Jan
Boumeester, Hendrik Jacobs and Johannes Cuypers, names of famous Dutch
violin makers of days gone by, names which are known to violinmakers and
musicians both at home and abroad. But who has ever heard, for example,
of Artus Burlon? Nonetheless, his family is among the oldest makers of
plucked instruments in Amsterdam! During the last four centuries the Netherlands
has known many violinmakers, craftsmen who flourished to a greater or
lesser extent. Research carried out by violinmakers and musicians over
a period of many years has shown that violinmaking in this country has
played an important role for centuries, something that most people are
probably not aware of. Unfortunately, in contrast to our neighbouring
countries, little has been published on the subject. Until now, only two
books concerning Dutch violinmaking have appeared: De Hollandsche vioolmakers,
written by Dirk J. Balfoort and published in 1931,and the English-language
book The Violin-makers of the Low Countries (Belgium and Holland), written
by Max Möller and published by him in 1955. Copies of these books are
only offered at extremely high prices, mostly by antiquarian bookshops.
Sadly, they were never reprinted. In the meantime, many new facts have
been discovered and those in the profession have long wanted to publish
a new book about Dutch violinmaking. The fiftieth anniversary of the Dutch
Group of Violinmakers, found in 1949 is the occasion to actually publish
this reference book.
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In this book the music historian Johan Giskes describes
his search through the Amsterdam municipal archives, among others, and
reports on discoveries until now almost unknown. On the basis of lists
of legacies, details of which are described, he has also found evidence
of the existence of early Dutch violinmakers whose instruments are rarely,
if ever, found. Violinmaker Fred Lindeman sketches an outline of the development
of the making of violins in the Northern Netherlands, and sometimes a
technical explanation of the changes, illustrated with drawings, in order
to clarify how the violin has evolved through the centuries. The most
important old masters are discussed in the chapter "Well-known Dutch violinmakers",
compiled by Fred Lindeman, assisted by violinmaker Serge Stam. An alphabetical
list contains a summary of the known violinmakers from 1599 to the present
day. When compiling the list only those who where, or are, fully professionally
involved in violinmaking were considered. A quality judgement has not
been made. Although this list was compiled with great care, it may well
be that a maker has been omitted, because the name did not appear in any
of the sources consulted. Ellen Hooijen is responsible for the interviews
with current members of the NGV included in this book. In order to be
able to write as personal an account as possible, she visited every violinmaker
in his of her own workshop. From these interviews it can be seen that
today, too, violinmaking in the Netherlands is so sprightly that it can
rightly be said that the "antiques of the future" are now being produced!
Jaap
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