Huberman Strad timelines
1713
Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) made the Huberman Strad in Cremona, Italy at the age of 69, one of six violins made that year. 1713 was in the middle of his ‘Golden Period’, where most of his most valuable instruments were made
Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) wrote the Xmas Concerto, Concerto Grosso op 6 no 8 in G min. He died that year.
1713 was towards the latter part of the Baroque era (1600 – 1750) – Bach (1685 – 1750) left Weimar for Halle. He had just written the Well Tempered Klavier. This was shortly before he wrote the Brandenburg concertos and Cello suites. Handel (1685 – 1759) had just arrived in London where wrote his most famous compositions.
In 1739 Antonio Stradivari died at the age of 93. Little is known of the movements of instruments from his workshop.
1773-74
Count Ignazio Allesandro Cozio di Salabue (1755 – 1840) was a rich Italian nobleman and possibly the first collector of fine violins. Around 1773-73 Cozio purchased ten Strad violins from Paolo Stradivari, one of Antonio’s eleven offspring. Cozio bought many more Strads and Guarneri violins around this time – it is possible that one was the Huberman Strad.
Luigi Tarisio (1796 – 1854) was arguably the second great violin collector in history. He started collecting in the early 18thCentury and made his first trip to Paris in 1827. It was to be the first of many trips where famous instruments left Italy for France
1840
After the death of Cozio his family sold most of this collection to Tarisio. Many of these instruments made their way to Mirecourt and Paris and ended up in the hands of Jean Baptiste Vuillaume (1798 – 1875)plus other violin makers and dealers. Vuillaume was one of the first luthiers to copy the great Cremonese instruments and his violins are highly prized today. Vuillaume bought 144 Italian violins including at least 24 Strads. It is possible that Tarisio took the Huberman Strad to France
The Huberman Strad was owned by Hippolytus Cheretien Silvestre (1880-1879), a French violin maker who worked in Vuillaume’s workshop. We don’t know when Silvestre acquired the Huberman Strad but he owned it at the time of his death
1884
The Silvestre family sold the Huberman Strad probably to George Alfred Gibson (1849-1924) who was an English violinist and violist. From 1871 – 1883 he played with the Royal Opera Covent Garden and the Joachim Quartet. Eight years later Joachim taught the young Huberman in Berlin. Famous violins are often named after famous performers – the one we focus on today is known as the Gibson Strad, the Gibson-Huberman Strad or the Huberman Strad. Towards the end of his career Gibson sold the Huberman Strad and it ended up in the hands of WE Hills and Sons in London – one of the most respected violin dealers in the world.
1896
Bronislaw Huberman (1882 – 1947) was born in Poland into a Jewish family in 1882. At the age of ten his family realised his talent and sent him to Berlin to study with Joseph Joachim (1931 – 1907) . At the age of 11 Bronislaw toured Europe as a soloist. In 1896 he performed the Brahms (1833 – 1897) violin concert in Musikverein, Vienna to an audience that included Bruckner and Strauss. Brahms wrote the concerto for Huberman’s teacher, Joachim. The old composer was moved to tears and gave the young soloist a signed photo after the concert.
1911
Huberman bought the Strad from WE Hill and Sons in London.
8 years later in 1919 the Huberman Strad was stolen for the first time from a Vienna hotel. It was returned to Huberman three days later thanks to the ineptitude of the thief.
In 1929 Huberman visited Palestine for the first time. He hatched a plan to set up the New Palestine Orchestra at his own expense. To many Israel didn’t exist at the time – it was formed in 1948. Huberman saw Jewish musicians being sacked from jobs and foresaw worse to come
1929 – 1936
Huberman embarked on a fund raising tour with concerts in Carnegie Hall New York, La Scala Milan, Musikverein Vienna and Konzerthous Berlin. The Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra sacked all its Jewish musicians but conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler (1886 – 1954) invited Huberman back as soloist – he refused.
1936
On 28th Feb 1936 Huberman performed at the Carnegie Hall. He took his Strad plus a Guarneri del Gesu. The first piece of the second half was the sonata by Cesar Franck (1822 – 1890) which he performed on the Guarneri. When Huberman left the stage he was informed that the Strad had been stolen.
Many theories exist as to what happened that night but most people believe that Julius Altman (1916 – 1985) stole the violin from the backstage area. Altman was a 20 year old ‘gigging violinist’ from a Jewish family. For almost 40 years Altman played the Huberman Strad but covered it in boot polish to hide its identity. He played in the National Symphony in DC and performed for President Richard Nixon and his VP Hubert Humphrey.
On Boxing Day 1936 the New Palestine Orchestra held it first concert, conducted by Arturo Toscanini in Tel Aviv. Huberman was at the concert..
1938
On 12 March 1938 Austria and Germany became the Republic of Germany-Austria under the Nazis. This is known as the Anschluβ. Many Jewish people fled Austria at this time, including Huberman (who fled to Switzerland), Norbert Brainin (London), Siegmund Nissel (London) and Peter Schidlof (London).
1947
On 16th June 1947 Bronislaw Huberman died in Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switerland. He never saw his Strad violin again after it was stolen in 1936.
The Amadeus Quartet was formed. The acclaimed ensemble kept the same founding players until they disbanded in 1987 - Norbert Brainin (1923 – 2005, first violin), Siegmund Nissel (second violin), Peter Schidlof (viola) and Martin Lovett (cello).
1968
Back in the US Julius Altman was working as a gigging violinist in the Russian Bear He was asked by a patron to play a request. He did so – Lara’s Theme from Dr Zhivago. The request came from Marcelle Hall, who later became Altman’s wife.
1985
Altman died of stomach cancer while in prison serving time for child sex offences. After his diagnosis he told his wife Marcelle of the history of the Huberman Strad. The instrument now belonged to Lloyds of London, who had paid out the insurance claim to Huberman in 1936. It is not known whether Marcelle knew of the stolen violin before this confession. She claimed a $260k reward for assisting in the recovery of the violin.
The instrument was handed to international violin dealer Charles Beare who took it to London for lengthy repairs, including the removal of the boot polish.
The violin was sold at Auction in Milan to Norbert Brainin for $1.2m. Marcelle Hall travelled to Milan for the auction.
1990-2000s
Joshua Bell (1967 - ) was invited to perform with the Amadeus Quartet, playing the Mozart G min string quintet. Bell heard Brainin play the Huberman and fell in love with it. Brainin told Bell to ‘save up’!
By 2023 Brainin was at the end of his life and put the Huberman Strad for sale with Charles Beare. By chance Bell was in London performing a Prom. He visited Beare’s shop and was shown the Huberman which was about to be dispatched to Germany. Bell took the violin, performed the prom in it and never returned it as he raised the $4m to buy it.
Joshua Bell is the current custodian of the Huberman Strad and he is the leader of the Academy of St Martins in London.