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    Big Notes: How a Stradivarius makes money and music
    Big Notes: How a Stradivarius makes money and music
    Big Notes: How a Stradivarius makes money and music
    Ebook143 pages1 hour

    Big Notes: How a Stradivarius makes money and music

    By John Axelrod

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    About this ebook

    The business of beating death by becoming a modern day Medici is booming. In today's economy, where investments in stocks, bonds, commodities, real estate and hedge funds have either been severely battered from the Coronavirus crash or from the rollercoaster volatility, investors are increasingly seeking non-correlated alternative investments. How? By investing in a rare instrument and becoming a patron. It is not only a good return on investment. What better way to get rich and write yourself into history books than to be the owner and donor of a Stradivarius violin to a world class soloist or a museum? Tax deductions are indeed a benefit, but immortality is a better blessing. By reading this book, you can learn from the experts in the field who understand that investing in immortality is the best way to have a meaningful and mortal life.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherClink Street Publishing
    Release dateApr 29, 2021
    ISBN9781913962227
    Big Notes: How a Stradivarius makes money and music
    Author

    John Axelrod

    John Axelrod is an internationally renowned musician and conductor. He lives in Zurich, Switzerland.

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      Book preview

      Big Notes - John Axelrod

      BIG NOTES

      How a Stradivarius

      Makes Money and Music

      by John Axelrod

      About the author

      John Axelrod is the rare breed of conductor who excels at classical and, especially, at pops and crossover repertoire. With an extraordinarily diverse repertoire, innovative programming and charismatic performance style, John Axelrod continues to increase his profile as one of today’s leading conductors and is sought after by orchestras and opera houses throughout the world. His persuasive baton technique has been applauded by critics as has his communicative skills with musicians and audiences no matter the culture or language. Presently, Mr. Axelrod is the Principal Conductor of the City of Kyoto Symphony Orchestra and founder of the Concerts Culinaires de Chardonne. Since 2001, Mr. Axelrod has conducted over 175 orchestras around the world, 35 operas and 65 world premieres. Mr. Axelrod has recorded core and contemporary repertoire for Sony Classical, Warner Classics, Ondine, Universal, Naïve and Nimbus.

      As an author, Mr. Axelrod has published two books and writes for his own blog. As an educator, Mr. Axelrod has conducted most of the world’s professional youth orchestras and regularly teaches via his www.conductorsmasterclassonline.com. As a philanthropist, Mr. Axelrod founded CultureALL Association which is committed to providing cultural access to underprivileged communities.

      Mr. Axelrod graduated in 1988 from Harvard University. At the age of sixteen, John Axelrod was invited to study with Leonard Bernstein; he also studied at the St. Petersburg Conservatory with Ilya Musin in 1996.

      Wie großartige Musik entseht…oder auch nicht.

      Bärenreiter/Seeman Henschel Verlag ©2012

      Bärenreiter/Seeman Henschel, in August, 2012.

      Griffige Anekdoten und knallige Pointen

      Striking anecdotes and serious points

      « Der Spiegel », Werner Theurich

      Lenny and Me: On Conducting Bernstein by John Axelrod, contains analytical commentary about Bernstein’s three symphonies and provides publisher information to rent or purchase scores with CD/DVD/YouTube references.

      Amazon Books ©2015

      http://iambacchus.com/Beethoven/

      Blog about wine and music with over 50,000 viewers

      Contents

      Title Page

      About the author

      Including interviews with

      Big Notes

      Copyright

      Including interviews with:

      Edward Wulfson, Geneva, Collector, Dealer, Pedagogue

      Simon Morris, Director, J & A Beare Auction House, London

      Christopher Marinello, Art Recovery International

      Florian Leonhard, Luthier, Collector

      Tamio Kano, Managing Director, The Nippon Music Foundation

      Frank Almond, Concertmaster Milwaukee Symphony

      Suzanne Fushi, President, Stradivari Society

      Virginia Villa, Director General, Museo del Violino, Cremona

      Jonathan Moulds CBE, Collector, Board Member London Symphony Orchestra

      Nigel Brown OBE, Stradivari Trust

      Jason Price, Tarisio Auction House

      Bruno Price and Ziv Arazi, Rare Violins of New York/In Consortium

      In the 1998 movie The Red Violin, a great violin maker named Nicolo Bussotti, based on the real-life luthier Antonio Stradivari, supposedly mixes the blood of his deceased beloved wife into the varnish of what is to be his most precious creation. The violin’s journey, from its creation in Cremona in 1681 until its auction in 1997, with all the places and persons that possessed it in between, is the story of the film. It is a story about music, memories and money.

