Retford Family (bow-makers)
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Retford Family (bow-makers)
William Charles Retford (1875–1970) and William R. Retford (1899–1960) were English musical instrument bow-makers, working for the firm of W.E. Hill & Sons. Retford is recognized as developing the Hill bow, along with Alfred Hill. William C. Retford was a perfectionist who became known as the best bow craftsman of his time. He created (and was first to use) the fleur-de-lis design on the best quality gold and tortoiseshell bows. In 1964, William C. Retford wrote "Bows and Bowmakers", which offered a new perspective regarding English bows. William Richard Retford (1899–1960) trained as a bow maker with his father. Unfortunately William Richard found it difficult to live up to his father's fame. Although he was employed by the Hills, he mainly worked on rehairing bows.,W.E. Hill & Sons (A Tribute)- Richard Sadler 1996 After the death of William C. Retford, his colleagues Mr. Porter and Mr. Yeoman arranged with William R Retford's daughter that all his tools and other mat ...
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Fleur-de-lis
The fleur-de-lis, also spelled fleur-de-lys (plural ''fleurs-de-lis'' or ''fleurs-de-lys''), is a lily (in French, and mean 'flower' and 'lily' respectively) that is used as a decorative design or symbol. The fleur-de-lis has been used in the heraldry of numerous European nations, but is particularly associated with France, notably during its monarchical period. The fleur-de-lis became "at one and the same time, religious, political, dynastic, artistic, emblematic, and symbolic," especially in French heraldry. The fleur-de-lis has been used by French royalty and throughout history to represent saints of France. In particular, the Virgin Mary and Saint Joseph are often depicted with a lily. The fleur-de-lis is represented in Unicode at in the Miscellaneous Symbols block. Origin The ''fleur de lis'' is widely thought to be a stylized version of the species ''Iris pseudacorus'', or ''Iris florentina''.Stefan Buczacki However, the lily (genus lilium, family Liliaceae) and the ...
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Bow Maker
A bow maker is a person who builds, repairs, and restores ancient or modern bows for bowed string instruments. These include violins, violas, cellos, double basses, viola d'amore, viola da gamba, etc. The French word for bowmaker (bow maker) is archetier for one who makes bows of the string family of instruments such as violin, viola, cello and double bass. Root of the word comes from ''archet''—pronounced —the bow. A bow maker typically uses between 150 and 200 hairs from the tail of a horse for a violin bow. Bows for other members of the violin family typically have a wider ribbon, using more hairs. White hair generally produces a smoother sound and black hair (used mainly for double bass bows) is coarser, producing a rougher sound. Lower quality (inexpensive) bows often use nylon or synthetic hair. Rosin, a hard, sticky substance made from resin (sometimes mixed with wax), is regularly applied to the bow hair to increase friction. In making the stick of a bow, the initia ...
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Bate Collection Of Musical Instruments
The Bate Collection of Musical Instruments is a collection of historic musical instruments, mainly for Western classical music, from the Middle Ages onwards. It is housed in Oxford University's Faculty of Music near Christ Church on St. Aldate's. The collection is open to the public and is available for academic study by appointment. The current curator (as of November 2017) is Andy Lamb, a former NCO who served in the Royal Artillery and was a trumpeter in their Junior Leaders band during his training as a Boy Soldier. There are frequent gallery events and special exhibitions. More than a thousand instruments by important English, French and German makers, are on display, showing the musical and mechanical development of wind and percussion instruments from the Renaissance to the current day. The Bate Collection is additionally the home of the Reginald Morley-Pegge Memorial Collection of Horns and other Brass and Woodwind Instruments; the Anthony Baines Collection; the E ...
