MUSIC Performance of a Lifetime

Patricia’s Performance

words edel cassidy

The Irish violinist who performed for President Biden on his Inauguration Day

above: Patricia wore diamonds and sapphires provided by Martin Katz, valued at $3 million; right: Rehearsing at the historic Old St. Patrick’s Church, Chicago

Joseph R Biden, the 46th President of the United States, is deeply proud of his Irish roots which can be traced back to the Blewitts from County Mayo and the Finnegans from County Louth. His great-great-grandfather Patrick Blewitt, who was born in Ballina, Mayo, in 1832, left Ireland in 1850 and settled in Scranton, Pennsylvania. Biden’s other great-great-grandfather was Owen Finnegan, from the Cooley Peninsula in Louth, who moved to America in the late 1840s and settled in Seneca, New York.

The President has made a point of honouring his Irish roots throughout his life and career and his Inauguration Day on 20 January was no exception. It was fitting that the counties of his ancestors were represented at a private Mass for the Biden family on the morning of the inauguration ceremony. Leading Irish violinist Patricia Treacy from Blackrock in County Louth was invited to play at the Mass and chose to play Proclamation, composed by Patrick Cassidy who originally hails from Mayo. Patrick composed Proclamation for the 1916 Centenary and Patricia had performed it when President Michael D Higgins laid a wreath to honour those who fought and died in the Rising at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin.

The invitation came directly to Patricia Treacy from the Biden family. She played for the then vice-president when he visited his ancestral home in Louth in 2016. She has since played for him on a number of occasions, including at his official residence when he was vice-president, and also at some of the Biden rallies during the presidential campaign.

For the Inauguration Day performance, Patricia stunned in a blue couture gown from Dimitra’s, Chicago, designed by New York-based Alex Tieh, who is known for his chic, modern, and elegant dresses. The dress was complemented by exquisite diamonds and sapphires from Beverly Hills jeweller, Martin Katz.

of a Lifetime

Antonio Stradivari in his workshop in Cremona

‘Every Stradivari has a story to tell and each instrument has charted its own unique journey that adds to its wonder and mystique’

Stradivari violin loaned for inauguration

A rare Stradivari violin was loaned by Bein and Co. Rare Violins, Chicago, for Patricia’s performance during President Biden’s inaugural Mass. The violin was made by the legendary Antonio Stradivari’s son, Omobono.

Antonio Stradivari crafted violins and other stringed instruments in Cremona, Italy in the late 1600s and early 1700s. He is regarded as the greatest violin maker of all time and the value of his instruments reflect that illustrious status. He worked with two of his sons, Francesco and Omobono, and today over 600 instruments from the Stradivari workshop survive.

Every Stradivari has a story to tell and each instrument has charted its own unique journey that adds to its wonder and mystique. All of these celebrated instruments have a unique name, generally indicative of a performer, owner, collector, or physical feature of the instrument. The ‘Blagrove’ Omobono Stradivari, played at the inauguration, was made circa 1705–08 during Antonio Stradivari’s coveted Golden Period. It is the most highly celebrated and historically significant of the fifteen known violins made by Omobono. His working life, along with his brother Francesco, was almost exclusively dedicated to assisting his father and it was very rarely that the sons were permitted to make violins on their own.

The violin takes its name from Richard Blagrove (1826/27–1895), who belonged to a prominent English family of musicians and owned the violin during the late 1800s. In a 1926 letter to American collector, Robert A Bower, the dealer Alfred Hill describes knowing the violin as:

‘… an old friend of our firm, it having passed through our hands after diverse intervals during the last forty years … The fiddle has much to commend it, more especially its fine quality of tone.’ Bower was no stranger to fine instruments, having handled such masterpieces as the ‘Lady Blunt’ Stradivari of 1721 and the 1741 ‘Vieuxtemps’ by another renowned Italian instrument maker, Giuseppe Guarneri. He sold the ‘Blagrove’ in 1926 to a clergyman by the name of Reverend W.H. Cullin. It was sold next by the English dealer, Ralph Powell, and featured in a 1943 article in The Strad magazine. By 1958 the Stradivari had made its way to the firm William Lewis & Sons in Chicago and was purchased by the avid violin collector and violinist, Harry R Lange. It was then owned for a time by another well-known connoisseur and collec-

tor, William Rodewald, who is famously the namesake and previous owner of the 1713 ‘Viotti, Rodewald’ Stradivari violin. In 1963, Rodewald sold the ‘Blagrove’ to the American concertmaster Jesse Ceci.

Ceci kept his beloved Stradivari in his possession until his death in 2006. A few years later the violin was once again back in Chicago and was sold by Joseph Bein to the current owner who has dutifully cared for it and maintained the violin’s excellent condition. Valued now at just under $4 million, the ‘Blagrove’ is once again for sale at Bein and Co. Rare Violins, Chicago. beinandcompany.com

left: The ‘Blagrove’ Omobono Stradivari; below: The original, undisturbed Stradivari label within the ‘Blagrove’