Thursday, February 06, 2014

An Amanda Maier Connection to the "Lipinski" Stradivarius

Thank goodness the famous Lipinski Stradivarius will be returned to Frank Almond after the horrible robbery that happened last week. Almond's Kickstarter page about the history of the instrument mentions that the instrument's owner after Lipinski was Julius Röntgen's family. In 1861, when the instrument went to the Röntgen family, Julius was only a child. He also became a pianist and not a violinst, but he did marry the violinist Amanda Maier (1853-1894). I imagine that the Röntgen who played the instrument after Lipinski was Engelbert, the concertmaster of the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester (and Amanda's former teacher). Perhaps Engelbert kept the instrument in the family by giving it to his daughter-in-law, since his son was not a violinist.

The recording that Frank Almond made with William Wolfram has music by Röntgen on it. Perhaps their next recording might include something by Amanda Maier. A few of her excellent violin pieces are in the IMSLP.

More Musical Assumptions posts about Amanda Maier.

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