RIN:19 The Embalmer as Restorer

The Strad magazine of April 1993 had an interesting article by Helen Wallace, describing the schism existing between conservationist and players of fine violins. What caught my attention, as a restorer of fine violins, was her statement in bold face: asserting that 'It has been said that 95% of all damage done to instruments in the last 300 years has been done by members of the luthier (violin making) profession and not by the musicians themselves.'

2. We fully agree with this statement. Not only that, for decades, we have been writing FOCUS REPORT'S, dealing with the deplorable decline of professional standards and practices among those who claim, as custodians, to restore the legacy of bygone masters of the art of violin making. Yes, these claimants even have the audacity to teach and justify methods which go contrary every Code of Ethics devised by professional organizations of restorers and violin makers.

3. Lately, especially during incriminating trial testimonies by employees of a notorious local dealership, it was established, that well-known dealers of rare violins in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and London have secretly and deliberately been destroying -- through an irreversible process termed "re-graduation" or as it is euphemistically called E.N.D. (Enhanced Natural Decay) -- the collectors', artistic and monetary values of many a rare instrument. These instruments range from creations of Antonius Stradivari, Joseph Guarneri del Gesu, the Gaglianos, Scarampellas to almost any other master made violin.

4. The following letter, dated January 11, 1992, was send in response to an articles which appeared in STRINGS magazine but never published by the editors nor replied to in writing.

Dear Editor:

5. Roger A. Stearns' article, "Restoration Workshop at Oberlin," truly caught my attention when I sat down with your latest issue (1992's Jan.-Feb. STRINGS).

6. The article was certainly correct at its onset: "The Stringed Instrument Restoration Workshop held at Oberlin College in cooperation with the Violin Society of America has attracted the attention of violin makers and restorers throughout the world." And I was unquestionably impressed by the openness implied in the same article's description of the workshop's director, Mr. Vahakn Nigogosian. According to Stearns, Mr. Nigogosian has issued a standing invitation: "Bother us! If you want to know, don't leave us alone. If you don't understand, ask us to explain....Here we don't hide anything we do."

7. It has been some years since I first felt the urge to bother Mr. Nigogosian, described as a "walking encyclopedia of knowledge with regard to violin restoration." But now I feel impelled to do so. Yes, I should like to be more delicate -- but the word impelled was used with care. I must ask of Mr. Nigogosian:

"What pernicious desire possesses you to butcher fine violins?"

8. Without doubt, I must explain the situation behind so "combative" a question -- the reason I feel, as I said, impelled to voice it. So, from this point on, I want to address Mr. Nigogosian directly.

9. A number of years ago, Ms. XXXXX -- today a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra -- came to our shop. The reason for her visit? Her violin, lovely in appearance, sounded profoundly ill. This seemed, so to speak, to be far more than a garden-variety illness. Yet, for a moment, I want to return to the instrument's appearance -- the way it looked, from the outside.

10. The ailing violin Ms. XXXXX brought to our shop was, to repeat a point, beautiful to the eye. It had been created by the great New York violin maker Karl August Berger -- himself the winner of numerous prizes, medals, and awards -- a man who had learned the art of violin making from V. Postiglione of Naples, Italy.

11. So why, given this lineage, should Ms. XXXXX violin now be tonally unresponsive? At best, a candidate for intensive care? Oddly enough, the cause was not truly concealed. Upon the maker's original label, I found a seemingly-victorious superscription: "Re-graduated by Vahakn Nigogosian." In consequence, I determined to inspect the Berger violin's interior. Sadly and shockingly, it had indeed been re-graduated. Re-graduation is an irreversible practice, and I was horrified to observe the vandalism which had been inflicted upon this former jewel of a violin -- irreversibly inflicted. For there was no way to bring back to life what had become, in essence, a cadaver.

