Peter Somerford
Clockwise from top left Tim Phillips’s ‘Salvador’ model; a viola by César Sakellarides; body and head of the 2007 ‘Vicktoriusse’ violin by Karolina Wozniak
Imagine, for a moment, if somehow the violin was being completely reinvented from scratch today. What form would it take? Would it be symmetrical? Or let’s ask a different question. Will the classical form as perfected by Stradivari more than 300 years ago still be dominant in 300 years’ time? Over the last three centuries music has evolved, and with it orchestras, concert halls, playing techniques, strings, accessories and other materials. If players and composers demand more from stringed instruments in the future, will the symmetrical form of these instruments start to change, or will makers still be copying Stradivari, Guarneri and their successors 300 years from now?