Watch: The moment a $30,000 bow breaks
OrchestrasThe Bournemouth Symphony and violinist Stefan Jackiw have just posted video of their biggest news break – the snapping of Jackiw’s bow in the middle of the Glière concerto.
You watch it here first.
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From my latest essay in The Critic: Days…
How sad, although how well he carried it off.
I was a finance professor, rather than a musician. I’m struggling to understand how a violin bow can be worth $30,000.
But a few years back I was struggling to understand how a Bitcoin could be worth $65,000. That was a bigger struggle than the value of the violin bow.
Some violin bows are worth a hell of a lot more than 30K. Try a Tourte or Peccatte for 500k.
The bow is the second most important piece of “equipment” for a concert violinist, after the violin itself. Seeing as most of them play on instruments worth well into the six figures, even seven, as much a house, it’s understandable that their bows can be worth as much a car.
It’s like fine art which usually also has very little intrinsic value. But if you have a bow made by a famous maker people are willing to pay dearly for them. Firstly, because they appreciate in value and have been an excellent investment. Secondly, a great bow can make a huge difference in the sound of an instrument. I’ve been a musician my entire life and I am still at a loss to explain how different one bow can sound compared to another. It’s amazing.
Bows DO break — I’ve broken one, right at the tip where the wood is thinnest — and in many cases that break can be repaired. The bow loses value because of that, even if the repair is a success, and even though my bow repairman said that the site of the break and repair was probably now the strongest part of that bow (ironically that is what my doctor said something along those lines when I broke my hand many years ago. Maybe it’s just an example of “bedside manner”?).
However I have watched this video several times and contrary to the caption, I am not convinced his bow (the wood) snapped. I suspect the plug in the tip that holds the horsehair popped out, because when he draws the bow and the loose horsehair away, he lets the end drag against his instrument. A bit of wood at the tip could scratch the varnish on his fiddle, possibly even get tangled in his strings, and make some noise. Anyway that’s what it looks like to me. But an unhappy thing regardless.
Good to know someone has unearthed the Glière.
Exactly. The bow shaft is intact. It’s the plug that holds the horse hair that came off. Happens occasionally… https://youtu.be/StBe3m4gI2g
In full agreement with your assessment.
If you look at it in slow motion, it looks like the tip is missing. I think that when the bow broke the release in tension also caused the plug to detach. Or if it was a cheek crack, the plug almost definitely would have been released.
If you pause at the right moment you’ll see the beheaded bow unfortunately. 🙁 It can be repaired he says in his Instagram post, but surely it’ll never be the same.
Jackiw himself on his instagram says that the bow snapped in two, but is repairable.
Only $30,000?
I would think that a violinist of Stefan’s caliber would be using a bow worth at least $50,000.
Value of the bow in the marketplace and its suitability for any given player are not necessarily correlated. And repair work or loss of original parts can leave the bow almost unchanged in playability but much diminished in value. The latter case is often called “a player’s bow” to reflect the diminished value despite the good playing characteristics.
It’s not about how expensive the bow is but how good it is. Example, 50k Tourte is arguably going to be worse choice for a player than 30k Sartory, Fetique, Ouchard, you name it. Why? Because the nice Tourtes sell upwards of 100k, the really great ones as high as 400-500k, meaning a 50k Tourte has the price tag only because it was made by Tourte and the qualities of the bow are going to be meh… yeah…no thanks…. making it a collectors item.
On the other hand 30k Sartory is already going to be one of the finer examples of his work and hence have nice qualities making it more desirable bow for a performer.
Actually, that bargain-priced Tourte may be a fine playing bow that is missing its original frog, or broke at the tip and has been repaired, making it uninteresting to collectors (who have money, and thus substantial impact on prices) but still valuable to players (who often do not). About all you can reliably say about the price is that after a sale, it shows how much someone was willing to pay to own it. Sometimes the really pristine examples of bows and instruments are that way because they are beautiful, but not so interesting to play/hear, and so did not suffer the wear and tear of centuries of use. And just to add to the matchmaking difficulties, sometimes a lesser bow (condition issues, maker not in as much favor, whatever) can be a superior match to a given player and instrument than a glitzy example of something else.
How about asking Jackiw?
Looks like the wedge fell out to me… no drama Norman.
I’ve commented earlier and agree with you, but we have to give them credit for making a headline we haven’t seen previously.
Most have instrument insurance
It looks like the wedge popped out – this happened to me once in a performance. Bow makers often replace the wedge when doing rehairs. It’s a routine repair that has no effect on the value of the bow.
No Breaking News.
Is a valuable bow breaking, a source of entertainment for you ? That’s a bit sad. Especially for a music blog.
Did it *break* or did the plug holding the hair in the tip just come out?
It is not apparent in the video.
I saw Perlman break a string in the opening bars of the “Spring” Sonata at Carnegie Hall. He played even better after he had changed the string.
Could it be that the composition was not to bow’s taste?