When I first learned the age of the instrument (1721) I was filled with wonder that a delicate piece of craftsmanship could endure for centuries, that something so small and light could do so much, that an instrument made in the 18th century could have so much to say in the 21st. It felt like a messenger from the past and an emblem of the possible, a relic and a promise…
One evening not long ago, I went to see the San Francisco Symphony’s annual concert with the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir. The symphony musicians sat in a semicircle that began with violins and violas and ended with cellos and bass viols, and, thanks to the time I’d spent contemplating David Harrington’s violin, I saw it as a forest of wooden instruments. The gospel singers stood above them, and at one moment when I could see dozens of bows moving in unison in the dimness, see 50 mouths open in song, it felt like some kind of truce between our species and the trees had been struck.
Maybe that’s the promise David’s violin seemed to hold when I discovered how long it had been playing. At my request, he brought it over to my apartment and took it out of its case. I was a bit overawed and ready to spread a clean cloth to lay it on but he put it on my table without any fuss, and let me pick it up. It felt like a bird when I held it: almost weightless, incredibly powerful and extremely delicate. And then I saw Kronos perform one more time, and there it was, in David’s hands, making music as it had for three centuries, seeming strong enough to go on indefinitely.
— Rebecca Solnit, from “‘A truce with the trees’: Rebecca Solnit on the wonders of a 300-year old violin” (July 7, 2022, The Guardian)
Live & Learn 
We love Rebecca Solnit’s writing, especially her novels.
Thanks for sharing.
Keep well
The Fab Four of Cley
🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂
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Me too Klaus! Thank you!
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That is wonderful.
So… “Walking…” didn’t discourage you enough to try another of her writings? Good to know 😉
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It did not! If we/you applied that same logic, you would never hang around this site!
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Oh stop it. You can’t get rid of me that easily…
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Awwww. So grateful! 🙂
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It goes both ways, my friend 🙂
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
WOW!! –” David Harrington’s violin — a delicate piece of craftsmanship could endure for centuries, that something so small and light could do so much, that an instrument made in the 18th century could have so much to say in the 21st. — Rebecca Solnit, from “‘A truce with the trees’: Rebecca Solnit on the wonders of a 300-year old violin” (July 7, 2022, The Guardian).”
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This gave me chills
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So great right!
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read article with special interest as a former violin player (now cello for some 20 years). Couldn’t afford a violin from Cremona on a visit many moons ago but got myself a super fancy violin case which is, I believe, now worth more than the violin in it! 😉
Said violin was an extraordinary buy from a closing-down cord instrument shop by its very old owner. I had practically no money and he sold me, in his kindness, a very old instrument from an attic, grimy, dark with years of dirt and neglect and he showed me how to clean it bit by bit. The violin had a bit of a hoarse tone and the wood stayed dark. I LOVED that instrument and I still haven’t sold it, although I don’t play it any longer as it doesn’t agree with my fingers playing the cello….
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You played the Cello?!?! Wow. Does your talent have no ceiling?!?;
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A forest of musical instruments – how gorgeous is that imagery
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Isn’t it though. Woman can just right!
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A gorgeous piece of writing…so evocative…and a beautiful instrument that gives voice to such amazing music. Loved everything about this…. 🙂
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With you Lori…
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Fun post to read, just as we have a violinist visiting next week. 😉
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Nice!
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