Wanna Zambelli taught Violinmaking for 44 years at the International School of Cremona, now the «Antonio Stradivari» Institute of Higher Education.
Her profession
is well established and esteemed beyond national borders. After graduating in
1972 from the same School of Violinmaking (the first woman to graduate as a
violinmaker in Italy and the third in Europe), she worked for a long time in
the workshop of master violinmaker Francesco Bissolotti in Cremona. In the
atelier of this famous master, she had the opportunity to meet one of the
greatest modern violinmakers and restorers, who unfortunately passed away
years ago: Simone Fernando Sacconi. The teachings and advice of this
craftsman-artist enabled her to fully penetrate the secrets of the artisanal
construction method and make its expressive language her own. A demanding
apprenticeship, certainly, but one with fascinating implications, which led her
to fall in love with violinmaking and to express herself at the highest level
in her work. Using the classical Cremonese method (the «internal form»),
she has made violins, violas and cellos inspired by the models of the great
masters: Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesù, Gasparo da Salò, Testore and C.
Camilli.
Among the «jewels» of her production is a cello made especially for the famous
cellist Rocco Filippini. In 1980, she collaborated with Maestro
Bissolotti and other violinmakers from ACLAP (the Cremonese Association of
Professional Artisan Violinmakers) on the travelling exhibition «Liuteria
classica: un metodo» (Classical violinmaking: a method) on the process of
making violins according to the classic Cremonese method.
One of the most
important distinctions awarded to her is the gold medal with a plaque from the «Simone Fernando Sacconi» award at the 5th National Biennial in
Cremona in 1973 as the best violinmaker under 30 years of age.
A few years
later, she won the Artisan Award as part of a competition organised by the
Italian Union of Soroptimist Clubs and the «Gentil Impresa» Award
promoted by the Lombardy CNA (the National Confederation of Artisanal Companies
and SMEs). As a teacher at the school, she chose not to take part in any violinmaking competitions after 1973, as she considered teaching to be her main
activity.
She has produced
a very limited number of instruments, but her constant search for perfection is
unique. Is there a formula that can explain and reproduce a way of being a
woman and an artisan that places Wanna Zambelli at the top of the world of
violinmaking? If it exists, she describes it herself: the daughter of artisans,
she was brought up with the creativity, professionalism and sense of
responsibility of self-employment as an example. She came to violinmaking by
chance, not by a predetermined choice, and has imparted her experience, her
love of craftsmanship and her personality to her instruments. And this has
allowed her to become – and remain for years – one of the rare women among
the esteemed masters of her art.
Based on the Catalogue of the photographic
exhibition «La Gentil Impresa» promoted by the Lombardy CNA (the
National Confederation of Artisanal Companies and SMEs) and held at Palazzo
Cittanova in Cremona November 1989, on the occasion of the awarding of the homonymous Prize.
*****
Rocco Filippini commissions a cello from Wanna
Zambelli
A new accomplishment for the Cremonese lutherie
La
Provincia, daily newspaper of Cremona
30 October 1983
The line of work, the cultural research and
contacts, founded and developed in recent years by Aclap (Cremonese Association
of Professional Violin Makers) on the direct relationship between violin maker
and musician, is now beginning to bear the most precious of fruits. This is a
fruit that is of interest to the whole city of Cremona, since the overall
effect of the line taken, which softens negotiation in favour of direct contact
between violin maker and musician, cannot but turn into a gift of personal welcome
for the illustrious guest who enriches us with his welcome and talent.
Within this perspective, a crucial moment was
experienced first-hand, not so long ago, when some great performers met in the
workshop of master luthier Francesco Bissolotti: Salvatore Accardo, Bruno
Giuranna and Rocco Filippini. Against an atmosphere of congeniality and sincere
friendliness, the instruments of Bissolotti, his children and Wanna Zambelli
were passed from hand to hand in rapid exchanges of opinions and short,
brilliant tests.
This happy moment of discussion on the
aesthetic and acoustic quality of the instruments then became the subject of a
story that RAI's Rete 1 filmed live in the workshop, where Salvatore Accardo
was interviewed on the special five-string viola that Bissolotti had built
especially for him, and where Accardo himself presented, with a brief acoustic
test, a prized violin by Wanna Zambelli.
From this environment of mutual appreciation
and intense collaboration, the direct relationship between Zambelli and Rocco
Filippini has found further impetus. One of Filippini's students will soon
receive the cello that he had ordered from our luthier. Filippini himself had
the opportunity to try out and appraise an instrument recently built by Wanna
for a Milanese concert pianist, so it seemed almost natural that the great
cellist would seek to fulfil through Wanna his aspiration to experiment in concert
with a modern instrument, capable of meeting the requirements of a soloist
performer. This led to the commissioning of a cello that Filippini will use in
concert, alternating between the classical antique and the modern
"classic".
It is from this close and vibrant relationship
between the personality of the violin maker and that of the musician, between
the work of construction and that of musical performance and interpretation,
that the natural development of classical violin making and any serious
discourse of creative experimentation finds its starting point.
