19th-century virtuoso Niccolo Paganini, a native son of Genoa who died in 1840 bequeathed his violin, named the "Canon", a creation of Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu, one of the world's most illustrious violin makers, to the Italian city of Genoa, where it has been kept in a guarded vault in Genoa's city hall.

This pristine, perfect acoustic instrument, believed to be the quintessence of beauty, is insured for millions, is the crown jewel of  Genoa, whose leaders are most protective, and permit the "Canon" to be used only on very select occasions.

Initially, permitting a "jazz" musician to play the "Canon" was considered sacrilige.

After extensive investigation, and discovering the "classical" roots of Regina Carter, and limiting her use to "classical" music, Carter gave a concert in 2001, record an album dedicated to Paganini, and now the concert at Lincoln Center.
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SUCCESS, WITH STRINGS ATTACHED
US jazz musician...to play a rare violin

Boston Globe
By Tatsha Robertson,
Globe Staff,
November 3, 2003

NEW YORK -- For more than a century, the Cannon, a pristine violin insured for millions and the crown jewel of the Italian city of Genoa, had been kept in a guarded vault, taken out and played by a select few on rare occasions. Once the possession of 19th-century virtuoso Niccolo Paganini and crafted by one of the great violin makers of all time, it had never been touched by anyone who wasn't classically trained.

Tonight, the instrument -- nicknamed for its deep, loud sound -- will be in the hands of Regina Carter, a Detroit-born jazz violinist, who will perform with it in a jazz and classical concert at Lincoln Center. The violin traveled 4,000 miles Friday from Italy to Manhattan under the protective gaze of a caretaker, driven from Kennedy Airport by police escort as though it were a head of state.

How Carter became the first jazz musician and first African-American to play one of the world's most famous violins is a story with many chapters. First, it is a story of a musician who yearned to explore the perfect acoustic instrument and of a European city that wanted to keep and protect what many believed to be the quintessence of beauty. It is a tale that crosses musical styles, and several centuries...

In 2001, Carter's pianist Werner Gierig first suggested that she play the Cannon. When a few Genoa dignitaries responded positively to Carter's request, members of the city's musical elite were appalled. She would debase the instrument, they said.

''It was very emotional,'' Genoa city commissioner Anna Castellano recalled last week in a New York City hotel.

Paola Casubolo, director of tourism for Genoa, added, ''They were purists, and they were not ready for change. A jazz musician was going to play a classical instrument, the symbol of the city. That is something they couldn't accept.''

The resistance in Genoa was strong... A long line of officials, including the mayor and members of the agencies entrusted with maintaining the violin and its legacy, thoroughly checked her background, even delving all the way back to her grade school classical music teacher.

They wanted to know Carter's technique for playing the instrument and whether she would be too rough. Carter is known for playing that is influenced by rhythm and blues, and for her aggressive, even percussive, style.

To understand the Italians' possessiveness of the instrument is to understand the importance of its former owner -- Paganini, a native son of Genoa who died in 1840 and bequeathed the instrument to the city -- as well as its creator, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu, one of the world's most illustrious violin makers.

The only way observers could explain Paganini's talents, his wild and unorthodox manner onstage, was to say he was possessed by the devil.

''At a very early age, [Paganini] really revolutionized the kind of sounds that people expected to hear from the violin,'' said Stephen Clapp, dean of the Juilliard School. ''Some people have conjectured that his hands were built differently from most people. There was less webbing at the base of the fingers going into the hands so that he could reach farther, but he created a body of material that is still the standard of the world as far as difficulty of music.''

As a young girl in Detroit, Carter had studied the famous violinist. ''I knew about Paganini, but I didn't learn about the instrument until I was older, probably in high school, when I started to really learn about violins and who the great violin makers were,'' she said. It was then that she became acquainted with leading instrument makers such as Guarneri and Stradivari.

Carter, the daughter of a Ford factory worker, learned then that the Cannon was kept in a Genoa museum. City officials, including the mayor and a crew of specialists, had to approve any violinist who wanted to play the instrument. Young musicians compete periodically in a famous contest for a chance to play it.

Carter, who is in her mid-30s, had studied classical and jazz at the New England Conservatory but transferred to Oakland University in Michigan, where she focused exclusively on jazz. She embarked on a jazz career, playing backup with the likes of Wynton Marsalis and then enjoying a solo career in which she also has played with pop stars such as Patti LaBelle and Mary J. Blige. Carter eventually was allowed to play the Cannon in Genoa in 2001. But the violin's handlers would not let it fly on a plane after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Carter recalled the first time she was introduced to the instrument. She was taken to a side room in Genoa's city hall, where it had been kept in a vault. Two armed guards walked in, then the violin's handler entered the room. ''They snatched the curtains closed because the sun was too bright and it could damage the wood, and they tested the heater to make sure it wasn't too hot and not too dry,''...

Eventually, she played the instrument to a packed concert in Genoa. The magnitude of it all hit her hard. ''Here I am the first nonclassical musician to play it, ...which is a big deal for me,'' she said. ''I remembered running around as a little kid saying one day I am going to travel the world and have friends everywhere, and then there were all these thoughts about 9/11 because they dedicated the night to the horrific event. I just cried onstage.''

[Initial reluctance of Genoa was not based on any other of a number of speculated factors,].. she said she came to realize; it was this priceless, oversize violin that everyone was concerned about.

The story did not end there. Officials allowed her to use the violin to record her new album, ''Paganini: After a Dream,'' but under strict requirements that she focus on the classics.

They also agreed to let her perform with the violin in New York. But then her jazz recording label, Verve, had reservations. Executives there worried that she would lose her jazz fans, but after Carter said she would put up her own money, Verve changed its mind.

Even after that was settled, Carter and her music crew had a hard time finding a bank that would keep the large violin in a vault. She found a violin shop in New York that agreed to keep it secure.

Now there is a possibility that Genoa, which the European Union named the cultural capital of Europe for 2004, may allow other nonclassical musicians to play the Cannon. ''Things have changed after so many centuries,'' said Casubolo, the tourism director. ''This violin is still alive, and it's still changing. After four centuries, it's being played by someone who has broken the rules. ''

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