One of the most valuable violins in the world, crafted three centuries ago and once owned by composer Niccolo Paganini, is to be played at a top UK classical music festival.
The violin, known as the Carrodus, is one of only around 150 made by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu known to have survived down the centuries, and was acquired by a philanthropic group for US$20 million (HK$156.3 million) in June.
It was crafted in 1743 in Cremonia, northern Italy, and will be played for the first time as part of the BBC Proms by South Korean violinist Inmo Yang.
The violin once owned by Italian virtuoso Paganini will be seen on August 28 at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
“I can’t believe how lucky I am to have this instrument. This is easily one of the greatest instruments ever made,” Yang, who is also making his debut at the Proms, told Agence France-Presse.
“I feel a duty to take good care of the instrument and make a beautiful sound, so that people know that it’s worth playing these instruments rather than having them in a vault in a museum.”
Playing a piece of history
The Stretton Society, a network of philanthropists, patrons and sponsors that has loaned the violin to Yang, seeks to acquire rare and valuable instruments to lend to the world’s leading musicians.
Guarneri was one of the most important violin makers of all time, alongside Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari, said the society’s co-founder Stephan Jansen.
Whereas Stradivari made instruments for the Church and the nobility, Guarneri’s violins were made for musicians, and they became renowned for their deep and sonorous tones, Jansen said.
“Inmo is one of the finest musicians of his generation,” Jansen told Agence France-Presse.
“When he came to my house and I showed him the fiddle, it was clear from the very first second that this is a match,” he said. “Because in the end, it’s also about chemistry, you know?”
Yang will perform Pablo de Sarasate’s “Carmen Fantasy”, which he described as “a virtuoso piece for the violin”.
The broad palette of the violin adds the “strong, at times flirty character of the Carmen character,” said Yang.
The instrument’s sound is also “quite unpredictable,” he said, and “this kind of capricious nature really gives more liveliness to the piece”.
“Thinking that Paganini used this instrument is kind of spiritual, and I think people also want to hear Paganini’s music played on his own violin,” Yang added.
