家庭事務
（1995, Strad雜誌）

Strad /June 1995 ／Strad雜誌 1995年6月刊


Clockwise from top:family workmanship on display, Carl F. Becker with his children Marilyn(back left), Jennifer and Paul; the Vermeer Quartet during the concert; the AFVBM presents it eitation to Carl Becker
照片：從上順時針方向：展示家庭工藝，卡爾・F・貝克和他的孩子瑪麗蓮（Marilyn 後左）、珍妮佛 （Jennifer）和保羅 （Paul）；音樂會期間的維米爾四重奏； AFVBM 將它介紹給卡爾・貝克

 

Dennis Rooney joined the Becker clan
for a birthday celebration concert in Chicago
丹尼斯魯尼加入貝克爾家族慶祝生日

For those familiar with the brilliant red-orange finish of instruments made by the Becker family of Chicago (whose activities were chronicled in the November 1992 STRAD), it was a sight to behold: the stage of Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall comfortably filled by a string orchestra of 60 players comprised—except for the basses – entirely of Becker instruments and their owners. (Even three of the basses were made by a relation of the Becker family, Paul Toenniges). They had arrived from throughout the nation to celebrate the 75th birthday of the Becker clan’s current patriarch, Carl F. Becker.

The weekend of 15 January was an eventful one for the Becker family. The previous evening, they celebrated the 100th birthday of Elsa R. Becker, the widow of Carl G. Becker (1887-1975, the founding maker of the dynasty) as well as the 66th birthday of Geraldine M. (Mrs Carl F.) Becker, the mother of Paul C. Becker and Jennifer Becker Jurewicz, who continue the Becker tradition in Chicago and Minneapolis respectively, and their sister, Marilyn, who began planning these celebrations two years ago.

On Sunday afternoon we took our seats to discover that we were surrounded by family members, whereupon we observed that Beckers tend to be tall and also to share a strong facial resemblance that was distributed among the different generations, who ranged from toddlers to at least one septuagenarian.

All 1,100 seats in the room were filled when conductor Kulman Novak made his way to the podium to begin the concert with the Waltz from Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C major op.48. this was followed by ‘Winter’ from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons in which Jacques Ismellevitch, leader of the Toronto Symphony was the violin soloist.

The Vermeer Quartet, all playing Becker instruments, performed Dovorak’s ‘American’ op.96. in the second half of the programme cellist Wendy Warner, a Chicago native and a Becker owner, was heard first in Bruch’s Kol Nudrei with pianist Ruth Becker Helm. Carl F. Becker’s sister, and then with the orchestra in the second and third movements of Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major. The pro-gramme concluded with Dvorak’s Serenade op.22.

Following the concert, Carl F. Becker appeared onstage. Audience and players joined in singing ‘Happy Birthday’, after which he received a commemorative plaque from the owner-players assembled onstage and a citation from the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers.

In his remarks to the audience and players, Carl F. recalled that his father, a cellist, had often played the Dovrak op.96 Quartet. Hearing his sister, Ruth, perform Kol Nidrei with Wendy Warner reminded him of how often Ruth and their father had played the same work together. In nothing his mother’s centenary (she received a birthday cake at her seat), he spoke of the cello that Marc Johnson played in the Vermeer’s performance. His father had made it as an engagement gift for his fiancée two years before their marriage in later years he liked to tell people: ‘I had to marry the girl to get the cello back.’

The sound produced by the Becker instruments was deeply affecting, not only on account of the sentiments of the occasion. The ensemble produced a richly warm and luminous sound, befitting such a memorable event.


對於那些熟悉芝加哥貝克（Becker)家族製作的亮紅橘色提琴的人來說，這是一個值得一看的動態（在 1992 年 11 月STRAD雜誌中記錄他們的活動）：在西北大學Pick-Staiger音樂廳的舞台坐滿了一個由60名演奏者組成的弦樂團舒適地在台上——除了低音大提琴——整團全部用貝克提琴演奏，其也是他們所擁有。（即使那三把低音大提琴都是貝克家族的親戚Paul Toenniges所製作的）。他們從全國各地趕來，慶祝貝克家族現任耆老卡爾・F・貝克 (Carl F. Becker) 的75歲生日。

1月15日的這個周末對貝克家族來說是一個多忙碌的一周。前一天晚上，他們慶祝了 卡爾・G・貝克（Carl G. Becker 1887-1975，家族事業的創始人）的遺孀 Elsa R. Becker 的 100 歲生日以及 Geraldine M. Becker（Carl F. 夫人）的 66歲生日，她是保羅・貝克（Paul C. Becker） 和珍妮佛・貝克（Jennifer Becker Jurewicz）的母親，姊弟他們分別在芝加哥和明尼阿波利斯延續家族傳統的分支，而他們的妹妹 Marilyn 則在兩年前開始籌劃這些慶祝活動。

星期天下午，我們在音樂廳坐下後發現周圍都是貝克家族成員，於是我們觀察到貝克家人都偏向個子高，而且面部特徵也很相似，這分布在不同年齡階段的家人中都有雷同，從蹣跚學步的孩子到一個約七十旬以上家人。

當指揮家庫爾曼・諾瓦克 (Kulman Novak) 走上舞台，以柴可夫斯基C大調小夜曲 作品48中的華爾茲開場音樂會時，廳裡的所有1100個座位早都坐滿了。接下來是韋瓦第的《四季》中的《冬》，其中多倫多交響樂團的指揮Jacques Ismellevitch是小提琴獨奏者。

維米爾四重奏（Vermeer Quartet）全體使用貝克樂器，演奏了德佛札克的《美國》作品96。在下半場節目中，大提琴家Wendy Warner她是道地的芝加哥人，也是貝克提琴的擁有者，她首先與鋼琴家Ruth Becker Helm（卡爾・F・貝克的妹妹）一起演奏出布魯赫的作品《晚禱》（Kol Nudrei）。她隨後再與管弦樂隊合作演奏了海頓C大調大提琴協奏曲的第二和第三樂章。節目以德佛札克的小夜曲作品22作為結束。

音樂會結束後，卡爾・F・貝克出現在舞台上。觀眾和演奏者一起為他唱起了生日快樂歌，之後他收到了聚集在台上的所有者演奏者一起給他的紀念牌和美國提琴和琴弓製作協會給予的榮譽獎。

卡爾・F在對觀眾和演奏者的講話中回憶說，他的父親是一名大提琴手，經常演奏德佛扎克的四重奏作品96。聽到他的妹妹Ruth與Wendy Warner一起表演《晚禱》，這讓他想起了Ruth和他們的父親經常一起演奏同樣的音樂。在他母親的百歲生日會（她在座位上收到了一個生日蛋糕）中，他談到了Marc Johnson在維米爾室內樂團的演奏中使用的大提琴。他的父親在結婚前兩年將它作為訂婚禮物送給他的未婚妻，後來他總喜歡告訴人們：「我必須娶了這個女孩才能拿回我的大提琴。」

貝克樂器發出的琴音深深繚繞，不僅僅是因為會中全體高漲的情緒。合奏產生了豐富、溫暖與明亮的共鳴音色，正符合這樣一個令人難忘的活動。