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Joshua Bell, who recorded the violin solos in the Oscar-winning score to
The Red Violin
by John Corigliano,
returns to Ravinia on August 21 to reprise the performance (pictured performing Leonard Bernstein’s
Serenade
with Marin Alsop and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra this year on July 12). Bell plays on a 1713 Stradivarius
whose history is nearly as tumultuous as the titular “Red Violin”; he acquired the instrument just three years after
the release of
The Red Violin
, covering half the cost by selling the Stradivarius he played on the soundtrack.
resonate with many creative types. On
their
album
Arrival
, Swedish su-
pergroup ABBA recorded a song called
“Dum Dum Diddle,” in which a young
woman bemoans the indi erence of the
obsessive violinist she loves, and even
fantasizes about being his instrument:
It’s not fair; you don’t care,
And you’re only smilin’
When you play your violin.
Dum dum diddle
To be your ddle,
To be so near you and
Not just hear you …
is same theme of artistic obsession
inspired a number of classic Hollywood
lms. Ingrid Berman made her
American debut in
Intermezzo
, a remake
of a lm Bergman had made three
years earlier in Sweden. She portrays a
young pianist who becomes hopeless-
ly infatuated with a married concert
violinist, played by Leslie Howard. at
same year, William Holden launched
his career in the title role of
Golden
Boy
, a con icted young violinist who
realizes he can win far more money as a
boxer to impress a gold-digging Barbara
Stanwyck.
In
’s
Rhapsody
, a -year-old
Elizabeth Taylor is a wealthy dilettante
who attends a conservatory solely to be
near the violinist she idolizes, played by
Vittoria Gassman. Ultimately she must
choose between a pianist who loves her
more than his music, and the violinist
whose priorities are reversed. “Never
lose your violin,” she warns Gassman,
“or you’ll be the loneliest man on earth!”
e most illustrious example of a
violin-centric movie is
’s
Humor-
esque
, described by lm critic Leonard
Maltin as “perhaps [Joan] Crawford’s
nest hour.” She is the alcoholic socialite
who rst champions and then nearly
derails the career of aspiring violinist
John Gar eld. Featuring Oscar Levant
as Gar eld’s pianist buddy, the lm
is packed with snappy dialogue (“I’m
tired of playing second ddle to the
ghost of Beethoven!”) and sumptuous
musical excerpts, including a climax set
against Franz Waxman’s stunning violin
transcription of the “Liebestod” from
Wagner’s
Tristan und Isolde
. Originally,
the reigning violin virtuoso of the time,
Jascha Heifetz, agreed to record the
violin selections, but to save money the
studio instead chose a young unknown:
Isaac Stern. In order to make Gar-
eld’s violin performances convincing,
the “octopus method” was employed,
wherein Gar eld held the violin under
his chin while Stern reached around him
with his le arm to work the ngerboard
and another musician reached with his
right arm to articulate the bow. So con-
vincing was the e ect that Gar eld said
he later was frequently asked at parties
to play the violin.
Joshua Bell essentially ful lled
the same functions in
e Red Violin
undertaken by Stern in
Humoresque
.
But Ravinia’s presentation of
e Red
Violin
on August adds an intriguing
third layer to the dubbing process: Bell
will be performing the selections live,
synchronizing his performance to the
movements of the actors on the screen;
who in turn were synchronizing their
movements to Bell’s original recorded
performances. As a further twist, Bell
will not be performing on the same
violin on which he recorded the original
Oscar-winning soundtrack, but one
he has since acquired, a
-year-old
Stradivarius known as the “Gibson ex
Huberman” with a backstory interesting
enough to inspire a movie of its own.
Used by Jewish–Polish concert
violinist Bronisław Huberman to raise
funds to establish a Palestinian orchestra
that ultimately saved scores of European
Jews from the Holocaust, the violin was
stolen from his Carnegie Hall dressing
room by Julian Altman, a violinist who
played Gypsy music at a nearby restau-
rant. Altman disguised the instrument
with a coat of shoe polish that kept its
identity secret until his deathbed confes-
sion over years later.
When Huberman’s violin was rst
stolen in
, Lloyd’s of London con-
sidered
,
a fair reimbursement.
When Bell acquired it years later, the
purchase price was nearly million.
In addition to their many other virtues,
violins apparently are phenomenal
investments.
John Schauer, former editor of
Ravinia
Magazine,
is the author of “The Essentials of Classical Music”
on Ravinia’s website, as well as the novel
Chaste
Goddess
.
RAVINIA MAGAZINE | AUGUST 20 – SE3TEM%ER 2, 2018
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