Posted on 03/17/2016 4:58:47 PM PDT by TroutStalker
He is dying, Q-tip elbows poking through a baggy shirt. Friends visit, spooning him ice cream and playing music. His daughters are around as well, stopping in after school, too young to process the grim scene. And there, carefully placed in the closet, out of view in the room his ex-wife has set up, is the Stradivarius.
Philip Johnson’s fingers are no longer strong enough to play any violin, never mind one so unforgiving. So he keeps the Strad in a plastic crate. The instrument is the only thing he has of value. It is also his biggest secret.
When he’s gone, the news will shock them all, from the FBI to his family to the daughters of Roman Totenberg, who stand to inherit the instrument. They will ask how this once-promising, later penniless eccentric stole an 18th-century violin worth millions — and got away with it. After all, he was the only suspect when it was taken in 1980. As death approaches, Johnson, usually the loudest voice in the room, keeps his mouth shut. It is the fall of 2011. This has been his secret for 31 years.
Johnson, who was never able to hold a job, a mortgage or a relationship, somehow accomplished something most everyone thought impossible: He played Totenberg’s Stradivarius in plain view until the end.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Injeian arranged to meet Tran in New York in late June. He also called the FBI. Within hours of her showing him the violin, two agents with the agency’s art theft team swooped in to claim the Strad. They contacted the Totenbergs, including daughter Nina, the longtime National Public Radio legal affairs correspondent.
It’s always interesting when you come across a Liberal who rails against “white priviledge” and who hates “the 1%” — and then it turns out that they are “public intellectuals” on a taxpayer funded radio station, and — oh by the way — they own a Stradivarius.
It’s people like Nina Totenberg who are trying to squeeze people like me out of existence. I’m the problem. She’s the do-gooder.
I grew up with phil and produced the CD. He helped me start our high school bible club. i had no idea he did this dastardly deed. and when i found out it floored me but explained why once he turned his back on god and went down this path, god never blessed his career. He was an incredible talent that just lost it. I stopped taking his calls many years back. the one thing that was especially evil with this guy was that totenberg was still alive when phil died and he didn’t even have the guts to give the guy back his violin at aged 90+. I was with Phil in Boston probably near the time he did this. he later moved to new york. what a shame.
Ping
I had an old Epiphone thin hollow body guitar way back, it gave an automatic feedback on any 'G' note played but it kind of complimented my primary guitar that I still own and play some 40 years later. I loaned it to a friend who loaned it to a friend who.... and I never got it back. A close friend of mine who had a nice older Stratacaster loaned it to a friend who loaned it out and he never got it back either.
In neither of those cases however was theft a primary activity whereas this story of the violin sounds premeditated and devious. All musicians develop a feel or relationship with their instruments as a carpenter with his hammer. It's as feel or pride or something you can't easily describe. They know this. This thief took away more than some monetary value and he proved it by never selling it. He was doing harm by denial for his own self centered purpose.
Forgot to ask. Are there any recordings of this violin available online? By thief or the master/owner?
Great read. Thanks for sharing.
Artists and scientists are sometimes just too weird.
All musicians develop a feel or relationship with their instruments as a carpenter with his hammer.>>> yes in this case all of the fingering had to be redone for totenberg’s new fiddle. Every part of his repertoire had to be recreated on his guaneri at age 65. there are no frets on a violin and each instrument is different.
yes cd at amazon. Mobius “beyond beethoven” I have a few. tran stll has the masters i beleive on dat tape.
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