Gasparo da Salo Model Violin, Markneukirchen and/or Schönbach (Luby), ca. 1880-1900 NMM 6019. Violin, Markneukirchen and/or Schönbach (Luby), ca. 1880-1900. Small, printed paper label with single-line border: GERMANY. Brand back, below button: CASPAR / DA / SALO. Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce with medium grain, broadening toward the flanks. Gift of Elenor Clements Fetherhuff, Aberdeen, South Dakota, 1996, in memory of Raphael John Clements. The former owner of this violin, Raphael John Clements (1909-1977), was born into a musical family. Both his father and one sister were outstanding violinists. Clem, as he was known, became a proficient drummer, as well as a serious student of the violin, viola, and 'cello. He received this late nineteenth-century German violin as a gift in 1918, when he was just nine years old. According to his family, it was given to him when he demonstrated the ability to play the tune, "Pop Goes the Weasel." Beginning in his teen years, Clem played in local dance bands, eventually organizing his own ensemble, "Greg's Nomads." Clearly, music was his beloved avocation. Clem's career, however, was in the electrical field where, as a member of the International Association of Electrical Inspectors, he inspected military planes at both Elsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, South Dakota, and Offit Air Force Base in Omaha. Prior to his death, he was an Electrical Inspector for the State of South Dakota. National Music Museum The University of South Dakota 414 East Clark Street Vermillion, SD   57069 Hecla Orchestra photo from the National Music Museum Archives. ©National Music Museum, 2002-2004 Most recent update:   October 24, 2007 You are the 7,824th visitor to this page since August 11, 2003. Between September 11, 2002-August 11, 2003, this page received 1,178 hits. The University of South Dakota Return to Top of Page