albertus bekker |
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violinmaker |
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76 seventh street linden, 2195 johannesburg south africa |
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phone: 0829035832 e-mail: albertus@bekkerviolins.com |
The holy grail by Albertus Bekker
One of the favourite discussion points in the viola making fraternity is: what would a Guarneri del Gesù viola look like? There is no known viola made by him in existence, and it would be fascinating to see how he would have solved the peculiar design problems a viola presents. That is until now... |
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The year is 2003. It is the year of my tenth wedding anniversary and my wife and I decide to spoil ourselves with an overseas holiday without the three children — something like the honeymoon we never had! Considering that we are paying with a weak currency there are not many affordable overseas destinations, one exception being Argentina. One sight that you have to see when visiting Buenos Aires is the Colón Theatre (I know — unfortunate name), a sumptuous opera house claimed to be one of the top three in the world, acoustics-wise. It was built with three colours of imported marble, can seat 3000 people and has eight levels of balconies. You are not allowed to take pictures in the main hall, but I found the picture on the right on the web — a bit small but it still gives one a flavour of the place. We decide to take the guided tour through the theatre and then get some tickets to see Fidelio before we leave. The guided tour is pretty well organised with excellent English-speaking guides. The tour starts off at one of the side entrances and, while we are queuing to get tickets I spot some display cabinets in the room where the ticket counter for the tours is. In the display cabinets is the most jaw-dropping collection of stringed instruments you can imagine. The first cabinet contains cellos and gambas. There are Amatis, Da Salos, Gofrillers, etc, etc. After I have picked myself up from the floor, I go to the next cabinet containing the violins. Amongst the Guadagnini and Andrea Amati violins there are two Strads! Having never seen an old Italian never mind a Strad or Amati before, I am speechless. My euphoria lasts about ten seconds before my Maestronet training kicks in. The one Strad looks decidedly German. The other one, although closer, is also not quite right around the F-holes. Still, here I am in one of the best opera houses in the world with a very official looking exhibition. Who am I to question the authenticity of the instruments, considering I have never seen the real thing? At that point my wife calls me from around a corner. There is a third cabinet containing violas. There it is: the holy grail. A Guarneri del Gesù viola. This removes all doubt from my mind — something is wrong here. I am sure that there is no Del Gesù viola in existence and if one is found the string world will be shaken. It will indeed be the holy grail. I take the picture on the right. The light is bad and I have no choice but to use a flash. We go on the guided tour and I wait for the guide to comment on the exhibition. She says nothing and at the end I ask her if she knows anything about the instruments. She says no, but the theatre library manages the exhibition and they will assist me. Unfortunately the library is closed on that day. I tell her that I am a violinmaker and that I would like to find out as much as possible, even if it means coming back the next day. When she hears that, she asks us to wait a couple of minutes and disappears. After a while she returns and asks us to follow her to see the in-house luthier! I can't believe my good fortune. Here I am, an ordinary tourist on a guided tour, going into the bowels of the theatre to speak to the resident violin pro. The luthier is gracious enough to spend some time with me talking violins and restoration. I ask him about the exhibition and he just smiles and tells me the real story. The collection belonged to a very wealthy man. He was a meat baron and had too much money. He travelled the world and collected all sorts of things: paintings, sculptures, antiques, and also stringed instruments. He knew nothing about violins and would buy anything he could get his hands on, without consulting expert opinion. Back home he would show off his new 'Strad' to all his admiring friends. In his will he donated the collection to the city. The theatre also belongs to the city and they needed a place to keep and exhibit the collection, hence the display. The luthier says that he made them fully aware that the collection is bogus but they chose to ignore his opinion: why spoil a good show with boring facts? His opinion is that all the instruments are fakes except one viola that is marked as one of Strad's sons. He believes this particular viola to be a Mantegazza. This is one of the highlights of a memorable trip to Argentina—no holy grail, but a very good story. |
