Benoit Rolland
Encyclopedia
Benoît Marie Rolland is a bowmaker and musician, currently established in Boston, United States. He is married to painter and writer Christine Arveil. He has two daughters and two stepchildren. He one of the most renowned contemporary bow makers.
and performers gathered.
He began to play the violin at age eight and subsequently entered the Versailles conservatory and the Conservatoire de Paris
, where he graduated at 16. Among his professors were Alfred Loewenguth
and Line Talluel. Aside from violin performance, his perfect pitch led to a rapid advance in music reading and writing. He honed his skill for musical composition at the Schola Cantorum
, Paris (1980–82) under Pierre Doury.
In 1971, foregoing a promising career as a young soloist, he joined the historical bowmaking school of Mirecourt
, tutored by Bernard Ouchard
. During these four years of intense training he developed the skills that were to see him become the youngest ever Meilleur Ouvrier de France
“Best Artisan of France”.
, Arthur Grumiaux
, Christian Ferras
, Maurice Gendron
, Joseph Suk, Leonid Kogan, Henryk Szeryng
, Stéphane Grappelli
and other leading musicians.
At the time, his bows were already played by concertmasters and musicians in the main orchestras in Europe, Asia and the United States.
During this prominent stage of Rolland’s career, a close dialogue with soloists was developed, that would in future years nourish his research on the sound qualities of bows. Rolland then imposed his style, which expressed a profound knowledge of music as well as his understanding of the intrinsic qualities that gave fine French bows their world renown.
While he continued creating traditional pernambuco bows, acquiring new clients in Mstislav Rostropovich
and Ivry Gitlis
, Rolland broadened his reputation in Japan, where his creations were particularly sought. Since the beginning of his career, Rolland has been devoted to continuing the tradition, yet also committed to opening new avenues for it. Aware that his crafts rested on an endangered wood species, Permanbuco, thus far irreplaceable, between 1981 and 1986 he conceived the later trademarked Spiccato carbon fiber bow.
Rolland moved back to the mainland with his completed prototypes in order to launch the Spiccato bows carbon fiber manufacture in Vannes, Brittany. His revolutionary concept of an inner tension mechanism allows the musician to modify the camber of the bow at will and change its playing qualities even on stage. This was noted as one of the main innovative steps in the history of bow making.
Within a few years, with the support of noted soloists s (Menuhin, Jaime Laredo, Ivry Gitlis, J.-P. Wallez, Heinrich Schiff, Christian Tetzlaff
) his company attained an international acclaim. In 1994, the bow that Jean-Luc Ponty
called "the 21st century bow" was awarded Musicora First International Prize. This contributed to a new dynamic of innovation in musical instrument and bow making far beyond the work of Rolland himself: in less than ten years, hundreds of manufactures of carbon bows were appearing around the world.
Rolland now concentrates on making wood bows as individual art pieces, and has been commissioned by artists such as Anne-Sophie Mutter
, Miriam Fried, Christian Tetzlaff, Lynn Harrell
, Kim Kashkashian
, and Julia Fischer
. This new phase of his career reflects an understanding of the bow making process as unifying fine artisanship and musical knowledge. It was noted as a Contemporary Art form by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston and presented in 2005 in a program of its Contemporary Art Department.
Rolland invests much time in historical and scientific research, writes about bow making and gives public lectures.
His bows were featured in an exhibition, The Violin in America: Old World Tradition, New World Sound, at the Museum of Making Music
, Carlsbad, California in 2008.
, 2005) called "one of the world's greatest bow makers" and "The Lord of the Strings", created by his hands about 1,500 wood bows in the first 35 years of his career. These bows are played today around the world as Rolland continues his work.
Most of the major soloists of the past three decades, at some point in their career, have acquired a bow, sometimes several, made by Rolland.
Rolland bows, that Menuhin once deemed "A gift for the violinists", are featured in private collections in Europe, the US and Japan.
Rolland participates in foundations programs helping young musicians (Zino Francescatti
competition, the Peabody Institute
, Anne-Sophie Mutter
Foundation).
He is called on as a judge for international bow making competitions, gives lectures in music schools (Curtis Institute, Longy School of Music
, etc.) and he contributes to the magazine The Strad.
Rolland has trained about 20 apprentices so far, and conceived the curriculum for the first bowmaking school in America.
Benoît Rolland is a registered trademark.
