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report that Altman bought if o! the actual thief for $100. Regardless, Altman took great pains to conceal the violin’s true identity,covering its lovely varnish with shoe polish and performing on it throughout the rest of his career, which included a stint as "rst chairwith the National Symphony Orchestra during World War II.

Heartbroken, Huberman never saw his Stradivarius again. However, his great dream was ful"lled when the new Palestine Orchestramade its debut in December of 1936 with the great Toscanini on the podium. I like to imagine that my own relatives might have beenin the audience on that opening night, as my grandfather was born there and my great grandfather was part of the "rst “Aliyah” #ofRussian Jewish immigrants to Palestine in 1882. As for his violin, it was played by its suspected thief for over "$y years, and in 1985,Julian Altman made a deathbed confession to his wife, Marcelle Hall, about the true identity of the instrument. She eventuallyreturned the violin to Lloyd’s of London and received a "nder’s fee; and the instrument underwent a nine month restoration by J &A Beare Ltd which noted it was like “taking dirt o! the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.”

%e instrument was then sold to the late British violinist Norbert Brainin of the Amadeus String &uartet. Previous to my fortuitousencounter with the violin at J & A Beare, Brainin had once let me play it a$er a rehearsal of the Mozart g minor string quintet whichI had the pleasure of playing with him one evening in the 1990s. “One day you might be lucky enough to have such a violin,” he hadsaid prophetically.

And so here I was in 2001, buying some strings at the violin shop and I was introduced to the 1713 Stradivarius again. As it was handedto me, I was told it was being sold to a wealthy German industrialist for his private collection. However, a$er playing only a few noteson it I vowed that this would not happen. %is was an instrument meant to be played, not just admired. I fell in love with theinstrument right away, and even performed that very night on it at the Royal Albert Hall. I simply did not want it to leave my hands.

%is violin is special in so many ways. It is overwhelming to think of how many amazing people have held it and heard it. When Iperform in Israel with the Israel Philharmonic, I am always touched to think how many of the orchestra and audience members aredirect descendants of the musicians Huberman saved from the Holocaust—with funds raised by concerts performed on the very sameinstrument I play every day. Who knows what other adventures will come to my precious violin in the years to come? While itcertainly will be enjoyed and admired long a$er I am not around anymore, for the time being I count myself incredibly lucky to be itscaretaker on its 300th birthday.

JOSHUA BELL, ViolinSAM HAYWOOD, Piano

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY !, "#$% & ':(# PM & BING CONCERT HALL

Phot

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Lee

PROGRAM NOTES

SONATA IN G MINOR FOR VIOLIN AND BASSO CONTINUO, DEVIL’S TRILL )CA. $'%*+ Giuseppe Tartini (1692–1770)Violinists have long been believed to hold demonic powers. Around the middle of the 18th century, the Italian virtuoso violinistGiuseppe Tartini was gripped by the stereotype of the demonic "ddler in what turned out to be a brilliant stroke of self-publicity.“One night I dreamt that I had made a pact with the Devil; he was my servant and anticipated my every wish,” Tartini told the Frenchastronomer Joseph-Jérôme Lalande shortly before his death. In Tartini’s dream, the Devil played a sonata that le$ the composergasping for breath. “%e piece I then composed is without doubt my best, and I still call it !e Devil’s Sonata, but it falls so short ofthe one that stunned me that I would have smashed my violin and given up music forever if I could but have possessed it.” %e sonatawas "rst published almost 30 years a$er Tartini’s death, but copies circulated widely among the violin community and it was quotedin Leopold Mozart’s treatise on violin playing (1756). A slow, 'owing siciliano-type movement with frequent double-stops from theviolin makes for a rich-textured opening movement. %e second movement is fast running, bristling with trills and across-the-stringbowing, while in the "nale even more "reworks alternate with lyrical, song-like sections. %e "nale’s disjointed, o$en dream-likesequence clearly portrays Tartini’s dream, and an early edition of the score carries the title Sogni dell’autore (!e Composer’s Dreams).

VIOLIN SONATA NO. 10 IN G MAJOR, OP. 96 )$!$"+ Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770–1827)Here, Beethoven had one last say on the partnership between violin and piano. He wrote the sonata a decade a$er its predecessor, theKreutzer, and dedicated it to Archduke Rudolph—a musician who stimulated him not only to write one of his "nest violin sonatasbut to dedicate more compositions to him than to any other person. He also wrote to the archduke about the background to thegenerally re'ective, o$en serene tone of this late sonata, poised at the end of his middle period and frequently foreshadowing themore inward probing of his late music. It was written for both the archduke and the esteemed French violinist Pierre Rode thenvisiting Vienna, on December 29, 1812. “I had, in writing it, to consider the playing of Rode,” the composer wrote of a violinistrespected more for his aristocratic manner, now late in his career, than for his virtuoso playing. “In our "nales we like rushing andresounding passages, but R does not agree with this.” %e sonata opens with an unhurried, gentle conversation between violin andpiano, prominently anchored by the trill that is integrated into its musical development. Beethoven explores the lyrical side of the twoinstruments with music that re'ects and gently contemplates rather than drives relentlessly towards a goal. %e slow movement opensa door into the serene world of the late quartets and piano sonatas, coming to rest on a chord that leans into the scherzo that followswithout break. Compact and marked by its o(eat accents, the scherzo is understated and balanced by a high-soaring trio. Itssurprising ending in the major key again anticipates the movement that follows. %is is an unassuming little theme and six wide-ranging, probing variations, full of surprises, sudden stops, and strikingly adventurous twists and turns.

