Chatting with Arnold Steinhardt beside the Postcard Pantheon

Arnold Steinhardt, first violinist of the Guarneri String Quartet, was kind enough to talk with me at Jordan Hall before yesterday's concert. After following him up the stairs to the green room where the Quartet was milling about and chatting, I noticed his case on a chair and thought how rare it is to meet someone whose work you are reading, and to see the objects of their story in the present.

The pantheon of violinists in Arnold Steinhardt's violin case: Fritz Kreisler, Jascha Heifetz, Niccolo Paganini, Eugene Ysaÿe were wedged gently into the lid, just as he described them in Violin Dreams (yes, one last pass at this marvelous book).

He placed his violin gently in the open case. Knowing their stories from the book, I wondered aloud which of his violins this was, his Guarneri del Gesu? the Pressenda? the Lorenzo Storioni?

He held up his violin. "This was made by a wonderful violin-maker, Samuel Zygmuntowicz, in Brooklyn," came the answer. Right. Brooklyn.

"So it's...new then."

He laughed, "Yes, it's just a few months old. But new violins are like new wine."


Arnold Steinhardt and his
Samuel Zygmuntowicz violin