Mary Wakefield Mary Wakefield

The strange case of my first love and the stolen Stradivarius

It was strange to read that my ex-boyfriend had nicked a famous violin

issue 08 April 2017

Because I’d been reading about Stradivarius on the bus home, my helpful iPhone suggested a related story: the Totenberg Ames Stradivarius, stolen and ‘silent for decades’, was to be played again in concert.

Idly, on the hot top deck of the 38, I read on. Roman Totenberg, the celebrated Polish-American violinist, was 70 when his beloved Strad was taken back in 1980.

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