The Birmingham age-herald., 1910-03-13
5 UD|O GLIMPSE
 IF 4 MUSICIAN
 OF BIRMINGHAM
By MYRTLE MILES

It Is gratifying to music lovers to note the strides Birmingham has made lp the last few years in musical way. The standard has kept apace with improve ments industrially and topographicslly, 90 that the number who have reached a position entitling them to the admira1on of the critical is now quite imposing. MT Clarence Klenk commented recently on the number of excellent pianists here. .~There are few cities of Birmingham's $ importance, he said. which have so many real masters of the instrument . This is unquestionably true, as one will And when attempting to name them Of those however, whose talent has the re- spect of our little musical coteries none fs more deserving Of Birminghams pride in matters artistic that MT. Klenk, whose modesty has perhaps kept him from being more widely known. Among other musi- clans, however-and theirs is the opinion that counts-Mr Klenk. yiolinist, is re- Sarded as an artist of the first rank. His knowledge of the little king of instru ments is both musical and mechanical, for not only does his playing touch the 
 eight Violins last year
 A treasure was bequeathed recently to . small Birmingham boy whose parents are trying to make him a musician. His baby hands were eoaxed a year ago to begin the handling of bow and the treasure which he inherited and which is expected 10 stimulate his interest in nut Sic Is his gTandfsthers violin. Old and battered with scars of frequent handling
 
 ceiVe the attention of some one who un- terstands before the little boy may use f His parents were discussing their plans to send 1t to New York when a woman versed in musical affairs ex- claimed:
 Send it to New York, Why do that when we have one of the best judges of q violin in the whole country right here in Birmingham. Klenk is an expert. He can give you all the information you want: tell you who made it and how and why. ] suppose. and then take it all to pieces and make it over again if you want him to-
 Passing Mir. Klenk's studio in the Watts building few days later. l found him. violin in hand awaiting pupil but ready Co talk Of his work. He loves his violins with the tenderness that one expects of . master His private collection is splen- did. and there were some in his studio with him; others are left at home Among his treasures is a Rogeri of 1890. deli estely beautiful thing from which he evolkes the rarest melodies. Another, Montagnano, is, I believe, his favorite. It has given out it's tone poems for almost two centuries, growing sweeter and more . capable of divine expression with every passing year When under MT. Klenk' touch the strings sing like sirens one fancies that the souls of all its forgot ten owners are imprisoned in it's frail walls and are telling their stories of the sadness and the splendor of the years.
 Another is a production of Carlo To- noni which came into being in 174o; there is a Januarius Gagliano of 1742 and Jo- seph Guarnerius of earlier date One made by Johann George Lob in Persburg, Vienna. 1Te3 is also a valuable instru- ment, and one by Klotz in Mittenwald be- tween 1733 and 1865 is another.
 He also has a number of cellos in his collection. One that he values very high ly was formerly the property of a Geor- sia woman whose father treasured 1t for many years. When I mentioned it to MT. Klenk he said feelingiy:
 T don't know how she could part with It. It had been her fathers. and I knew when l looked at it's case, which he s.ad made vertable nest, that he loved 1t, and even the nest has grown old. Why, l think have bought 1t for the case alone which makes one strongly suspect