The sweet call of an older violin
Name: Gilles Blouin, owner and luthier, Violons Etc., 2129 St. Urbain St., corner Sherbrooke St., 514-844-6180. This looks like a very old building. Does it have an interesting history?
This is a house that dates back to the end of the 19th century, probably from around 1870. It’s a pretty little house and very unusual for Montreal: it’s a worker’s home in a rich neighbourhood.
From what I’ve heard, Omer DeSerres lived next door. On the other side of this wall was the stable for his horses and, later, his Cadillacs; his servants lived in this house.
We like to call this place “The Little House on St. Urbain.” I’ve owned it for about 30 years and I make and sell violins here. So customers can watch you make violins in the store.
Since we make violins in the traditional way, we don’t really need any mechanical tools. We have a little handsaw in the basement, but that’s it. I make everything in the back of the store. I have everything I need to make a violin or a cello on the table right there. Looks like you’re doing some renovating.
We decided to make some repairs because we want this little house to stand another 100 years. In maybe two years we’ll be doing some even bigger renovations to build up four storeys in the back of this house; I own the land in the back as well. I’d like to widen the space for the store and maybe create a little concert hall out in the back just for soloists, with about 75 seats. It would be for primarily violinists, but any instrumentalist interested in holding a recital could play there.
I’m doing it primarily for violinists because there is currently no place for recitals in Montreal. It is going to a beautiful place with beautiful sound. That’s my dream. But first, I want to renovate this house into a more complete shop for violins, to give our customers more choice. I’m going to double our stock, so we’ll have about 60 violins ranging in price from $500 to $10,000. Did you make all these violins?
We try to build as many of the instruments we sell here as possible. We don’t really want to buy from other countries or to sell Chinese violins.
We do have some Chinese violins; it’s impossible not to sell them in this day and age, in this economy that favours Chinese production. Chinese violins are the cheapest.
They are not so bad, but the truth is we don’t want to sell ordinary violins in this violin store.
We have to keep low-priced violins for about a third to a quarter of our stock, but I prefer to find an old violin at a garage sale and fix it up than to buy a new Chinese violin.
I’m aware of all the pollution caused by transportation by boats and planes, and the absurdity of getting something for 25 cents when it should cost a dollar. It’s completely ridiculous. That’s one of the reasons I don’t push Chinese-made violins. So you believe in supporting Quebec violinmakers?
I see myself as part of a long tradition of violinmaking in Quebec and North America, trying to develop what we already know and to continue making the traditional violins of the past. My right-hand man is from England and was trained in violinmaking in London. We also have an apprentice and a good bow-maker.
Aside from violins, we’re also interested in rescuing keyboard instruments from North America from 1800 up until the financial crisis of 1929.
You won’t believe me, but the modern piano was developed in the United States and in Canada. It’s not from Germany, it’s not from France, it’s from here.
The reason is that people would buy instruments from Europe that were made for the weather in Europe. The pianos were not solid enough to survive the North American climate with our difficult winters, dryness, heating, floods – the combination of humidity and temperature in a house could ruin a piano in five or 10 years.
The great companies like Steinway or Knabe started to develop the modern piano in the States around 1830-1850. Why aren’t violins and pianos made by machine?
Steinway pianos are made by hand, even to this day. Every part is adjusted properly for that specific piano; you cannot take it and put it somewhere else. It is the same for violins – there are no regular measurements. We make a piano or a violin by hand and do the best we can with a particular piece of wood, because each piece is different.
You cannot do that by machine. I don’t think people realize that these instruments are made by real human beings. They throw their good pianos in the garbage, they take out their old violins and ruin them because they don’t know how special they are.
Two days ago, we were given a beautiful Craig piano built around 1891 in Montreal. We are going to restore it. Craig pianos were one of the best manufacturers in Montreal at that time. Imagine if he had thrown it out? We have to know about this handmade way of working, because many people have forgotten. Is lutherie becoming a lost art?
I don’t think so. The problem is the following: There were 600 violinmakers working in Europe for maybe 300 years. The great violins were made before the time of industrialization.
At that time, there was a huge quantity of instruments in Europe because those who were making instruments by hand built a lot of them.
There were enough instruments around the world to satisfy everybody. Then there was a certain period when violinmaking went into decline and started to become a lost art. There was no more demand because everyone already had a violin hanging in their salon, even in Quebec.
Then after the second World War, people discovered there were not as many usable violins; there was a lack of violins again. The tradition of violinmaking sprang up again in the ’50s. There was a rebirth. I am of that generation; I was born in 1942. I came to violinmaking by chance, through my family. Are you from a family of violinmakers?
They were not really violinmakers; they were carpenters. Because they worked with wood, they could make anything. In the village where we lived, a violinmaker might need a new violin because his was cracked when a horse put its hoof into it. So my father says, “Ah, I’ll make you one!” I watched him.
