Traditional violin craftsmanship in Cremona
| Traditional violin craftsmanship in Cremona | |
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A luthier workshop in Cremona
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| Country | Italy |
| Reference | 00719 |
| Region | Europe and North America |
| Inscription history | |
| Inscription | 2012 (7th session) |
| List | Representative |
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The Cremona's traditional violin making is an ancient form of handicraft typical of Cremona (Italy) where bowed string instruments like violins, violas, cellos and double basses have been made since the 16th century.
"Traditional violin craftsmanship in Cremona" (official name in Italian: "Saperi e saper fare liutario della tradizione cremonese") was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2012, during the 7th session of the Intergovernmental Committee in Paris.
String instruments can be made with different methods, but Cremona's luthiers developed a technique considered as unique in the world.
Each instrument is handmade and assembled with more than 70 different molded pieces of wood. Every part of a new violin requires a particular technique, continuously adapted according to the different acoustic response of each piece of wood: for this reason it's impossible to get two violins exactly identical. Every part of the violin should be made with a particular kind of wood, carefully selected and naturally seasoned, so that its preparation can't be neither forced or artificial.
Realizing the Cremona's traditional violin, it's not possible to use any industrial or semi-industrial part, as well as it's prohibited the spray painting. Many of the elements of the musical instrument is apparently only ornamental, but in reality they are highly functional in order to get the force and the sound amplification, or to protect the instrument from accidental breaks: this is a double characteristic of the first violins creation.
The violin construction process is personally followed by violin maker in every phase, already from the tree and until to the finished instrument: for this reason a Cremona's violin maker can make only 3 - 6 violins per year.
The traditional violin making requires a perfect knowledge of all the natural materials and the know-how techniques passed down from generation to generation through words, gestures and habits shared since the 16th century, when the Cremona's violin making became popular, thanks to the skills of the house of Amati, then improved and refined by Stradivari, Guarneri and Bergonzi.
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