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Cremona Society
Johncosgrave: Created page - additions welcome - particularly on what happened to the Society - another casualty of the First World War, perhaps?
'''The Cremona Society''' of [[London]] was founded in 1886 for the study of the violin and other stringed instruments.<ref name=WWIM>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
==The name==
The Society was named after the [[Cremona]] region of Italy which had a long [[Traditional violin craftsmanship in Cremona|tradition of violin making]], and from which some the greatest stringed instrument makers had come.<ref name=BA-8>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> The name is not unique. There was a Berlin Cremona Society,<ref name=CSB></ref> and the [[Bard College Conservatory of Music|Bard Conservatory]] has a Cremona Society, open to those who loan or donate a violin to the Conservatory.<ref name=Bard></ref>
==Monthly meetings and transactions==
The society held monthly meeting and published the transactions annually. THe [[British Library]] holds Volume One of the Transactions, published in 1906. The typical format for a monthly meeting was a lecture presenting a paper, often on some technical aspect of violin making. The following will give a flavour of the meetings:
*February, 1906: Vincent J. Cooper presented a paper on ''The Lost Secret of the Old Italian Varnishes''. As this topic was of interest to artists as well as musicians and member of the Royal Academy turned up, making this the best attended meeting of the season. The second half of the evening was the usual concert with Jan Hambourg amd Guilderoy Scott doing the honours.<ref name=ST-08>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
*March, 1906: C. W. English presented a presented a paper on Francesco Stradivari, Antonio's son, and exhipited nearly twenty different instrument made by him. The musical honors were provided by Herbert Walenn and the Petherick Quartet (composed of [[Rosa C. Petherick]]'s four sisters).<ref name=ST-09>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
*April, 1906. The meeting was to hear from Philip A. Robson on bows.<ref name=ST-09 />
*December, 1907: E. C. Rimington read a paper entitled ''Fiddle Facts and Fancies''. He then made some technical suggestions for mechanical improvements in violins, before moving on to discuss some old violin makers. After the paper Heinrich Dittmar, a violin treacher,<ref name=ST-10>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> delighted the audience with violin solos.<ref name=MC-01>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
*April, 1907: Vincent J Cooper was to present a paper on ''The Common Sense of Old Violins''.<ref name=MC-02>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
From the discussions detailed in the reports of the meetings, the topics were examined in a very thorough and professional way and were not light entertainment by any means. For example, the presentation on varnish discussed not only the composition of the varnish, and the number of layers, but also the important issue of priming of the wood for the varnish. The speaker informed the audience that the difference between the so-called hard and soft varnishes was not in the materials, but in the way that the gum had liquid added to it when in solution. It was a thoroughly technical discussion. The music offered was also of the first quality, with performers including leading soloists, first violins and so on.
==Officers==
[[Edward John Payne]] was elected the first president in 1889. He was a talented an amatueur musician who wrote on musical topics, including writing articles for Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.<ref name=GR-01>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> His love of music could be seen in his home life, where he repeatedly playded scales to his daughter Cecilia at two years of age so that she could develop perfect pitch.<ref name=Fsci>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Payne was one of those involved in the movement to reintroduce the [[Viol de gamba]] and the [[Viola d'amore]], both of which he could play well. Payne drowned in a canal near his home at Wendover on boxing day in 1904. <ref name=GR-01 />.
[[Horace William Petherick]], the noted artist, illustrator and violin expert was initially the vice-President of the Cremona Society, and described himself as such in his books on Antonio Stradivari<ref name=HWP-1>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> and on violin repir<ref name=HWP-2>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>. However, by 1919, Who's Who in Music was describing him as the president of the society.<ref name=WWIM/> Green says that [[Samuel Coleridge-Taylor]], a member of the society, was one of the seven vice-presidents when Petherick was president.
