Belonged to the late music educator Roman Totenberg.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A Stradivarius violin that belonged to the late violinist and music educator Roman Totenberg has been recovered more than three decades after it was stolen from him, according to his family.
One of his daughters, Nina Totenberg, who serves as the legal affairs correspondent for NPR News, reported that she received a phone call in June — entirely out of the blue — from an FBI agent who said he was looking at the pilfered violin, which was now in federal custody.
The Stradivarius had surfaced when an appraiser contacted the authorities after a woman brought it to him in New York City.
According to The New York Times, the unnamed woman inherited the violin from her late ex-husband.
“The appraiser looks at her and says, ‘Well, I have some good news and some bad news,’” Ms. Totenberg said. “‘The good news is that this is a real Stradivarius. And the bad news is it was stolen, 35, 36 years ago from Roman Totenberg, and I have to report it right away.’ And within two hours, two agents from the FBI’s art theft team were there.”
The priceless instrument — which was made in 1734 and is known as the Ames Stradivarius — was stolen in May 1980 from the Totenberg’s office at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge, Mass., where he was then the director.
At the time, the elder Totenberg thought he knew who stole the violin, but there was never enough evidence to pursue a suspect.
“My mother was so frustrated,” Ms. Totenberg recalled to the Associated Press, “that she famously went around Boston asking her friends if they knew anybody in the mob who would break into this guy’s apartment.”
Roman Totenberg bought the Stradivarius in 1943 for $15,000 – more than $200,000 by modern standards – and it was the only instrument he performed with until it was stolen.
Today, Stradivarius instruments — of which only a few hundred remain worldwide — often sell for millions of dollars.
“This loss for my father was, as he said when it happened, it was like losing an arm,” said Nina’s sister, Jill Totenberg, a public relations executive in New York. “To have it come back, three years after he died, to us, it’s like having him come alive again.”
Prosecutors don’t intend to charge anyone in connection with the theft, Nina Totenberg said, and the violin will be returned to the family. They plan to sell it, but not to a collector, she informed the AP.
“I’m just glad that the violin, once it’s restored to its full potential again, will eventually be in the hands of another great artist,” she said, “and its gorgeous voice will be heard in concert halls around the country.”