violinist trips, destroys Strad

Seriously, I wonder what kind of case it was that provided so little protection. Yikes.

I can only imagine how I would feel if I smashed my violin, and it is not nearly a strad!

Sam

Get the best case you can afford. I would imagine that a violin like that should have a real good case to protect it. But maybe that's not the ''case''.

Maybe the three goons have him with strings attached like a puppet so he won't fall anymore.

i have seen an elephant standing on a pool cover ad.

time to use that for a violin case!

but if a presidential candidate has to choose between saving a cheap ebay violin and his or her opponent, i think i know what will be the choice!

If some cracks representes "destruction" so perhaps 80% or Cremonese violins are "destroyed". We see the outside and think "it's in mint condition", but if we could see inside the soundbox...

I see such news with a pinch of salt... PR?

I have a friend who has an enormously valuable 290-something-year-old cello. He says "It's not like it's a person... I mean, after all, you can replace a person." I'm pretty sure he says it tongue in cheek, but I wouldn't want to test it. :-p

ok, lets lower the stake,,,how about between you and a strad? any real artist out there?

He landed ON the case? I think anyone who makes the violin that big a part of their lives guards it to almost a subconscious level. I mean, one would try to land to the side, on ones arms etc.

I remember there being an advert for a violin case in the Strad years ago where the guy drove off and the case was left on the top of the car. He ran back and found the instrument was undamaged.

Now, who is dumber, the guy who fell ON the instrument, or the people who lend him another expensive instrument?

Anybody else scroll through the fan site? He seems to have a very talented hair stylist...

Okay guy, take your violin in your case, fall down a flight of stairs and tell me how you and your instrument turn out. Let me know if your amazing subconscious helped to save your violin.

Really, don't be ridiculous.

The story is disturbing - poor Mr. Garrett! But, accidents happen to everyone, I guess.

As for the one of the violin on the roof of the car, it is a true story. It was a Gagliano, not a Strad. And the case was the Amercian Case Company's Continental case (the old model) that SHAR used to carry. I forget the name of the guy - someone once mentioned it to me.

As for the rest, I won't touch that with a ten-foot pole.

Cheers!

PS: It's not very nice to laugh at others peoples misfortune. Poor guy.

... like soccer and football players do!

I know a young man who sat on a chair holding his Vuillaume and the chair collapsed (who could be prepared for such a thing?) and the violin shattered. the luthier who rebuilt it, who also repaired my daughter's violin when she dropped it (see other thread about losing our instrument insurance) rebuilt the Vuillaume and I've been told by two different sources (secondhand knowledge, though) that the instrument sounded even better after it was repaired, the sound was "opened up." I don't know about loss of valuation. My daughter's instrument, no Vuillaume or Strad, was repaired and did not suffer any loss of quality or valuation. She was lucky.

I remember reading in a violin book about a famous violinist who, while visiting California, lost his Strad in the tide of Pacific Ocean. The case washed up a couple days later -- and it was a disaster. The violin had been soaked in sea water. It was rushed to a famous violin repair expert in California and he was able to completely take it apart and restore it to the old splendor.

You doubt his celeb status because you have never heard of him? With all due respect, I have got to say, Murphy's law comes to mind: you seem to have taken yourself a little too seriously.

I too, follow the world of classical music, ensembles and artists and before this news item he never showed up on my radar either, but in the age of the internet and google all you need to do is a web search for "david garrett" and you'll get loads of information about this guy, confirming his prodigy and celeb status.

As for the exaggerated headline, I agree that this is sensationalism but that's nothing new, the vast majority of internet news headlines are exaggerated and sensationalist.

How can I take myself too seriously when I look like a penguin?

My favorite anecdote in this vein was of a Finnish pianist (will be unnamed) who came to the US as part of a big promotional tour of Scandinavian artists in the late 70's. He was frustrated because, unlike the dozens of other Scandinavian artists in the program he didn't have many dates in the US, so he felt he was not getting proper recognition. He was heard to complain, "I'm a world-famous artist, and nobody knows it!"

What did you mean by "Murphy's Law"? Or was that was a reference to the smashed violin?

This story is somehow suspicious to me...

Sorry - was reading too quickly. But since the story is true, I thought I should mention its details.

Cheers!

The article mentions "Two cracks have split the soundpost, the top side of the violin", which I think is wrong, the soundpost would never split, but it may have caused the top splitting.

Still tragic nonetheless, but shows how the news report has been distorted.

Now we, and many others, have all heard of him. I got wind of this article yesterday on other message boards, not even violin-related. So if this was a publicity stunt, it worked.

What kind of music did the violin play?

Baroque.

I am confused. Was this real, or for publicity? I know it is all speculative, but what are everyone's thoughts?

What kind of music did the violin play?

Baroque."

lmao.

Baroque = it broke

Iacto Meo Aperto Ore

literally "my mouth having been thrown open" ie with laughter - "laughing fit to burst"

As in graffiti uncovered on a wall at Pompeii:

"Brutus currum XXX millibus passuum per horam delevit, IMAO"

"Brutus wrote off his chariot at 30mph, PMSL" (that latter's another Latin acronym, I'll explain it later)

Quod EGO mos extraho Brutus secundum meus equus!!

Quam eram ut?

If I put it back through Babelfish, will I end up with what you started from?

Take care mate - or "bonam diem habeas" perhaps? ;-)

Much thanks for the explanation.

(Quod EGO mos extraho Brutus secundum meus equus!!)

(And I will drag Brutus behind my horse!!)

Given the original content of the thread, does the violin need another label inserting?

Ie "Stradiuarius fecit anno MDCCXVIII."

And then "Garrettius cadens copulavit anno MMVIII"

Stradivarius made in 1718.

Gerrettius broken and repaired in 2008.

Quod abundant non nocit!!!

pugnabimus - were you searching for the future perfect, Buri, see here - ie "pugnaverimus", "we will have had a fight", signalling to Sharelle that there'll be trouble if she carries on like that? ;-)

Regarding publicity: Kyung-Wha Chung, in an interview, speaks very candidly about the flood of publicity and critical acclaim that came to her after one of her public performances in London after winning the Leventritt:
"It was very successful, though at first everything seemed to be against me: I had stepped in at the last moment, and there was so much confusion that I hardly had any rehearsal, but as a result the musicians were all the more concentrated at th e performance. The communication with the audience was very strong, so the event was a wonderful experience. The concert was a benefit and not supposed to be reviewed, but the critic with the Financial Times wrote one of the bes t reviews I have ever received in my life. It was really quite embarrassing---he simply said I was better than everybody else, mentioning a lot of names. I just ignored it, but it was a gold mine for the managers, and I got engagements all over Europe"

So - with that said, would it be safe to say that press is what press is, and leave this poor man alone?

I bet he broke it before and decided he would fall on the case, so he could claim insurance

Some of you quite obviously know your Latin; everyone, however, was very witty.

Thanks for making my day!

JSYK :-)

“..in a way, to fall is sublime... to fall and love every moment of falling..."

Very clever -- and timely for Valentines Day.

Saturday nights in my household don't get better than this.

Terez, darling, you need a sloppy night out.

Honey, is that an invitation?

And on that poetic note, the tragic and occasionally puzzling saga of David Garrett and the squashed Strad-but-no-longer-a-Strad-but-a-Guad is hereby archived.