Unique US violin collection to be broken up

Unique US violin collection to be broken up

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norman lebrecht

July 12, 2019

David Bromberg’s unique Wilmington collection of 263 historic American violins was meant to be going to the Library of Congress.

But no-one has come forward in three years with the funds to curate it in Washington, so the trove is to be dismantled.

Bromberg, 73, is a former folk-rock musician who has worked with Bob Dylan and George Harrison.

Read on here.

Comments

  • M McAlpine says:

    As violins are meant to be played surely putting them into the hands of talented musicians might be a good idea?

    • Bruce says:

      I believe instruments that are part of a collection can be loaned out to musicians, or can be if the person or organization in control is willing. I guess the advantage there would be that they are able to choose who plays it and they can keep tabs on how well it’s being taken care of.

      Once the collection is disbanded, the instruments will be subject to the whims of fate, and [more] vulnerable to the ridiculous things that happen to instruments sometimes — getting backed over in the driveway, etc.

  • drummerman says:

    A real shame. What about the musical instrument museums in Phoenix or South Dakota?

    I wonder if they contacted David Fulton of Seattle about this? This might have captured his interest considering his own amazing collection. Do we know how much it would have cost to “curate” this?

    https://www.violinist.com/blog/laurie/20175/21182/

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