SCROLLAVEZZA & ZANRE’
Scrollavezza & Zanrè is a violin-making workshop committed to the making, restoration and set-up of the sound of bow instruments. Moreover, it offers assistance in the field of conservation and dealing, covering also insurance aspects and expertise of historical instruments.
S&Z takes inspiration from and aims to continue the artistic tradition transmitted through the work and teaching of Renato Scrollavezza who has been synonymous of violin-making of personality, warmth and delicate equilibrium.
In the construction of new instruments as well as in their conservation and set-up S&Z concentrates on the research of an ideal of excellence which is constantly pursued in the field of sound, artistic essence of the traditional workmanship as well as in the relationship with the musician.
ITALIAN CLASSICAL TRADITION
Italian violin making is appreciated by the connoisseurs for its characteristics of spontaneity and great stylistic variety. In respect of this tradition most of the production coming from S&Z studio is composed of new instruments, often conceived and made on the basis of personal models.
However, to introduce even the least innovation to such a noble history, it is necessary to be acquainted with its lines and styles, to be familiar with the models and variety of constructive methodologies. For this reason S&Z have studied most deeply and have reproduced in every detail some of the great instruments of the classical tradition, documenting their shapes, the constructing methods and crucial characteristics with regard to sound as well as arching and thicknesses.
This experience assists us not only in making copies, but it also allows us to offer a great variety of models often derived from original instruments: besides personal violins, violas and cellos, our studio can therefore offer instruments made on models by Antonio Stradivari, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù and Niccolò Amati, but also by Paolo Maggini, Gennaro Gagliano, Santo Serafino, Giovanni Battista Guadagnini, together with some great masters of the twentieth century, such as Augusto Pollastri, Marino Capicchioni and Gaetano Sgarabotto.
LINES AND VOLUMES
An aspect in the violin-maker’s profession which remains unknown to the majority exists but which for some experts constitutes the real attraction of this profession, something that differentiates it from the constructing of any other instrument.
In fact the luthier creates sound sculptures, sculptures in which he wants to incorporate all the equilibrium and the harmony of lines which have remained almost unchanged since the late Renaissance. Great dedication is required so that the purity of these forms may emerge again in our modern world. The ultimate aesthetic intent must lead to lines which seems created in one single thought, almost as a natural phenomenon, to perfectly distributed volumes to which nothing can be added or removed without spoiling their perfection.
However these forms must have the freshness of the sculpture in which the artist’s gesture remains visible. For this reason S&Z instruments are finished only with cutting instruments and with a minimum utilization of abrasives, as was the custom in the 18th and 19th centuries; in this way the lines may remain crisp and sincere and the texture of the wood, the fibre of the spruce, the flame of the maple may emerge in all their beauty.
The same care is furthermore dedicated to carving the bridge, exclusively executed by knife, and to the choice of the most refined and luxurious accessories, realized in precious woods, such as the European boxwood, ebony, violet rosewood and serpent wood.
THE IDEALS OF SOUND AND EXPRESSION
Many of the characteristics required by the sound of a bow instrument are typical of the human voice, with which it must also share the same expressiveness: the sound has to be ample in volume and round, open in all its extension; in the meantime it must have a clear centre, almost a point which ensures its incisiveness; it must be complex and noble, ready to respond to the minimum touch of the bow and resonant even to the lightest pressure.
Even today the sound, which is the principal challenge of our art, remains entrusted to instinct. Through his experience, the violin-maker learns to foresee the sound by touching the raw table, “to see” the sound by looking at the arching lines and then “to touch” it bending the tops and backs up to the attainment of the optimum thicknesses. The success of the instrument depends upon the balance of innumerable variables which are gradually weighed along the course of weeks of reflection. The superiority of an individually created instrument versus a mass produced one is still today founded on these factors.
However, besides the timbre, fundamental are the response and the satisfaction that the musician gets from the performance, that sensation of vitality deriving from an instrument at the peak of its potentiality. Not always the necessary attention is dedicated to the setting up field.
S&Z pursues the optimum sound conditions for each instrument, whether new or antique, reserving extreme attention to crucial variables such as the bridge, the soundpost , but also to the correct choice of the strings.
MATERIALS AND RESEARCH
Violin-making is one of the very few fields in which the use of traditional materials and methods persists against the principles of our times which are characterized by economic factors. For example, the oil varnish coating S&Z’s instruments, is prepared exclusively with natural ingredients, following a recipe which has been documented in Italy since the sixteenth century and which implies long and risky procedures to obtain just an extremely limited quantity of product.
With the same approach to selectivity and reflection we chose the maple and the red fir which will become our instruments, seeking not only the absence of imperfections, but being extremely particular in the choice of the most resistant and lightest tables, which alone come closest to the ideal acoustics we aim at. Wood is employed only after a long, natural seasoning which is never inferior to ten years and in some instances the wood comes from trees felled several centuries ago. However, the ability to wait and the respect for the tradition must combine with a constant attention to innovation and research in such fields as methods of investigation and restoring of antique instruments, and the most recent developments in acoustics.
VALUE IN TIME
The dictates of quality are sometimes capricious; if it is necessary an enormous investment of work and devotion to obtain a minimum improvement, if to avoid falling into compromises it is also necessary to pay a high price, the research for excellence requires that this subtle difference be the first objective, although not perceptible to most people.
Despite of economic principles, the violin-maker and the restorer of instruments spend long hours of their time in order to obtain a minimum improvement, using ancient and laborious techniques only because an imperceptible difference will satisfy a very expert eye. At S&Z a whole month is required to varnish an instrument, layer after layer: of course faster methods exist which give only a very slight difference in the result, but S&Z have chosen to invest on that difference.
Naturally, the customer must be willing to accept such an investment, being aware that the life of the instrument will last centuries. This because the violin-maker has been able to wait until the wood has the correct seasoning, has dedicated all his attention to assembly, using reversible natural glues, has employed a varnish which acquires patina and fascination as time goes by.
Faced with the market situation of bow instruments, it is worthwhile to spend a word on the opportunity to invest on contemporary violin-making. If compared to the not infrequently prohibitive quotations reached by some old instruments not really valuable from a historical viewpoint or in a deteriorated state of preservation, contemporary violin-making guarantees maintaining its value in time. And if the buyer's intuition has been able to distinguish quality and talent, the originality and the signs of genuine tradition, the investment in a contemporary instrument may often prove to be a far-seeing choice after some decades.
