Medieval Melodies Spring From This Father-Son Duet

The gentle hum and pluck of an ancient instrument fills the air as Joe Baldassarre plays a Medieval tune.

The guitar he uses is unique -- the ornate body is inlaid with thousands of slices of multicolored wood, the framework custom-built by his father, Antonio Baldassarre.

Together, the two reinvent Renaissance lutes, rare vihuelas and classical basses, creating music from centuries past.

Joe, a classical guitarist and music professor at Boise State University, researches and designs the instruments.

Antonio, 86 and a retired carpenter, painstakingly builds them.

“This one took four years to build,” Antonio Baldassarre said, holding the ornate Baroque guitar under a light. “See the dotted design here, around the circle? That’s my name, in Morse code.”

Antonio built the first of 28 instruments in 1972, prodded by his son.

“He told me I couldn’t make a lute, and I had to show him he was wrong,” Antonio said. “I enjoyed it and just continued.”

Soon Joe was using historical paintings, woodcuttings and writings to design copies of long-forgotten instruments, and Antonio was fine-tuning the art of musical building.

“It’s almost like his knowledge and strengths and abilities are the exact opposite of mine,” Joe said. “I was also the kid who couldn’t put together a model airplane. Dad can probably build anything.”

Musical ability is highly prized in the Baldassarre family. Antonio grew up in the tiny Italian village of Sants Cosma e Damiano and was the flute soloist for one of the nation’s most prestigious symphonies in the early 1930s.

In 1949, he married an American woman named Mary and they moved to Cleveland, where Joe was born.

By the time Joe was 4, Mary and Antonio spent an hour a day teaching him to read music and the alphabet. They signed him up for accordion lessons, but he begged to learn guitar.

Antonio and Mary agreed, and when Joe was in his early teens, he was playing in taverns until 2 a.m.

He made money by recording studio guitar for popular bands, including “California Sun” by the Rivieras.

Although Antonio hated rock ‘n’ roll, he never stopped Joe from playing.

“He never enjoyed anything as much as music, so we never interfered, just taught him persistence. We wouldn’t let him jump from instrument to instrument,” Antonio said.

Some rules were hard for Joe to accept. “I wasn’t allowed to touch Dad’s tools because they were worried I would injure my hands. At least now I have all my fingers,” he said.

When building, Antonio focuses on pulling the perfect sound from thin pieces of wood.

One of Joe’s favorites is a newly made pear-wood guitar.

As he plays “Capricio Arabe,” a Spanish piece from the late 1800s, the fat, rich sounds resonate in the air.

“Before he started, I never knew there was such depth in guitar music,” Antonio said. “I try to make the instruments look as beautiful as they will be played.”

Despite frequent requests, Antonio will not sell his work. He has invested too much of himself in their creation to give them up to a stranger.

Besides, Joe said, the cost would be prohibitive.

The pear-wood guitar was made with $10 worth of wood and hundreds of hours in labor.

The instruments are not hidden from the public, however. They are loaned to museums and used during Joe’s recitals and concerts.

All the effort of researching, designing and building the instruments is worth the result.

“If there’s ever a case for reincarnation, I suppose it would be in my love of medieval instruments and music,” Joe said. “In the music, you have a framework, but you improvise and can pour yourself into it.

“I’m experimenting with notes and rhythm, and Dad experiments with framework and structure. In the end, it’s all the same thing -- love for an art.”