In the 93 years Antonio Stradivari lived between 1644 and 1737, he personally made or oversaw the creation of over 1000 violins, viola and violoncellos at his workshop in Cremona, Italy. An estimated 650 have survived into the modern era. So they’re old. And exceedingly rare. But their true value supposedly stems from their insurpassable sound quality and beauty.
There’s been no concrete consensus as to why exactly they sound so amazing, but researchers at Columbia and the University of Tennessee think it might be the result of climate change – and not the kind you’re thinking of. According to their research, the 17th century was a time of reduced solar activity. Meaning cooler summers, which led to slower tree growth – producing denser wood that eventually went into these violins. Other theories in this vein include a special anti-worm and fungus treatment, something in the varnish, even the use of ancient wood reclaimed from church walls. The Cambridge Companion to the Violin cites their unique, flattened shape, but ultimately it comes down to Stradivarius himself. According to Dr Jon Whiteley, a curator at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, Stradivari spent his entire life searching for the perfect shape. Judging from the price one of these things fetches nowadays, he probably got as close as anyone ever could have. Now all we need is for someone to scan it and make a fortune off of 3D printing.
[BBC]
Image from AP
Luke
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 1:43 PMI suppose that Stadivarius is equivilent to Fender guitars now days, they have a good reputation and surpurb build quality and are now highly desiarable objects.
Will
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 10:46 PMits interesting the comparison with modern guitars. i cant imagine in 400 years that a fender or gibson that is still playable will sound anywhere near as good as it does now…or more importantly its hard to imagine that itll sound exactly the same. because the electrics would have degraded too far and would probably needed replaceing
problem is of corse the pickups and the amps you play them on are going to change. cause god knows that amps deteriate quite fast. having an amp for 40 years would be considered quite a milestone nowadays. pickups probably last longer in general but even 200 years seems unlikely. the other thing is that the strat and the les paul and the sg and telecaster are all still in mass production so there are probably a couple of million of them…a far cry from 1000 in total.
Roast.G
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 2:16 PMCorrect me if I’m wrong, but hasn’t the reputation of the Stradivarius violins’ sound been largely debunked by tests in which listeners couldn’t tell the difference between the latter and a modern violin?
Murph
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 2:58 PMStradawhovius?
Simon
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 3:06 PMA Stradivarius will always sound amazing because only the vey best players in the world ever get a chance to play it. There is no doubt that they are incredibly well crafted instruments, But it you cant play, they will sound as bad as a $150 piece of plywood from China.
Steve
Wednesday, June 22, 2011 at 5:48 PM“But their true value supposedly stems from their insurpassable sound quality and beauty.”
‘Supposedly’ being the operative word. They debunked this urban legend decades ago. There is no distinguishing difference between these and any other well-made violin in a blind (deaf?) test. Indeed, many well-made contemporary violins were quoted as sounding superior.
A classic case of the emperor’s new clothes if I ever saw one.
ChemZ
Thursday, June 23, 2011 at 4:13 AMI seriously doubt it sounds better than other violins, it’s probably all about the rarity and the mindset of the person who brought it.
Of course if you paid $16 million for it, you would say it’s the best sounding violin in the world.
It’s pure bragging rights, nothing more. They got ripped off big time baby! =P