In the fall of 1998,
Paul Mercer began working as the manager of one of the oldest
violin shops in the southern United States. The shop was an antiquarian's
or violinphile's dream; literally crammed under stairways, behind
desks,under trapdoors, and in a dark spooky attic was over 60
years worth of the proprietor's collected stock. A ratty 1950s
case could contain a fine 18th century British instrument while
a solid mahogany Victorian case with brass fittings could contain
nothing more than some broken plastic chinrests and deteriorated
steel strings.
Alone in the shop,
the occasional sudden "sigh " of a violin string detuning on one
of the hundreds of hanging instruments was startling, as if the
instrument could hardly bear that it had gone unplayed for so
long. While very important antique or fairly new violins have
histories of ownership and provenance that are well-documented,
most of the ones here could only be traced back a few generations.
The mystery of each
instrument's personal history, combined with its very unique shape,
varnish, and tone,inspired Paul to try to exorcise the spirits
time had locked away in a few particularly evocative instruments.
He also combed through decades of casually piled paperwork trying
to research how and from whom the instrument was acquired. By
conversing with past owners, and when the instruments were "important"
enough, by pouring through violin reference texts, Paul was able
to find out some tidbits about a violin's origin or travels--nothing
as complete and romantic as the story of "The Red Violin," or
Paganini's Guarneri del Gesu, but enough to inspire a composition
that he felt evoked the instrument's voice. Paul plans to release
a cd of these compositions in the near future. Four tracks, tenatively
titled Music Box, Frost, West, and Autumn
have been performed live and are being worked on in the studio.
Paul hopes to include short films, avant garde puppetry, and art
at his live performances.
