Bologna and Baloney

Bologna always makes me think of baloney.  This connotation coloured my imagination of the city.  I pictured a small dirty city with a plentitude of bloody meat shops.  I know this isn’t a very realistic image, but tell that to my subconscious. 

In reality, Bologna is a cultured, international city with a boot fetish.  It has purportedly the oldest university in the world and is known for the amount of covered walkways lining the streets.  Every other store sells boots that make me feel broke just by looking at them.  Also, there is a world-renowned violin making school that has close ties with the Cremona school (home of Stradivari, Guarneri, and Amati).  Food, always varied in Italy, takes on new levels of complexity with the addition of tofu and vegetarian menus.  By the end of our one night and day in Bologna, I had decided on my new favorite Italian city. 

Norwegian Violin

Our major activity in Bologna was meeting Alessandro, a friend of Paul’s who’s a violinmaker.  Alessandro can trace his violin-making lineage back to the founder of the Bologna Violin School.  We met in his shop where he could give us a tour of his violins.  I had been looking forward to this meeting for days and was hoping for a violin tasting, similar to wine tasting.  This is what I was imagining: this violin is three years old, has this type of varnish and a ringing sound, compare to this violin which has been aged 10 years and is much more mellow.  Even though what I wanted was to “taste” (play) a sampling of violins, I was not expecting to do so. 

When we arrived to Alessandros’ shop, I pushed open the door and entered a string player’s dream.  The tiny room was stuffed full with violins, cellos, and bizarre mutants that were commonly played in medieval times.  Lutes, ancient Norwegian violins, six string guitars with resonator strings and viola da gambas hung from the walls.  My eyes grew wider and wider as we got a detailed explanation about each type of instrument.  I saw more varieties of violins than I had thought existed crammed into a room 5m x 10m. 

Early Italian Tenor Viola de Gamba

Then came the modern violins that Alessandro made. Each violin was made slightly differently.  In one, the back piece was made from one piece of wood, instead of the normal two.  Another was made with wood that was 100 years old.  Better than my imagined “violin tasting”, we were actually permitted to experiment with the different violins.  My dad and I played three instruments; each felt different and had it’s own character that was apparent from the first note we played.  Each also felt different underneath my fingers.  I think these Italian violins had a wider neck than I am used to, so my fingers kept landing slightly off the strings. 

Each violin had a different voice.  The first violin we tried was 13 years old and had been owned previously.  That violin was very responsive and mellow; it was easy to create a beautiful sound.  Also, it was easy be accurate while shifting positions on the lower strings.  My father and I kept passing it back and forth each trying to hear how it played blues, folk, classical, and it’s dynamic range.  It was kind of like driving a Ferrari that only goes as fast as is good for the driver. 

A Beautiful Image from the Web

The next violin was like sitting in the back of the winning racecar during a race.  Sound just poured out of it and echoed across the room.  It was loud, vibrant, and rich.  I felt like it was louder than a horn, but of course the sound was right under my ear.  Musical ideas were hovering just beneath the fingerboard and were waiting to be tapped by my fingers.  This violin “did powerful” very well, but it didn’t like the gentler notes. 

The third violin made the entire room of string instruments ring sympathetically.  Each note was extended and echoed across the room and in the body of the violin.  When my father played this violin, the sound was powerful, it was soft, and it was all the colours in between.  When I picked it up, I expected to be able to create the same sound variations.  However, I was unable to bring out the more beautiful aspect of the tone.  I wanted an afternoon with this violin just to learn how to play it so the sound echoed and shimmered.  Unfortunately, we had to go after this and we didn’t get to “taste” any more violins.  My father and I will treasure the memories of the individual instruments.  I hope that one day I will get a chance to play violins like this again.

Original sources for these pictures:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/93/Viol_Raphael_St.Cecilia1510.jpg/800px-Viol_Raphael_St.Cecilia1510.jpg 
http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/Norwegian.jpg 
http://www.leoneardo.com/images/violins.jpg