Joao Varela asks about Erika Morini.  Morini's career is one that
combined great success with bitter personal failure.  She was one of the
most impressive child prodigies of her day, but throughout her adult life
she felt engagements did not come her way because she was a woman and grew
rather bitter about it.  Although she peformed in public until she was 70,
the last 20 years of her career were a shell of her former glory.  In her
later years I understand she became an anti-social recluse, seeing only
members of her family and known for her stinginess.

Toward the end of her life, she became obsessive about her famed Davidoff
Strad, to no avail, as it apparently was stolen within a few days of her
death.  She had made quite inadequate provisions for its security, as she
wanted to retain it in her possession.  The instrument had not been played
much for many years before she died, which may have compromised it storied
acoustic properties.  Only a handful of people had access to her apartment,
and there was no sign of forced entry, but investigations seem to have been
unproductive.  In any case, the instrument cannot be sold in a public sale,
nor played in public, greately reducing its resale value.  Quite possibly
the thief did not realize the implications of having such a famed treasure.

A few months after she died, the Washington Post had a lengthy article
about her and the disappearance of her violin.  Much of this post is based
on my memory of that article, which should still be available- for a small
fee- on their website.

Larry