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Arthur Bultitude
Arthur Richard Bultitude (14 January 1908 – 1990) MBE was an English musical instrument bow maker, who spent much of his life working as a craftsman for the firm of W.E. Hill & Sons. Bultitude was brought to and introduced to the Hill shop by William Napier (father of Frank Napier another exceptional Hill bow maker) at the age of 14. Bultitude developed a close relationship with William Charles Retford, one of the foremost Hill makers after James Tubbs. Bultitude worked for the Hill shop from 1922 until 1961, after which he set up his own shop where he continued to make bows based on the same model set up by Alfred Hill (the Tourte model). However he slowly moved away and made individual Bows built to suit particular customers. His bows are typically decorated with a silver Tudor Rose. The bows made for W.E. Hill & Sons are marked with number 6 on the tip under the bow hair.W.E. Hill & Sons (A Tribute) – Richard Sadler 1996 Bultitude was elected as Master of the Art Worker ...
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Viol
The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch of each of the strings. Frets on the viol are usually made of gut, tied on the fingerboard around the instrument's neck, to enable the performer to stop the strings more cleanly. Frets improve consistency of intonation and lend the stopped notes a tone that better matches the open strings. Viols first appeared in Spain in the mid-to-late 15th century, and were most popular in the Renaissance and Baroque (1600–1750) periods. Early ancestors include the Arabic '' rebab'' and the medieval European vielle,Otterstedt, Annette. ''The Viol: History of an Instrument. ''Kassel: Barenreiter;-Verlag Karl Votterle GmbH & Co; 2002. but later, more direct possible ancestors include the Venetian ''viole'' and the 15th- and 16th-century Spanish ''vihue ...
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Viola D'amore
The viola d'amore (; Italian for "viol of love") is a 7- or 6- stringed musical instrument with sympathetic strings used chiefly in the baroque period. It is played under the chin in the same manner as the violin. Structure and sound The viola d'amore shares many features of the viol family. It looks like a thinner treble viol without frets and sometimes with sympathetic strings added. The six-string viola d'amore and the treble viol also have approximately the same ambitus or range of playable notes. Like all viols, it has a flat back. An intricately carved head at the top of the peg box is common on both viols and viola d'amore, although some viols lack one. Unlike the carved heads on viols, the viola d'amore's head occurs most often as Cupid blindfolded to represent the blindness of love. Its sound-holes are commonly in the shape of a flaming sword known as "The Flaming Sword of Islam" (suggesting the instrument's development was influenced by the Islamic World). This was on ...
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The Strad (magazine)
''The Strad'' is a UK-based monthly classical music magazine about string instrumentsprincipally the violin, viola, cello and double bassfor amateur and professional musicians. Founded in 1889, the magazine provides information, photographs and reviews of instruments, related feature articles and news, and information about concerts. The magazine offers practical advice on technique, profiles of leading performers, and information on master classes and the craft of instrument makers such as luthiers. It also includes articles about orchestras and music schools. The magazine's name references the common abbreviation for the famous 17th18th-century Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are c ... family of luthiers and their coveted and valuable instruments. ''The S ...
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Bow Makers
Bow often refers to: * Bow and arrow, a weapon * Bowing, bending the upper body as a social gesture * An ornamental knot made of ribbon Bow may also refer to: * Bow (watercraft), the foremost part of a ship or boat * Bow (position), the rower seated in the bow of a racing shell Knots * Bow knot, a shoelace knot or a rosette * Bow tie, a type of necktie * Pussy bow, a style of neckwear Music * Bow (music), used to play a stringed instrument * Musical bow, a musical instrument resembling an archer's bow * EBow, electronic device for playing the electric guitar * Bows (band), a band from the UK Porcelain * Bow porcelain factory Places England * Bow, Devon, a village in mid Devon * Bow, a hamlet in the parish of Ashprington in South Devon * Bow, London, a district * Bow, Oxfordshire, a hamlet United States * Bow, Kentucky * Bow, New Hampshire * Bow, Washington Canada * The Bow (skyscraper), Calgary, Alberta * Bow River, Alberta Other * Bow (name), including a list of peo ...
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