Art, This is truly a fascinating story about a man whose family has a direct connection to our lute music. Many thanks!
ed At 08:51 PM 9/25/2008 -0400, Arthur Ness wrote: >I'm always somewhat amused by the travails of Bill Lobkowitz, a Boston >real estate agent, and a third-generation American whose family fled the >Communists, settling penniless in a small town south of Boston. He's a >genuine preppy (Milton Academy, Harvard College). I've seen earlier >pictures of him, and he looked >like a college quarterback with tweed sports coat, white shirt and tie, >and khaki trousers, carefully starched and pressed.. > >One day about 15 years ago, he woke up in his tiny apartment on Beacon >Hill, and discovered that as the >current Prince Lobkowitz he had become the owner of hundreds of >master paintings (Canalettos, Velasquez, Veronese, at least >two Brueghels), several lutes, incl. two Malers, a winery, a brewery, >enough old weapons to start an army, >and half a dozen deteriorating castles in Bohemia, including the famous >family seat at Roudnice with 250 rooms. (Click through the pictures. The >lute and weapons are at the end of the slide show.) > >http://www.bostonmagazine.com/articles/the_prince_is_a_pauper/ > >Lobkowicz is famous name to us, because one of his forbearers Philippe >de Lobkowicz was responsible for gathering together the some two dozen >baroque lute and guitar manuscripts with hundreds of pieces by St. Luc >(Philippe's teacher?), Charles Mouton (autograph), Gallot (purchased at >Gallot's house in Paris), >Gautier et al. The Communist authorities confiscated everything and the >Lobkowitz music >collection was deposited for many years in the University Library in >Prague. After the Velvet Revolution, all were returned to the current >Prince Lobkowicz "of Boston."<g> They, and the other 65,000 volumes in the >family's rare-book >library, are now stored in a special warehouse (iirc) near Prague. > >I guess he probably now owns the largest private library of original >17th-century lute and music. And a real mess in repairing those crumbling >castles. He could probably come up with the funds by selling one of his >Canalettos or Brueghels, each of which would fetch millions. But it's >against Czech law to sell art work outside of the Republic. So he's >activated the brewery and winery, and has started a museum. And shows up >at Starbucks openings in Prague to make business connections.<g> > >His responsibilities must be enormous. >And quite a burden. I wonder if he knows how famous are those books of >lute and guitar music. Didn't someone on this list use pieces from them >at a wedding recently? >=====AJN (Boston, Mass.)===== > > > > >To get on or off this list see list information at >http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html >No virus found in this incoming message. >Checked by AVG - http://www.avg.com >Version: 8.0.169 / Virus Database: 270.7.2/1690 - Release Date: 9/25/2008 >7:05 AM Edward Martin 2817 East 2nd Street Duluth, Minnesota 55812 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] voice: (218) 728-1202
