'PSYCHO' VIOLINIST'S INSTRUMENT GOES UNDER THE HAMMER

A fine French violin owned by the legendary Louis Kaufman (1905 - 1994) until his death is to go under the hammer later this month. With solo performances on over 500 film scores and the almost single-handed revival of
Vivaldi's music to his credit, Kaufman is probably the most recorded violinist in history to date. The instrument is to sell at Bonhams, 101 New Bond Street, on 23 May.

Millions of cinema-lovers the world over will be familiar with Kaufman's work, since he can be heard on hundreds of film scores from the 1930s 'Golden Age' of Hollywood through to the 1970s. As Tinseltown's most
sought-after soloist, Kaufman played on the soundtracks of such classic movies as Casablanca, Gone with the Wind, Showboat, For Whom the Bell Tolls, The Greatest Story Ever Told and Psycho. Of his life here, classical radio
DJ Jim Svejda gave the highest praise: "Maybe the only guy in the history of Hollywood who never said a bad thing about anybody, and about whom no bad thing was ever said."

Hailed by The New York Times as "a violinist's violinist and a musician's musician," Louis Kaufman was born in Portland, Oregon, and by the age of 13 was studying with Franz Kneisel at the Juilliard (New York's Institute of
Musical Art). From there he went on to fame and fortune both in the concert hall and on the silver screen, a life reflected in his posthumously published autobiography, 'A Fiddler's Tale: How Hollywood and Vivaldi
Discovered Me.' The introduction to the book, penned by Jim Svejda, honours Kaufman's abilities as a performer: "He had a big, rich, sweet sound, never cloying, wonderfully warm. He was a chameleon - he knew exactly how to get into whatever particular style or moment (the music) needed, but it was always recognisably Louis."

The music of Antonio Vivaldi (1678 - 1741) has penetrated our musical consciousness so vigorously that today it is hard to image a time when he was virtually unheard of. Yet when CBS conductor Alfredo Antonini asked
Kaufman, at short notice, to perform the Italian composer's 'Le Quattro Stagioni' (The Four Seasons), Vivaldi's name was not even listed in music history books. Yet since Kaufman's first recording of this piece in December
1949, which won France's Grand Prix du Disque in 1950 and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2002, 'The Four Seasons' has become one of the most famous and prized pieces in the basic repertoire of classical music.

The fine violin to be sold at Bonhams is thus made all the more remarkable given the talents of its previous owner. The rich red-brown instrument is by 'Gand & Bernardel Luthier du Conservatoire de Musique 1884,' and is
estimated to fetch £10,000 - 15,000 at auction. Two very fine silver mounted violin bows which belonged to Kaufman are also included in the sale; one by N. Maire of Paris, circa 1850, and the other by P. Simon, Paris, circa 1860. They are estimated to fetch between £6,000 - 10,000 and £10,000 - 15,000 respectively.