Celebrating talent
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by Virginia Villa*
VIOLAS OF THE WORLD’S MOST IMPORTANT AND SELECTIVE VIOLINMAKING EXHIBITION
PHOTOS CRISTIAN CHIODELLI
lin Making School, where I was trained by Maestro Vincenzo Bissolotti.” She then went on to study restoration in Vienna. “In 2005 I returned to Zurich and set up my workshop. That was when I went back to making new instruments: it’s the most interesting part of this profession.” Today, Ulrike’s atelier is in the attic of the house where she lives with her husband Felix, a mathematician, and their three children Lisa, Susanna and Adrian. Violins, moulds and tools all hang on the walls, whilst the shelves are full of little jars of resins, oils and pigments. Were it not for the modern table lamp, it could well be a workshop from 100 or 200 years ago. Hardly a surprise if one considers that violins are still built by hand, from beginning to end. “Usually I make four instruments a year, but there will
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be more in 2013. Violinmaking is a living art, and my work is constantly evolving. Musicians, colleagues and historical and scientific publications constantly stimulate and influence my style. I try to express the present time and my personality into each instrument. It’s a bit like the topic of love in literature. Shakespeare investigated this emotion thoroughly, but people still continue to write about it, because every age has a different approach and a different vocabulary. By the same token, every period in history has its sound, even for stringed instruments.” Style, on the other hand, is inspired by Cremona’s great masters of the past: “I am fascinated by the elegance of the instruments made by the Amati family, especially by the brothers Antonio and Girolamo. I would like my instruments to have the same formal balance and an equally harmonious silhouette. In the varnish, too, I look for the same intensity, shine and transparency. But, above all, the quality of sound must be smooth, the emission prompt, and the notes must reach every corner of the concert hall.” Ulrike defines her approach “analytical and cerebral, although I always put my heart in it.” “Reasoning,” she explains, “is necessary in every stage of the process. Specific guidelines and the methodology of the great violin makers have to be followed. But then I also let my experience and intuition guide me. In choosing the wood, you must feel the resonance and the magic of the sound.” Once again, Shakespeare comes to mind: “We are such stuff,” says Prospero in The Tempest, “as dreams are made on.” When they take shape, they become works of art. In an attic a stone’s throw from the Zurich sky, Ulrike’s dreams are turned into violins, violas and cellos with an extraordinary voice.
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