The reference to the forests of Tarvisio and Paneveggio introduces Dr. Master Giobatta Morassi’s Lectio Magistralis for the conferral of the Honorary Master’s Degree. As has already been mentioned, this is merely a preamble.

We must, however, clarify what the motivations of the Academic Senate of the University of Udine were. The primary reason lies in the recognition that Giobatta Morassi has brought dignity and prestige to his native land. It was not a mere transient distinction; his international renown rests on the exceptional quality of his work. His instruments are distinguished by forms that give voice to a timbre which superbly merges with music to highlight all its expressiveness.

Morassi’s instruments form a heritage that makes lutherie an art.

Lutherie between Udine and Venice

From what has already been said, it is appropriate to follow Morassi’s own lectio. After leaving the reference to the forests, the Maestro resumes his argument by recalling his approach to lutherie.

“My land gave me not only the opportunity to know wood. It also offered me a rich luthier tradition dating back to the 17th century. Friulian lutherie is distinguished by its eminent makers of bowed instruments. It must be remembered how it is closely connected to the ‘Venetian school’. One aspect is fundamental: the close relationship with music allowed lutherie to express itself with its own character.”

A luthier who does not engage with music may be a fine craftsman, but never truly an artist. Morassi knew this, and he looked to it for inspiration. Music stimulates his aesthetic imagination as an artifex. The art of sound demands to be both composed and interpreted using an instrument that can offer to composer and performer a sonority capable of expressing all their artistic potential, so as to transmit it to the listener.

If it is true that Santo Serafin (Sanctus Seraphin: Udine 1665? – Venice 1748?, though some historians place his death in 1758) was a pupil of the great Nicola Amati, and if it is equally true that this very luthier establishes a continuity with the Cremonese tradition, at the same time he marks the identity of Friulian lutherie influencing the Venetian School. It is fitting to recall that on his label he identified himself as utinensis.

The reference to his native city is not only a biographical detail, but it establishes the profound connection between lutherie and wood.

Thus Morassi dwells on the memory of Santo Serafin. His roots in lutherie lie in Friuli. Yet he does not forget that the Utinensis was a pupil of the great Nicola Amati. It is obligatory to highlight Morassi’s attention to Santo Serafin—not merely out of historical duty, but especially to grasp his original love for Cremonese lutherie.

In this regard, it is proper to mention that Morassi had a predilection for Nicola Amati. Few as he did know how to perceive the worth of the great Cremonese luthier and go beyond stereotyped historiographical placements. His profound knowledge of the instruments made by Nicola Amati enabled Morassi to also pinpoint the importance of the teaching of that 17th‑century luthier who gave the imprint to the Cremonese tradition. Those who followed him differentiated their approach to lutherie, but—even while diverging—had to confront that tradition. True tradition is progressive, yet does not neglect its roots. Memory connects past to present.

On that topic, I would like those same luthiers who were Morassi’s students to speak. Only they hold the cultural potential that experience imparts to those who have acquired the art of lutherie.

The Venetian School

But the subject of the history of lutherie goes further, and Morassi addresses the Venetian School. He observes:

“The Venetian School is certainly indebted to influences. Let us not forget, for instance, that almost contemporaneously with Santo Serafin in Udine and Venice worked Matteo Goffriller (1659–1742), considered among the greatest luthiers.”

This is not just personal memory, not simply retracing one’s recollections, but rather the intellectual honesty of someone who can reconcile the history of lutherie with the direct knowledge of the instruments themselves.

Above all, the Maestro is aware that the relationship between lutherie and music cannot be ignored, as it is fundamental to reconstruct its history and reveal its nature.

“Over time, the connection between the Venetian School and Cremona becomes preeminent, although we must not forget the contacts with Innsbruck, Vienna, and Budapest—especially regarding music.”

Only thus can he address his Cremonese experience. It is up to us to recognize how the luthier tradition of Cremona—interrupted in the 18th century and revived in the 20th—regained vigor and was globally acknowledged thanks to Dr. Master Giobatta Morassi.

Lutherie in Cremona

To pursue his studies, Morassi moved to Cremona, where he had the opportunity to become familiar with the great Cremonese tradition. Yet in his lectio he does more than recall historical notes: he situates the cultural-historical environment in which it developed. Superficially, one might think that lutherie in Cremona enjoyed favourable conditions; in truth, the city was entering an economic decline. Lutherie ran counter to the tide: it was a field able to develop a market, precisely because it was not subject to pre-industrial processes, but preserved and enhanced its defining character: being a form of art.

Thus, Morassi tackles the issue:

“But it is appropriate to give a brief reference to historical vicissitudes in the period of great luthier tradition, to understand the necessity for me, a boy from the mountains, to go to Cremona.

Already in the 17th century, Cremona was undergoing economic recession due to the loss of the cloth (fustian) market. Though fabric quality remained high, production costs could not compete with Germany, which was already applying pre-industrial methods such as the division of labour. Nevertheless, Cremona’s ties with Venice remained strong, particularly because river routes made commerce possible. It is necessary to recall that most of the notarial documents preserved in the archives of the Serenissima allow one to reconstruct Cremona’s economic history in those years.”

Architectural Inspirations

This socio‑historical preamble allows Morassi to delve into the city, observing how certain architectural features may possibly have influenced luthiers.

