Montville cellist helps unearth identity of priceless ‘missing’ cello

RIGHT: Sam Lucas had the honour of playing the cello for Corrie.

By Richard Bruinsma

A 300-year-old Nicolo Gagliano cello, which went missing following the murder of its Jewish owner during World War II, has finally been recovered, with Montville-born cellist Sam Lucas playing an instrumental role in its rediscovery.

The cello, crafted in 1720, was originally owned by Pal Hermann, a talented Jewish soloist who performed internationally before being arrested and murdered by the Nazis in 1944. In an act of defiance and survival, Hermann’s family rescued the cello from the Nazis. However, after being sold in 1952 to a German cellist, the instrument’s journey went cold in the 1960s, with its whereabouts remaining a mystery for decades.

For the past four years, London-based cellist and author Dr Kate Kennedy, along with her colleague Robert Brewer Young, had been researching and searching for the missing instrument. Despite calls for clues from the global classical music community, their search yielded little results.

Sam Lucas and circa 1720 Nicolo Gagliano cello at Lucas Parklands. Photo: Richard Bruinsma.

Meanwhile, Sam Lucas, a rising star in the world of classical music, had unknowingly been playing the missing cello, on loan to him from the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Dusseldorf. “I was always intrigued. Not only is it a rare instrument, but it has incredible sound,” Sam said in early 2022. The cello accompanied him to various performances worldwide, including a stop in his hometown of Montville in February 2022, where its distinctive markings caught the attention of music lovers at a local concert.

The cello was once believed to have been crafted for the Italian Royal Family, and its engravings and tone had intrigued experts for years. Among its distinct markings is a Latin inscription reading, “Ego Sum Anima Musical,” or “I am the soul of music.”

Lucas’s performance at the prestigious Queen Elisabeth International Cello Competition in 2022 in Brussels, where he was the only cellist from the Southern Hemisphere, proved pivotal in the discovery. Renowned Chinese cellist Jian Wang, a judge at the competition, recognised the cello’s unique features after reading Dr Kennedy’s recently published book about missing cellos. Wang contacted British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber, who in turn put Wang in touch with Dr Kennedy.

Wang’s memory of Lucas’s performance and the descriptions in the book helped finally solve the mystery. “Wang had been on the jury when Sam performed in the Queen Elisabeth Cello Competition in 2022,” Dr Kennedy wrote in an email. “He recognised the cello from my description, and from photographs in the book.”

For Sam, the realisation of the cello’s historic significance was overwhelming. “There is a lot of history behind this particular cello, and I’m honoured to have… experienced some wonderful performances playing this cello,” he said.

Story comes full circle

The story came full circle on September 29 when Sam played the cello during a special concert at Wigmore Hall in London. The event  celebrated the launch of Dr Kennedy’s book, Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound, which dedicates chapters to the history of the Gagliano cello.

Adding a poignant note to the performance, Pal Hermann’s daughter, 93-year-old Corrie Hermann, attended the concert. She has not heard the cello for eight decades, and its reappearance came as a surprise to her. Corrie Hermann, 93, made the trip from her home in Holland to be present at a concert to held at Wigmore Hall in London, to launch the book, on September 29.

Sam Lucas had the honour of playing the cello for Corrie, fulfilling her dream to hear her father’s cello again, for the first time in an estimated 85 years.

“It’s beautiful,” Corrie told a local radio audience.  “I’m really thrilled to hear this because, well, it is more than I could have expected. Thank you so much.”

Sam is honoured to have played a special role. 

“It has been her wish to see and hear the cello played again,” he said. “For Corrie to see and hear the cello unexpectedly was an emotional situation for everyone... I am extremely grateful and honored to be the cellist to reunite her to the cello and to the sound she grew up with.”