On the way, passing a tramp who was down but not out, with trousers down, on the top of the steps down to the gents toilet at Waterloo. Lucky old police dealing. Then out onto the roads which were very quiet this late afternoon, more pedestrians than drivers. And while cyclists were nearly all well-behaved, there were two who were not, with one having flagrant disregard of traffic lights, to the point of being a danger to others as well as to himself.
Arrived at Baker Street a little early, I thought it right to try the Villa Maria at the Wetherspoon's there, once, I think, part of a large hotel above the tube station. Entertained there by an old poster advertising something called the 'Glaciarium', one of the first ice rinks in London, with the very same poster included by Wikipedia at reference 1. Curiously, my telephone had told of the ice involving pork fat, but today I had to work a bit to find Henry Kirk's 1841 patent for making artificial ice by mixing crushed alum with pork fat, the mixture eventually being cast into slabs.
The event was being held in the (newish) David Josefowitz Hall at the Royal Academy of Music, a small but handsome hall, just right for an event of this sort. Most of the talking was done by the cellist Mats Lidström and the cello maker & mender John Dilworth, with the session consisting of seven cellos, one after the other, from the late seventeenth century to the present, four Italian, two French and one English, with each of the two giving us a few words for each. Plus a bit of a cello suite for each, plus a bit of something more modern for each. With the cellist's son helping out on the piano. I think he also said that his father had been a cellist and his wife was a cellist, although there was a wayward son who did jazz trumpet. We did not get to know about the Dilworth family, although that it was clear that there had a been a lot of family businesses in the trade in days gone by.
For me, without a trained ear, let alone being cello player, there was an awful lot of material for an event lasting just about 90 minutes. They clearly had enough to take all day, although I doubt whether I would have had the stamina for that. Nevertheless, an interesting event with lots of good information to take away. I share some of it below.
We were reminded that a consort of four viols echoed the music for four voices: treble, alto, tenor and bass. Was very into elaborate and delicate counterpoint. Well known to the likes of Pepys. With London being the centre of the viol universe, in much the same way that Cremona was the centre of the violin universe at about the same time. With violins starting life as vulgar street instruments to provide the backing for popular dances.
Nor did string quartets do four parts in quite the same way as viols, having two violins.
The cello was a tricky instrument, with musicians wanting a lot of sound in rather too small a compass, which was difficult, with the modern design being something of a compromise. In which connection the earliest cello on show, a 1690 Giacomo, had at some point been cut down in length by a few inches, in line with the then prevailing fashion. Dilworth was clearly not convinced by the Stradivarius tradition in such matters.
He also told us that things had slipped a bit from the glory days of the Giacomo, when time and money were no object and nothing but the best would do. Modern cellos were all very well in their way, but fell short of the standard set at that time. Also that instruments of the violin family were unusual in that their sound improved with age, although they sometimes went through a bad patch in adolescence, just like people. That apart, there was something about the slabs with which their backs were made which meant that they got better with age and use. With the back of the Giacomo having a beautiful figure as well, much the best of the seven as far as that went. But, for what it was worth, I found its sound a bit blurred.
A surprising amount of variation in weight, with lots of more subtle variations in shape and in the amount of belly given to back and front. One could also fiddle around with strings, apparently a rather expensive business.
There seemed to be an element of horses for courses about it all, with different sorts of instrument suiting different sorts of players. On the other hand, one might start off not liking an instrument, but grow into it. Or vice-versa.
All in all, a good event, well worth the journey.
On the way out, reminded that places of this sort have separate toilets for staff and students. Reasonable enough, but rather old speak. On the other hand, new speak enough to have an office suite labelled senior management team.
Out to drizzle, so elected to tube it home.
PS: it was the wrong event to ask about slope cut tail pieces. But the King's Place people who put this event on also put on one day fairs for violin makers and such, so perhaps that would be the right event. Note that it was a two part search to find the related reference 4: first ask bing about violin makers in the west end, turn up the name of one which was both unusual and familiar and then ask the blog.
Reference 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glaciarium.
Reference 2: http://www.matslidstrom.com/.
Reference 3: http://johndilworthviolins.co.uk/.
Reference 4: http://psmv3.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/more-tuition.html.
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