Strad /June 1995
Clockwise from top:family workmanship on display, Carl F. Becker with his children Marilyn(back left), Jennifer and Paul; the Vermeer Quartet during the concert; the AFVBM presents it eitation to Carl Becker
Dennis Rooney joined the Becker clan
for a birthday celebration concert in Chicago
For those familiar with the brilliant red-orange finish of instruments made by the Becker family of Chicago (whose activities were chronicled in the November 1992 STRAD), it was a sight to behold: the stage of Northwestern University’s Pick-Staiger Concert Hall comfortably filled by a string orchestra of 60 players comprised—except for the basses – entirely of Becker instruments and their owners. (Even three of the basses were made by a relation of the Becker family, Paul Toenniges). They had arrived from throughout the nation to celebrate the 75th birthday of the Becker clan’s current patriarch, Carl F. Becker.
The weekend of 15 January was an eventful one for the Becker family. The previous evening, they celebrated the 100th birthday of Elsa R. Becker, the widow of Carl G. Becker (1887-1975, the founding maker of the dynasty) as well as the 66th birthday of Geraldine M. (Mrs Carl F.) Becker, the mother of Paul C. Becker and Jennifer Becker Jurewicz, who continue the Becker tradition in Chicago and Minneapolis respectively, and their sister, Marilyn, who began planning these celebrations two years ago.
On Sunday afternoon we took our seats to discover that we were surrounded by family members, whereupon we observed that Beckers tend to be tall and also to share a strong facial resemblance that was distributed among the different generations, who ranged from toddlers to at least one septuagenarian.
All 1,100 seats in the room were filled when conductor Kulman Novak made his way to the podium to begin the concert with the Waltz from Tchaikovsky’s Serenade in C major op.48. this was followed by ‘Winter’ from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons in which Jacques Ismellevitch, leader of the Toronto Symphony was the violin soloist.
The Vermeer Quartet, all playing Becker instruments, performed Dovorak’s ‘American’ op.96. in the second half of the programme cellist Wendy Warner, a Chicago native and a Becker owner, was heard first in Bruch’s Kol Nudrei with pianist Ruth Becker Helm. Carl F. Becker’s sister, and then with the orchestra in the second and third movements of Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C major. The pro-gramme concluded with Dvorak’s Serenade op.22.
Following the concert, Carl F. Becker appeared onstage. Audience and players joined in singing ‘Happy Birthday’, after which he received a commemorative plaque from the owner-players assembled onstage and a citation from the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers.
In his remarks to the audience and players, Carl F. recalled that his father, a cellist, had often played the Dovrak op.96 Quartet. Hearing his sister, Ruth, perform Kol Nidrei with Wendy Warner reminded him of how often Ruth and their father had played the same work together. In nothing his mother’s centenary (she received a birthday cake at her seat), he spoke of the cello that Marc Johnson played in the Vermeer’s performance. His father had made it as an engagement gift for his fiancée two years before their marriage in later years he liked to tell people: ‘I had to marry the girl to get the cello back.’
The sound produced by the Becker instruments was deeply affecting, not only on account of the sentiments of the occasion. The ensemble produced a richly warm and luminous sound, befitting such a memorable event.