Between 1964 and 1967 I served my apprenticeship at the long-established School of Violin Making in Mittenwald, Germany. After the first journeyman year in Switzerland I joined in 1969 the workshops of J. & A. Beare in London where I stayed until 1990. During a break from there in 1974 I obtained my Master Diploma as a violin maker in Mittenwald for which I received a Gold Medal. I rejoined the Beare workshop and became one of their principal craftsmen.

Over my 21 years of work at this renowned establishment I was privileged to restore and study numerous precious antique instruments. Among these were a number by Stradivari. This was an invaluable experience for my later career. A few restorations during this time remain very memorable for me. Probably the most famous violin I was privileged to restore in our workshop was the so-called “Gibson” Stradivari of 1713, also known as the “Huberman”. The story of the “Huberman” has inspired a novel by the French writer Frédéric Chaudière, himself a violin maker.

Here is my part of the story ►

 

Christoph Götting – CV

• 1948 born in Wiesbaden, Germany to a musical family

• 1964 –1967 studied violin making at “Fachschule für Geigenbau” in Mittenwald to diploma level

• 1968 worked for E. Dittrich in Bern, Switzerland

• 1969 joined J. and A. Beare in London



• 1974 returned to Mittenwald to take his masters degree and graduated as master violin maker with honours

• Autumn 1974 rejoined the Beare workshop and became one of their principal craftsmen

• Renovated an 18th century granary in Hampshire to use as a workshop

• 1990 finally left Beares and started own business in Hampshire

• Has made over 80 instruments to date and performed intensive and successful research on violin varnish

 

up ▲