The Story of a Violin

The Story of a Violin

Have you ever wondered about the instruments that musicians play? String instruments, particularly, can have fascinating histories, and tonight there is one violin making its QYO debut that is very special indeed. As you are wowed by the technical expertise and rich melodies that In Yi Chae is crafting in her performance of the Tchaikovsky violin concerto, take a moment to think of all the music played on that instrument before tonight. While it is the first public performance InYi will give on it, this violin has a long history of being played in Brisbane- in fact it was one of the first “fine” instruments brought especially to Qld: a father’s birthday gift to his beloved 18-year-old daughter.

This beautiful violin was made in 1890 (132 years ago!) in a famous English workshop belonging to William Ebsworth Hill and his four sons. The Hill family were long standing craftsmen (Samuel Pepys mentions taking his lute and “vial” to an instrument maker named Mr. Hill in his Diary of 1660) and they employed a number of luthiers to complete the long list of orders (a bit like a big restaurant might hire a few chefs). We know this is where the violin originates because there is a label stuck to the inside of the instrument. This label is cross-referenced with a sale note in the Hill accounts ledger, which reads:

4/9/1891

Jefferies, Mr. R. T.

20 St Mary Street, Brisbane

WE Hill & Sons violin + case 

£23

Imagine if Hill violins cost only £23 these days! So how did the violin come from a workshop in London to Brisbane? That sale note contains the clue:  Mr. Richard Thomas Jefferies was an accomplished violinist, violist, pianist and organist, who became known as “the Father of Music in Brisbane”. But that nearly didn’t happen! Despite his extensive musical grounding, RT Jefferies had emigrated from England to Australia with the idea of becoming a sugarcane farmer in Gatton. Fortunately for us, he was quite an unsuccessful agriculturalist, and so returned to Brisbane to resume his musical practice by conducting the major orchestras that had sprung up in Brisbane in the few decades since its establishment as a colony in 1825. He combined various instrumental and choral groups that had sprung up around Brisbane to form the Brisbane Musical Union, and this evolved into today’s Queensland Symphony Orchestra.

RT Jefferies dreamt of founding a musical dynasty. Despite their flamboyant names, his sons Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy and Richard Beethoven, did not display a great interest in, or have much talent for, music. However, three daughters – more modestly called Arena (Enie), Mary, and Vada – did and, with their father, they formed the Jefferies Family String Quartet. They performed widely, even making two tours of Great Britain and one of Europe. In the picture below they are from left to right: Enie, Mary, RT, and Vada. Enie achieved many things beyond challenging the accepted norms of the time, including the one that women didn’t own and drive motor cars then. She must have been a striking sight to see driving around Brisbane in her Vauxhall Velie (a very fine car in its time) which she purchased in 1922. Especially so when her husband, George Muller refused to take to the modern invention of the automobile, preferring to follow along behind in his pony cart. Enie was brave, talented, disciplined and focused, becoming the most accomplished female musician, in Brisbane, of her time.

As Enie was the principal violinist in all the orchestras or ensembles RT conducted, it seemed natural that on a visit to London, RT purchased a violin from the most reputable Hill workshop for her. This is the violin which the early Brisbane audiences would hear, either when Enie played first violin in the family quartet or as leader of the orchestra. There is no doubt that the violin she is holding in this photograph is the Hill violin. And it is the very same instrument that you hear InYi playing on today.

QYO is indebted to descendants of the Jefferies family (particularly Mr. Richard Muller) for their generosity in allowing the instrument to be played by the QYS concertmaster each year. And this gift is made possible by the extraordinary sponsorship of Mr. David Dalseno of First Strings, whose vision of protecting and preserving such historically significant instruments has been inspirational. As a violinist of the famous Orava Quartet, David is fully aware of the importance of best practice care for instruments, overseeing annual maintenance on the violin, and providing appropriate insurance. He has even outfitted the instrument with top quality accessories including a case and strings. What a beautiful gift to the musical community of Brisbane!

Documented & Facilitated by Helentherese Good