Main recent articles
Publications about bow making authored by Rolland
Early years
Rolland was born to a Parisian family of old descent, composed of medical doctors and musicians. He received his first musical training at the age of four from his grandmother Germaine Thyssens-Valentin, a renowned concert pianist. From his early years he frequented her musical salon, where composers such as Olivier MessiaenOlivier Messiaen
Olivier Messiaen was a French composer, organist and ornithologist, one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex ; harmonically and melodically it is based on modes of limited transposition, which he abstracted from his early compositions and improvisations...
and performers gathered.
He began to play the violin at age eight and subsequently entered the Versailles conservatory and the Conservatoire de Paris
Conservatoire de Paris
The Conservatoire de Paris is a college of music and dance founded in 1795, now situated in the avenue Jean Jaurès in the 19th arrondissement of Paris, France...
, where he graduated at 16. Among his professors were Alfred Loewenguth
Loewenguth Quartet
The Loewenguth Quartet was a string quartet musical ensemble led by the French violinist Alfred Loewenguth. It was particularly famous for performances of classical repertoire such as Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn quartets, and was active from the 1930s to the 1970s.-Personnel:The founding line-up of...
and Line Talluel. Aside from violin performance, his perfect pitch led to a rapid advance in music reading and writing. He honed his skill for musical composition at the Schola Cantorum
Schola Cantorum
The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private music school in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera...
, Paris (1980–82) under Pierre Doury.
In 1971, foregoing a promising career as a young soloist, he joined the historical bowmaking school of Mirecourt
Mirecourt
Mirecourt is a commune in the Vosges department in Lorraine in northeastern France. Mirecourt is known for lace-making and the manufacture of musical instruments, particularly those of the violin family...
, tutored by Bernard Ouchard
Bernard Ouchard
Bernard Ouchard was a French master bow maker and teacher in the School of Violin and Bowmaking of Mirecourt, France...
. During these four years of intense training he developed the skills that were to see him become the youngest ever Meilleur Ouvrier de France
Meilleur Ouvrier de France
"Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France" is a craftsmen competition, held every four years.The title of Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France is a unique award in France according to category of trades in a contest between professionals. This contest is organized and recognized as a third-level degree...
“Best Artisan of France”.
First studio
Rolland established his first studio in Paris, 34 rue de Laborde in 1976. In 1979 he was awarded the distinction of best artisan of France. In 1983, he subsequently received the rare national title of Maitre Archetier d'Art. International awards followed. With the support of Etienne Vatelot, Rolland spearheaded the refinement of French Traditional Bowmaking. This merging of modernity and tradition elevated his craft to higher recognition, and he was soon commissioned to make bows for Lord Yehudi MenuhinYehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
, Arthur Grumiaux
Arthur Grumiaux
Arthur Grumiaux was a Belgian violinist who was also proficient in piano.-Youth:Grumiaux was born in Villers-Perwin, Belgium to a working-class family, and it was his grandfather who urged him to begin music studies at the age of only 4...
, Christian Ferras
Christian Ferras
Christian Ferras was a French violinist.Ferras was born at Le Touquet in 1933. He began studying the violin with his father, who was a pupil of Marcel Chailley. He entered the Conservatoire de Nice as a student of Charles Bistesi in 1941, and in 1943 obtained the First Prize. In 1944 he went to...
, Maurice Gendron
Maurice Gendron
Maurice Gendron was a French cellist and teacher. He is widely considered one of the greatest French cellists of the twentieth century....
, Joseph Suk, Leonid Kogan, Henryk Szeryng
Henryk Szeryng
Henryk Szeryng was a Polish violinist.-Early years:He was born in Żelazowa Wola, Poland on 22 September 1918 into a wealthy family....
, Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli
Stéphane Grappelli was a French jazz violinist who founded the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the first all-string jazz bands....
and other leading musicians.
At the time, his bows were already played by concertmasters and musicians in the main orchestras in Europe, Asia and the United States.
Retreat and new directions
Rolland retreated to the Island of Bréhat in 1982. From there he researched new forms of bows and alternate materials, envisioning new advances in his art and environmental awareness. This novel research on alternate materials for bows derived from his compound knowledge of music, bows and naval carbon/Kevlar technology.During this prominent stage of Rolland’s career, a close dialogue with soloists was developed, that would in future years nourish his research on the sound qualities of bows. Rolland then imposed his style, which expressed a profound knowledge of music as well as his understanding of the intrinsic qualities that gave fine French bows their world renown.