      The violin somehow survives all odds – despite being smuggled, being hit by storms, being stolen, shipped, and even being sweat upon by a Paganini-like soloist – and the red varnish remains pure and potent in its appeal. So much so that the expert appraiser himself, recognising its provenance and potential, manages to switch a perfect copy at the moment of the auction, only to disappear, thus continuing the unlikely story of this red violin. Everyone wanted it. Yet, none could possess it forever. The violin, as music itself, exists out of time for all time. The violin, itself made of wood, is finite. Its value is priceless. Its sound is immortal.

      Is it possible to purchase immortality? Imagine really buying this fictitious fiddle. How much would it cost? During the auction in the final scene of the film, the figures surpass $2 million. In real life, the Red Mendelssohn – the Stradivarius of 1720 on which The Red Violin is based – sold for $1.7 million in 1990 and is now owned by the violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn. Over the next twenty years, the value of this Stradivarius, and all other rare violins, violas and cellos, has increased exponentially. Today, it could be worth over $16 million.

      In 2012, J & A Beare in London set the world record for the most expensive violin privately sold with the 1741 Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù for over $16 million. Its new owner anonymously donated the historic instrument to the violinist Anne Akiko Meyers, on loan for the rest of her life. The violin is said to be in remarkably fine condition, with very little corrective work or restoration. The name was bestowed upon the violin after being owned by the Belgian nineteenth century violinist Henri Vieuxtemps and was later played by Yehudi Menuhin and Pinchas Zukerman, among others.

      Public auctions have also set record sales. In 2011, an anonymous bidder at the Tarisio Auction House paid £9,808,000 ($15,894,000 or 11,076,000 euros) for the 1721 Lady Blunt Stradivarius, named after Lord Byron’s granddaughter Lady Anne Blunt, who owned it for thirty years. The price was over four times the previous auction record for a Stradivarius violin. That is one expensive lady.

      Is $16 million for a violin too much to pay? Not these days, especially when they can be reauctioned for twice the price. According to the Stradivari Society, in an article published in 2008, rare violins that have been sold for millions have never decreased in value and from 1960–2008 have consistently outperformed both the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) and precious metals by an enormous percentage: a 19,400% increase for the violins versus up to 1800% for precious metals and DJIA.

      Market Analysis: Appreciation of Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesù

      Violins, Silver, Gold, and Platinum Prices and the Dow Jones

      Industrial Average (DJIA), 1960–2008¹

      Comparison: Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesù

      Violin Prices and the Dow Jones Lndustrial Average (DJIA),

      Percentage of Increase, 1960–2008

      Comparison: Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesù

      Violin and Gold Prices, Percentage of Increase

      1960–2008

      By 2021 standards, their appreciation in value has seen exponential gains yet to be estimated. In other words, rare violins are a benchmark of profitability, requiring big bank notes to buy, and the Stradivarius is at the top of the chart for most serious collectors and investors.

      Whatever the motivations, all these people who pay for a Stradivarius or any other rare instrument (or steal or copy one) have in common one very important thing: they are investing in immortality. Not in the sense of living forever in a futuristic fantasy like cryogenics, or in the idea of housing a piece of art in perpetuity, but in their own identification with the immortal itself. Even if they outwardly declare being only a custodian, internally they all are consciously aware such an investment can carry their own name into the books of cultural history.

      People who steal them may have the same motivation to have their names live beyond their lifetime, but mostly they just want the money. Thus, the business of beating death by becoming a modern-day Medici (or even a Vincenzo Peruggia, who famously stole the Mona Lisa) is booming. And it is not only a good return on investment, especially now when stock markets are as volatile as a rollercoaster. What better way to get rich and write yourself into history books than to be the owner, or the voleur, of a violin once played by Yehudi Menuhin or Jascha Heifetz or even Paganini himself?

      The relationship between the artist and patron is symbiotic. The relationship between the criminal and the buyer is co-dependent. One cannot exist without the other. History has shown how the greatest art ever produced coincided with the patronage of enlightened, culturally literate leaders, whether noble, papal or civic. Other than acts of terrorism, the greatest crimes against culture have often occurred as a result of such patronage.

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