JENS NIELSEN FROST

Jens Nielsen Frost was one of the liveliest and most extravagant characters in the history of Danish violin making. He was born in 1888 in the small town of Als, north-east Jutland, where his father was a carpenter and musician. Craftsmanship combined with music seemed a logic path for the young Frost to follow, and he first apprenticed in carpentry with his father. Aged around 15 he began learning violin making with Anders Rasmussen (1862–1933) in Aarhus. In 1908, aged 20, he was declared father to his first child, with a 17-year-old girl out of wedlock, as church records confirm.

Frost became self-employed in Aarhus in 1910. In 1917 he settled in Aalborg in the north of Jutland. Around 1920 he married Hertha Mariane Sørensen and fathered five children with her. In Aalborg he ran a music shop trading in all kinds of instruments while building violins. The shop went bankrupt in 1927 and Frost divorced his wife and relocated to Copenhagen, leaving his family behind. There he married Emma Petra and had yet another three children.

It was in Copenhagen that Frost had his greatest success, which was confirmed when he began a fruitful working relationship with the famous Belgian Pro Arte Quartet in around 1929. The four players visited Copenhagen several times during the early part of their career and often performed on Frost’s newly made instruments. On one such occasion Frost had not managed to varnish his latest set of instruments, hence the quartet played a concert on four instruments in the white. The audience was amazed while the music critics reported the sound to be ‘raspy and uncultivated’. It was nevertheless enough to play the Danish premieres of quartets by contemporary composers including Béla Bartók.

The Frost home and workshop was very lively and open to famous visitors, such as violinists Adolf Busch and Emil Telmányi, and cello virtuoso Gaspar Cassadó. Cellist Erling Blöndal Bengtsson began his career on a large viola fitted with an endpin and modified by Frost. Many private concerts were played by young musicians in the company of good food and plenty of wine.

Ironically, one might say, Frost died, just 57 years old, from ‘frost’. In October 1945, after a late-night ride in an open horse-drawn carriage, he caught pneumonia and died soon after. Penicillin had only just arrived in Denmark after World War II, and it was difficult to obtain. Frost had suffered from tuberculosis as a child. He left behind around 80 violins, 6 violas and 10 cellos, not including repair work.

THE PRO ARTE QUARTET MEMBERS OFTEN PERFORMED ON FROST’S NEWLY MADE INSTRUMENTS

Frost (centre) with the members of the Pro Arte Quartet. Left-right Laurent Halleux, Alphonse Onnou, Robert Maas and Germain Prévost

INSTRUMENT 

The violin shown here was made in 1929, as the brand mark inside shows. Like all Frost instruments it has a production number: 43. On the back are the signatures of the members of the Pro Arte Quartet: Alphonse Onnou (first violin); Laurent Halleux (second violin); Germain Prévost (viola); and Robert Maas (cello). The date is marked as 29 January 1932. This seems to be the first instance of Frost branding his finest instruments ‘Pro Arte’. Legend has it that he added this mark only after the instruments had been tested and approved by the members of the quartet.

MATERIALS 

The one-piece back is made from attractive maple with medium to narrow flame slightly ascending from right to left. The ribs show a mixture of medium and narrow flame, while those of the neck and scroll are very narrow. The belly is made from two pieces of spruce with medium to fine grain lines towards the centre, and rather wide grain lines towards the edges. All the blocks and linings are of spruce.

FORM AND CONSTRUCTION 

This violin, as with most Frost instruments, was made on a ‘Stradivariish’ model. He seems to have made only slight changes now and then to the arching height, placement of the f-holes and the fluting around the edges.

F-HOLES 

Frost seems to have favoured f-holes of a Stradivari type. They sit quite high on the top plate when compared to the lower part of the C-bouts, given the slightly short stop length of 193mm. The V-shaped notches are small and straight.

PURFLING 

The purfling width varies between 1.2 and 1.4mm. The narrow centre strip of maple is reminiscent of some German-made instruments. The ‘black’ is of stained maple. In most places the outer strip sits around 3.5mm from the edge. The mitres and bee-stings in the corners aim for the centre rather than pointing inwards, towards the C-bouts.

SCROLL 

The scroll is strong and could be considered a more or less successful attempt to follow Stradivari. There is a good balance between the carving of the scroll, the thickness of the pegbox walls and the edgework, which adds overall harmony to the instrument.

ARCHINGS AND EDGEWORK 

The archings on both back and belly are rather full but not overly high. They give an impression of a sturdy instrument and create a loud and penetrating sound. The edges are full-rounded (in Danish they are referred to as ‘sausage edges’).

VARNISH 

The golden-yellow ground is a great vehicle for the transparent oil varnish, which is of a cherry red-brown colour. Like most Frost instruments it shows a slightly stripy craquelure.