“In this context of historical transition for the city of Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri del Gesù, the presence of eminent artists who in earlier centuries left great testimonies constitutes a cultural humus from which luthiers drew. Referring to the cathedral’s façade with its volutes is only an indication; perhaps the many altars shaped with ‘C’s in churches such as S. Abbondio and S. Sigismondo formed a suggestion that luthiers felt strongly. Not to mention the church of S. Domenico, destroyed soon after Lombardy passed under Piedmontese rule.

If its Lombard‑Gothic façade, facing the square that looked onto the insula—the neighbourhood where artisans and artists worked—formed part of their daily visual environment, then inside the 17th- and 18th-century works permitted luthiers to engage with forms that painting offered.”

The Kunstwollen of the Era

Morassi is too erudite to limit himself to citing examples whose meaning remains speculative; he goes further. He understands that lutherie in the culture of the time found an immediate correspondence with the visual arts, representing the Kunstwollen (intentionality of art) of the period. The passage from Mannerism to Baroque, and onward through the poetic meanders that followed, is reflected in lutherie.

It is necessary to recall two aspects that find in the Baroque the premises for a connection to lutherie. One is a formal aspect, which strongly influences the functional use of the instrument: timbre. The Baroque favoured vaulting, curves, dynamic forms. These characteristics belong to bowed instruments as essential conditions. The cultural climate refines them further. While other arts might later pursue diverging poetic trajectories, lutherie required—for example—a resonant body with arching, sound holes and a suitable form to reach the sonority that would distinguish it and allow each instrument to realize its own timbre.

But the connection with the visual arts is only a formal aspect. In music, the relationship between “time” and “harmony” is essential. Sound unfolds in time; harmony evokes its development and allows its enjoyment. Let us not forget that Baroque breaks free from static aesthetic models in a fixed context. Baroque opens itself to dynamism while preserving the value of order.

Later periods, in which Baroque music was abandoned, required instruments to undergo changes; luthiers such as Antonio Stradivari were able to respond to new musical and social demands. For instance, consider the different neck angles demanded by evolving musical and social needs.

“From scrolls to ‘f’ holes, from spirals to ‘C’ shapes—but above all the unbroken continuity of arches and vaulting constituted the Kunstwollen that qualified and identified the aesthetic taste of the era. Thus, a cabinetmaker like Bertesi could not help but influence—and be influenced by—Stradivari, to the point that a collaboration between the two has even been hypothesized.”

Morassi and Cremonese Lutherie

There are two themes Morassi cannot avoid in his lectio: the Cremonese School of Lutherie and the UNESCO recognition.

Morassi addresses both, fully aware that through his work he promoted the identity of the School and the UNESCO recognition. The A. Stradivari School of Lutherie, where Morassi learned the craft, later became the location of his teaching. Many students learned the art of lutherie from him.

Personally, I must testify that when I asked him what his teaching approach was, he replied that first of all he considered each student’s potential and individual characteristics. He thus implemented a personalized pedagogy. He moved beyond the old notion of teaching by having students “steal the trade with their eyes,” but instead paid attention to every personality striving to emerge. He described to me the qualities of many of his students’ craftsmanship—qualities that, I confess, I would otherwise have never discovered. His love for teaching became tangible; it is no surprise that everyone called him “Maestro” and even today, in the community, Morassi remains the Maestro.

Moreover, it must be observed that the recognition of his art has gone beyond national borders and spread worldwide. For this reason, we must acknowledge that Morassi concretely played a significant role in securing UNESCO recognition for Cremona. “It is necessary to spend a few words on the Cremonese milieu of when I, a young student, arrived at the International School of Lutherie.

In those years, a belief circulated that luthier skill depended on rigid constructive methods. Once more, I told myself that observation and experimentation constituted the more apt method to address the issue. I did not submit myself to such supposed convictions, which stalled lutherie and, worse, relegated it to sterile academicism. If the tradition of lutherie found in Cremona an important reference—so much so that it was recognized by UNESCO as a center of lutherie as an expression of “intangible culture”—then it was and remains necessary to break free of prejudices grounded in unfounded convictions.”

The Importance of Knowledge

All this said, one understands clearly why Dr. Master Giobatta Morassi never referred to tradition as a mere glorious experience of the past, but continually engaged with all those strands of knowledge that constitute a culturally grounded and verifiable approach, which allowed him to give his art “concrete form.” This is undoubtedly a powerful lesson for his former students—luthiers who in turn are winning significant international acclaim.

It is also a lesson for anyone who wishes to go beyond appearances and cultivate scientific curiosity. Intellectual integrity seeks to acquire knowledge that is certain and demonstrable.

One must not forget how the myth of Stradivari in the 19th century led to beliefs unsupported by any documented evidence, which then diminished the living tradition in the city. For this reason, once again, it is imperative to proceed through competencies grounded in documented humanistic studies, in proven scientific research, and in those intuitions that only someone skilled is willing to experiment with. This is the foundation of the “craft of lutherie”—the result of many competences and abilities: art.

Given all that has been said, following Morassi’s lectio, it is easy to discern why the Maestro founded the A.L.I. (Italian Lutherie Association). But, so that his thought, his art, and his influence on lutherie be more easily understood, one must accompany him in exploring the aesthetic dimension proper to lutherie.