Da Vinci's Instrument

LIFESTYLE THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2013 Music39 & Movies Da Vinci’s instrument: The sound of genius Baldwin heckled while testifying in New York stalking case An extremely rare Viola Organista, based on a late 15th-century design by Leonardo da Vinci, built by Polish concert pianist, Slawomir Zubrzycki, seen in Polish concert pianist, Slawomir Zubrzycki, pres- Krakow, on October 18.—AFP photos ents an extremely rare Viola Organista, based on a late 15th-century design by Leonardo da Vinci. ith elegant black and tan keys it looks like but I’d hope he’d be pleased,” said the mild-mannered a baby grand piano, but when tinkled they Zubrzycki with just a hint of pride. Bringing da Vinci’s Wrelease the voluptuous tones of a cello. Painter dream sound to life was a three-year-long labour of of the Mona Lisa, Italian Renaissance genius Leonardo love for Zubrzycki, on which he spent at least 5,000 da Vinci also dreamt up the Viola Organista in the late hours and 30,000 zloty (7,000 euros, $9,700). 15th century as a marriage of keyboard and string The “Geigenwerk”—“fiddle work” in English—built in instruments. But he never built it, experts say. Virtually 1575 by German Hans Haiden is the first known instru- forgotten, it has come to life thanks to a Polish concert ment based on da Vinci’s design, according to experts pianist with a flair for instrument-making. Full of steel at the Musical Instruments Museum (MIM) in Brussels. strings and spinning wheels, Slawomir Zubrzycki’s cre- Its collection contains another built in 1625 by Spaniard ation is a musical and mechanical work of art. Truchado Raymundo. “It’s the only wholly preserved “This instrument has the characteristics of three example of this instrument” from the past, MIM expert we know: the harpsichord, the organ and the viola da Pascalle Vandervellen told AFP. Japan’s Aiko Obuchi gamba,” Zubrzycki told AFP recently as he debuted the built a compact table-top model a decade ago, but instrument at the Academy of Music in Poland’s historic information about any others is hard to come by. Con- southern city of Krakow. “Leonardo da Vinci invented temporary examples are “very rare,” Vandervellen said. it around 1470-80,” said the tall, thin, bespectacled ‘Gives you goose bumps’ Actor Alec Baldwin leaves criminal court in New York, Tuesday.—AP photos 50-year-old as he rummaged in a briefcase full of tools It was standing room only for the recent world pre- movie star Alec Baldwin was re- what they could do together. picking one for a final tuning. mier of Zubrzycki’s Viola Organista in a gilded concert peatedly interrupted and heckled Her appearance at his Long Island home, The instrument’s exterior is painted in a rich hue hall complete with twinkling crystal chandeliers at Kra- by his alleged stalker as he testi- at a film event he co-hosted on April 5, 2012 of midnight blue adorned with golden swirls painted kow’s prestigious Academy of Music. Gabor Farkas, an US fied against the French-Canadian actress in a and once at his New York apartment made on the side. The inside of its lid is a deep raspberry in- award-winning Hungarian concert pianist and a teacher New York courtroom Tuesday. The 55-year-old him feel “extremely, extremely threatened” and scribed with a Latin quote in gold leaf by 12th-century at the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, fell actor denies having a sexual relationship with scared for his wife, he said. Asked to recount German nun, mystic and philosopher, Saint Hildegard. in love with what he heard. “It’s a keyboard instrument Genevieve Sabourin, whom he first met in events on March 31, Baldwin sighed, looked “Holy prophets and scholars immersed in the sea of but it sounds like someone is playing it with a bow like 2000 in a restaurant in Montreal as the then- down, pursed his lips and said “I’m sorry” as if arts both human and divine, dreamt up a multitude of a violin or a cello—a very warm sound, very velvety, mistress of his film-producer friend Martin distressed. He then wiped his eye, provoking instruments to delight the soul,” it says. The flat bed of very beautiful,” an astonished Farkas told AFP during Bregman. He accuses her of bombarding him an indignant Sabourin to shout: “Why is he its interior is lined with golden spruce. Sixty-one gleam- the intermission as concert-goers crowded around the with hundreds of unwanted phone calls and crying?” ing steel strings run across it, similar to the inside of a instrument to peer under its lid. emails and of sending “vile” twitter