The Lord Nelson Stradivarius

tycho · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:24 am

I found Mark's discovery about the Lord Nelson Stradivarius (on the Captain Harington thread) absolutely thrilling. I am amazed that the provenance is traced back only to 'an unknown officer aboard Victory' and that no attempt has been made to establish his name. (Come on, Mark.)

All sorts of questions spring to mind:

if the officer did not collect his violin after the battle, may we assume that he was killed?

How many officers were killed on board Victory? Could one narrow ownership down to a few possible names?

What happened to an officer's possessions if he were killed? Were they not returned to his family? Presumably, the dead officer would have been known on board as a violinist, and therefore restoring the instrument to his family would have been a simple matter?

The link Mark gave lists the owners since 1805, but not how the first owner after Trafalgar came by his treasure. I should love to know more.

Tony · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 2:49 pm

I think there were only five commissioned officers and midshipmen killed on board the Victory (including Nelson). A violin playing officer would either have been loved or hated, and certainly very well known!

Here's what 'the Violinist' had to say about the violin's purchase for Miss Elizabeth Rothwell in 1926:

Quote:

The "Lord Nelson" Goes to Texas

WHEN a masterpiece by Reynolds is sold, the world of Art knows about it the next morning over its coffee cups.

The stir was proportionate in higher music circles when it became known that our Mr. John R. Dubbs had recently consummated the sale of the far-famed Stradivarius violin, the "Lord Nelson".

Aside from its intrinsic value as one of the finer specimens by the renowned Italian luthier, the "Lord Nelson" has a most startling history. At least so far as we can learn, no other violin ever has weathered such violent times and still remains so "fit" at the ripe old age of 238 years!

In October of 1805, Napoleon received a drastic naval defeat at the hands of Lord Nelson at Trafalgar. A fight in which empires rise and topple. But Nelson, himself, died soon after, on his almost wrecked flagship, "victory". Later in the cabin was found unscathed the noted instrument — the property of one of Nelson's officers — from which association comes its present-day appellation.

Since that momentous day over a century ago, the "Lord Nelson" doubtless has known many masters and has brought the price oí a "king's ransom" as many times. The "Lord Nelson" formerly belonged to the famous Partello collection. It is a beautiful piece of craftmansship of the long type. The surpassingly lovely tone — well, you'll have to go down to Beaumont, Texas, to hear it now, where it speaks for its new mistress, Miss Elizabeth Rothwell.

Miss Rothwell is completing her violin studies with the eminent teacher of violin, Mr J Moody Dawson of Houston, Texas.

It's a good story...

Mark Barrett · **Joined:** Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:40 pm **Posts:** 1088

Quote:

no attempt has been made to establish his name. (Come on, Mark.)

Anna

As you know I love my challenges - but where would you start?

If they didn't know then . . . what hope now??!!

I have to be honest that I have always thought it remarkable that the instrument could not be attributed to somebody on board at the time.

Even if the owner was killed - I would have thought the ownership would have been obvious to others on board.

One question - would a Stradivarius have had the iconic status then that we attribute today?

At times like this I am reminded yet again of how little we know about the minutiae of life on board.

i.e. EXACTLY how and where were personal possessions stored?

EXACTLY what was done with them when decks were cleared for action?

WHO would have taken charge of the possessions of an officer killed in action?

I recall that Hardy took charge of Nelson's possessions and took them to Emma. But those were very exceptional circumstances and it may not have been normal custom and practise.

So many questions and uncertainties!

Anyone else help?

MB

tycho · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 3:24 pm

I've spent some time Googling and was beginning to think this story of the Victory Strad was an elaborate hoax/marketing ploy as I could find practically no references to it other than those on geeky music sites. It may still prove to be so!

However, I have come across a book 'Memoirs of a Stradivarius' written by W. Thomas Marrocco, for 24 years Professor of Music at UCLA. The blurb says it contains 'the story of the Nelson violin'. Amazon.com don't actually ship the the UK so I have contacted the seller privately in the hope that he'll ship it to me - otherwise I'll have to oay more than three times as much for the one on Amazon UK.

