About the Maker
As the AFVBM Foundation’s “The American Violin” states, “Born in 1888, Matthias Dahl immigrated to Minneapolis from Norway, arriving in the United States on 1910. He settled in Minneapolis and began working with Halvor Blakkestad. When Blakkestad retired, Dahl purchased the company and continued making and restoring instruments until his death.
Dahl was well respected for his repair work as well as his instruments, and received the top prize for the instrument he entered in the 1958 Minnesota Centennial Violin Makers’ contest. Dahl was a spiritualist and claimed late in his life to have channeled the spirit of Stradivari, who supposedly revealed the secret of his varnish. Dahl passed away in 1973.”
This lovely violin that we have at Denver Violins is a very fine example of his work!