In Search of Dr Watson by Molly Carr

Author:Molly Carr
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Holmes, Watson
ISBN: 9781780920320
Publisher: Andrews UK Limited 2011
Published: 2011-11-22T00:00:00+00:00

Watson tells us in ‘The Red-Headed League’ (once again contradicting what Sherlock rather peevishly said to him in A Study in Scarlet about his brain attic) that Holmes was an enthusiastic musician and a very capable performer on the violin, as well as a composer of no ordinary merit. Unfortunately, he often exacerbated the Doctor’s nerves when in contemplative mood by laying his instrument across his knees and drawing forth very unmusical noises. This posture seems extremely awkward, leading one to think the violin strings were being plucked pizzicato. We get the impression from Watson that the sound produced was more melancholy than one would expect from this way of playing. But perhaps it was simply monotonous. We are soon back with the sort of music the listener liked to hear: “I might have rebelled against these exasperating solos had it not been that he usually terminated them by playing in quick succession a whole series of my favourite airs as a slight compensation for the trial upon my patience.” Watson later says of Holmes, “That he could play pieces, and difficult pieces, I knew well because at my request he has played me some of Mendelssohn’s Lieder and other favourites.”

“Sarasate plays at the St. James’s Hall this afternoon. What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare you for a few hours? I observe that there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is more to my taste than Italian or French. It is introspective, and I want to introspect.” They are “off to violin-land, where all is sweetness and delicacy, and harmony, and there are no red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums.” It may be that Watson, despite his fondness for Mendelssohn, would have preferred Italian or French music as more lively and more akin to military airs. But he goes willingly to St. James’s Hall and watches Holmes sitting beside him in the stalls “gently waving his long thin fingers in time to the music.” It’s devoutly to be hoped that this was done unobtrusively and caught only by Watson, since such an ostentatious action is still seen by most British concert goers as not quite the thing – almost as bad as clapping between the movements of a concerto or a symphony.

However, having seen how Holmes’ suggestion that the two friends attend Madame Norman Neruda’s concert seriously compromises the chronology of A Study in Scarlet, introducing Pablo Sarasate, another brilliant violinist, into the canon also presents a problem. Sarasate performed frequently in London, making his first appearance there in 1861. When he didn’t attract much attention until he returned in 1874. Three years later he played at the Crystal Palace, and was at the Birmingham Festival in 1885. Born in Pamplona in 1844, he trained at the Paris Conservatory, composed attractive music for his instrument and was the cause of others doing so.

Although his use of the violin was unusually individualistic, he was almost as popular as the even more successful German violinist, Joachim.

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