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发表于 2011-7-5 13:23:38
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VOX POPULI: Sale of famed 'Lady Blunt' violin brings cash for Tohoku
British poet Lord Byron (1788-1824) lavished his praise on music in "Stanzas for Music." The poem begins: "There be none of Beauty's daughters/ With a magic like thee."
A violin that once belonged to his granddaughter sold last month for a record 9.8 million pounds (1.3 billion yen) in an online auction. Offered for sale by the Nippon Music Foundation, it was a 1721 Stradivarius known as "The Lady Blunt." It was virtually in mint condition, which apparently accounted for the phenomenal price it fetched. I might say the instrument possesses "old but new magic."
There are about 600 violins still in existence crafted by the famed Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737). With the passing of 300 years, these instruments are said to produce exquisite high notes and warm low notes, and their rich harmonics are likened to a chorus. Every violinist covets a Stradivarius.
Nine years ago, Mariko Senju took out a loan in excess of 100 million yen to purchase one from a Swiss billionaire. When she played it, she felt it was "alive," she recalled. "Clever tricks didn't work at all," she said. "I couldn't produce the right notes, and I had to admit that the music I'd been playing was no music at all." Such was the power of the Stradivarius that it brought her the greatest turning point of her career.
The Nippon Music Foundation owns about 20 Stradivariuses, which it loans to violinists. The revenue from the sale of The Lady Blunt will be used to revive traditional festivals and arts in the Tohoku region. "We auctioned our most prized possession precisely because of the enormity of the disaster that ravaged the region," said a foundation official.
Lord Byron's poem continues:
"And like music on the waters
Is thy sweet voice to me:
When, as if its sound were causing
The charmed ocean's pausing,
The waves lie still and gleaming,
And the lulled winds seem dreaming."
"The Lady" has left Japan and crossed the ocean, but her legacy will continue to support the culture of the disaster-stricken Tohoku region. I hope her reverberations will "lull" all who hear her.
--The Asahi Shimbun, July 3
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