Ten Songs of the Violin

 Ten Songs of the Violin 

Dr Abe V Rotor

I love the violin.  It is not only music that it creates, it conveys the thoughts, feelings and soul of the player. And playing not only to himself, but to the whole world.

1. It is Vivaldi’s violin that brings into our living room the Four Seasons at any time of the year;

2. It is Beethoven’s symphony he wrote for Napoleon, whom he revered so much, but at the end, changed his dedication of the piece to the French people; 

This is the violin I played in my elementary and high school days. It's a 1776 Guadagnini violin made in Czechoslovakia. I still play on it today with my children and grandchildren. 

3. It is the violin which mimics the sound of Nature - lambs, stream flowing, cows on the meadow, and the distant thunder, all put into one beautiful composition - Pastoral;

4. It is the violin that accompanies perfectly the song of the Nightingale, the masterpiece of Andrei Rieu, which he adapted from Enrico Tosseli’s Serenade, reversing its theme of "Regret" to one that is happy as the Nightingale bird that sings in the night.

5. It is the violin with organ accompaniment that literally brings down to earth God, His saints and angels in Michelangelo’s Sistine chapel.

6. It is the violin that gives the peak of ascendancy in the world’s greatest religious chorus Alleluia by Frederick Handel. 

7. It is the violin that captures the ultimate in musical dexterity of Paganini; and the sensual appeal in Ravel’s Bolero. 

8. It is our own Redentor Romero’s (PHOTO) playing the violin that brought pride to the Philippines while conducting the world’s famous Philharmonic Orchestra in New York.

9. It is also our own Kabayao who skillfully translated with the violin Filipino compositions into immortal classics. Gilopez Kabayao has been honored worldwide for his violin virtuosity and using his and his family's musical gifts to touch the lives of people.

10. It is Requiem Mozart wrote for a strange visitor in the night who never returned, and at Mozart’s death the music became his own requiem. ~