Fiddler's Monument (2002)

Author: Mauro Álvarez Fernández (Oviedo, 1945).
Promoter/financing: Tudela City Council.
Inauguration: November 22nd, 2002.
Location: place Mercadal.

On November 22, 2002, coinciding with the feast of St. Cecilia, patron saint of music, Tudela inaugurated the Monument to the Violinist in place Mercadal, in front of the Castel Ruiz cultural center. The choice of date and location was not accidental: the aim was to celebrate the universal value of music and, at the same time, to link the monument to Castel Ruiz, home of the Fernando Remacha School of Music and other cultural initiatives in the city. With this, the City Council wanted to underline the importance of music in the cultural heritage of Tudela.

The sculptural group was created by Mauro Álvarez Fernández, one of the most outstanding figurative sculptors of the 20th century in our country. Trained at the School of Arts and Crafts of Oviedo, he has developed a realistic style full of craftsmanship. He works with various materials, especially bronze, with a great mastery of technique, where he manages to combine academic rigor with a romantic expressiveness in gestures and forms. His works, both portraits and figurative scenes, show a deep knowledge of Anatomy and movement, managing to convey naturalness and emotion in each composition.

The set, made of lost wax bronze casting, is 1.20 meters wide, 1.70 meters deep and 1.70 meters high, weighing over 1,300 kg. and stands on a 1.10 meters high concrete pedestal. It represents the figure of a violinist who, seated on a bench, plays his instrument before the attentive gaze of some children who listen to the melody with a laughing face. The interpretation is totally figurative, naturalistic and balanced; the violinist presents an attitude of full harmony and concentration in the execution of his music where even the little ones, interrupting their games with the ball, have decided to pay attention to him and participate in the musical intimacy in which the artist is immersed. The detailed realism with which Mauro Alvarez represents the violinist's posture, the concentrated expression of his face and the expectant gestures of the children, evidences both his technical mastery and his ability to capture emotions. He recreates in the multitude of details that make up the dressing of a professional symphony orchestra musician on opening day; what is more, he is dressed with the elegance of a concertmaster, to which is added the perfect knowledge of the position of the musician when he is performing the musical piece and the balance of the body, resources through which the Asturian sculptor imbues a romantic air to the whole composition that sample not static but dynamic, with the violin in full execution and the attentive gaze of the little ones. All this invites the viewer to participate in this sensitive experience.