Carlos III could not imagine that year of 1772, in which he acquired for his son, the Prince of Asturias and future Charles IV, that more than 250 years later, in a Royal Theater that had not yet been dreamed of, a hall would bear his name, and that a charity concert would be promoted this Wednesday with those instruments that will be made on the same day of his birth – January 20 – to help those affected by the tragic damage at the end of 2024. Nor did María José Suárez, curator of these instruments and Valencian born in the Utiel-Réquena area, that, two years after she took on the task of preserving these National Heritage jewels, these would serve to raise funds to help musical groups in her homeland recover from the disaster. On January 20, at seven thirty in the afternoon, all these impossible events will coincide for a unique concert to be held at the , where the musicians of the Casals Quartet will bring these internationally famous instruments back to life. The stradivarius that will be played then, the call – two violins, a viola and a cello – have not left the Royal Palace for 27 years.
On the morning of January 20, Suárez will take out the stradivarius of their display cases, he will check the strings and check the locks of the cases in which these instruments are transported the few times they leave their lair. Then, he will jealously watch as armed police officers load them into an armored car and will not leave them for a second during the 400 meters that separate the Palace from the Royal Theater in the Plaza de Oriente.
“I’m certainly not going to separate myself from them,” explains the conservative. “When they get to the theater, I will be the one to open the boxes so that [los músicos] “They catch them.” The two violins, the viola and the cello that make up this quartet, also known as the Royal Quartet, exquisitely decorated by its creator, the luthier Antonio Stradivari, have not left the Royal Palace since 1997. The conservation of these instruments continues and is one of the few ensembles that are preserved almost entirely as Stradivari conceived them, since in the 19th century one of the cellos that made up the then quintet was lost without a trace. Although they are exhibited to the public within the Royal Palace itself, and are taken out of their display cases about four times a year to offer small concerts there, hearing them specially chosen, molded and varnished by the luthier is a rarity.
“Los stradivarius “They are extraordinary instruments that we had to put at the service of an extraordinary cause,” says Ana de la Cueva, president of National Heritage, in a press conference held this Wednesday at the theater. Music, again, saves. “It has an exceptional quality that none of the other arts has, and that is the ability to communicate with people, the ability it has for resilience and to connect with emotions,” highlights Suárez, who listens to everything that will happen next. 20 sitting in the middle of the auditorium of the Carlos III room, like a mother who wants to know what is being said about her children.
All the money raised will go to the Federation of Musical Societies of the Valencian Community to help in the recovery of the facilities and instruments of the bands of the towns affected by dana and also to musical associations of Albacete. So far, according to Ignacio García-Belenguer, general director of the Teatro Real, 40,000 euros have been raised, which “is already a relevant amount,” but the goal is to reach more. To this end, the institution has also enabled a line 0, through which donations can be made. Everything, with the claim of the stradivarius who, for the first time this century, will leave the Royal Palace.
And why move them? The concerts that are held periodically in the columned room of the Royal Palace to maintain the proper functioning of the stradivarius They bring together about 300 people, who sell out tickets as soon as they go on sale, but that number of spectators was judged insufficient to gather . The more than 1,700 seats at the Teatro Real are a much more ambitious goal. “We had to do something for the dana with the best we have, and that is the Palatino Quartet,” emphasizes De la Cueva.
The four instruments are designed not only for the Spanish Royal House specifically, but also to be played together. “The combination of playing the four creates an absolutely unique resonance, an absolutely perfect combination,” says Vera Martínez, one of the violinists of the Casals Quartet, through a video call at the press conference.
Bach’s music has been chosen to give meaning to this concert. “The art of escape It is an immensely beautiful architectural cathedral, long and difficult to listen to, it is a very spiritual work for us,” says Martínez to describe the selected work. He talks about the curiosities of the composition, the last one created by Johan Sebastian Bach before he died, about the fugues that make it up, and hums a chord in D major across the screen, with which the fugues will close. They will end with the choral prelude BWV 668 which, Martínez reveals, “is like the entrance to heaven.”
Los stradivarius They have not yet been taken out of the display cases for rehearsals. Suárez explains that, shortly, together with the Cuarteto Casals, they will determine the times in which they will be done. Beforehand, a luthier will check the instruments, clean them and adjust the strings. During the rehearsals, which will be held behind closed doors in the so-called daily dining room of the Royal Palace, the conservator will monitor the musicians’ every movement. On the night of January 20, when the charity concert for Dana ends, Suárez and the luthier will do the reverse process. They will check them, clean them and loosen the strings a little, to put them back in their display case, waiting for another unique event, perhaps less sad, to wake them from their lethargy.
