Abstract ID: 3.11238 | Accepted as Talk | Talk/Oral | TBA | TBA

In every violin, there lies a mountain. The “tonewood” spruce (picea abies) that violin instruments are made from requires a range of highly specific qualities that cannot be found in lowland plantation trees but rather exist only in mountain trees from niche Alpine habitats: good tonewood spruce usually comes from trees growing at over 1100 meters altitude on rough terrain, where harsh environmental conditions cause trees to grow slowly and to make dense, strong wood. To source wood for violin making thus necessitates an intimate knowledge of mountain geographies and forest ecologies. Hence, the heritage practice of violin making is deeply entangled with various ecological knowledges, practices, and industries that revolve around mountains and their sonorous trees. “Tonewood farmers,” for instance, have been responsible for the identification, felling, and processing of trees for instrument makers since the 17th century and continue to perform many of these tasks today.
Based on ethnographic research in Germany, Austria, and Northern Italy, this research draws on the experiences and stories of local communities to accentuate the connections between the musical practices surrounding bowed string instruments and local knowledges of mountain ecologies. It addresses how mountain ecologies have shaped, and have been shaped by and for the crafting of violins and how, through the circulation of instruments and musical practices around the world, these mountain ecologies play integral parts in global musical industries.