Viol Maker's Day at West Dean

Part 3 - Stainer viols and concert

This is the third and final part of a series of blogs about the maker’s day at West Dean in October 2024. See https://paulfremantleluthier.substack.com/p/viol-making-day-at-west-dean for the first post.

The final talk of the day was Tilman Muthesius giving us a detailed look at Stainer’s viols. Tilman gave us a detailed analysis of a number of Stainer’s viols, many still in private hands. The analysis dived into the carved heads, scrolls, c- and f-holes, unusually thick soundpost plates and many other characteristics of these viols. Tilman ended the presentation with details of his method of joining the neck with wedges. The resulting neck joint resembles the historic neck joints. Tilman’s short film demonstrating the procedure was so interesting we watched it twice!

Tilman Muthesius on Stainer's viols

Although that was the end of the formal meeting as well as the streamed portion, the in-person attendees then took a tour of the workshop. Makers had been invited to bring instruments and a table with more than ten viols was a centre of discussion. Visiting makers took the chance to review and give feedback to students work, as well as having many discussions amongst themselves. NRI were also present with a table of gut strings for sale.

After dinner, we returned to the Oak Hall where Henrik and Luke had prepared an informal concert of music for Bass Viol and Baryton. Around 50 makers, students and tutors from West Dean were able to attend and for several it was their first opportunity to hear the music and instruments of this period.

The music was simply gorgeous and made a resounding end to a wonderful day.

Many thanks to all the people who made the day possible: the speakers and players, the West Dean organisation, and the many volunteers who helped out.

The website is available at https://violmaking.org and the recordings of the streaming are now available. Please contact paul@fremantle.org for the password.