Contemporary-czech-violin-makers-08-2007

Musical Instruments
Contemporary Czech violin-makers
VIII. Tomáš Honěk, Tomáš Honěk Junior, Jakub Honěk
Rafael Brom
In spite of the global changes in all crafts and arts
violin-making sure preserves its specifics. As a
handcraft and art form that resembles woodcarving, it continues to bring us ever more
fascinating and unrepeatable objects. If I would say
that violin-making in contrast with the woodcarving craft has been solved long ago I probably
wouldn`t be saying the truth. Although it brings us
always the same result, an ingeniously designed
instrument with a construction that perfectly suits
its purpose – to give the best sound performance.
Generations of past and contemporary violinmakers were constructing this instrument, but it
was always the player who has completely fulfilled
its destiny. It is not predetermined to be an art
object of its own, but always was trying to be. After
all, we may see it as one, in the Wagnerian
Gesamtkunstwerk or total art sense.
It is and always will be a challenge for a creative
craftsman to reveal all the hidden patterns of its
construction, and to tune up all the details to create
a perfect final product.
It was also the reason for Dr. Alois Vincenc Honěk,
a remarkable member of the violin-making
community, to continue for more than 70 years in
his research and violin-making activities with
endless passion and enthusiasm.
His descendents now continue in this legacy. His son
Dr. Tomáš Honěk (born in 1950) was abroad during
this interview. With his two grandsons Tomáš (1981)
and Jakub (1984) I was talking about violin-making
in their family. Their answers sounded at times like
an unisono and at other times like a canon, when
one added details to what the other said.
Your father Dr. Tomáš Honěk is besides being a
surgeon, which he was doing at hospital na
Františku and then later as a chief cardiac surgeon
in university hospital Motol, also a violin-maker –
where has he learned the craft?
It was in the workshop of our grandfather in Divadelní
Street No. 22, where he lived for many years. Our
grandfather dr. Alois Vincenc Honěk was from
Děhylov in Silesia, which is not far from Ostrava. He
was lead to become a violin-maker since
Alois Vincenc Honěk
he was 8 years. He was taught by his father, Alois
Honěk. He passed the exams at Josef Růžička in
Opava and he was awarded the certificate on his 18th
birthday on October 25th 1929. 3 years after
graduating from high school he left for studies in
Prague. Not that he wanted to stop making violins, but
he was attracted by the city. He graduated from
medical school, even though he wanted to study
architecture prior to that. As we know he was working
on his violins early in the morning even before he
went to work. He started as early as 4 o’clock. He was
a remarkable surgeon and soon became head of the
department at hospital Na Františku, but he was
known to be a hardworking and passionate craftsman
as well. He was used to sleep very little and when
older he didn’t need more sleep either. Our father told
us that when he became a chief surgeon in Carls Bad
after the war, they had few surgeons and he had to
stay awake for many nights. As we know he was
supposed to go there for a few months and stayed for
seven years. Then in the 1950s he was imprisoned for
Musical Instruments
2 years in a political trial led by the communist
government. In the jail he had plenty of time to think
about the mystery of violin’s origin. After he was
released he returned back to Prague and since then he
lived in Divadelní Street No. 22, where was also his
workshop. So our father began with the craft when he
was 6 years old. He learned violin-making there, but
without any certificate, because he as well chose to
study medicine and became a surgeon. He studied the
Faculty of Medicine in Prague between 1968 and 1974,
but throughout the years he was still making violins. It
is more of a hobby than a profession in our family and
we say that it is better to do the craft just because of the
passion and love for violin-making. If we make our
living with other professions we can take the time to do
the instrument in the highest quality we can.
You are making instruments as a hobby but on the
other hand you must feel the long family tradition.
When was this tradition founded?
In our family the first certified violin-maker was our
great-grandfather Alois Honěk, but first he began as a
finish carpenter. Later he was learning the craft in Brno
at master Kliment and later in Wien at master Haudek.
After he came back home in 1907 he continued to build
instruments until 1920, when he bought some woodworking machinery and expanded his business. Then he
was making violins only from time to time. Our
grandfather was also a certified violin-maker and later
he became a member of Kruh Umělců Houslařů (an
organization uniting top Czech violin-makers). He was
doing the craft practically until he died in the year
2002.
When did you start in his workshop in Divadelní
Street No. 22?
In our family we have always worked all together. Our
father was helping his father since he was a young boy
– they have worked together on many instruments
already in late 1960s. He stayed home for a long time
and right when he finished medical school he was
working together with our grandfather in the workshop.
I started going there as I was 6 years old and I started to
learn this beautiful craft right away. Later my younger
brother Jakub joined us. Our grandfather was always
very patient with us and often gave us material with a
defect so we could learn without damaging his
instruments, which we by the way have done many
times. But eventually we have learned how to make
violins after all. We both have finished our first
instruments at the age of fifteen.
Do you still keep the first violin your father made?
