violin

The violin that brothers Joseph and Antonio Gagliano built together around 1780 was purchased in 1937 by violinist Piet Heuwekemeijer from Max Möller I in Amsterdam for 1,500 guilders. At the time, Piet was a member of the Concertgebouw Orchestra, which was conducted by Willem Mengelberg. Much later, Piet would go on to become the director of that same orchestra. Twenty years later, Eduard van Beinum, Mengelberg’s successor, advised Piet to buy a larger violin. And so he did. In the meantime, Piet had actually fallen off his bicycle and landed on top of the violin; although it was in a case, it wasn’t a very sturdy one. This resulted in several longitudinal cracks in the top near the E string, which were repaired with great skill by Max Möller. Despite this accident and the resulting decrease in value, Piet was able to sell the violin to his niece, Beppie van Driel-Loyer, for 4,000 guilders. At the time, she was the concertmaster of the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. Beppie would continue to play the violin until a few weeks before her death in early 2004. It was her wish that the violin be added to the collection of the Musical Instrument Fund.

Although Beppie Van Driel-Loyer had made her wish to donate the violin known to her family, she had not had it officially documented. As a result, all heirs still had to give their consent to the donation of this valuable violin. That turned out not to be a problem. “Aunt Beppie thought the violin should go to the Fund, so we’ll make sure that happens,” one of the heirs explained. He turned out to be right. On a sunny Sunday afternoon in late 2004, several dozen family members of Beppie and Piet gathered in a small hall in Hilversum to festively mark the transfer of the violin. The former director of the Concertgebouw Orchestra spoke, and Tjeerd Top—who had just been hired as associate concertmaster of that same orchestra—played a few pieces on the instrument. Beppie’s portrait stood on the stage throughout the ceremony. When the last note had faded away, the audience rose as one to applaud—for Tjeerd, of course, but especially for Beppie, to thank her for the extraordinary gift of this extraordinary violin.

The violin has been loaned successively to Eefje Habraken, Sidonie Riha, and Pamela Kubik. Since 2016, the violin has been played by Veselina Manikova.