violin

In 2005, the Louisa van der Velden Foundation made a substantial sum of money available, which gave the Musical Instrument Fund the opportunity to select four high-quality French instruments for purchase, thereby enabling the formation of a complete string quartet. In 2006, this violin (following a very rigorous sound selection process) was the first purchase made as part of the project, which would ultimately take more than two years to complete. Research has shown that the violin once belonged to the violinist Jean-Delphin Alard, brother-in-law of Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume and teacher to Pablo Sarasate, among others. Later, the violin was played by Prof. A. Rappoldi of Dresden. In 1923, the violin was sold to violinist E. Clemens Schröner. Clemens Schröner studied with Joseph Joachim in Berlin, served as first violinist in the Tsjetvertynski Quartet, was concertmaster of the Groningen Orchestra, and director of the Groningen Music School. One of his daughters inherited the violin, and in 1981 she asked the Hague-based violin maker Wim Bouman to ensure that it would ultimately find a good home. That good home was secured with its sale to the Musical Instrument Fund in 2006. Ilka van der Plas, the first violinist of the EnAccord String Quartet, was the first to receive the violin on loan. Since 2012, the violin has been played by Elise Besemer.