Music & Musical Instruments

This violin was made by the Kiso Suzuki Violin Company Ltd. in Fukushima, Kiso, Japan in 1973. The earliest makers of violins in Japan were Sadajiro Matunaga and Masakichi Suzuki (b.1859–d.1944). Both were trained as shamisen makers and began making violins based on instruments brought to Japan toward the end of the 19th century from Western sources, using Japanese pine and maple and sometimes sycamore. In 1880, proceeding with a Westernization policy, the Japanese government had instituted teacher training programs for lessons in piano, organ, and violin. There is a printed label inside the instrument:

Kiso Suzuki Violin Co., Ltd
Copy of Antonius Stradivarus 1720
Anno 1973 ¾ No.7 Japan
[Kiso Suzuki Trademark]

Masakichi Suzuki established the Suzuki violin manufacturing firm in Nagoya in 1887, adding guitars and mandolins to the firm's production in 1903. The firm received an award at the Japan-British Exhibition in London in 1910, and Masakichi was further cited in 1917 by the Japanese government with a Medal of Honor for his accomplishments in the violin industry. At this time his company was producing thousands of violins each year.

The “S” logo is employed in the label of this ¾ violin with semi-transparent, dark reddish-brown varnish and ink representation of purfling. The fittings are of dark hardwood, with the fingerboard also stained black to give the appearance of ebony. The spruce and maple are probably local Japanese woods, with interior linings and blocks of a light material similar to basswood.

This violin was made by an unknown craftsman in Mittenwald, Germany around 1880. Violins in this ornamented style made in Mittenwald in the late 19th century have long been popular with country and folk musicians, who value them for their decorative inlaid edges and geometric mother-of-pearl designs on the back.

With a very flat bridge for chordal playing and machine tuning pegs for steel strings, the violin is preserved as used by Tommy Jarrell until his death in 1985. Like many country fiddlers, Tommy never cleaned or repaired the gradual elements of wear to his violin, choosing to use it as seen in the photos, believing that the wear and buildup of rosin on the varnish enhanced the musical quality of the instrument. The instrument also has two rattlesnake rattles placed inside and a string tied to the soundpost to make it easier to adjust. The original neck is quite short and shows, with the fingerboard marks, evidence of his playing style and intonation. This violin is made of a table of spruce with medium grain broadening toward the flanks, and a back of maple in two pieces with even, medium descending figure, ribs of similar maple, an original neck, pegbox and scroll of plain maple, and a dark reddish-brown varnish.

This hardanger fiddle was made by Ellef Johnsen Stenkjondalen in Bø, Norway, in 1870. It is made of a three-piece table of cedar, back of plain birch in two pieces, and ribs of similar birch. The plain birch neck is terminated in an ornamented pegbox and stylized carved dragon head with a semi-opaque orange-brown varnish. The veneered fingerboard (made of either ebony or horn) and tailpiece are decorated en suite. The instrument has four bowed and four sympathetic strings. The fiddle was donated with the bow cataloged as MI.381919a. There is a handwritten label inside the instrument:

Fabrikeret af
Ellef Johnsen Stenkjondalen
Bo’ Pgd. 1870.

Ellef Johnsen Steintjonndalen (Stenkjondalen) lived from 1821 to 1876 in the small community of Bø in Telemark and was the second son of the fiddle maker John Eriksen Helland. In the 19th century the Helland-Steintjonndalen family developed the style of hardanger fiddle that became a dominating standard for all makers. The elaborate fine line ink ornaments with inlaid mother-of-pearl on table, back, and tailpiece on this instrument represent the fully developed style of this family of makers. Knut G. (1880-1919) and Gunnar G. Helland (1885-1976) went to Chippawa Falls, Wisconsin, operating a violin and hardingfele business from 1909 to 1924. Gunnar moved to Fargo, North Dakota in 1929, retiring in 1962 at the age of 77.