When I was older, I went to university to figure out a way to earn a living.
I studied linguistics at the Université de Montréal, and I almost finished my PhD. What happened was that since I was from a family of workers, I started feeling the need to work. I needed to build something with my hands.
I thought about my father, who was still making chests, drawers, doors and violins – not great violins, really just a box, but fine for someone who doesn’t have one and just wants to make some music. My father was a fiddler himself and he played not too bad, but it wasn’t beautiful music – it was music to make people dance at a party.
I later discovered that many of today’s violinmakers had the same idea I did back then because there were no really good violins in that period. There was just one old violinmaker in Montreal at that time, and his name was Antoine Robichaud. He became one of my masters. Why would someone in 2009 bother to learn how to play an old-fashioned instrument like the violin?
I think it’s because of the beauty of the instrument and the sound of the violin. There is a particular charm about the sound of a violin. It’s magical. The music played by a good violinist with a good violin – it is just extraordinary. Is it fashionable to learn to play the violin today? Do you get many new students in your store?
Yes. Well, I should say it is progressing slowly, but it is always progressing. It is difficult for us because we live in a small country. How many people live in Quebec? How many in Montreal? Not many.
But it’s more than that: We have difficulty making an orchestra survive in this city. In Amsterdam, they have about seven symphony orchestras. Are you saying people aren’t interested in classical music in Montreal?
They don’t know about it. There is a kind of lack of civilization in our country that is a problem, I think. It is difficult to be a professional musician in Montreal. It is a very tough business to be in.
People don’t understand what it means to be a luthier, either.
The truth is it doesn’t take very long to make a violin from start to finish.
But it does take between 20 and 30 years to become a good violinmaker, who has his own style and whose violins have their own recognizable sound. It’s a very long process. That’s why violins cost so much. Let’s just go back to those Chinese violins you were talking about earlier. Can you tell me more about the difference between a violin you made and a violin made in China?
Let me show you something. (Gets up and takes down a violin from wall.) This is one of the first violins made by Anton Wilfer when he came to America after the war. It’s from 1949. Wilfer’s shop was the most celebrated in Montreal in that era; he made a fortune because he was in the proper place and the proper time.
This is simply a beautiful violin; it was owned by a young woman who kept it all her life. I bought it from her 10 years ago when she could no longer play it. How much are you selling this for?
Well, this is another problem of our trade: There’s no market for a violin like this. This is one of my goals, to create a market for these violins in Quebec. If this was a French or German violin, it would sell for between $12,000 and $20,0000. And because it’s from Quebec it’s worth less?
Well, I would try to sell it for as much as I can, of course. It is very rare, very special. But I would probably ask for about $8,000 for it, half its value. That’s if I want to sell it. Ah. You don’t actually want to sell it, do you. That’s why you’ve had it for 10 years.
Well ... no, I do want to sell it. Maybe. Wait, can I show you another violin? This one was made by Anton Wilfer in Mittenwald, probably at the end of his training as a young violinmaker. It’s signed by Wilfer and dated 1918 and 1946. It is a local treasure. A real collector’s item. So that one’s also not for sale.
Oof… (Long pause.) I don’t really mind selling it. Are you trying to tell me that Chinese violins don’t have this kind of history?
These (gestures toward the wall of violins in his shop) are very good violins.
They beat any Chinese violin. The quality of sound is much better. I think they make their violins by hand in China also, but by human machines. They pay their workers nothing – they are given maybe $20 a week and they will work 60 hours.
They are very good workers, well-trained, and can make a violin very nicely. I just don’t think the Chinese workers have the right cultural background to make violins.
Let’s suppose I was asked to make an erhu, a Chinese traditional instrument with two strings and a bow made of bamboo.
Me doing that? I would be very lost. I wouldn’t know what to listen for. To be a good violinmaker you need to be trained in Occidental music and culture.
I know they love this music in China, but it would be a difficult task to craft a high-quality instrument without being familiar with the music and culture it was invented for.
This is just my hypothesis, I could be wrong. But I do know that Chinese violins are made of thinner wood, and after two or three years of playing, the sound becomes harsh. A good violin develops with age. What are your clients looking for when they come to your store?
I have a few professional musicians who come here to buy their instruments. Mostly, I do repairs and make adjustments to get the best sound from my clients’ violins. I also make small instruments for kids, which is unusual – I think I may be one of the only ones doing that in Montreal.
Usually, a parent will buy a very cheap violin for their child to start with – there is no sound quality. Sometimes kids get frustrated when they hear their violin teacher making beautiful music and they quit when they can’t produce a sound like that. I thought it would be better to try to make a beautiful instrument for a child.
These cost $900 even though they are worth so much more than that. But when the child outgrows the violin, I take it back and give them credit to buy a larger one. Eventually, they return to buy one of my really beautiful violins, and everyone is happy.