Defied disease to craft instruments of delight

Clifford Roberts, 57, a master craftsman who created beautiful violins, violas, and cellos, died Monday, Sept. 6, at his home in Bella Vista from a rare neuromuscular disorder.

Mr. Roberts' instruments are owned by members of the Juilliard and Mendelssohn String Quartets, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and several other ensembles.

Soon after he joined the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1990, John Koen bought a cello from Mr. Roberts. When Koen played it for a former teacher of his at the Curtis Institute of Music, David Soyer, "he approved because it was loud, and David liked loud," Koen said.

Like all of Roberts' instruments, the cello has a distinctive orange hue. "There is this mystique about Stradivarius' secret formula for varnish," Koen said. "Cliff had his own magic formula and would tell people who owned his instruments that after 200 years or so the orange would fade to 'Stradivarius red.' "

Because it is bright orange and loud, Koen's fellow musicians call his cello "the beast," and are delighted when Koen takes it to performances where a big sound is required. But despite its formidable nickname, the cello responds well to gentle playing, Koen said.

Mr. Roberts grew up on Long Island, N.Y., where his father was a civil engineer and his mother a classical pianist. "It was natural for me to be involved with both music and craft," he wrote on his website.

As a child, he studied sculpting, and by the time he was 18 he could craft silver jewelry, leather goods, and linoleum cut prints, and play 10 instruments.

While attending the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Mr. Roberts, who also made dulcimers, was asked to repair a violin - and got hooked.

On the advice of Adolph Primavera, a master violin maker in Philadelphia, he enrolled in the school of violin-making in Cremona, Italy.

Mr. Roberts studied for three years in Italy, where he met his future wife, Stefania Salvagnini. He returned to the United States in 1975 and set up shop in New York. Among his early clients were a violinist for the Guarneri String Quartet and a cellist for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

In the 1980s, Mr. Roberts and his family moved to Philadelphia. He remembered the city for its "ease of living" from his days at Temple, he later told Inquirer columnist Daniel Rubin.

In 1986, he and his wife bought a Jehovah's Witnesses meeting hall on Bainbridge Street and transformed it into living quarters, a showroom, and a workroom.