violin

This Bolink violin was only five years old when the Musical Instrument Fund purchased it in 1992. It had belonged to the man who, at the age of 75, had commissioned both Jaap Bolink and his wife, Annelies Steinhauer, to build a violin. A condition of this dual commission was that the violins would be loaned out together.
Before the Musical Instrument Fund purchased the violins, Isabelle van Keulen played both of them and wrote the following poem about these two violins to the makers:

“Madrid, December 5, 1989,
After playing fast triplets,
on these two radiant violins,
by Annelies & Jaap,
I was moved almost to tears
and carried away by the great glissandi,
so beautiful were these instruments!
Hopefully they will continue for many years to come,
carrying their sounds through many concert halls,
but always in good hands! (Of that I am certain!)
With warm St. Nicholas greetings from Isabelle van Keulen’.

Indeed, this wish came true: the Bolink violin was played by Carlo Nabbe for no less than 17 years, and the Steinhauer violin was played for a long time by his partner at the time. Since 2017, Valerie Schönen has been the lucky player of this Hilversum violin—so she clearly has a special connection with it too!