- Family: : pinaceae
- class pinopsida
- Order pinales
- Longevity 400 to 500 years
- Height:r : 40 à 55 mètres (record 63 mètres en Bosnie)
- Diameter 1,5 to 2 meters
- floweringn : April/May
THE MUSIC TREE
I am the tree of the North, of the dark mountain scenery. I protect men and paths from avalanches and rock falls.
Instead of thanking me, they invented monoculture by planting me in tight rows on the plains: so much more practical to exploit my wood.
To make matters worse, I am now being accused of acidifying the soil.
Yet in my native forests, where I live with other species, biodiversity is king. We all work together to fight pests and our dead branches provide shelter for insects and fungi.
I am the resonance wood, the companion of those genius luthiers who transform me into violins, harps and pianos. My soundboard has no rivals.
L’épicéa raconté par Anatole
The epicea narrated by Elsa
El epicea contado por Raphaëlle
Patrice Fontanarosa - international concert performer and violin professor at the Conservatoire Supérieur National de Musique de Paris
The Wood is our voice, the Wood is our vibration, the Wood is our art.
Les mains et le coeur du luthier l’offrent au musicien sous une forme mystérieuse, mais d’une beauté étrange et fascinante qui ne trahit pas, me semble t’il, la noblesse de ce végétal ancré dans la terre.
Art has a raison d'être only to say the things of life. And I know that it would be impossible for me to sing them without feeling under my fingers the trembling of the Wood that it has drawn from the depths of our planet. That quivering is nothing more than the resonance of our universe.
Frédéric Stochl - international concert artist, soloist, former double bass teacher at the Paris and Lyon conservatories.
Music, wood and wind seem to me to melt into an almost maternal sensation of calm and great serenity.
The rustle of the wind in the trees, the forest and everything connected with it is for me a melody that I can never tire of until the end of my days.
Do you know that:
- Spruce accounts for 48% of the trees in Switzerland.
- It is used as straps for Mont d'Or cheese boxes.
- Only one spruce out of 100 will have the qualities and perfection necessary to become a violin tree.
- In popular custom, it is a feminine tree that ensures fertility, planted next to the door of stables to protect livestock, reputed to shelter the souls of ancestors.
- Les enfants consommaient la résine suintant de son tronc (la chandelle) comme du chewing-gum.