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Paul Godwin's Biography

It was to be a festive book launch: the newly published “fictional autobiography” of the Polish/Jewish (viola) player Paul Godwin (1902–1982), written by Ernestine Brikkenaar van Dijk, was to be presented in May with music performed on instruments from the collection that play a role in the book: a Stradivarius and a Möller. The book is now on sale—a launch event will follow later—and the story is no less remarkable.

News
10 June 2020 by Lennart van der Sman

Violinist

“Child Prodigy” Godwin could have become one of the greatest violinists of all time, but the Berlin Conservatory found it unacceptable that, in addition to classical music, he took on odd jobs playing in dance and movie theater orchestras. In Maestro: The Unbelievable Life of Violinist Paul Godwin, Brikkenaar van Dijk reconstructed the life that Godwin himself rarely spoke of: his family in Sosnowiec, his teachers in Vienna, Budapest, and Berlin; his flight from Hitler to Luxembourg, Belgium, and ultimately to the Netherlands, where he survived the war.

Stradivarius

Godwin owned a Stradivarius violin (Cremona, ca. 1716) and a Max Möller viola (Amsterdam, 1946). This “Strad” was long owned by the Oskar Back Study Fund Foundation and, starting in 1984, was loaned for several years to winners of the National Violin Competition. When the study fund had to decide to sell its violin collection, the violin became part of the collection of the Musical Instrument Fund. The purchase was made possible by the study fund itself, which was willing to accept a relatively modest sum.

In addition, the fund received numerous private donations, a generous contribution from the Prince Bernhard Cultural Fund and the BankGiro Lottery, and gifts from the K.F. Hein Fund and the Dr. Hendrik Muller’s Vaderlandsch Fund Foundation. The violin has been played since 2005 by violinist Birthe Blom. She would have liked to perform during the book presentation.

Möller

The viola was built especially for Godwin by Paul Max Möller. Godwin alternated between playing his Möller viola and his Tononi viola. He was a close friend of Brikkenaar van Dijk, and the viola came into her possession directly through him. In 1997, she decided to loan the viola to the fund. Violist Norman Jansen played it for 15 years. A new player is currently being selected.

Rice

Both instruments played a major role in Godwin's life. And anyone who studies the life of a musician inevitably follows the journey of his or her instrument.

Ernestine Brikkenaar van Dijk
Maestro: The Unbelievable Life of Violinist Paul Godwin
Van Brug Publishing
€20 in bookstores and online