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The Musical Instrument Fund
now also owns a Stradivarius

For the first time in its 23-year history, the Musical Instrument Fund Foundation has succeeded in acquiring a genuine Stradivarius. It is a remarkable violin built in Cremona around 1716. It was during this period that Stradivari built his finest instruments. With this instrument, the Musical Instrument Fund can support the highly talented violinist Birthe Blom from Hoorn in her musical career.

News
27 April 2011 by Manon Veenendaal

Generous donations from Het Cultuurfonds and the BankGiro Lottery

The Stradivarius was previously owned by the Oskar Back Study Fund Foundation and, since 1984, had been loaned for a number of years at a time to the winners of its National Violin Competition. The young violinist Birthe Blom had been playing the instrument since 2005. The purchase of this violin was made possible by the Oskar Back Fund itself, which was willing to accept a relatively modest sum. In addition, the Musical Instrument Fund received numerous private donations, a very generous financial 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 National Fund Foundation.

Paul Godwin-Stradivarius

The instrument belonged to the violinist Paul Godwin (1902–1982). He was considered a “wunderkind” and studied in Warsaw, Vienna, and Berlin. In 1933, he fled to the Netherlands. He played in various Dutch ensembles and made recordings for Decca, Telefunken, and Philips. In addition to the violin, he also played the viola starting in the 1950s, including with the Amsterdam Piano Quintet and the Amsterdam (later Dutch) String Quartet. The highlight of Godwin’s career was a concert he gave in Amsterdam in November 1972. There, he played the viola part in Mozart’s Sinfonia Concertante alongside violinist Yehudi Menuhin and conductor Anton Kersjes. Godwin died in Driebergen in 1982.

Godwin's Instruments Reunited

Birthe had previously received a violin bow made by Eugene Sartory (1871–1946) on loan from Het Muziekinstrumentenfonds. This bow was formerly owned by Herman Krebbers. Paul Godwin’s viola, an instrument built for him by Max Möller I in 1946, has been in the care of the Musical Instrument Fund since 1997. With the purchase of the Stradivarius, Godwin’s violin and viola are now reunited in a single collection.

Values

Over the course of its 23-year history, the Musical Instrument Fund has quite often been offered instruments labeled “Antonio Stradivari,” sometimes found in a dusty attic. Unfortunately, those violins not only often sounded out of tune—they actually were out of tune—meaning they were cheap copies from much later periods. Now, however, the Musical Instrument Fund has been able to purchase a genuine Stradivarius.