"Il Cannone" Guarneri del Gesù 1743

 Since 1851 property of city of Genoa, Italy - the del Gesù owned and played by Paganini.
  

Today his mind was at war with his body. He knew he was dying. In the darkness of his Mediterranean apartment a vampire was sucking the blood from his veins. Long, pointed finger nails scraping the marrow of his bones. Surely, God must be laughing.

Crawling out of bed with only the strength of his arms to aid him, he grabbed the knife from the table and crouched on the floor. His breathing was labored, but for the sake of his son
he must finish what he’d begun three days ago. When Achilles returned with the doctor he would tell him the secret.

He removed the final plank of the flooring and inserted the violin case with the real 1742 Guarneri into the hiding spot, the instrument fashioned by the erratic genius of Cremona which had been his life-long companion: the voice which soared among the clouds.


~ Excerpt The Devil's Violin 



1 comment: