Marietta: „I am a violin maker. Crazy that it’s called that, because I also make cellos and violas. And I don’t build much anyway. Most of the time I repair and rent things out. Basically I want to build an instrument once a year, and I can’t even do that. Building a violin is a month’s work, a cello three months. That is quite difficult to fit in. I have taken care of my parents a lot in recent years. My father has passed away, but I do a kind of informal care for my mother. Then there is no room for such things. I have time, but no energy.
“I usually get up around seven o’clock. If I have to get things done, I can actually be at work by six o’clock. If I have a lot of customers in one day, sometimes I don’t really get to work in the workshop.
unannounced
“Before corona, everyone was allowed to come by unannounced during opening hours. Now I don’t do that anymore. Yet there are still quite often unexpectedly people on the sidewalk, you know. The first thing I do in the morning is drink coffee. And I often go for a walk. Breakfast usually takes place behind my computer, while I answer emails.
“My workshop is here, where I live. That makes it easy to hang up the laundry in between, and to clean it. Sometimes eight people come a day, sometimes just one. One comes to pick up repaired bows, the next comes to try a cello. It’s very wide. I have tennis elbow and a frozen shoulder so I have to watch out that I don’t do the same things for too long. So now I change a lot.
“I’ll be ready in about five o’clock. If I can’t get things done, I’d rather get up early. In the evenings I watch television, knit or sit at my loom. And I write letters to family or to the children. I did that a little less for a while, but with corona I started again because I saw everyone a lot less.”
fill-in voice
Marietta: „I have been crafting since I was very small. I still have film where I’m sawing and drilling. If I can’t tinker, I’m unhappy. It’s deep inside. As a child I played the violin. One time, when something broke and we came to a violin maker, I thought… oooh!
“I play the violin myself. And viola in an orchestra, it doesn’t have that very high pitch, I like that. It’s a kind of filler. You don’t hear it very clearly, but it’s part of it.
“That place in an orchestra suits me very well. I don’t like to play first violin. That is of course an expression, but sometimes it is really a character of people. Some like to be a little more in the foreground, I don’t think I have that.
“When I was sixteen I knew I wanted to train as a violin maker. It does not exist in the Netherlands. In the end I took an entrance exam in Switzerland and was accepted. My father was Swiss, so it didn’t feel so far away. I lived there for four years, then another three years in France. In the meantime I had married someone I knew from training and he got a job as a violin maker in France. My children were born there.
“I worked in his workshop, not for pay, but for fun. After I got divorced, I started my own business here in the Netherlands, in ’98 or so.
“It was pretty crazy, you start from zero. Such a divorce is complicated anyway. And a lot of people didn’t know that I was a violin maker, because I mainly took care of the small children. I recently came across the administration of the first year and I sometimes only sold one string a week. With the help of my parents and being very creative with what little you have, it worked. And now I have quite a lot of customers. It is so full here that my children sometimes say: will we still fit in when we get home?
“My sons, aged 29 and 31, have long since left home. I live alone and it is what it is. Sometimes it’s a bit boring because you don’t have anyone to talk to – especially now. My one son is a musician, the other a painter and biologist. But he also plays in groups and I often listen.”
circle of acquaintances
Marietta“I have quite a large circle of acquaintances. In the Netherlands I know a lot of people through music, and I have a lot of contact with the neighbors. And I have some friends left in Switzerland and France.
“In principle, I always went to Switzerland three times a year. There I am in a group of violin makers, originally a kind of guild. Traveling from Arnhem to Switzerland by train is easy.
“I don’t take much time off. But I do have a lot of freedom. If I really don’t feel like it for a day, then I don’t necessarily need anything.
“I am satisfied with the way my life is organized, but sometimes it is very busy. I find it really difficult to care for. Over time you will discover where your limits are, also with regard to customers.
“I’ve learned not to adapt all the time. I can adapt very well to other people, but that means I often miss myself. The nice thing is that I am very good with my children. With them I really am who I am.”
In Rush Hour, couples and singles tell how they combine work and private life. Participate? Mail to [email protected]
A version of this article also appeared in NRC Handelsblad on 22 January 2022
A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of January 22, 2022
#dont #play #violin