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Henry Ford’s Violins

Steve Fast
@SteveFast
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@EKentGolding mentioned that the Henry Ford Museum has a Stradivarius violin on display, so I was curious to see about Ford's violins. Here's a synopsis of what I found online.

Henry Ford loved what he called "fiddle music," early American folk music, and folk dancing. When he was a young man, he bought a violin and taught himself to play, although he was only an amateur violinist. In 1926, when he was in his 60s and wealthy, he bought seven Italian violins for an estimated $100,000, including two Stradivari and a Guarneri. (Today that would be about $1.8 million.) He kept them in his laboratory and played them in his dancing room at the lab, where he hosted dances. He also took them to his mansion. He hosted square dances there, too.

Ford created an Old-Time Dance Orchestra to play American folk music, and for his 70th birthday in 1933, he joined the orchestra and played one of his violins.

Source:

thehenryford.org

Open link

He generously loaned the violins to promising young players, including a local high school student and a young Russian-Jewish violinist named Grisha Goluboff. After his death in 1947, the violins were kept in storage at the Henry Ford Museum and not displayed. Only in 2015 did the museum begin to exhibit and restore them so that they could be played. I think Ford would be disappointed that they are not being played more.

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Discussion (12)

  • MarciN@MarciN

    Britain's Academy of Ancient Music:

    The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after an 18th-century organisation of the same name (originally the Academy of Vocal Music). The musicians play on either original instruments from the period when the music was composed or modern copies of such instruments. They generally play Baroque, Classical, and sometimes Romantic music, although they have also played some new compositions for baroque orchestra in recent years.

    This is a three-minute clip from one of their performances:

    Handel: Messiah | And the glory of the Lord | VOCES8 & Academy of Ancient Music

  • Doctor Robert@DoctorRobert

    Many Strads and Guarneri are being used by players around the world. This to me is a shameful practice. Using X-ray measurements and computerized milling, identical violins of new provenance can be created. There is no justification to expose the originals to the inevitable wear and risk of damage that playing always involves. Good for the Ford museum for keeping their Italians sequestered.

  • Miffed White Male@MiffedWhiteMale
    ReplyingtoDoctor Robert

    Doctor Robert (View Comment):

    Many Strads and Guarneri are being used by players around the world. This to me is a shameful practice. Using X-ray measurements and computerized milling, identical violins of new provenance can be created. There is no justification to expose the originals to the inevitable wear and risk of damage that playing always involves. Good for the Ford museum for keeping their Italians sequestered.

    Jack Benny owned and played a Stradivarius.

    (he wasn’t actually a bad player - as a child he was considered something of a prodigy).

  • Percival@Percival
    ReplyingtoMiffed White Male

    Doctor Robert (View Comment):

    Many Strads and Guarneri are being used by players around the world. This to me is a shameful practice. Using X-ray measurements and computerized milling, identical violins of new provenance can be created. There is no justification to expose the originals to the inevitable wear and risk of damage that playing always involves. Good for the Ford museum for keeping their Italians sequestered.

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Jack Benny owned and played a Stradivarius.

    (he wasn’t actually a bad player – as a child he was considered something of a prodigy).

    Benny really was very good, but playing a violin well isn't very funny.

  • Miffed White Male@MiffedWhiteMale
    ReplyingtoPercival

    Doctor Robert (View Comment):

    Many Strads and Guarneri are being used by players around the world. This to me is a shameful practice. Using X-ray measurements and computerized milling, identical violins of new provenance can be created. There is no justification to expose the originals to the inevitable wear and risk of damage that playing always involves. Good for the Ford museum for keeping their Italians sequestered.

    Miffed White Male (View Comment):

    Jack Benny owned and played a Stradivarius.

    (he wasn’t actually a bad player – as a child he was considered something of a prodigy).

    Percival (View Comment):

    Benny really was very good, but playing a violin well isn’t very funny.

    One of my favorite bits ever from his TV show - “fool around with me, sister!”

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