A 55-year-old German musician is reported to have been so distraught after leaving his £850,000 (€1m) violin on a train that he needed medical treatment to steady his nerves. The unnamed violinist left his 1748 Italian instrument on a seat after returning from a trip to Asia.
Violinist and violin were soon reunited, however, after police found the unharmed instrument on the train where it had been left. '[The musician] needed treatment from a doctor but it was nothing dramatic,' says a spokesperson to The Times. 'He was just a bit nervous because he thought he had lost it.'
This is one of several unfortunate incidents involving mislaid musical instruments. In 2008 award-winning Russian-born American violinist Philippe Quint left a loaned 1723 'Kiesewetter' Stradivarius worth around £2m in the back of a New York taxi, and Toronto Symphony Orchestra violinist Jim Wallenberg left his instrument in a streetcar shelter. Wallenberg later commented: ‘It’s like losing a limb or a family member’. Happily, both Quint and Wallenberg were reunited with their violins.
Bethan Ball