violin

This instrument was loaned to us in 2009 by a donor and former volunteer of the Musical Instrument Fund. Below is what he wrote to us about the violin:

“In the early 1960s, what we in the family called ‘the Gagliano’—and which is now an anonymous violin—came into our family. Several people knew that there was a widow in the Drachten area who owned a beautiful violin. My father (F.J.M. Veen, 1914–1993, a bookseller in Drachten) managed to buy the violin. The scroll had broken off, so he was never able to check beforehand what he was buying. In hindsight, the purchase turned out to be a wise move. Using his own drill, he screwed the scroll back on. A 1964 appraisal report by Fred Lindeman indicates that he regretted the less-than-perfect repair.

From that moment on, my father resumed his hobby as an amateur violinist. Word of the beautiful violin spread, so that in the late 1960s or early 1970s, Manuel Villuendas, the concertmaster of the Frysk Orkest, expressed interest. He had the violin on loan until he left the Netherlands. After that, my father continued to play it himself. After his death, I suggested placing the violin on loan to “the” fund.

Nicolas Giordano was the first to play the instrument. He was followed by Mara Oosterbaan, Andrii Chugai, and Kristina Rimkeviciute, among others. Since 2024, Kaya Can Gür has been the lucky player of this violin.