The 1852 guitar shaped version of the "Cradle of Harmony" violin by American artist and inventor, William Sidney Mount, is very significant to Don Rickert Lutherie. The shape, bent-plate convex top and bent concave back of this unique violin became important design elements in our first product offerings (then under the name Rickert & Ringholz), our octave violins (also known as baritone violins or fiddles). We now have two versions, each with its own distinct sound:
- Octave Violin, Rickert-Fiddarci, Darci Jones Model
- Octave Violin, Rickert-Fiddarci, W.S. Mount Model
In the 1840s, the artist, inventor and musician, William Sidney Mount, invented a new type of violin. He received a U.S. Patent in 1852. The violins came in both a trapezoidal and a 'guitar-shaped' form. Both types, instead of having a carved top and back, utilized bent flat plates, the top being convex and the back concave. For this
reason, Mount's instruments are sometimes called "hollow-back" violins. There were other differences from regular violins, such as the reverse sound holes on the guitar-shaped version of his instrument.
An interesting note is that Mount wrote quite a few fiddle tunes, familiar to Old-Time fiddlers in the Northeast of the U.S. This genre is often called “Down East” style. One of his most famous tunes is ‘Shep Jones' Hornpipe’...the owner of Fiddarci Lutherie, which builds our octave violins under contract, is also named Shep Jones...it kind of gave us goose bumps.
Mount's painting, 'Dance of the Haymakers' used Mount's friend Shep Jones' barn as the setting. This painting was revolutionary for its time, as it depicted Blacks and Whites making music together. William Sidney Mount produced many paintings depicting Black Men (he never painted women...he was a "gentleman bachelor.") as handsome, heroic characters...the way they really looked rather than as caricatures!
By all accounts, Mount’s instruments were extremely loud for their size; which is what Mount was trying to achieve, as he wanted to be heard above the other instruments when performing on fiddle...he was not shy! Alas, the high projection volume of Mount’s instruments proved to be one of the factors contributing to their ultimate obscurity today. Apparently, the Cradles of Harmony were too loud for orchestral use. There were other factors, not the least of which was the fact Mount was not very diligent at marketing them or having them manufactured in great numbers. As is the case with many inventors, Mount invented something that he wanted for himself. Besides, he was busy enough as an extremely prolific painter and is well-known today, at least by students of Art History. Many of his paintings are quite familiar to people living today even if they do not know the artist, such as “The Banjo Player” and “Dance of the Haymakers”, already shown above.
While Mount made perhaps as many as a dozen instruments, only a few instruments survive today, most of them owned by a division of the Smithsonian Institution, only one or two of them are in playable condition. Apparently Mount was not as good as a luthier as he was as an inventor and designer. The same can be said of other noteworthy musical instrument inventor/designers such as Orville Gibson, founder of the Gibson Mandolin Co. and inventor of the modern mandolin. Any serious student of the modern mandolin knows that those made by Orville Gibson himself are of extremely poor quality.
We have a recording, courtesy of the Smithsonian Institution at Stoneybrook, of one Mount's coolest tunes, "The Wheels of the Long Island Railroad", played on one of the only original Cradles of Harmony in playable condition. Listen and ENJOY!
Cars of the Long Island Railroad
Comments