Did a violinist smash his instrument during Carnegie Hall concert?

August 9, 2017 5:16 PM

Legend has it that a famous German violinist played at Carnegie Hall after the war. Public criticism, fueled by anti-German sentiment, said he was talented only because of his Stradivarius. During his performance, people applauded at the end of the amazing first movement, instead of waiting until the end, to signal their snarky opinion. The violinist waited politely until the applause died down, and then smashed his violin to pieces. He turned to the shocked and silent audience and said "And now I shall play my Stradivarius." Did this actually happen? When? Who?
posted by Cobalt to Society & Culture (7 answers total)

This is popularly attributed to Fritz Kreisler post-WWI (see, for example, Page 175 of this book), with either a Stradivarius or a Guarneri violin. Whether it actually happened...
posted by Paragon at 5:27 PM on August 9, 2017 [2 favorites]

My understanding (from a now-retired professor of violin at a university) of this, or perhaps a similar story, is that the violin was an inexpensive one. In fact, this prof has a Strad and has, a couple times in his career, performed some piece (he told me but I can't remember now) and then smashed what everyone thought was his Strad, but was not.
posted by falsedmitri at 5:47 PM on August 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

Here's an inconclusive investigation into this question.
posted by beagle at 6:14 PM on August 9, 2017 [3 favorites]

(This reminds me of many great stories I've heard in the history of math and science. They often have vague and general support but are nearly impossible to verify with certainty. I for one support the telling of apocryphal tales because they are meaningful, if not because they are specifically true in all detail. Sorry if this is too chatty and the mods may delete, but beagle's link is the best I could come up with too. I had not heard this story before, but I will probably repeat it for reasons of meaning, if not veracity. Just start with "the story goes" or "legend has it" and you're fine :)
posted by SaltySalticid at 8:01 PM on August 9, 2017 [1 favorite]

This seems particularly unlikely because to applaud between movements mid-century in the U.S. would have been seen as boorish. Quite the opposite of conveying one's refined musical sensibility. Thus, an improbable gesture.

I guess there's nothing overtly offensive about the story itself, but I find the uncritical mindset that leads to the repetition of such stories without any consideration as to their likelihood to be unbearable in this particular political moment.
posted by praemunire at 8:51 PM on August 9, 2017 [6 favorites]

The story I heard was that Fritz Reiner, conductor, broke a violin over someone's head because he was Fritz Reiner. Also heard same story but with a clarinet.
posted by james33 at 6:03 AM on August 10, 2017 [1 favorite]

> This seems particularly unlikely because to applaud between movements mid-century in the U.S. would have been seen as boorish. Quite the opposite of conveying one's refined musical sensibility. Thus, an improbable gesture.

I agree that the story is improbable, but not for the reason you give. The whole point of the applause would have been that it "wasn't done"; it would have been a snarky, unexpected gesture.

I for one do not support the telling of apocryphal tales, because they are bullshit. I mean, tell them as good stories, but don't pretend they happened to someone in particular. The world is full enough of bullshit as it is.
posted by languagehat at 9:02 AM on August 10, 2017 [1 favorite]