VIOLINS

Author: Anne Nilsson
Year: 1981
Publisher: ICA Bokförlag
Language: Swedish 

How much do you know about violins? Probably a lot less than you think. Even if you play the instrument, you may not have contemplated its history, handicraft, usage, or the physics of its composition. It may seem like violins have always looked and sounded the same, an yet a continuous development over time is taking place and instruments find different roles to play in different eras.

Anne Nilsson is a journalist and writer who has written books on a broad variety of topics since her debut in 1975. Not being an expert in any particular field, in an interview she said that the best way to become an author is to find a topic that you are passionate about and as you read up on it, you will notice what is missing in the literature available at the time. Then simply get to work and fill the void.

In her book “Fioler” (not available in English but the translation is “Violins”) Nilsson does just that. The angle on violins that was missing to her, appears to be an accessible and comprehensive overview of the instrument aimed at the non-professional general public. It is clear from the first paragraph that the book has not been written by a specialist but by an enthusiast. Not only does the writer say so in the book, but the structure, the language, and the depth at which Nilsson is capable of gauging her chosen topic all point to the same conclusion.

“Fioler” begins with a short overview of what violins are used for and all the genres of music that they can be applied to. This already shows that the book is intended for a novice audience.

The next chapter is about the history of string instruments in general and violins in particular. This is the most interesting part of the book and although it is a bit patchy and incoherent, it is a stimulating experience to dive into the past and learn about the evolution of the instruments but also the music that the instruments were supposed to play. Nilsson reaches for examples from all around Europe as she takes us back to early medieval times. As I am also a dabbler in music, the scope and depth of Nilsson’s survey is perfectly aligned with my needs and abilities.

The chapter after this is dedicated to the many violinmakers in history who have made their mark on the evolution of the instrument. A special section is devoted to Swedish artisans who on a global level made no lasting impression on the violinmaking industry but served an important role in supplying decent instruments to Swedish musicians over the centuries thus providing them with the necessary means to adopt musical influences from other parts of Europe as well as producing a rich tradition of folk music which in Sweden to a large extent dependends on the violin. Since the book was printed in 1981, the last few Swedish violinmakers mentioned were still active at that time but probably are no longer. By the same token, the violinmakers that picked up the baton after them and are active in Stockholm today, such as Sebastian Skarp, Joakim Amundin, and Philippe Dormond among others could not possibly be mentioned back then.

Nilsson rounds off her book with an uneven and sketchy but, again, for a dilettante adequate chapter on the construction of a violin; both in terms of its different parts and in terms of the techniques used to put the parts together.  You will not be able to build an instrument from the instructions given in “Fioler” which makes some of the details superfluous. The feeling I got away with was that the author ought to have either included a detailed step-by-step instruction on how to construct a violin, or leave some of the details out and focused on a general understanding of the building process. As it is now, the image of an enthusiast from the first pages is exacerbated as it is obvious that Nilsson simply put every piece of information that she could find into her book, whether useful or not.

All in all, “Fioler” is a gratifying read for the curious beginners but I suspect that a professional violinmaker or historian of music would probably scoff at it, likely forgetting that they are by no means the intended audience.