In 208 pages he told how the Guild of Funerary Violinists – motto Nullus Funus Sine Fidula (No Funeral Without A Fiddle) - had been established in 1580, received a Royal warrant from Queen Elizabeth 1, flourished under practitioners like George Babcotte and Herr Hieronymous Gratchenfleiss, and was almost wiped out by the "great funerary purges of the 1830’s and 40s."
Such was the fervour of the art, he said, that violinists duelled with each other at funerals to see who could wring the most tears from mourners...
... Except, as has now been discovered, there is, nor never was, any such thing as a funerary violin, nor a guild, nor a Royal warrant, nor a history, let alone an incomplete one.
But there must be - there's a picture of someone playing one on his website (OK, so it doesn't come out for some reason, but the website's http://www.rohan-k.co.uk)
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/news/news.html?in_article_id=408588&in_page_id=1770
This post was last edited by Cathf, 05 Oct 2006, 13:29