The iconic image of Sherlock Holmes is one in which he is
playing the violin. References to his musicianship are limited, but they are abundant
enough to give us a picture of a cultured, atypical player who, of course, played
a Stradivarius.
You might recall that he purchased his Strad at a pawn shop for 45 shillings.
At that time, it would have been worth 500 guineas.
As for Holmes’s repertoire, there are no direct references
to Holmes playing from a score. However, he does play some of Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words for Watson’s
listening pleasure in A Study in Scarlet.
In his review, Watson says: “His powers upon the violin… were very remarkable
but as eccentric as all his other accomplishments.”
The only story where Holmes’s violin plays a part in the
plot is in The Adventure of the Mazarin
Stone. Here Holmes fools his foes by telling them he will play the Barcarolle
from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffmann in
an adjoining room. However, he puts on a record of the same piece. The scoundrels
fail to notice that the music is a recording, rather than a live performance.
This allows the master detective to listen in on their clandestine conversation
and unravel the mystery.
Is Holmes a good musician? Here opinions are wide-ranging. While
Watson is occasionally annoyed by Holmes’s playing, in The Red-Headed League, Watson is rather complimentary. He says that
Holmes is . . . “an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a very
capable performer, but a composer of no ordinary merit.” Regardless, Holmes was
obviously a music lover . . . especially fond of opera and German music. This
is evidenced in the story The Adventure of the Red Circle wherein Holmes and
Watson enjoy a Wagner night at Covent Garden.
However, we may be missing the mark if we focus solely on
Holmes’s musical ability. It seems clear that Holmes uses his violin playing as
a “distancing method.” As many scientists, and creative individuals, will tell
you, when they encounter a problem whose solution is not immediately apparent, it’s
best to focus on something else in order to let your subconscious mind come
into play. This would seem to born out by that fact that, shortly after Holmes
plays his violin, we find him, once again, on his way to solving the mystery at
hand.
While I did not ask Holmes to play for us in any of the five
tales I wrote for Sherlock Holmes - The
Golden Years, I used his interest in music and the violin to draw him out of
a deep depression. In The Maestro of Mysteries, a violin virtuoso,
Fritz Kreisler, is brought to Watson’s apartment, where Holmes is staying.
Fritz Kreisler was a real person—a contemporary of Holmes and Watson. And, as I
attempt to make all my stories historically accurate, Fritz Kreisler had
recently played at Wilton’s Music Hall in London near the time my story is
dated. In my story, Kreisler plays Dvorak’s Humoreske, which (not coincidently) he played as an
encore at his performance at Wilton’s Music Hall.
In The Maestro
of Mysteries, Fritz tries to coax Holmes into joining him in Bach’s Concerto for Two Violins. But, Holmes
laughs and replies. “In the shadow of such genius it [my violin] would not dare
leave its dusty bin.” Kreisler replies: “Genius comes in many forms, Mr.
Holmes. It is incumbent upon us to exercise those gifts that we each possess.
You, my dear sir, are the maestro of mysteries.”
If you want to read The
Maestro of Mysteries, and the other four stories in the Sherlock Holmes- The Golden Years collection,
go TO AMAZON or other good on-line and on-street bookstores.