baroque

Educational activities

Given the great passion of the Romanians and Slovenians for their corded instruments, both in the execution of popular and cultural music (there are many classical theatres in the main cities of both of these countries), the partners are organizing stages of 10 days in Romania and Slovenia, that are to be held by master craftsmen instrument makers from Cremona (from the Civil School of Stringed Instrument Makers of Milan and the State School of Stringed Instrument Makers of Cremona) concentrated on the three fundamental instruments: baroque violin, cello, lute and other plucked instruments.

The art of “liuteria” as it is known in Italian, that is the art of constructing and restoring stringed instruments and other corded instruments (violin, cello, viola, double bass, etc.) and the plucked instruments (guitar, basses, mandolin, etc.). The name derives from the lute, a plucked instrument widely used until the baroque era. It is an art and an artisan technique that, from the classical era of the lute (XVII; XVIII centuries) has arrived in our days almost unchanged. In ancient times the lute maker usually worked in his shop helped by one or more apprentices. During the renaissance, in Italy there was great ferment in the activity of lute making. Famous for its shops was and still is today, the city of Cremona (where stringed instrument making is traditional and is very important to the local economy) that housed among others, the shop of Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, probably the greatest stringed instrument makers of all time.

In modern times, the producers of instruments often trust the construction of their products to the production line, with the resultant savings in production costs. Nevertheless the stringed instrument producers, especially the instruments with bows, remain one of the few arts to preserve the traditional manual working methods to produce instruments of the highest quality. The sound quality and the finish of the artisan instrument are of a visibly superior level. The hand production allows for various personalizations that would be impossible to obtain from mass produced instruments.