Of course, Marrocco's book may tell us that it's all a con - but it will be nice to know.

Re: possessions. Didn't the common seamen buy the clothes and possessions of dead comrades? I have a vague recollection of something like that being the usual course of events.

tycho · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:25 pm

I forgot to mention that I think Stradivarius violins, certainly by Victorian times, were highly prized. Nearly all the violins Stradivarius made at the height of his powers can still be accounted for - a fair indication that they were regarded as something special almost from the time of their creation.

The Times of 25 April 1876 has an article on the violin which contains the following observation:

'A capital violin in good condition and made beyond reasonable doubt in the very workshop of Stradivarius has been sold in an auction room for £10. Had it come from the hand of the master himself, it might well have brought twenty or thirty times the price.'

A Strad rarely comes on the open market nowadays, but one was sold for about $3.5 million in 2006.

Devenish · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 5:48 pm

Tycho,

The seaman often held a form of auction for their dead shipmates, in which the money raised from the sale of a man's possessions usually went to the dead man's widow and family.

However, I don't think the same thing procedure happened with the officers' possessions, and I would have thought that their belongings would have been returned to their families if at all possible. I have heard of the strad. story before and, if true, it would seem rather strange that such an expensive and irreplaceable instrument was not treated in the same way. As has been said, it must have been known which officer owned it and thus might the more easily have been returned to his next of kin. It actually seems stranger that such an irreplaceable instrument was on the Victory at all!

I wonder if it might be that with all that was happening before and during the battle, and particularly with the storm afterwards, no-one thought about a simple violin (and to many it might have been just that, not knowing of its importance) and reuniting it with its owner, or with his family if he had been killed.

chasbaz · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:45 pm

Googling for 'Memoirs of a Stradivarius' written by W. Thomas Marrocco, I saw it listed under 'fiction' in a list of references in the back of a book. You may prefer to order it from the library...

Tony · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 7:46 pm

tycho wrote:

I've spent some time Googling and was beginning to think this story of the Victory Strad was an elaborate hoax/marketing ploy as I could find practically no references to it other than those on geeky music sites. It may still prove to be so!

Does the quote in my previous post from the 1926 'Violinist' article class as from a geeky music site?

The entry in the 1929 Lyon & Healy catalogue of 'Rare Old Violins: Violas, Violoncellos, Bows of Rare Makes' goes something like this:

Quote:

ANTONIUS STRADIVARIUS, CREMONA, 1690 Number 7940. THE LORD NELSON. This historic violin was secured by Mr. Partello in the year 1890. It acquired its title because of its presence upon the flagship of the great admiral during the battle of Trafalgar, and from which it was recovered unscathed after the victory. The violin was the property of one of Lord Nelson's officers. It is a Stradivarius of that master's well-known long type of violin. The back is fashioned from one piece of handsome wood of rather broad flame. The sides match the back. The spruce employed in the construction of the top is of exceptional quality. The scroll is very finely cut, and is slightly worn on the right side. The violin is in a good state of preservation. Its tone is surpassingly lovely. (Plate III) Price: $18500 This famous violin is now the property of Miss Elizabeth Rothwell, of Beaumont, Texas.

Another book that may or may not hold a clue is Peter Davidson, 'The Violin: Its Construction Theoretically and Practically Treated'. A Google snippet suggests that the 1895 edition contains on page 289 'A List of Violins in the Collection of the late Mr. George Corsby, of Princes Street, Leicester Square, London, and the prices they realised at the auction on 22nd January. 1874.' As George Corsby, a London violin maker/dealer, is the first listed owner after the officer of the Victory, that list should include the violin if it sold. The book is indexed in Google Books with no preview available, but does not appear to contain any of the words: Nelson, Victory or Officer - but that could of course be a problem with the scan.

