The Red Violin by François Girard is much easier to follow if you consider it as a jumping between stories instead of a following the violin. In the movie, a red violin of the same type is taken from its production in Cremona in 1681 to a Montréal auction in 1997, traversing the landscape of nations, owners, languages and political climates. The route map makes the jumps just one journey; it reveals the mindful manner in which the film stitches them together.
Route Map at a Glance: Where the Red Violin Goes
For Canadian Cinema, few films make geography work as tightly as The Red Violin. Each major stop gives the same instrument a new owner and purpose. The route is worth keeping beside you during a rewatch:
- Cremona, 1681: Nicolò Bussotti makes the violin.
- Vienna, 1793: child prodigy Kaspar Weiss trains with Georges Poussin.
- Oxford, 1893: virtuoso Frederick Pope takes possession of it.
- Shanghai: the violin passes into Chinese hands and later survives the Cultural Revolution.
- Montréal, 1997: expert Charles Morritz examines it before the Duval auction.
Schirmer Theatrical confirms the central route as Cremona, Vienna, Oxford, Shanghai and Montréal, while the Canadian Film Encyclopedia describes a story spread across five countries and three centuries.
Cremona, 1681: The Violin Is Made
The trip begins in the workshop of Nicolò Bussotti, a violin luthier from Cremona. While Nicolò is working on a new instrument he wants to pay homage to his soon-to-be-born child, his pregnant wife Anna asks her servant Cesca to read her future in the Tarot cards. That plan is never put into effect because Anna and the baby perish first. Then the violin is hand finished in a unique red wood finish by Nicolò.
Much later, the Montréal investigation reveals human blood in the varnish, linking the instrument directly to Anna. From Cremona, the violin eventually reaches an Austrian orphanage and begins its long passage between owners.
Austria and Vienna, 1793: Kaspar Weiss Becomes the Violin’s First Great Player
At the Austrian orphanage, the violin passes between children until it reaches Kaspar Weiss, a gifted young player with a weak heart. Teacher Georges Poussin recognises Kaspar’s ability and takes him, along with the violin, to Vienna in 1793.
Poussin prepares the boy for an important audition connected with Prince Mannsfeld, pushing him through demanding practice. Kaspar never completes the performance: he collapses and dies before playing. The violin is buried with him at the orphanage, but grave robbers later take it. Travelling with a Romani group, the instrument begins the next stage of its route towards England.
Oxford, 1893: Frederick Pope Turns the Violin Into a Concert Instrument
In England, the violin attracts Frederick Pope, a virtuoso who encounters it through travelling Romani musicians. Under Pope, it becomes a professional performance instrument rather than a teaching violin. His intense relationship with novelist Victoria Byrd also becomes tied to his music. When Victoria returns and finds Pope with another woman, she shoots the violin, damaging it.
This is an important physical marker in the instrument’s history: its journey now leaves visible scars. After Pope’s story ends, his Chinese manservant takes the violin by ship and sells it to a pawnbroker in Shanghai, moving the route from Europe into Asia.
Shanghai: The Violin Survives Political Upheaval
Shanghai changes the violin’s role again. Instead of being displayed and played freely, it becomes an object that must eventually be protected. By 1937, IMDb’s plot summary places it with a Chinese family. Later, during the Cultural Revolution, the film shows Western music facing political hostility.
Xiang Pei gives the instrument to music teacher Chou Yuan, who keeps musical instruments hidden in his home. After his death, authorities discover the collection. Rather than ending there, the violin makes one final international trip: the collection is sent to Montréal for appraisal and auction, bringing the Chinese story directly into the film’s Canadian frame.
Montréal, 1997: Charles Morritz Reconstructs the Violin’s Identity
In Montréal, New York-based appraiser Charles Morritz examines the instruments sent from China and begins to suspect that the reddish violin is Bussotti’s lost creation. Tests on its finish strengthen his case, while a close copy is brought from London for comparison. The discovery joins the 1997 investigation to events first shown in 1681.
Before the Duval auction, Morritz switches the original violin with the copy. The instrument presented for sale is bought for $2.4 million. Morritz then leaves for the airport and calls his daughter, telling her that he is bringing home a very special gift.
Summary
Follow the violin rather than the film’s flashbacks and the structure becomes clear: Cremona → Vienna → Oxford → Shanghai → Montréal. Each stop has its own purpose – creation, musical training, performance, survival and identification. The Montréal auction is therefore more than a final setting. It is where over 300 years of the instrument’s fictional history finally come together.