Violas.
I have made 98 violas from 1984 to 2008.
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Violas should be playable by young players, women and men, who never complain that their 14 inches violins are too short. Violas should produce an immediate response to bow, produce a deep resonant tone from C to upper A strings, and be expressive for all kinds of repertoire.
The following is a brief summary of my work on violas:
My first viola was purchased from Rembert Wurlitzer in 1961 and was 17 inches body length. I used it in the Mozart duo K 423 for violin and viola with Elza Reed, violinist.
I began making violins, violas and cellos in 1984.The violas produced by my first teacher Victor Gardiner were large, 16 ½ inches. I made only a few in view of my resolve to make violas playable as above.
The Strad poster for the Primrose Andrea Guarneri viola, about 16 ¼ inches was important for me. Brein and Fushi published The “Primrose” Andrea Guarnei Cremona, 1697 in 1983. I reduced the length of the C bouts of this model from 101 mm to 91 mm. This reduced the body length 10 mm making it a little more playable. All my violas since this time have C bouts about 91 mm length.
The next experience would lead to my 16 inch violas based on Camillus Camilli. I had heard a concert performed by David Aaron Capernter using his teacher Roberto Diaz’s Camillus Camilli viola. Many years later, see below, I received two CD’s from Roberto Diaz and we corresponded regarding our own comparisons of the The Primrose Viola Trancriptions where he used his Brothers Amati ex Primrose viola and The Henry Vieutemps Music for Viola and Piano with his Camillus Camilli viola. We both agreed that Brothers Amati viola had much better tone than the Camillus Camilli, which was too much treble or violin like in the upper A String and did not have on the lower strings a good viola tone. I changed the A strings on all my 16 inch violas from strong Larsens to medium Larsens with little success.
The next major change in my violas resulted from what I consider to be a miracle. Our Friends of Music had two violinists scheduled for 4/23/17. They cancelled and arranged for Roberto Diaz and a Curtis violinist as a substitute. What a miracle that was to me. Roberto Diaz to me was the greatest authority on the viola. I had heard him during many International Viola Concerts across the county play meticulously and with great care on numerous
violas-as many as 50 or more. But what followed during intermission 4/23/17 was even greater. Tom Broderick and George Cady, Friends of Music, arranged for me to bring a viola with the body length and width of bouts, heights of sides and arching close to his Brothers Amati. He played on my viola and said that it was better than his Brothers Amati! I sent the viola to him via Fedex. He used it in his concert 6/10/17 in San Juan Puerto Rico. He played the Viola Concerto he commissioned by Jennifer Higdon. I was told by Roberto Diaz’s assistant that the concert went very well and that he used my viola. He had called me and told me, "The viola that you graciously sent to me has excellent playability and tone and I will use it in future concerts." He said he would send me a cd with him playing on my viola.
Violas should be playable by young players, women and men, who never complain that their 14 inches violins are too short. Violas should produce an immediate response to bow, produce a deep resonant tone from C to upper A strings, and be expressive for all kinds of repertoire.
The following is a brief summary of my work on violas:
My first viola was purchased from Rembert Wurlitzer in 1961 and was 17 inches body length. I used it in the Mozart duo K 423 for violin and viola with Elza Reed, violinist.
I began making violins, violas and cellos in 1984.The violas produced by my first teacher Victor Gardiner were large, 16 ½ inches. I made only a few in view of my resolve to make violas playable as above.
The Strad poster for the Primrose Andrea Guarneri viola, about 16 ¼ inches was important for me. Brein and Fushi published The “Primrose” Andrea Guarnei Cremona, 1697 in 1983. I reduced the length of the C bouts of this model from 101 mm to 91 mm. This reduced the body length 10 mm making it a little more playable. All my violas since this time have C bouts about 91 mm length.
The next experience would lead to my 16 inch violas based on Camillus Camilli. I had heard a concert performed by David Aaron Capernter using his teacher Roberto Diaz’s Camillus Camilli viola. Many years later, see below, I received two CD’s from Roberto Diaz and we corresponded regarding our own comparisons of the The Primrose Viola Trancriptions where he used his Brothers Amati ex Primrose viola and The Henry Vieutemps Music for Viola and Piano with his Camillus Camilli viola. We both agreed that Brothers Amati viola had much better tone than the Camillus Camilli, which was too much treble or violin like in the upper A String and did not have on the lower strings a good viola tone. I changed the A strings on all my 16 inch violas from strong Larsens to medium Larsens with little success.
The next major change in my violas resulted from what I consider to be a miracle. Our Friends of Music had two violinists scheduled for 4/23/17. They cancelled and arranged for Roberto Diaz and a Curtis violinist as a substitute. What a miracle that was to me. Roberto Diaz to me was the greatest authority on the viola. I had heard him during many International Viola Concerts across the county play meticulously and with great care on numerous
violas-as many as 50 or more. But what followed during intermission 4/23/17 was even greater. Tom Broderick and George Cady, Friends of Music, arranged for me to bring a viola with the body length and width of bouts, heights of sides and arching close to his Brothers Amati. He played on my viola and said that it was better than his Brothers Amati! I sent the viola to him via Fedex. He used it in his concert 6/10/17 in San Juan Puerto Rico. He played the Viola Concerto he commissioned by Jennifer Higdon. I was told by Roberto Diaz’s assistant that the concert went very well and that he used my viola. He had called me and told me, "The viola that you graciously sent to me has excellent playability and tone and I will use it in future concerts." He said he would send me a cd with him playing on my viola.
You can listen to Roberto Diaz playing my 15 5/8 viola published July 12, 2017 by
clicking Paganini viola quartet no 15 in A minor.
clicking Paganini viola quartet no 15 in A minor.
Grants Pass Concert
(after Ashland and Medford)
Mary and I attended Roberto Diaz’s concert along with the Rogue Valley Symphony Orchestra on October 31, 2018 at the beautiful and acoustically sound Grants Pass High School concert hall. All in attendance were invited to attend the reception given behind the hall. We sat just inside the entrance. We were thrilled to see Roberto enter just in front of us. Mary went right up to him and asked him if he played on the viola I had given him. He immediately replied "all the time.”
He had in this concert used his brothers Amati ex Primrose viola, which he uses for all of his major concerts, however we were very pleased that for all other occasions he uses the viola I had given him. He told us that the same violin maker from Philadelphia who worked on his Brothers Amati made a few changes, lowering the neck and altering the fingerboard to correspond to his Brothers Amati ex Primrose.
He had in this concert used his brothers Amati ex Primrose viola, which he uses for all of his major concerts, however we were very pleased that for all other occasions he uses the viola I had given him. He told us that the same violin maker from Philadelphia who worked on his Brothers Amati made a few changes, lowering the neck and altering the fingerboard to correspond to his Brothers Amati ex Primrose.
Roberto Diaz playing on his 15 5/8 inches Harman viola
The Brahms Eb sonata for viola and piano,Op 120, No 2
The Brahms Eb sonata for viola and piano,Op 120, No 2
