violin

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. Birthe Blom had been playing the instrument since 2005. 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 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 many private donations, a very generous financial contribution from the Culture Fund and the BankGiro Lottery, and gifts from the K.F. Hein Fund and the Dr. Hendrik Muller’s National Fund Foundation. 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 with only eight marks in his pocket and his Stradivarius violin. In addition to the violin, he also played the viola, including with the Amsterdam Piano Quintet and the Amsterdam (later Dutch) String Quartet. The crowning achievement 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. Since 2011, his violin has been on loan to Birthe Blom through the Musical Instrument Fund.