The Red Violin-Part I

Terry Brock won the Kansas state Old Time Fiddling contest when he was seventeen years old. A few years later, he earned a music degree from Missouri Western State University and now teaches violin both privately and in the Saint Joseph school district. One of the particular things that is impressive about Terry, and there are several, is that he also plays front row violin in the St. Joseph Symphony.

Elizabeth Pitcairn is a world-renowned violinist and also owner of the Red Violin, a Stradivarius formerly owned by the Mendelssohn family, a family of no small repute in the music world. Ms. Pitcairn began playing the violin when she was three years old, developing into a virtuoso player by the time of her late teens. She acquired the Red Violin in 1992, paying at auction a sum that remained a record for many years. On Saturday evening, she and Terry and the other members of our symphony performed together.

I have often wondered what there could be about a Stradivarius violin that could possibly deserve so much attention and reputation. How could a couple of pounds of wood and varnish with only four short strings merit such mythical attention? It seemed incomprehensible that any instrument, much less one so small and “simple” could be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.

My wondering is over.

To listen to such a marvelous instrument in the hands of a marvelous musician is to be transported to another level of existence. Such exquisite tones, notes somehow rising above the sound of the orchestra, emanating radiance and depth and character evoke admiration, appreciation and pleasure. Perhaps one of discernment might detect the superb qualities of such a violin, even if it were being played by a beginning Suzuki student. In the hands of an accomplished player, those distinctions are not so subtle.

I have heard comparisons of how the master’s touch transforms even the most common instrument into a Stradivarius, that when God takes our lives we all become incredibly wonderful violins. It’s not true. We do become saved, we do become healed, we become whole. Indeed, we are transformed.

But in regard to the reason for God’s interest in us, it does not matter whether we become renowned virtuosos, talented fiddlers and or slow-learning sawyers practicing in a concrete bunker in order to preserve tranquility in the neighborhood. It was not because of our tremendous potential, not because of our capacity to become remarkable, not because we can become unique and wonderful and incredible that he saves us and renews us by the power of his Spirit.

It is because he loved us, while we were yet sinners.

H. Arnett
3/29/10