Soundproduction on historical violin instruments
The artistic research project THE RESTORED SPEECH, led by Susanne Scholz, focuses on the distinctive characteristics of the curved baroque bow, which differ significantly from the features of the currently used modern bow with its straight shape.
The project explores the hypothesis that the actively transmitted impulse of the round shape of the early bows to the player’s arm movement leads to a different and better contact with the gut strings and makes and keeps them vibrating in a most ideal way.
As part of an experimental and self-reflective practice, the key factors – instruments, artistic creation, knowledge and the artist’s mindset – are explored. By concentrating on the research process and applying artistic research methods, the aim is to rediscover the expressive power of the violin bow prior to 1750 and to RESTORE its enormous inherent potential, such as its ability to imitate SPEECH.
The four parts of the project include working with the copies of the unique Renaissance violins and their bows preserved in Freiberg, investigating the congruences between the sound production on historical violin instruments and on plucked and struck string instruments, incorporating the knowledge of colleagues through interviews and documenting the research carried out.
Technical measuring, the analyses of interviews, audio and video documentation and a final conference complete the six-year PEEK project funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) which is based at the Institute of Early Music and Performance Practice at the University of Arts Graz.
As part of an experimental and self-reflective practice, the key factors – instruments, artistic creation, knowledge and the artist’s mindset – are explored. By concentrating on the research process and applying artistic research methods, the aim is to rediscover the expressive power of the violin bow prior to 1750 and to RESTORE its enormous inherent potential, such as its ability to imitate SPEECH.