The Cursed Violin
Summary
It is said that Count Munsterhaven’s messenger arrived at his famous destination in Cremona – No. 2 Piazza San Domenico – dusty and exhausted on a hot August afternoon in 1709. He was immediately admitted and given a refreshing glass of wine. Having recovered a little, he was escorted up some rather rickety stairs to the workshop, seeing the apprentices at work and smelling the wood and the varnish. He passed violins and violas lined up in various stages of completion, like butterflies slowly forming in the chrysalis, before entering a tiny office where a man was sitting on a high stool at a desk looking at detailed drawings and diagrams. This was the genius himself: Antonio Stradivari, the most famous musical instrument maker the world has ever known. The messenger bowed reverentially and handed a sealed envelope, borne hundreds of miles from Germany, to the master, who opened it and read the enclosed letter. Even though he knew of the count’s wealth, his eccentric pride and his love of music, what the master read still surprised him.