2018-2020 Sold for a Price and into ‘Lockdown’ – what ever next?

After a long and tortuous period of time, I was eventually sold – along with my precious Tubbs bow and my ‘Certificate of Authenticity’ from W E Hill – to a member of a famous London orchestra for an astronomical figure.

A deal had been reached with great difficulty, with at one stage Harvey even thinking of changing his mind, but the dealer was by then handing me over ‘on approval’ to a prospective buyer.

Here was a classic case of the 21^st Century’s pervading culture of commodification and the overwhelming power of financial ‘benefit’. This was not the first time I felt like a chattel and being ‘made use of’, or a mere object of value.  My subjective nature and distinctive emotional musical qualities were not considered.

The passion and betrayal of Christ came easily to mind while I was being discussed, having a deal struck, and eventually handed over.

Then, out of the blue, the world was struck by the devastating COVID-19 pandemic, and I was locked away while my new owner, along with everyone, was subjected to ‘Lockdown Restrictions’.

After the restrictions were lifted, Harvey received some unbelievable news!

He was bequeathed a violin by the family of a dear friend and colleague, a fellow-minister who had recently died.  It was like a resurrection from the dead.

The violin was much younger than me, made in 1930 in Czechoslovakia in the Liberec (Reichenberg) region – that area which is so familiar to me, close to Moravian Herrnhut and the birthplace of the Meissner family along with the memory of my influential friend Friederich Schleiermacher.

What next?

I’m now wrestling with what next to write in this my ‘Diary of a Violin’.  I am longing to share something of the exciting new world which this unexpected gift has brought to life in my dearest and long-standing owner, Harvey.

Where do I begin?  For I am sure that my rich and varied history somehow now resounds in my Czech colleague!

COMMENTS, PLEASE!