12. In the grim parlance of Orwellian double-speak, Ms. XXXXX violin had been "forever restored" (much as a funeral director might assure survivors that their "beloved" is "forever at peace," thanks to the "mortuary science" which violin restoration has too often come to resemble).

13. Since our professional training as makers, restorers, and conservators precludes vandalism -- precludes destruction of the tonal, utilitarian, artistic, and even collectors value of violins -- we would, Mr. Nigogosian, like to accept the invitation enunciated in Mr. Stearns' article about you and your workshop practices. We would, if I may use your language, like to "bother" you. We want to ask how you explain (for we shake our heads and wonder, "How do you do it?") the rationale for the re-graduation -- i.e., vandalism -- you engage in. To us, it seems an anti-social and unethical activity -- a violation of artistic, moral, and professional norms. Yet it is apparently something with which you feel comfortable.

14. Can you help us understand your ease and comfort with this process? If you can teach, we would -- and this is said without irony -- like to learn.

15. Permit me to add something else. Mr. Stearns' STRINGS article describes you as "a walking encyclopedia of knowledge with regard to violin restoration." Yet this very characterization leaves me confused. I recall the initial principle taught to every aspiring professional restorer and conservator, namely the "Principle of Reversibility." And I must assume that you have an interpretation and understanding of this principle, however much your practice would seem to hold it in contempt. Here is where you can, perhaps, provide assistance. After all, the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, Inc., -- a federation which claims you, Mr. Nigogosian, as one of its members -- espouses the principle of reversibility in its Code of Ethics. And likewise in its Code of Ethics, the American Institute for Conservation of Historic and Artistic Works spells out the principle -- clearly and distinctly (see Code, Part One, II, E: "Principle of Reversibility"):

16. The conservator [e.g., a restorer of fine violins] is guided by and endeavors to apply the "principle of reversibility" in his treatments. He should avoid the use of materials which may become so intractable that their future removal could endanger the physical safety of the object. He also should avoid the use of techniques the result of which cannot be undone if that should become desirable (emphasis added).

17. Where and how does this crucial principle "fit" with the practice of re-graduation as you implement the latter in your own work and in your workshops? Do you claim that there is no contradiction here?

18. Finally, your biography referred to your apprenticeship in the shop of Marcel Vatelot in Paris. It referred, too, to your further apprenticeship at the feet of the exalted beacon of contemporary restorers and conservators: Simone Fernando Sacconi. In this context, I have the simplest of questions. Given all your experience, could you imagine Sacconi engaging in re-graduation or other forms of vandalism or malpractice? Could you imagine him imposing his own ideas (regarding varnish, design, or dimension) upon the creations executed by the original maker? (See: P.S. of this letter.)

19. These are fundamental questions. They bear upon the integrity of all those who call themselves professional restorers. Because they are basic, I look forward to your reply -- a reply which will address them without equivocation, which will speak clearly and forthrightly.

Sincerely,

Fritz Reuter

P. S.

20. Since the original writing of the above letter, it has been established that Simone Ferdinando Sacconi already started to re-graduate instruments while working under Guiseppe Rossi in Rome and later at Emil Herrmann of New York. This evidence came to light, when we repaired a cello made by Enrico Rocca. It bore Mr. Sacconi's signature inside the top upon a visible newly thinned and re-graduated surface.

21. It has since been learned also, that many violin makers, having worked at the shop of Rembert Wurlitzer of New York under Sacconi, or at William Lewis & Son of Chicago under Carl Becker, continue in their own shops to perpetuate the re-graduating (vandalizing is the more appropriate definition) of fine instruments. These facts could be attested to, no doubt, by Charles Beare, Hans Weisshaar, Vahakn Nigogosian, Hans Jürgen Nebel, William Webster and his local Chicago successors of the New York strain of mortuary-like repair shops.

22. Mr. Nigogosian is a member in good standing of both, the International Society of Violin and Bow Makers and the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers.

FR.

RIN:019	homepage: www.fritz-reuter.com	.
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