Morriston Fiddle Maker
from the bbc
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/7452522.stm
Concert celebrates violin maker
Lewis Roberts's violins are worth over £1,000 each on the open market
The work of a man regarded by some as Wales's greatest violin maker is to be celebrated at a concert at the chapel where he was buried in 1917.
Lewis Roberts of Morriston near Swansea made 87 instruments during his career and six will be played by a variety of musicians at Capel Seion Newydd.
Roberts, who was born in 1868 and made his first violin while in his teens, influenced several contemporaries.
The concert on 21 June is free to the public.
It has been organised by local antiques expert John Carpenter who has also researched the violin maker's life story.
"He was without any doubt the best [violin maker] Wales has ever produced," he said.
"Lewis Roberts was a violin maker who is described as a 'dreamer of dreams', which I have used as the title to my book.
"He worked in the tin industry, was a bachelor as far as we know and died at a young age pneumonia.
"He had have a brother - Willie Roberts - who was very well known locally as a violin player."
Mr Carpenter said he Roberts' mother had tried to discourage her son from violin making but he fashioned his first secretly in the back garden of their house in Morriston partly with a penknife.
He said what marked them out was the "neatness of his work".
Mr Carpenter's interest in Roberts was sparked around 20 years ago when he first acquired one of his violins.
"I have been an antique dealer most of my life and have played the violin since I was five years old.
"I have since bought another three - all of which will be played on the night along with another two."
The concert starts at Capel Seion Newydd at 1900BSTon Saturday 21 June.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_west/7452522.stm
Concert celebrates violin maker
Lewis Roberts's violins are worth over £1,000 each on the open market
The work of a man regarded by some as Wales's greatest violin maker is to be celebrated at a concert at the chapel where he was buried in 1917.
Lewis Roberts of Morriston near Swansea made 87 instruments during his career and six will be played by a variety of musicians at Capel Seion Newydd.
Roberts, who was born in 1868 and made his first violin while in his teens, influenced several contemporaries.
The concert on 21 June is free to the public.
It has been organised by local antiques expert John Carpenter who has also researched the violin maker's life story.
"He was without any doubt the best [violin maker] Wales has ever produced," he said.
"Lewis Roberts was a violin maker who is described as a 'dreamer of dreams', which I have used as the title to my book.
"He worked in the tin industry, was a bachelor as far as we know and died at a young age pneumonia.
"He had have a brother - Willie Roberts - who was very well known locally as a violin player."
Mr Carpenter said he Roberts' mother had tried to discourage her son from violin making but he fashioned his first secretly in the back garden of their house in Morriston partly with a penknife.
He said what marked them out was the "neatness of his work".
Mr Carpenter's interest in Roberts was sparked around 20 years ago when he first acquired one of his violins.
"I have been an antique dealer most of my life and have played the violin since I was five years old.
"I have since bought another three - all of which will be played on the night along with another two."
The concert starts at Capel Seion Newydd at 1900BSTon Saturday 21 June.
posted by yscolan at 12:25 pm
