Stroh violin

A Stroh violin, or violinophone, or horn-violin is a violin that amplifies its sound through a metal resonator and metal horns rather than a wooden sound box as on a standard violin. The instrument is named after its German designer, Johannes Matthias Augustus Stroh, who patented it in 1899.

In the 20th century many types of horn-violins have been devised, especially in the Balkans.
Contents
1 Description and Background
2 Current Usage
3 Rumanian horn-violin
4 External links
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Description and Background

Stroh violins are much louder than a standard wooden violin, and the directional projection of sound made the Stroh violin particularly useful in the early days of phonographic recording. As regular violins recorded poorly with the old acoustic-mechanical recording method, Stroh violins were common (though by no means universal) in recording studios. After record companies switched to the new electric microphone recording technology in the second half of the 1920s, Stroh violins became less common. While the Stroh produces significantly more volume, it does this at the expense of tone, offering a sound that is harsher and more grating than a standard violin. On early records the Stroh violin can be recognized by its characteristically thin whining tone.

The Stroh violin was an expensive instrument; in 1911 it was offered by the London dealers Barnes & Mullins for nine guineas (£9.45, then equal to $37.80) or twelve guineas (£12.60 / $50.40) at a time when a reasonable factory violin could be had for two guineas. It was listed as being especially suitable for use in small theaters and music-halls. There was also a Stroh viola.

Current Usage
A few musicians, including Tom Waits, Carla Kihlstedt, Thomas Newman, Bat For Lashes, and Bob Cohen for the Klezmer and múm, and Fabrice Martinez with Fishtank Ensemble continue to use the Stroh violin for its distinctive sound.
The Stroh violin is also an instrument used in folk music of the Bihor region of Romania. Famous musicians of this music style are fiddlers like Gheorghe Rada, singers like Florica Bradu, Florica Ungur, Florica Duma, Leontin Ciucur, Cornel Borza, Vasile Iova, Maria Haiduc, Viorica Flintasu, and renowned folk ensembles like "Crisana" or "Rapsozii Zarandului". In Buenos Aires (Argentina) back in the 1920s, Julio De Caro (renowned Tango orchestra director and violinist) used it on his live performances, and was called "violin corneta" (cornet violin) by the locals.

Rumanian horn-violin
An interesting variant on the Stroh violin is the Rumanian horn-violin that has been built far into the 20th century. It has the same length as the Stroh violin (and of course of the normal violin) but its horn is narrower and yields a more directional sound.

The structure of the instrument is based on the element of an old-fashioned gramophone and could for that reason easily be built by amateurs or small workshops. There exist therefore in Eastern Europe many variants of this peculiar instrument.
The vibrations of strings and bridge are transmitted by a thin rod to the membrane of the gramophone element. The membrane transfers these vibrations into sound waves which are amplified by the horn or the beaker. The instrument is more difficult to play than a normal violin: (1) the reaction of the bow on the strings is less flexible and (2) the weight of the instrument on the shoulder is less well-balanced than with a normal violin.


The instrument is still in use in Rumanian folk-music for playing hora’s and doina’s and it mixes well with the characteristic sound of the pan-flute. Its individual tone is a welcome alternative for the sound of a Rumanian folk-music orchestra. It shall, however, sparsely be used as the grating tone may after a while become irritating. Instruments like the Stroh violin and other types of horn-violin remain a curiosity, they are no full-fledged orchestral instruments.