1794

That's the year in which my new violin was born. It was made by a Dutch maker, Johannes Cuypers, living in The Hague, in the 70th year of his life. Here are some pictures:

It's the most beautiful violin I've ever owned, a sheer pleasure to play. And, having bought it from Mom's legacy, every time I take it out of its case I feel grateful for yet another gift from her.

There is something magical, at least to me, in an object that came into the world so long ago and has survived so beautifully. I love that Cuypers wrote out his maker's label in his own hand and pasted it inside himself--well, probably himself. It's a fairly big deal that it has almost all its original varnish and its original neck--violins from this era and before were all changed substantially as music and musicians' needs evolved. It has no cracks, another small miracle; even the greatest violins have cracks of various kinds, but this one does not. I hope it will pass through my brief stewardship similarly unscathed.

You can see in subtle ways that Cuypers was, at 70--an advanced age for his time--not as sure as once he had been: little clues, here and there, that his eye and his hands were no longer as steady as they had been in his youth. Still, he fashioned something wonderful that has withstood the test of time.

The year of this violin's birth was a turbulent one in Europe. Mostly what historians in the West remember is the Terror in France. The names of people born in 1794 are much less familiar than those who died, many on the Guillotine: Robespierre, Lavoisier, Danton, the Marquis de Condorcet. The US Senate was opened to the public for the first time--mixed blessing, that! The French abolished slavery in all their colonies.

Yet there in the Hague, not far from the sea, was this artist, about whom not a lot is known except that he made a lot of good violins, quietly (perhaps) going about his trade, sending his gifts off into the uncertain future to spiritually enrich people not yet born. Magical, really.

Comments

[Lynne]

Absolutely gorgeous! We all should look so good when we're 214 years old.

Play! Play for your mother. She'll love it.

[Alissa]

oh how beautiful!