A quick google suggests prices paid for a Stradivarius at the beginning of the 19th century seem to have varied from around £40 to £100 - still a year or two's wages for most people, but a snip at that price!

tycho · **Posted:** Tue Feb 17, 2009 8:55 pm

'Geeky musical websites'? Sorry - I meant 'special-interest websites', of course.

It occurs to me that if the officer survived Trafalgar, he would simply have taken his violin quietly home and the story about its 'having survived Trafalgar unscathed' would just be family lore, unknown to a wider audience until it came to be sold years later when the association would be a selling point. This website http://www.jose-sanchez-penzo.net/stIn_J-L.html simply says that the violin 'was present' at Trafalgar, which has different implications from 'having been found....'

There is nothing at all in the Times Archive about this violin - neither round about the time of Trafalgar nor subsequently when it came up for sale later in the century.

So it would be interesting to know when the story of the Trafalgar Strad first appeared. Of course, there's no doubt about the provenance of the instrument - it's the genuine article; maybe it did belong to an officer who fought at Trafalgar, perhaps purchased long after the battle, but became associated with it in family legend. Ah, family legend.... we were always told my great grandfather was an Irish aristocrat who lived in a castle. I found his marriage certificate, and sure enough, he did live in a castle: he was the gardener.......

Mark Barrett · **Joined:** Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:40 pm **Posts:** 1088

I first came across this story in an old edition of Mariners Mirror. I have the reference here which is Volume 54 p. 226.

I was starting to wonder if I had inadvertently "glossed" the story by saying the violin had been "found".

However the Violinist magazine has the same version so it must have been doing the rounds for a good while.

I am intrigued to know what the Memoirs book has to say - be it fact, fiction or faction.

Am I right that there is no U.K. edition. I don't see one on the BL website. If that is the case Inter-Library loan may be out.

Anna - if you do indeed source one from the U.S. I look forward to hearing what it has to say.

Just trying to think of any scenarios not yet covered. I suppose there is the remote possibility that it could have been taken as booty from a captured enemy ship. But I can't give a specific situation where that might have happened. It could explain why it was not strongly associated with any of the officers on Victory. Just a thought!

MB

Tony · **Posted:** Wed Feb 18, 2009 2:34 pm

Mark, the piece that you refer to in the 'Mariners Mirror' (from 1968) provides a couple more pointers. One is that the violin had been in England before Trafalgar, and the other is the suggestion that it was left in an officer's cabin for safekeeping. That suggests to me that the owner may not have been an officer himself, and perhaps he was playing the violin in the ship's band as the Victory approached the combined fleet. Here is the piece, and it is suitably provocative for this forum:

Quote:

One of the fine violins made by Antonio Stradivarius in Cremona in 1690 was taken to England from Venice in the early part of the seventeenth century. It passed through many hands and then disappeared for a number of years.

After the battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805, this violin was found in an officer's cabin in H.M.S.Victory, where it had been placed by the owner for safekeeping. The owner probably did not survive the engagement, as it was never reclaimed and eventually was sold in England.

As many violins of Stradivarius have acquired names, this instrument was designated the 'Lord Nelson', which name it retains to this day. While its name honours an eminent figure in history, luthiers and musicians cannot appreciate why this outstanding violin was given this name, for, in addition to his physcial ailments, Nelson was tone deaf. On one occasion in Vienna, he left a concert where Joseph Haydn was playing in his honour for the gambling tables in an adjoining room.

Edgar K. Thompson

The earliest published reference that I can find online is from 1920 in another snippet from the 'Violinist'. This suggests that it was in Venice in 1801, and that it's presence on the Victory was recorded in Corsby's books:

Quote:

The 1690 Stradivarius, shown in the group on page 134, is a violin of marvelous workmanship. It is of the same period as the celebrated Tuscan Strad. It has an interesting history; according to early records it was found in Venice in 1801. It is recorded in the books of Crosby [Corsby], a distinguished London dealer of the early part of the nineteenth century, that it was on the flagship of Lord Nelson in the battle of Trafalgar in 1804 [1805!]. It has a bright golden varnish and is in a remarkable state of preservation.