No, we don’t have the violin any more, it’s already
being played somewhere. But we have his instrument
from 1979. Our father was always very handy and
made a big storage of wood that he brought with our
grandfather. Later he bought some machinery for
cutting and planing plates, so this work became easier.
Otherwise we of course use hand gouges, which we
sharpen only on a classical violin-makers sharpener.
The expert on sharpening in our family is Jakub. Our
father learned sharpening at a knife sharpener, Mr.
Hochman. We use a leg driven wheel grinding stone.
It is much better for the gouges then the electrical one.
Most of the gouges we are using for more than fifty
years.
Do you make also other string instruments besides
violins? Do you repair instruments as well?
We don’t make repairs, only occasionally on our own
instruments. We make violins, violas, cellos and even
double basses. Now we have two double basses at
home. Because Jakub is a bass player we made him a
tailored one. Otherwise we did about eight double
basses all together. Some of them are in the Prague
Symphonic Orchestra FOK or in the National Theatre
Orchestra.
How many instruments has your father
completed?
Well, our grandfather did more than ninety
instruments. But we should mention that he was
mainly interested in the construction of the back and
front plates, and he left us a large number of semifinished plates. Our father has finished more than
twenty instruments on his own. But on many
instruments worked the both of them and they were
usually signed as A. V. Honek. They have often
worked together. We have a cello here that was done
this way and also on the two double basses all of us
have done our share of work. It is really a family
business in our family. We also have a family archive,
where every instrument is listed. It is interesting that
now with the internet we get to know the faith of
some of our instruments in detail. For example lately
we found out about two instruments, that someone
bought in the US and about a cello that someone
bought in Italy. Usually we are also able to find out
the origin of the wood the instrument is made of, if the
original signature has been preserved. This well
developed system of archives was founded by the
grandfather. We have several books that he wrote and
now we are continuing to add new instruments.
What about the model? You sure base it on the
family research.
Our grandfather, who was a very curious almost a
renaissance man, devoted all his live to research in
Musical Instruments
history of violin construction. He published an article
about the Italian violin-maker Bagatella in the German
magazine Das Musikinstrument and another article
about objective measurement of tonal quality in the
Strad magazine. According to old Latin documents he
developed his own way of making the instruments. The
model is a Guarneri style model. His templates are
unique nowadays, although you can see similar ones in
the Stradivari museum in Cremona. His intention was
to get back to the original methods and proceedings of
the old masters. We begin with the geometrical model
and it is worth noting that in his calculations he found
out that the violin has proportions that exactly match
the old measure of the Czech elbow. He was always
emphasizing the fact that although the instruments of
Stradivari are perfect it doesn’t make sense to copy
them, because they have changed their original shape
and dispositions over the centuries.
It is obvious that with a new instrument you cannot
match the appearance of the three hundred years
old original. Do you have your own secrets for
mixing the varnishes?
We use an oil based varnish and we usually use the
modern yellow-red tone – it is again our family matter.
Our grandfather was once experimenting with varnishes
and in the end he concluded, that it hasn’t a strong
influence on the quality of the instrument, so he began
paying attention more to its esthetical appearance. We
think that the secret is in the construction of the plates,
in the resonation body of the instrument. If the wood is
properly aged and has proper density – and the wood
we are using is older than 25 years – then the
construction and shape are the key elements that
determine the quality of the instrument.
first one won 4th place for workmanship and the
second 10th place for tonal quality and
workmanship. Instruments from the Honěk
workshop are owned by the Škampa Quartet. A
violoncello is played by Martin Bzirský, currently
the concertmaster of the cello section in Bohuslav
Martinů Philharmonic Orchestra in Zlín. Another
instrument is owned by the violoncellist and viola
da gamba player Petr Hejný, member of the
Martinů Quartet. A viola made by Tomáš Honěk is
played in the United States (where another viola
made by A. V. Honěk was shipped recently) and
for so far his last instrument came a violinist from
Polish Krakow, a famous violin-making center. His
instruments are also played by a talented nine
years old violinist Filip Zaykov, laureate of the 1st
prize in Josef Muzika International Violin
Competition
and Pilsen National Violin
Competition and 4th place in Kocian international
violin competition in the category 9 – 11 years. He
plays a ½ violin and a ¾ one is already prepared
for him in the Honěk workshop.
Did you have the desire to do violin-making as your
only profession?
We remember that our grandfather was advising us not
to. He was saying that the competition is big and we
can say now that it is possible to reach the
porfessionality in the retirement. Grandfather was a
doctor at first and later on he became a professional
violin-maker, our father still has a few years before he
can start making violins full time.
Tomáš Honěk Junior was the first one to break the
family tradition in medicine and this year he
finished his studies in Economics. The younger
brother Jakub studies medicine.
Tomáš Honěk Senior has participated in the
International
Louis
Spohr
Violin-making
Competition, organized by German Violin-making
Association in 1983. In the same competition have
also placed two violas of Alois Vincenc Honěk. The
Tomáš Honěk making a violin