The Red Violin - Inspiration

Inspiration

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The film was inspired by one of Antonio Stradivari's violins, the Red Mendelssohn (1721), which is currently played by Elizabeth Pitcairn, heiress to the PPG fortune, whose grandfather purchased it for her 16th birthday for $1.7 million at auction at Christie's London. She is one of the few soloists who performs the Red Violin Chaconne composed for the film by John Corigliano. The notion that the violin is red because it is painted with the blood of the maker's wife, who died during childbirth, is a creation of the filmmaker. It is called "The Red Mendelssohn" because of a unique red stripe on its top right side, but how the stripe came about is unknown.

The film's poster was inspired by Man Ray's picture, the Violon d'Ingres.

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