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18 April - Violinist Jascha Heifetz deposits parts from his prized Guarnerius violin in the newly poured wet concrete of the foundation for the new Virginia Ramo Hall of Music, under construction at the University of Southern California, in order to ensure the building will be "in tune", and to bring luck.
from Wiki
Severius! Supremus Invictus
Follow Ups:
If you are going to just throw out a factoid, it's always best to cite your source. Your post appears to be taken directly from fandom's Pop Culture Wiki .
That page provides no evidence to support its claim.
According to USC, the object was a violin bow. Here is a link about that: Heifetz's good luck gift
But the story is that they met in secret with her husband, Simon, to plot this. Then they secretly buried the bow in wet concrete. And neither he nor she ever mentioned it subsequently.
Really? If the bow was inserted into wet concrete, as described, it seems like there would have been evidence. If the concrete was so wet that it was easy to accomplish this, it seems like it would have occurred when workmen were present. Yet nobody ever mentioned it?
Why do it in secret? Wouldn't they have called in some news reporter and photographer, or at least some students and faculty and school officials, to witness such a momentous event. After all, Heifetz was a huge star. Since he was teaching at USC, it seems they would have wanted a very public event to mark this monumental occasion.
I haven't read any biography of Heifetz. If there is any actual evidence that this actually occurred, it would be good to see it. Otherwise, I think it is just one of those many myths from the past of music.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
Hi.
You wrote:
If the concrete was so wet that it was easy to accomplish this, it seems like it would have occurred when workmen were present. Yet nobody ever mentioned it?
# # #
Concrete does not harden by drying out; concrete hardens by a chemical process called "hydration" in which the artificial (Portland) cement (as distinct from naturally-occuring cementitious minerals) absorbs water as it forms (or re-forms) calcium-based crystalline structures. There is a setting period and a curing period.
Both periods depend upon various factors, principally, the formulation of the concrete, ground temperature, and air temperature. Seeing as we are talking about a building foundation, I would expect the setting period to run from 8 to 24 hours; the curing period, in which the concrete reaches it structural strength, would probably in this case be at least a week if not more.
So, I have no prob with the idea of Heifetz and a donor lady going to a jobsite with a trowel a few hours after the workmen had left and using a trowel to dig a little trench at the top of a foundation pour and putting a violin bow in the trench and leveling it out.
However, I do have a problem with the notion of Jascha Heifetz, whom I understand was a persnickety individual and more than a little bit of a clothes horse, mucking around about a foundation pour that had not yet been backfilled; and if there was a violin bow put into a foundation, I cannot conceive of its being a concert-quality bow, which at the time would have been from $5,000 to $30,000. Just something he had lying around the studio.
So, the concrete part I can believe, but the whole story sounds silly to me, and out of character to the extent I can understand the character of someone I know only second-hand (I have three friends who studed with JH).
JM
Yes, I agree that sources should be cited. That's why this was the last statement in my post:
From Wiki
Severius! Supremus Invictus
"From Wiki" is a citation? There are hundreds, maybe thousands, of wikis. But even so, the source I showed was almost word for word what you posted, so who knows who originally typed the words. Anyway, it was a very questionable story, wherever it originated. A myth unless proved otherwise.
"Life without music is a mistake" (Nietzsche)
If USC's own news site was saying (as of 2009) that one of Heifetz's bows is buried in the Virginia Ramo Hall of Music, that kind of takes the incident out of the realm of "a very questionable story" and into something more believeable - at least as far as I'm concerned."In a private ceremony, she [Virginia Ramo] and Heifetz buried one of the master's violin bows in the foundation - the location of which remains a secret to this day."
Gregor Piatigorsky, Jascha Heifetz, Virginia Ramo and USC President John R. Hubbard at the dedication of the Virginia Ramo Hall of Music in 1974
Edits: 04/21/17
Or is this an April Fool's?
Perhaps a worn-out tuning peg (which at that time would almost certainlt no longer be the original one)?
jm
"Oh, bad luck Mr. Heifetz. Had it been all original..."
Edits: 04/20/17
I said empty.
If you don't become the ocean, you'll be seasick everyday ...
- Leonard Cohen
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