I'll Take Musical Tragedies for 500, Alex..... [Originally posted here] Okay, it's not a tragedy on the scale of Neveu and Kapell. But, if nothing else, it proves yet again that life isn't fair---especially in the world of music. Have you ever heard this woman play the violin? A lot of people haven't, because early on this artist's career got whacked by the Murphy's Law stick. Or maybe by some good, old-fashioned sexism. Let me 'splain. Jenson was a phenomenal young violinist who took the silver in the Tchaikovsky competition at the tender age of seventeen. An absolutely ass-kicking artist. She embarked on what promised to be a huge career: bookings with the majors, a recording of the Sibelius with Ormandy, and an LP of two of the Brahms sonatas with Samuel Sanders. She had a recording contract in place, with the Brahms concerto in the works. Yep. She had fun, fun, fun-----'til her sponsor took the fiddle away. And why'd he take back the violin? Because she made the mistake of having a personal life. She met the man she would marry, they got engaged, and she sent the violin's owner an invitation to the wedding. And how'd he RSVP? By giving her two weeks to give him the Guarneri del Gesu back. Because, in his opinion, any female concert artist who wanted to get married was obviously not serious about her career and his precious violin would be better used by someone who put the career first. (As in either a man, or a nun.) So if a woman realizes that she needs something more than a violin to keep her warm at night, she's not serious about her career. Really? Tell that to Kyung Wha Chung, whose attitude was always, "You say I can't have a career and a family? Watch me." Or tell that to Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, who made it clear from day one that having "someone to come home to" was a necessity for her. Then back away very, very quickly----unless you happen to be sporting your Nomex wardrobe. So Dylana wanted a little balance in her life, and that ended up costing her the use of an incredible instrument. How do you replace a violin of that caliber on short notice--especially if your career is still young and you haven't started making the big bucks yet? You don't. Legend has it that she was forced into having to borrow violins for her gigs. And some of them were such total crap that she couldn't project her sound over the orchestra, or bring out all of the nuances and colors that the music demanded. So, over time, the bookings dried up, and the recordings never happened. And she ended up raising her kids, performing occasionally, and teaching. Child-rearing is a noble pursuit. So is passing along your art to the next generation through teaching. But artistry like hers deserves an audience. Jenson still sounds awesome--better than most of the violinists currently on the concert circuit. (And, at 46, she's still good-looking, too. Don't think that's not a factor in who gets booked and who doesn't.) I don't know if it's possible for a former can't-miss prodigy to resurrect her career a quarter century after it got derailed. But if life were fair...... posted by roboflutist at 1:06 AM