JohnGould556 Posted December 5, 2017 Report Posted December 5, 2017 (edited) Anybody know about fractional violins -- when were they introduced, who first made them, what years they started to be readily available. Are there any antique examples? I thought I heard somewhere that, possibly in Bach's time, children did not start playing the violin until at least 10 years old because smaller child-sized violins were not popular, or that they weren't usually made. Can anyone clear this up for me? 1. Mozart played on a fractional @ age 5? 2. Suzuki was the one who made fractional instruments popular because of his method starting off with very young players. Plus his father owned a violin making factory which is where a lot of the first fractional instruments came from. 3. Contemporary players and teachers reporting playing on 1/2-size instruments made c. 1700-1880. 4. Stefan Milenkovich played on a fractional Stradivari in front of Bush in 1987? 5. From the National Music History Museum: fractionals existed, but only as specialty commissions, usually by royalty. See graphic. 6. Sarah Chang had a 1700s 1/4 size as a kid. 7. Vivaldi taught younger girls at the orphanage, so there must have been smaller instruments (?). [ http://www.users.cloud9.net/~recross/why-not/Vivaldi.html ] Edited December 5, 2017 by JohnGould556
Dwight Brown Posted December 6, 2017 Report Posted December 6, 2017 I do not know if this is much help, but Chris Reunigs father had at one time a collection of fractional size instruments by known makers. He was my string pedagogy Prof. at Ithaca College a million years ago. DLB
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