Premier - Farmer-luthier, he converses with his horses and listens to the wood of his violins

24 Hours, Jean-Marc Corset, August 14, 2019

A “free” man, out of time, Hans-Martin Bader has chosen a way of life that praises slowness. By visiting the farm of Hans-Martin Bader, luthier of German origin who became a farmer in Premier, on the heights of Romainmôtier, we understand that we are immersed outside the present time. Hans-Martin Bader does indeed appear to be a free man. Freed from the stresses of contemporary life, he works the land with his two draft horses, the mares Taylor, 24, and Vaillant, 17, whose helpfulness and perseverance he praises.

Now retired, alone in this old bucolic farm, the 67-year-old man lives in modest comfort, without mobile or screen, thanks to his income, supplemented by income from violin making and the fruit of his plots of land. earth. There is nothing incongruous in the eyes of this man who comes from a mountain region to exercise the craftsmanship of a luthier alongside the strenuous activity of the peasantry. After all, the watchmakers of the Vallée de Joux, extremely skilled with their hands, were also peasants.

It takes about a year, explains the luthier, to make a violin made up of 75 parts, this corresponds to 180 hours of work (400 hours for a cello). Throughout the summer, the crate is exposed outside to dry: “The wood loses its internal tension. In this way, we have the best chance of success for the instrument to have a beautiful sound. Violin making, which he has been practicing for forty-eight years now, represents for him “the love of craftsmanship”.

“Violins have been built for nearly 500 years. There have been different styles. What personalizes it is above all the choice of woods and varnishes that are applied in fifteen very thin layers, of progressive color. The Premier luthier naturally has his secrets which he guards jealously. But each instrument is a true work of art. We see in his workshop violins whose volute is sculpted in the shape of a lion’s head: "The craft of a luthier is sculpture", he says. He has of course learned to play these various instruments and he continues to practice one to two hours each evening in order to keep his hands mobile.

Holidays? "No never. I don’t need it, he says. I have everything I need in life.” In short, Hans-Martin Bader, whose companion, poet, does not share the hearth, lives as at the time when his farm was built, more than 200 years ago. And he is proud and happy about it. Because, unlike most peasants of the time, he can affirm: “I chose this way of life.”

https://www.24heures.ch/vaud-regions/la-cle-des-champs/paysanluthier-devise-chevaux-ecoute-bois-violons/story/22016921