messages The defense tried to take Baldwin to task baby grand. “One thing the piano is missing is that as soon as you to his wife, starting after he met Sabourin over his reputation for anger, including a no- Each one is connected to the keyboard complete hit one note, it dies. Here you can make a crescendo. again in 2010 for dinner in New York. torious message in 2007 for his then 11-year- with smaller black keys for sharp and flat notes. But It’s the dream of all pianists!”, Farkas said. Polish concert Sabourin was arrested in April 2012, just old daughter calling her a “rude, thoughtless unlike a piano, it has no hammered dulcimers. Instead, pianist Marian Sobula agreed. “I’ve fallen in love with days after showing up at Baldwin’s Manhattan little pig”. But the actor kept his cool and was there are four spinning wheels wrapped in horse tail this sound,” he said after Zubrzycki playing his Viola apartment, after the star of the hit comedy TV combative, often replying that he could not hair, like violin bows. To turn them, Zubrzycki pumps a Organista received a standing ovation. “All pianists and comedy series “30 Rock” filed stalking charges. recall and telling the defense lawyer to speak peddle below the keyboard connected to a crankshaft. string players yearn for it, for these long, never-ending The Canadian actress denies stalking Baldwin more slowly, saying: “I know you’re nervous.” As he tinkles the keys, they press the strings down onto notes which you can’t play on the piano. It just gives and has said she just wants “closure” at the end The defense sought to establish that Baldwin the wheels emitting rich, sonorous tones reminiscent of you goose bumps.” of a romantic relationship. Baldwin said their exchanged emails with Sabourin during 2011 a cello, an organ and even an accordion. Krakow musician Kazimierz Pyzik who plays the dinner was to advise her on forging a main- and 2012 in a manner that suggested some- The effect is a sound that da Vinci dreamt of, but thick-necked, seven-stringed viola da gamba - a precur- stream acting career and was nothing more thing other than a purely professional contact. never heard; there are no historical records suggesting sor of the cello—was also a huge fan. “Now that Po- than a “favor” to Bregman, who was allegedly Baldwin admitted to offering her advice he or anyone else of his time built the instrument he land’s been eliminated (from the World Cup) in football desperate to be rid of his on-off girlfriend. on how to move on, but that he thought be- designed. A sketch complete with notes in da Vinci’s and everyone’s kind of depressed about it, suddenly we Baldwin denies sleeping with her but says ing patient would help her go away. Hilaria, characteristic inverted script is found in his Codex have a man who’s created an instrument which is a one he drove her back to the swanky Lowell Hotel, 29, also took the stand, saying how she had Atlanticus, a 12-volume collection of his manuscripts of a kind, the world over. It’s sensational!”—AFP where he had helped her get a reservation. He become “terrified” of Sabourin after starting and designs covering everything from mathematics to claims he never saw her again until she turned to date Baldwin in 2011. At the April 2012 botany, weaponry to flight. “I have no idea what Leon- up uninvited at his East Hampton, Long Island film event, Hilaria told how she was taken to a ardo da Vinci might think of the instrument I’ve made, home on March 31, 2012, the afternoon that locked room for her safety but that Sabourin he got engaged to his second wife Hilaria. later ran towards her in the auditorium. “I’ve Wearing a navy blazer and a black polo shirt, never been more afraid in my entire life,” she Baldwin testified for just under two hours. He said. A few days later, Sabourin turned up in PG-13 gun violence rivals that insisted he knew Sabourin purely in a profes- the lobby of their Greenwich Village apartment sional context and that their subsequent email building on Easter Sunday and she dialed the contact had been nothing more than him try- police, Hilaria said. The case continues.—AFP of R movies ing to be “polite” and shake her off. But an angry and emotional Sabourin, un violence in PG-13 rated movies has increased dressed in a figure-hugging black and cream considerably in recent decades, to the point that it jumper, skin-tight black trousers and knee- Gsometimes exceeds gun violence in even R-rated high black suede boots, repeatedly inter- films, according to a study released Monday.

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