Soloist has her cellist stolen … twice
NewsThe French cellist Ophélie Gaillard had her 1737 Goffriller instrument stolen in Paris in 2018, then mysteriously returned – left in a car under the window of her home.
This time was much worse.
‘Thieves came at night between three and five in the morning while we were sleeping,’ she told France-Musique. They also took two valuable bows, an 1825 Jean-Marie Persoit and an 1860 Nicolas Maire. The cello is valued at around $1.5 million.
I think I would make sure the cello and bows were in the room in which I was sleeping…
Or locked somewhere at least as secure as a gun cabinet.
I take it the word “her” in the first sentence is a euphemism for someone else’s, borrowed.
Very bad news, Ophélie is a superb cellist. Hope the stolen items are returned again soon.
It seems to be quite difficult for the thieves to make money with their theft. Probably they never look at the SD website.
In 1983 a Blüthner was stolen in Brussels from the home of well-known pianist [redacted] for which the thieves used a hoisting crane, carefully removed the big window from the appartment on the 2nd floor, and got the instrument out without disturbing the player who slept in the room next door in the arms of his mistress who disappeared the next morning without leaving a trail.
Everybody knows about the many instruments accidentally left on the London underground, enough to set-up a complete orchestra. Recent research has found that the monotony of underground travelling over long distances dulls the brains of musicians to such degree that they are no longer aware of their profession.
The most specacular instrument theft took place in December 1971 in Clermont-Ferrand, where thieves broke into the cathedral every night in the course of two weeks, taking-out all the pipes of the organ in sets, and in the end cut the wooden case in smaller bits to take them out as well. The disappearance of the organ was only noticed when the choir started to rehearse for the Xmas service and the organist discovered that his instrument had completely disappeared.
Strangely enough the instrument that never gets stolen is the sopranino flute. Maybe the size does not inspire the strong desire that other instruments appear to invoke in the weaker souls of humanity.
‘In 1983 a Blüthner was stolen in Brussels from the home of well-known pianist [redacted] for which the thieves used a hoisting crane, carefully removed the big window from the appartment on the 2nd floor, and got the instrument out without disturbing the player who slept in the room next door in the arms of his mistress who disappeared the next morning without leaving a trail.’
Is this meant to be funny? They broke into Ophelie Gaillard’s house while she and her children were asleep. It’s hardly something to make light of, or is this Dutch ‘humour’?
I can’t imagine the stress of safeguarding what is essentially a museum piece while performing a job that requires extensive travel. Many double-blind studies have been performed, and they have shown without exception that discerning listeners are completely incapable of distinguishing the sound of prestigious old instruments from modern instruments.
You could argue that elite musicians find older instruments easier to perform on, but that view is not universally held. Christian Tetzlaff performs on a $17,000 modern violin without difficulty. Personally, I would travel and sleep a lot easier as the owner of a $17,000 instrument than as the guardian of a multi-million dollar historical aftefact.
The hold these prestige instruments have on artists is likely due in part to mythology and the need of artists to market themselves as performers on this or that prestigious instrument, whether or not anyone can hear any difference.