Some years ago, I attended a performance of Brahms’s violin concerto with a friend. Reading the program description beforehand, I voiced that the lead violinist was playing a “del Gesù.” My friend, having no idea what that was, continued to eat his sandwich unimpressed, until I explained the instrument was worth millions of dollars.
Labeling something with cash value signals its perceived importance and commands respect. But it does little to clarify the underlying reason and may even suggest the symptom of a passing fad. How did a set of strings mounted on a little wooden box come to have such significance?
