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Stradivarius

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For the Stradivarius brand of brass instruments, see Vincent Bach Corporation.
One of the violins in the Stradivarius collection of the Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain
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One of the violins in the Stradivarius collection of the Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain

A Stradivarius (or "Strad") is a stringed instrument built by members of the Stradivari family, especially by Antonio Stradivari.

The playable instruments are highly prized by world-class musicians and others who can afford them. Their individual qualities are considered worth distinguishing, and a Strad is often identified by the name of someone (often a famous musician) who formerly owned it or regularly performed on it.

Contents

Instrument quality

A Stradivarius made in the 1680s or during Stradivari's Brescian period (1690-1700) could be worth several hundred thousand dollars or more at today's prices in auction. If it was made during Stradivari's "golden period" (1700 to 1720), depending on condition, the instrument can be worth several million. They rarely come up for sale and the highest price paid for a Stradivarius (or any musical instrument) at public auction was 'The Christian Hammer', made in 1707, which sold for US $3,544,000 on May 16, 2006. Private sales of Stradivari instruments have exceeded this price. The world's only complete set of Stradivarius instruments (string quintet) belongs to the Spanish Government and consists of two violins, two cellos, and a viola. They are exhibited in the Music Museum at the Royal Palace (Palacio Real) of Madrid. Another important collection is the collection of the Royal Academy of Music (York Gate Collections) in London.

Many people find violins labeled or branded as "Stradivarius," and believe them to be genuine. It is believed that there are fewer than 700 genuine Strads left in existence, very few of which are unaccounted for.

The fame of Stradivarius Violins is not a modern phenomenon; the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is supposed to have owned one. Another famous story is about a Stradivarius Cello, known as the "Duport" which has the spur marks of Emperor Napoleon, who scratched the cello when he tried to play it. They also played an important role in the James Bond film The Living Daylights.

The reputation of the Stradivarius is such that its name is frequently invoked as a standard of excellence in other unrelated fields (such as ships and cars); for example, the Bath Iron Works' unofficial motto is "A Bath boat is the Stradivarius of destroyers!".

Theories and reproduction attempts

These instruments are famous for the quality of their sound. There have been many failed attempts to explain and reproduce the sound quality, including these:-
*Modern research tools have not solved the mystery, but devices such as the [scanning laser vibrometer] are aiding researchers in testing the theory that the careful shaping of belly and back plate, in order to "tune" their resonant frequencies, may be an important factor.
  • It was reported in late March 2001 that Joseph Nagyvary, a biochemist at Texas A&M University, succeeded in making a violin somewhere near the quality of a Stradivarius using these two processes:-
    • *Leave the wood in sea water for a while. Due to lack of land space in Venice, in former times imported wood was often stored in water in the Venice Lagoon, where a type of rotting affected it slightly. He managed to get hold of some wood shavings from a Stradivarius violin, and under a microscope he found that in that wood the natural filter plates in the pores between the tracheids had disappeared.
    *Treat the wood with borax.
    See [this news link].

    Named Strads and their Namesakes

    Violins

    Violas

    There are 13 extant Antonio Stradivari violas. [link]

    Owned by Baird Family of New York. On loan to Washington Philharmonic in order to keep it 'in shape'.

    Cellos

    Antonio Stradivari built between 70 and 80 cellos in his lifetime [link], 63 of which are extant. [link]

    Harp

    Antonio Stradivari made a single harp during his lifetime. [link]

    Mandolins

    There are two known surviving mandolins by Stradivari.

    Notes

    References

    External links

     

    From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
    All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.

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