New York, March 29, 1984
Link: Jacques Francais
The first time I met Fernando was in 1946 or
1947, when I came to New York. He had been a very good friend of my father. The
first impression that one got of Sacconi was that he had such a wonderful look,
so artistic with his big, white hair. He really looked the part. He was so
wonderful – tall, or at least it was my impression that he was tall, with a
great physique and a very gentle manner. He spoke to me in French, and he was
very receptive and friendly. We didn't talk about work that first time we met.
When I saw him most was when I started to open my own business. I had worked at
Wurlitzer for two or three years, but not with Sacconi. When I wanted to go on
my own, he was very nice about that, encouraging me to do it. After I opened
my shop next door on 57th Street, he was so generous and helped me
every time I came to him for an opinion or advice on how to do this or that.
He never kept any secrets from anybody. He is
one of the few men I have met in the profession that really liked to teach and
help people, to show and demonstrate to them what he knew. I do not think there
has been a more important teacher and violinmaker since Vuillaume. He was the
first one ever to have developed new techniques, especially in restoration. In
fact, he started a new school of restoration in the United States, of which the
Europeans are envious. It is because of Sacconi that the standards in the
United States are so high in comparison to Europe.
In spite of all that, at the end of his life he
had difficulties at Wurlitzer. There was friction and a lot of jealousy after
Rembert died, and Sacconi was so unhappy that he really wanted to come and join
René Morel and me. That didn't work out, in part because he was so emotional
and sensitive and was afraid to express his feelings at Wurlitzer. We were
always great friends, though. I remember when there was a party for him and we
were so happy to see each other that we talked for a whole hour about literally
everything!
He was such a warm, friendly person. And he
loved to play little tricks on people to make them laugh. I remember once he
told me about the fun he had with a musician who brought him what he thought
was a Tourte bow that he had found in Europe. Sacconi realized immediately that
it was not a Tourte, explained to the man that he had been cheated, and said
that if he wanted to get rid of it, he'd buy it from him for what it was worth.
Then Sacconi amused himself by recutting it exactly like a Tourte and calling
the man to tell him he'd found him a real one. The man came in, tried it out,
said it played beautifully, and wanted to buy it. Then Sacconi smiled gleefully
and told the man he had only wanted to see if he could make a foolproof
counterfeit. He was so good he would never have used his extraordinary talent
to cheat anyone, but he adored trying to fool people and then telling them what
they had in their hands was his own copy of some famous original. It was
certainly never meant to hurt the person, but was just for pleasure and fun,
like a sport for him. There was never any money or personal profit involved in
these jokes.
He also loved fishing and hunting. He told me
once about rabbit hunting. You have to walk very slowly in the high grass, and
you keep stopping to listen for the rabbit. You don't walk fast, because you
find the rabbit with your ears, not your feet. You see, it's useful to have
trained your ear with violins!
He loved his studies of the violin, especially
those of Stradivarius, as much as his sports. He was the greatest expert on
Stradivarius, and studied him more than any other violinmaker ever has. He knew
so much about him that I know he was not able to put all he had learned in his
book, «The 'Secrets' of Stradivarius». It's a shame, because he was such a
treasury of knowledge. Nevertheless, the book is very, very interesting and so
important as a great step forward in the understanding of the work of
Stradivari.
Apart from his book, his life's work is still
living in the teaching his pupils are doing. The work of his whole lifetime is
in that book and in his pupil's work. He also left behind some wonderful fiddles,
and he made some incredible scrolls and other parts that were missing on different
Stradivariuses. You have to be a very good expert to catch these repairs. It's
a challenge!
Sacconi dedicated his whole life to the violin:
to the fiddles he made, to his extraordinary restorations, and to his book. How
much more could he have done?!
New York, March 29,
1984
Taken from the book: «From Violinmaking to Music: The Life and Works of Simone Fernando Sacconi», presented on December 17, 1985 at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. (Cremona, ACLAP, first edition 1985, second edition 1986, pages 69-70 - Italian / English).
© 2023 - In memory of Simone Fernando Sacconi in the 50th Anniversary of his death