What did Sotheby's say about it when they sold it in 1967 (the year prior to the Mariners Mirror piece)?

Mark Barrett · **Joined:** Wed Dec 17, 2008 10:40 pm **Posts:** 1088

Tony wrote:

Here is the piece

Tony

Thanks for that. I believe I have a copy of the little article here somewhere but it wasn't with the index of articles I have and I was struggling to remember where I had filed it.

I was hoping somebody might have back issues or the CD ROM that was on sale a while back.

It negates my suggestion about the violin coming from an enemy ship - but that was just me letting my imagination wander.

Quote:

What did Sotheby's say about it when they sold it in 1967 (the year prior to the Mariners Mirror piece)?

I wonder if some of the info. for the MM was taken from the Sotheby's catalogue. Do you think Sotheby's are amenable to looking things up in their library catalogues. I would imagine it is something they are asked to do quite regularly??

A phone call couldn't hurt could it.

MB

Fiddler · **Posted:** Wed Feb 18, 2009 5:22 pm

It seems that the "Lord Nelson" handle may have been attached to this instrument as recently as the mid-1920s. The Sotheby's Important Musical Instruments Auction Catalog from the last documented sale date, June 16, 1967 offers it as "The Partello Stradivari".

You can view it on Cozio's website in the library section if you're a member. Here's the link, but it will only take you to the catalog cover. The relevant page is 14. If you enter page 14 you will be shown page 12. Use the arrows on the right to take you to page 14.

http://www.cozio.com/DDFiles/DocumentDi ... =1#search=""

(Note typo: the violin dates from 1690, not 1960).

Dwight J. Partello amassed a stunning collection of stringed instruments. Interesting that the instrument "was nameless at his death (1920)" and within a few years it went to auction as "Lord Nelson." BTW, Patch paid 9,500 pounds for it in 1967.

Indeed "Victory" Strad or "Trafalgar" Strad would be more appropriate nicknames, if the thing really was there. I think the Universe is just having a little fun with Nelson by attaching his name to an instrument, knowing of course how fond he was of fiddlers! "Fiddlers and poets, whores and scoundrels."

I'm sure Sir William would have been exempt from Nelson's categorical disgust. We know he was a violinist and he mentions two instruments in his will, including "my famous Amati tenor." Cozio lists this as the Antonio & Girolamo Amati viola of 1592 and indicates it is in the Ashmolean, or was, as of 2003.

Gretchen

tycho · **Posted:** Wed Feb 18, 2009 7:08 pm

Many thanks for posting that interesting catalogue, Fiddler.

So it's probably just a legend, after all. You were right, Chas. Sad.

Lyon & Healy are still in business, though, and can be contacted through their website. Maybe they have something in their archive that can enlighten us as to where they came by the story. It's a strange tale to have appeared out of thin air.

I haven't heard back from the US bookseller about the Marrocco book. It might well be a work of fiction. I found a catalogue listing all his other works of musical scholarship in great detail, but the entry for the Stradivarius memoir simply gives the title, with no indication of the content.

Two minor digressions. Fiddler, do you know why all the other violins in the catalogue have inscribed on them 'X (me) fecit' ...'X made (me)'; but on 'our' violin, it says 'Stradiuarius faciebat ' 'S. was making me' - why the imperfect tense? Does it suggest that the task was a long one?

Nelson's use of 'fiddlers and poets...' etc. The Shorter Oxford gives an 18th century definition for 'fiddler' as 'a trifler' - (as in 'fiddle about', maybe). Perhaps Nelson meant that the Neapolitans were a bunch to be despised for their triviality rather than their musical preoccupations!

Tony · **Posted:** Thu Feb 19, 2009 9:29 am

tycho wrote:

So it's probably just a legend, after all. You were right, Chas. Sad.

It's probably not all legend. It looks as though George Corsby bought it from a "naval officer on Lord Nelson's flagship".

Nelson & His World

The Lord Nelson Stradivarius

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