DIVERTIMENTO FOR VIOLIN AND PIANO (AFTER THE FAIRY’S KISS) !"#$%&"#'$( Igor Stravinsky !1882–1971)For the 11-year-old Igor Stravinsky, seeing Tchaikovsky in the audience at the opera was “the most exciting evening of my life.”Tchaikovsky was to die just two weeks later, but Stravinsky maintained a so$ spot for the composer and his music throughout his life.His most substantial Tchaikovsky tribute came more than a quarter of a century later with the allegorical ballet !e Fairy’s Kiss of1928. %is is based on piano music and songs of the older composer, consciously music that Tchaikovsky had not alreadyorchestrated. Unlike the music of Pergolesi and co., which Stravinsky freely and exuberantly adapted in Pulcinella, !e Fairy’s Kiss ismore of an homage to Tchaikovsky, to the point that Stravinsky was later to forget where Tchaikovsky ended and his own workbegan. %e Divertimento is a four-movement transcription of Stravinsky’s orchestral symphonic suite from the ballet. It was madewith the Polish-born violinist Samuel Dushkin in mind for a joint concert tour and is mostly drawn from the ballet’s "rst two scenes.

—© 2014 Keith Horner

THE HUBERMAN VIOLINby Joshua Bell

My violin is 300 years old. Known as the Gibson ex Huberman, the revered instrument came into my life one fateful day during thesummer of 2001, I was in London, getting ready to play a ‘Proms’ concert at the Royal Albert Hall and decided to stop by the famousviolin shop J & A Beare# to pick up some strings. As I entered the shop, Charles Beare was just coming out of the back room with astunning violin in hand. He told me that it was the famous Huberman Strad, and of course I was instantly intrigued.

I soon learned all of the known details of the violin’s remarkable history, which is complete with twists and turns to rival the "lm thatI had only recently "nished working on %e Red Violin. Believed to be one of only "ve or six instruments made in 1713 by AntonioStradivari in Cremona, Italy, the violin has belonged to many, including the English violinist George Alfred Gibson. But it was itsconnection to Bronislaw Huberman that I found particularly fascinating and somewhat personal.

Huberman was a Jewish Polish violinist who lived from 1882–1947. He was a child prodigy who was revered for his remarkablevirtuosity and daring interpretations. Huberman studied under Joseph Joachim in Berlin, and by the age of 11 he was already touringEurope as a virtuoso. It was during one of those early tours that he met the pianist Arthur Rubinstein, who was only six at the time,and had not yet achieved the legendary status that he came to hold. %e two musicians remained lifelong friends.

At 13 Huberman had the honor of performing the violin concerto of Johannes Brahms in the presence of the composer himself, whowas stunned by his interpretation. According to biographer Max Kalbeck, “As soon as Brahms heard the sound of the violin, hepricked up his ears, during the Andante he wiped his eyes, and a$er the Finale he went into the green room, embraced the youngfellow, and stroked his cheeks. When Huberman complained that the public applauded a$er the cadenza, breaking into the lovelyCantilena, Brahms replied, ‘You should not have played the cadenza so beautifully.’”

Huberman became one of the most celebrated musicians of his time, but it was in 1929 that his contribution to humanity took on anadded dimension. During that year he visited Palestine and came up with the idea to establish a classical music presence there. DuringHitler’s rise to power, Huberman had the foresight to realize he could save many Jewish artists while ful"lling his desire to start aPalestinian Orchestra. Huberman auditioned musicians from all over Europe. %ose selected for the orchestra would receivecontracts and, most importantly, otherwise impossible-to-get exit visas from their homeland to Palestine. Huberman raised themoney for the musicians and then their families, even partnering with Albert Einstein to set up an exhaustive U.S. fundraising trip in1936. By the end of that tour, the money for the orchestra was secured and sixty top-rate players had been chosen from Germany andCentral Europe. All in all, it was a fantastically successful tour, barring one particular performance at Carnegie Hall on February 28.%at night Huberman chose to play the second half of his concert on his ‘other violin,’#a Guarneri del Gesu. During the applausefollowing his performance of the Franck Sonata, Huberman’s valet walked on stage to inform him that his Stradivarius had beenstolen from his dressing room. %e police were called while Huberman tried not to panic, continuing optimistically with his encores.%e instrument had previously been stolen in 1919 from a hotel room in Vienna but was recovered days later when the thief tried tosell it. %is time, Huberman was not so lucky.

%ere are several versions as to exactly how and why the violin was stolen, but what we know for sure is that the instrument ended upin the hands of a young freelance violinist by the name of Julian Altman. Some say Altman’s mother convinced him to steal it; others

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