious, yet robust. I can imagine that had del Gesù decided to build a viola (there are none known to exist), he would have used the form sitting in the back of the family workshop. My personal taste is for a dark woody voice for violas in general, and in a quartet I want it to have a distinctive quality, not just a lower violin, or a small cello. The viola needs a distinctive color with enough breadth in the bass to blend with the cello, and enough edge and core in the top to both sing and cut through the violins. Del Gesù’s later work is often seen as incorporating much of the style and ideas seen in the work of Gaspar da Salo, one of the earliest Italian makers, whose violas are especially valued. I thought it reasonable to expect that taking this Andrea pattern and working in the late del Gesù style would produce the desired qualities.

The Cello

A cello for a quartet must have, foremost, an enormous bottom to support the edifice above, and then have a singing top to intertwine with the upper voices. Del Gesù did not make cellos, but if he had it is reasonable to think he might have looked to Venice, where his younger brother, Peter, worked. Del Gesù’s more robust approach to his work would naturally have led him to Domenico Montagnana, whose cellos have the desired qualities. The cello designed for this quartet starts with a moderately proportioned Montagnana model, extends the rounds at top and bottom, lengthens the mid-bout and reduces the length of the corners to make it more playable and to incorporate the aesthetic and style of late del Gesù. The lengthened ‘f” holes complete the styling and work to accentuate the bass.