==References==
[[Category:Violins]]
[[Category:Western Classical music instruments]]
[[Category:Italian inventions]]
[[Category:Bowed strings]]
[[Category:Orchestral instruments]]
[[Category:Baroque instruments]]
==The name==
The Society was named after the [[Cremona]] region of Italy which had a long [[Traditional violin craftsmanship in Cremona|tradition of violin making]], and from which some the greatest stringed instrument makers had come.<ref name=BA-8>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> The name is not unique. There was a Berlin Cremona Society,<ref name=CSB></ref> and the [[Bard College Conservatory of Music|Bard Conservatory]] has a Cremona Society, open to those who loan or donate a violin to the Conservatory.<ref name=Bard></ref>
==Monthly meetings and transactions==
The society held monthly meeting and published the transactions annually. THe [[British Library]] holds Volume One of the Transactions, published in 1906. The typical format for a monthly meeting was a lecture presenting a paper, often on some technical aspect of violin making. The following will give a flavour of the meetings:
*February, 1906: Vincent J. Cooper presented a paper on ''The Lost Secret of the Old Italian Varnishes''. As this topic was of interest to artists as well as musicians and member of the Royal Academy turned up, making this the best attended meeting of the season. The second half of the evening was the usual concert with Jan Hambourg amd Guilderoy Scott doing the honours.<ref name=ST-08>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
*March, 1906: C. W. English presented a presented a paper on Francesco Stradivari, Antonio's son, and exhipited nearly twenty different instrument made by him. The musical honors were provided by Herbert Walenn and the Petherick Quartet (composed of [[Rosa C. Petherick]]'s four sisters).<ref name=ST-09>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
*April, 1906. The meeting was to hear from Philip A. Robson on bows.<ref name=ST-09 />
*December, 1907: E. C. Rimington read a paper entitled ''Fiddle Facts and Fancies''. He then made some technical suggestions for mechanical improvements in violins, before moving on to discuss some old violin makers. After the paper Heinrich Dittmar, a violin treacher,<ref name=ST-10>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> delighted the audience with violin solos.<ref name=MC-01>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
*April, 1907: Vincent J Cooper was to present a paper on ''The Common Sense of Old Violins''.<ref name=MC-02>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>
From the discussions detailed in the reports of the meetings, the topics were examined in a very thorough and professional way and were not light entertainment by any means. For example, the presentation on varnish discussed not only the composition of the varnish, and the number of layers, but also the important issue of priming of the wood for the varnish. The speaker informed the audience that the difference between the so-called hard and soft varnishes was not in the materials, but in the way that the gum had liquid added to it when in solution. It was a thoroughly technical discussion. The music offered was also of the first quality, with performers including leading soloists, first violins and so on.
==Officers==
[[Edward John Payne]] was elected the first president in 1889. He was a talented an amatueur musician who wrote on musical topics, including writing articles for Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians.<ref name=GR-01>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> His love of music could be seen in his home life, where he repeatedly playded scales to his daughter Cecilia at two years of age so that she could develop perfect pitch.<ref name=Fsci>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> Payne was one of those involved in the movement to reintroduce the [[Viol de gamba]] and the [[Viola d'amore]], both of which he could play well. Payne drowned in a canal near his home at Wendover on boxing day in 1904. <ref name=GR-01 />.
[[Horace William Petherick]], the noted artist, illustrator and violin expert was initially the vice-President of the Cremona Society, and described himself as such in his books on Antonio Stradivari<ref name=HWP-1>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref> and on violin repir<ref name=HWP-2>Liquid error: wrong number of arguments (given 1, expected 2)</ref>. However, by 1919, Who's Who in Music was describing him as the president of the society.<ref name=WWIM/> Green says that [[Samuel Coleridge-Taylor]], a member of the society, was one of the seven vice-presidents when Petherick was president.
==References==
[[Category:Violins]]
[[Category:Western Classical music instruments]]
[[Category:Italian inventions]]
[[Category:Bowed strings]]
[[Category:Orchestral instruments]]
[[Category:Baroque instruments]]
February 10, 2020 at 04:42AM