While he continued creating traditional pernambuco bows, acquiring new clients in Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich, KBE , known to close friends as Slava, was a Soviet and Russian cellist and conductor. He was married to the soprano Galina Vishnevskaya. He is widely considered to have been the greatest cellist of the second half of the 20th century, and one of the greatest of...
and Ivry Gitlis
Ivry Gitlis
Ivry Gitlis is an Israeli violinist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador. He has performed with the world's top orchestras , and many of his recordings are considered classics.-Life:Born in Haifa, Mandate Palestine to Jewish immigrants from Russia,...
, Rolland broadened his reputation in Japan, where his creations were particularly sought. Since the beginning of his career, Rolland has been devoted to continuing the tradition, yet also committed to opening new avenues for it. Aware that his crafts rested on an endangered wood species, Permanbuco, thus far irreplaceable, between 1981 and 1986 he conceived the later trademarked Spiccato carbon fiber bow.
Innovation and entrepreneurship
Self-taught in science and new technologies, Rolland rationally combined his artistic knowledge and refined intuition. A visionary, he formulated and designed the first synthetic bow of concert quality, a bow still played today on stage by soloists.Rolland moved back to the mainland with his completed prototypes in order to launch the Spiccato bows carbon fiber manufacture in Vannes, Brittany. His revolutionary concept of an inner tension mechanism allows the musician to modify the camber of the bow at will and change its playing qualities even on stage. This was noted as one of the main innovative steps in the history of bow making.
Within a few years, with the support of noted soloists s (Menuhin, Jaime Laredo, Ivry Gitlis, J.-P. Wallez, Heinrich Schiff, Christian Tetzlaff
Christian Tetzlaff
-Biography:Tetzlaff was born in Hamburg. He began playing the violin and piano at the age of 6, and made his concert debut at 14 years old. He studied with Uwe-Martin Haiberg at the Musikhochschule Lübeck and with Walter Levine at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.He is...
) his company attained an international acclaim. In 1994, the bow that Jean-Luc Ponty
Jean-Luc Ponty
Jean-Luc Ponty is a French virtuoso violinist and jazz composer.- Early years:Ponty was born into a family of classical musicians on 29 September 1942 in Avranches, France. His father taught violin, his mother taught piano...
called "the 21st century bow" was awarded Musicora First International Prize. This contributed to a new dynamic of innovation in musical instrument and bow making far beyond the work of Rolland himself: in less than ten years, hundreds of manufactures of carbon bows were appearing around the world.
The bow as an artwork
In 1999–2000 Rolland stepped back from active entrepreneurship in order to create a curriculum for the first bow making school in the United States. Following these intense years, he permanently settled in the United States in 2003, where he made his home and studio, in Boston, Massachusetts.Rolland now concentrates on making wood bows as individual art pieces, and has been commissioned by artists such as Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter is a German violinist.- Early life :Mutter was born in Rheinfelden, Germany. She began playing the piano at age five, and shortly afterwards took up the violin, studying with Erna Honigberger, a pupil of Carl Flesch...
, Miriam Fried, Christian Tetzlaff, Lynn Harrell
Lynn Harrell
Lynn Harrell is an American classical cellist.-Biography:Harrell was born in New York City of musician parents; his father was the baritone Mack Harrell and his mother, Marjorie Fulton, was a violinist. At the age of eight he decided to learn to play the cello. When Lynn was 12, his family moved...
, Kim Kashkashian
Kim Kashkashian
Kim Kashkashian is an Armenian-American violist.-Professional career:Kim Kashkashian studied the viola with Karen Tuttle. She also studied at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. She won the 2nd prize at the 1980 Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and the 1980 ARD International Music...
, and Julia Fischer
Julia Fischer
Julia Fischer is a German classical violinist and pianist.-Biography:Julia Fischer, born in Munich, Germany, is of German-Slovakian parentage. Her mother, Viera Fischer , came from the German minority in Slovakia and immigrated from Košice, Slovakia to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1972...
. This new phase of his career reflects an understanding of the bow making process as unifying fine artisanship and musical knowledge. It was noted as a Contemporary Art form by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston and presented in 2005 in a program of its Contemporary Art Department.
Rolland invests much time in historical and scientific research, writes about bow making and gives public lectures.
His bows were featured in an exhibition, The Violin in America: Old World Tradition, New World Sound, at the Museum of Making Music
Museum of Making Music
The Museum of Making Music — a division of the NAMM Foundation — is a 501 non-profit organization located in Carlsbad, California. The museum opened to the public on March 5, 2000...
