A History of Violins (Stolen Ones)

MUSIC Posted: February 6, 2014 9:39 pm

Every year or so a stolen or lost Strad or Guarneri makes headlines. Former FBI special agent Robert K. Wittman gives a brief history of purloined fiddles and talks about how law enforcement goes about locating them. (audio)

Facebook

Twitter

La Salle Art Museum’s Promo Video Highlights Deaccessioned Works
“Wander through six permanent galleries [emphasis added],” the caption for the video walk-through on the La Salle University Art Museum’s homepage exhorts potential visitors. But while the galleries may be “permanent,” the installation shown on ... read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2018-04-20
‘For Sure Verboten’
U.S. cities with the fastest-growing wealth gaps. Monster Nor’easter The first day of spring a blinding white curtain kidnapped the city. It was a true blast of winter. We solemn jurors braved the ... read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2018-04-20
Poor Professor Higgins
In today’s Wall Street Journal I review Lincoln Center Theater’s new Broadway revival of My Fair Lady. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Of all the great Broadway musicals of the postwar era, “My Fair ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-04-20
Men without women
In the online edition of today’s Wall Street Journal, I review an off-Broadway revival of Conor McPherson’s The Seafarer. Here’s an excerpt. * * * Now that Brian Friel is gone, who is Ireland’s foremost ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-04-20
Replay: the Benny Goodman Trio plays Gershwin
Benny Goodman, Teddy Wilson, and Gene Krupa, the original members of the Benny Goodman Trio, play George Gershwin’s “Nice Work if You Can Get It” in an unidentified 1960 video clip: (This is the ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-04-20
Almanac: Winston Churchill on vengeance
“It may be that the Gods forbad vengeance to man because they reserved for themselves so intoxicating a drink. But the cup should not be drained to the bottom. The dregs are often filthy-tasting.” Winston ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-04-20
Armstrong And Ellington: Azalea
Until the past couple of days, spring around here was a date on the calendar and a rumor. But now there are tulips in front of the house. And magnolia blossoms 15 feet ... read more
AJBlog: RiffTidesPublished 2018-04-19
Breasting the Wave
The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company Celebrates its 50th Anniversary Season Lar Lubovitch’s Something About Night. (L to R): Barton Cowperthwaite, Brett Perry, Nicole Marie Corea, Tobin Del Cuore, and Belinda McGuire. Photo: Nan Melville Once ... read more
AJBlog: DancebeatPublished 2018-04-19
Deaccession Dejection: La Salle’s Sales Slide at Christie’s
This is an I-told-you-so post. Some six of 16 old masters deaccessioned by the La Salle University Art Museum were left stranded on the auction block at Christie’s this afternoon. Of the 10 that did ... read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2018-04-19
A shock from the wider world
About Kendrick Lamar winning the Pulitzer Prize…of course it’s a great moment for the evolution of music as an art. Or rather for the recognition of how music long ago evolved. But then there are ... read more
AJBlog: SandowPublished 2018-04-19
C.L.R. James: Cricket Shaped Him
I know nothing about cricket. My only sense of the game came from Frank Harris’s portrait of H.G. Wells. But now that I’ve read The Young C.L.R. James: A Graphic Novelette (PM Press Pamphlet), which ... read more
AJBlog: Straight|UpPublished 2018-04-19
So you want to see a show?
Here’s my list of recommended Broadway, off-Broadway, and out-of-town shows, updated weekly. In all cases, I gave these shows favorable reviews (if sometimes qualifiedly so) in The Wall Street Journal when they opened. For more ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-04-19
Almanac: Clive James on leaders and intellectuals
“Finally leadership, in any democracy, is a matter of character—a fact few intellectuals find palatable.” Clive James, Fame in the 20th Century ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-04-19
THE FUTURE OF ORCHESTRAS — Part Five: Kurt Weill, El Paso, and the National Mood
“Wherever I found decency and humanity in the world, it reminded me of America.” Kurt Weill wrote those words after returning from a visit to Germany in 1947. I read them aloud at least ... read more
AJBlog: Unanswered QuestionPublished 2018-04-18
La Salle Sales Shortfall: Two of Five 19th-Century Offerings Fail to Sell
Today’s auction at Christie’s of the first five of 46 deaccessions from the La Salle University Art Museum got off to an inauspicious start when the auction house’s earlier sales ran late, causing an hour’s ... read more
AJBlog: CultureGrrlPublished 2018-04-18
Snapshot: Robert Preston sings “I Died for a Living”
Robert Preston sings “I Died for a Living” on An Evening With Carol Burnett, originally telecast by CBS on February 24, 1963. This song, by Burnett’s writers, refers to Preston’s pre-Music Man career in Hollywood ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-04-18
Almanac: G.K. Chesterton on vanity and equality
“The doctrine of human equality reposes upon this: That there is no man really clever who has not found that he is stupid. That there is no big man who has not felt small. Some ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-04-18
Propwatch: the plastic bags in Macbeth
Rufus Norris’ bereft, survivalist production of Macbeth was the show that launched a thousand thinkpieces about his regime at the National Theatre. The reviews were overwhelmingly hostile, and this apparently misfired Shakespeare followed on ... read more
AJBlog: Performance MonkeyPublished 2018-04-18
Rethinking Entrepreneurship in the Arts
…coming soon will be a series of reflections based on my experiences creating, launching and teaching in the master’s degree in Entrepreneurship in the Arts at Purhcase College SUNY. ... read more
AJBlog: State of the ArtPublished 2018-04-17
Lookback: on Bob Dylan’s Pulitzer Prize
From 2008: I wouldn’t dream of denying that precious few newspapers (mine fortunately excepted) are doing their duty, or anything like it, to high culture in America and the world. Which is why it strikes ... read more
AJBlog: About Last NightPublished 2018-04-17

Older posts