A Stradivarius violin that was stolen in 1980 has been recovered and returned to the daughters of the renowned violinist and music teacher Roman Totenberg.
The centuries-old violin, a crown jewel among string instruments and a cherished family heirloom, was returned to the late violinist’s three daughters – including Nina Totenberg, the legal affairs correspondent for NPR News – on Thursday, in a formal ceremony at the office of the US district attorney for the southern district of New York.
Totenberg first reported the discovery of her father’s violin on NPR’s Morning Edition, on Thursday. She recounted how the instrument was snatched from her father’s office as he thanked well-wishers after a concert at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he was the director, in May 1980.
“It was a crushing loss for my father,” Totenberg said. “As he put it, he had lost his musical partner of 38 years.”
Roman Totenberg was a Polish-born child prodigy, who debuted as a violin soloist in Warsaw at the age of 11. He played in several European capitals before moving to the US in 1938. He met his wife in New York City, his daughters said on Thursday, and together they purchased the Stradivarius in 1943.
Totenberg became a musical educator, known to his students as “Mr T” and teaching at conservatories across the US. He chaired the strings department at Boston University; directed the Longy School of Music; and returned to co-chair the Boston University strings department in 1994. He died in 2012.
Totenberg’s daughters – Nina, Jill and Amy – were named as the heirs of the violin, in the event it was found and returned to the family, according to an agreement filed in federal court.
Nina Totenberg said her father had always suspected it was stolen by an aspiring violinist named Phillip Johnson, a young man he did not know but who he had spotted loitering near his office at the time the instrument disappeared.
A former girlfriend of Johnson came to the family house soon after the instrument disappeared and said she suspected he had stolen it, Totenberg said. But law enforcement officials said the woman’s speculation was not enough to seek a search warrant.
Totenberg wrote that her mother was so upset over the stolen instrument that she “famously would ask friends if they knew anyone in the mob willing to break into an apartment and search for the violin”.
Johnson went on to have an unsuccessful career. He eventually moved to California, where he died of cancer at the age of 58. The instrument was found by Johnson’s former wife four years after he passed away.
On Thursday, Manhattan US attorney Preet Bharara would not comment on the identity of the violin thief, saying only that there was no open criminal investigation into its disappearance.
Johnson’s former wife and her boyfriend were cleaning their home when they stumbled upon the combination-locked case, the sisters said on Thursday. The couple broke the lock and opened the case, unearthing a violin. On the label was stamped the name of Antonio Stradivari.
Curious about the violin, the woman made contact with a Pittsburgh-based violin maker and appraiser, Phillip Injeian. Injeian said on Thursday he was skeptical at first. But when the woman sent him a photo, he became confident it was real. They agreed to meet at a hotel in Manhattan in June.
Injeian said he knew immediately after opening the case that the violin was Totenberg’s lost Stradivarius, describing the markings on the wood grain as “like a fingerprint” that could not be replicated.
The instrument is known as the Ames Stradivarius, after violinist George Ames, who owned it in the late 19th century. The violin was made in 1734 by Stradivari, three years before his death at the age of 93.
The woman voluntarily relinquished the instrument, which she said she did not know had been stolen, Bharara said on Thursday. Two antique bows were also stolen, and Bharara said he hoped the attention around the violin would encourage someone to come forward.
Stradivarius instruments have become synonymous with excellence and expense, said Bruno Price, a fine instrument dealer with Rare Violins of New York, which will restore the Totenberg instrument.
“The sound of this violin is so warm, so rich, incredibly sweet and yet incredibly clear,” Price said. “It’s that balance that gives the player the most incredible flexibility and opportunity to do things musically that ultimately make the audience stop breathing.”
Price said an education was required before a Stradivarius can be played properly.
“The better the player, the more command of the instrument,” Price said. “It truly was a waste for this violin to be in the hands of somebody who was mediocre at best.”
There are about 550 Stradivarius violins in existence, as compiled in the Violin Iconography of Antonio Stradivari. Only about 20 are reported stolen. There are, however, thousands of models and recreations in circulation.
Due to the rarity of the originals, stolen Stradivarius violins are difficult to sell. The instruments can be worth millions of dollars, which is why stolen ones – like the one appraised at $5m and returned to the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra after being ripped from the hands of the concertmaster – still make the news.
Nina Totenberg said the family intended to sell the violin after it was restored, but not to a collector.
“I’m just glad that the violin, once it’s restored to its full potential again, will eventually be in the hands of another great artist,” she said. “And its gorgeous voice will be heard in concert halls around the country.”
- This article has been amended to correct the spelling of Rare Violins of New York.