, Carlsbad, California in 2008.
Stature
Rolland, whom Ron Fletcher (The Boston GlobeThe Boston Globe
The Boston Globe is an American daily newspaper based in Boston, Massachusetts. The Boston Globe has been owned by The New York Times Company since 1993...
, 2005) called "one of the world's greatest bow makers" and "The Lord of the Strings", created by his hands about 1,500 wood bows in the first 35 years of his career. These bows are played today around the world as Rolland continues his work.
Most of the major soloists of the past three decades, at some point in their career, have acquired a bow, sometimes several, made by Rolland.
Rolland bows, that Menuhin once deemed "A gift for the violinists", are featured in private collections in Europe, the US and Japan.
Rolland participates in foundations programs helping young musicians (Zino Francescatti
Zino Francescatti
René-Charles "Zino" Francescatti was a French virtuoso violinist.Zino Francescatti was born in Marseilles, to a musical family. Both parents were violinists. His father, who also played the cello, had studied with Camillo Sivori. Zino studied violin from age three and was quickly recognized as a...
competition, the Peabody Institute
Peabody Institute
The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University is a renowned conservatory and preparatory school located in the Mount Vernon neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland at the corner of Charles and Monument Streets at Mount Vernon Place.-History:...
, Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter
Anne-Sophie Mutter is a German violinist.- Early life :Mutter was born in Rheinfelden, Germany. She began playing the piano at age five, and shortly afterwards took up the violin, studying with Erna Honigberger, a pupil of Carl Flesch...
Foundation).
He is called on as a judge for international bow making competitions, gives lectures in music schools (Curtis Institute, Longy School of Music
Longy School of Music
The Longy School of Music of Bard College is a conservatory located near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1915, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston region along with the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and Boston...
, etc.) and he contributes to the magazine The Strad.
Rolland has trained about 20 apprentices so far, and conceived the curriculum for the first bowmaking school in America.
Benoît Rolland is a registered trademark.
Awards and recognitions
Main awards:- Gold medal Best Artisan of France (Un des Meilleurs Ouvriers de France), 1979
- Master of Art in Bow Making (Maitre Archetier d’Art), 1983
- Award ANVAR, 1991(National Agency for Research)
- First International Prize Musicora, 1994
- First Price Patrimonialis (Foundation for French Patrimony), 1996
Further reading
Since 1979, many articles have been published about Rolland’s work and career. Mark Reindorf published the first English biography in the September 1989 issue of The Strad Magazine (distributed in the US and UK).Main recent articles
- Double Acts, Nick Shave, The Strad, October 2007
- Benoît Rolland: Der Bogen vereint Bewegung und Klang, Anne-Sophie Mutter Stiftung, Impressionen, July 2005, pp. 1–3
- Lord of the Strings, Ron Fletcher, The Sunday Boston Globe, 9 Jan. 2005, pp. 1 & 7
- Music Starts where Words are Powerless, Benjamin Ivry, The Audiophile Voice, 2003, Vol. 9, pp. 24–26
- Violin Bows Go High-Tech, Ellen Pfeiffer, The Wall Street Journal, 13 Nov. 2002, 2 columns
Publications about bow making authored by Rolland
- "Alternative Materials in Bowmaking" (French and English versions), in: The Conservation and Restoration of Stringed Instruments and Bows, 3 volumes, 1,500 pages, Tom Wilder Editor, Ed. Pau-Brazil Conservation Initiative, Montreal, 2008
- Rethinking Rehairing, Journal of the Violin Society of America, 2008
- Peccatte, The Strad, May 2006, Vol. 117, No 1393, p. 67
- Trick of the light, The Strad, June 2005, Vol. 116, No 1382, p. 65
- Flawed Perfection, The Strad, November 2004, Vol. 115, No 1375, p. 1173
- Sound Investments, The Strad, June 2004, Vol. 115, No 1370, pp. 590–595
- Sticking Point, The Strad, June 2003, Vol. 114, No 1358, pp. 614–619
- Bow Heirs, The Strad, April 2003, Vol. 114, No 1356, pp. 368–373
- The playing parts of the bow: focusing on the stick, Journal of the Violin Society of America, 2002, Vol. XIX, No.1
- Bow for a String Instrument, Journal of Acoustical Society of America, December 1994, Vol 96, No 6
External links
- http://www.benoitrolland.com/
- http://www.thestrad.com/
- http://www.stringsmagazine.com/