Maine's master violinmaker died on Labor Day

A longtime Maine fiddler and violinmaker who was viewed as one of the best in the country has died. Jonathan Cooper, who had a Portland shop for decades, died just before dawn on Labor Day, his wife, Liz Bieber, wrote on his Facebook page. His exact age was unclear Tuesday morning, but he was in his 70s. Cooper's custom-made, high-end violins made using historical techniques drew praise from professionals spanning chamber musicians to folk fiddlers for their sound, craftsmanship and attention to player-specific detail. He was one of about 100 luthiers in the country known as masters, Maine Public reported in 2015. Social media tributes from around the country remembered him personally as a generous, curious and kind professional who helped start the careers of other young instrumentmakers and was active in a wide-ranging musical community. 'I want the instrument to be able to speak, I want it to be able to sound,' Cooper told the Bangor Daily News in 2013. 'That's why you have to make them one at a time. It has to be from one person for an instrument to have a personality that's distinct.' Cooper grew up in New York, came to Maine for college and decided to make it home, according to his website. He was introduced to the instrument during a break in band practice as a 20-year-old guitar player in rural New Hampshire, he told Strings magazine in 2021. Cooper picked up a bandmate's violin and couldn't get a good sound out of it. But that night, he dreamed he could play perfectly and woke up knowing he had to learn. 'The way I see it now, there's my life before that day, and my life after that day, because I woke up in the morning, went downtown to a thrift store where I'd seen a violin for sale, bought it for like $7, and pretty much started teaching myself how to play it,' he told the magazine. Cooper went on to become a decorated fiddler, and started buying violins to tinker with and understand in his spare time. His curiosity about the instrument led him to a three-year apprenticeship with a young violinmaker in Cremona, Italy, birthplace of Antonio Stradivari, he said in multiple interviews. Cooper then returned to Maine and set up shop making stringed instruments in Portland in 1984. Cooper asked musicians questions about factors such as how they played, in what settings, how much they traveled, if they used microphones and if they often recorded. Their answers would change factors such as the wood's curvature and thickness, modifying the sound, according to Maine Public. 'If I make a violin I start off with a concept of the instrument and I make every part of it from beginning to end and I present it to the musician, I hear the person play it, I know that violin,' he told the radio station in 2015. That's the difference between a custom instrument and one made in a factory by an employee working off a set of numbers, he said. Cooper's instruments are made to be passed down and used for generations, he said in multiple interviews. 'These aren't like cars that we are driving one place to the next and it doesn't make a difference where the hell the thing's been,' he told the BDN in 2013. 'These are being used for very emotional and spiritual purposes.' He had made nearly 500 instruments by 2021, Strings reported, including cellos and violas. Cooper continued making fiddles until his death, though at a slower pace, according to his wife. He had been dealing with health challenges for the last couple of years but was still active and 'looking forward to many great years ahead' until an unexpected decline this week, she said. 'We're all in shock but comforted knowing his end was peaceful and he approached it with incomparable grace and strength,' Bieber wrote. 'We'll have more to say soon but please know until the very end, he wanted to focus on what made him sing: his three sons who he adored, his sister and brother, dinner gatherings, music jams, violin making, and of course fishing.' A celebration of life, donations in Cooper's name and memorial plans are forthcoming, she said. Bieber couldn't be reached for further comment Tuesday morning.