10.00
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15.00
Rauland, Myllarsalen
Benjamin Rygh is defending his dissertation for the degree philosophiae doctor (PhD) at the University of South-Eastern Norway.
The doctoral work has been carried out at the Faculty of Humanities, Sports, and Educational Science.
You are invited to follow the trial lecture and the public defence.
Summary
This study is about violins built in Norway before 1850 and in what way and to what extent they resemble contemporary European violins in terms of design, construction methods and materials.
The outlines of the Norwegian violins are in the style of Andrea Amati, Nicolo Amati, Jacob Stainer and Giovanni Paolo Maggini. The outline of a cello shows inspiration from Joachim Tielke. The arches are mostly in the style of Jacob Stainer, but some violins are more or less in the style of Gasparo Bertolotti 'da Salò’ from Brescia. The f-holes have individual designs, but are reminiscent of f-holes by Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Jacob Stainer, Andrea Amati, Nicolo Amati/Antonio Stradivari, Joachim Tielke and Marcin Groblicz. The scrolls all show individual designs, but mainly resemble scrolls by Jacob Stainer. One violin, one viola and one cello have scrolls in the style of makers from Brescia.
No violins in the Norwegian sample are built using an internal mould. All the violins except one are built with the neck and top block in one piece. This, along with the fact that the violins usually have small or no corner blocks, suggests that they were built without the use of a mould. The ribs are not let into the back on any of the violins in the selection. However, the picture is not entirely clear, as most of the violins also have small conical wooden pins through the back and into the root of the neck and end block. The construction methods show a connection with European construction methods, but also show some distinctive features. The most special is a conical plug that goes through the 'foot” inside the violin (when the neck and top block is in one piece, the “top block” being shaped more or less as a foot) and into the back. This feature is also present in older Hardanger fiddles.
The Norwegian violins are largely built with local materials as they also did in Europe, but on the violins that have original fingerboards, the whole, or the veneer on top, is made of an imported exotic wood species.