Book review: A Cultural History of the Violin in Nineteenth-Century London: From Instrument to Art

A Cultural History of the Violin in Nineteenth-Century London: From Instrument to Art

Tom Wilder

352PP ISBN 9781837652587

Boydell Press £95 

‘Objects are not what they were made to be, but what they have become’ (Nicholas Thomas, Entangled Objects). This citation heads Tom Wilder’s introduction to his investigation into the violin’s metamorphosis from a crafted musical instrument, defined by tonal quality, into a fetishised objet d’art, valued for its visible attributes.

Wilder’s research ‘stands at the intersection of anthropology, art history, museum studies and musicology’, hence his unusual synchronic approach, transcending disciplinary boundaries to incorporate broader social, cultural and economic currents such as developments in music, the press, public institutions, instrument making and restoring and commerce. His focus is on 19th-century London, where the international violin trade prospered and dealers such as W.E. Hill & Sons eagerly served a large and cosmopolitan violin community.

The volume’s structure is founded on Pierre Bourdieu’s theoretical concept of a ‘field of cultural production’, in which agents (performers, teachers, journalists, curators, collectors, makers, restorers, auctioneers, dealers and connoisseurs) ‘compete and cooperate over the power to ascribe meaning to cultural products’. It comprises eight chapters, aptly subdivided into sections relating to the prevalent theme, with most either consciously or inadvertently outlining these agents’ roles in the classical violin’s transformation.

Following an initial chapter that discusses the canonisation of the classical violin by musicians and collectors at a time when art and craft were evolving as two distinct entities, Chapter Two surveys how performers and teachers altered the public perception of violins by playing them and trading in them and how the availability of inexpensive factory-made fiddles sparked demand for tuition.

The emergence of a specialist violin press proved another significant influence, not least because content was often steered by the tight-knit community of collectors, makers, dealers and connoisseurs. The development of a museum culture also proved significant, triggering the creation of museum and private collections.

Wilder’s fifth chapter deals with the sanctification of Cremonese violins, courtesy of craftsmen using them as models and developing specialist restoration techniques to prolong these instruments’ playing ‘lives’, camouflage any structural damage and increase their value.

Two subsequent chapters discuss the commercial trade in violins and the ways in which connoisseurs, working with dealers, began to control the violin market. A final chapter about the impact of Hills as makers, restorers, dealers, connoisseurs, writers, collectors, sponsors and advisers to auctioneers and exhibition curators outlines the shrewd, manipulative, yet superficially honest and dignified way in which the firm’s business was conducted.

Minor cavils include Wilder’s unnecessary repetition in his conclusion and his incorporation of extensive additional material in footnotes, which, though relevant, hinder fluent reading of his eloquent prose. More ‘inside information’ from the Hills’ diaries would also have satisfied readers of an inquisitive disposition more fully.

Nevertheless, it is refreshing to read the honest and candid opinions of an experienced and much-respected violin maker and dealer about his trade and those involved in it, past and present. His stimulating study is carefully shaped, thoroughly researched and scrupulously documented; and his broad, trans-disciplinary perspective yields an extensive and well-ordered bibliography. A thorough index and 37 monochrome illustrations complete this impressive package.

ROBIN STOWELL