ANTONIO STRADIVARI, Master Luthier

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V I O L A






                                 There are thirteen known extant Stradivari Violas.






Tuscan-Medici 1690 Cosimo III de' Medici commissioned by Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany; currently on loan to the U.S. Library of Congress

Archinto 1696 Royal Academy of Music

Spanish Court 1696 Patrimonio Nacional, Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain [19] collectively known as del Cuarteto Real (The Royal Quartet) when included with the violin duo, los Decorados (Spanish I and II, 1687-1689), and the Spanish Court cello of 1694.

Kux; Castelbarco 1714 Royal Academy of Music converted from viol to viola by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume

The Russian 1715 Russian State Collection 

Cassavetti 1727 U.S. Library of Congress
 
Paganini-Mendelssohn 1731 Nippon Music Foundation this viola along with the Paganini-Desaint violin
of 1680, the Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue violin of 1727, and the Paganini-Ladenburg cello of
1736, comprise a group of instruments referred to as the Paganini Quartet; on loan to Kazuhide
Isomura of the Tokyo String Quartet

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C E L L I





Celli




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





Sobriquet Year Provenance Notes

ex-Du Pre; ex-Harrell 1673 Jacqueline du Pré

Lynn Harrell 

General Kyd; ex-Leo Stern 1684 Los Angeles Philharmonic the instrument was stolen in 2004 and later recovered.

Barjansky 1690 Julian Lloyd Webber
 
ex-Gendron; ex-Lord Speyer 1693 Kunststiftung NRW on loan to Maria Kliegel; previously loaned to Maurice Gendron (1958-1990)

Spanish Court 1694 Patrimonio Nacional, Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain [19] collectively known as del Cuarteto Real (The Royal Quartet) when included with the violin duo, los Decorados (Spanish I and II 1687-1689), and the Spanish Court viola of 1696.

Bonjour 1696 Abel Bonjour

Canada Council for the Arts on loan to Soo Bae

Lord Aylesford 1696 Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Danjulo Ishizaka; previously loaned to Janos Starker (1950-1965)

Castelbarco 1697   

Servais 1701 National Museum of American History on loan to Anner Bylsma;

Paganini-Countess of Stanlein 1707 Bernard Greenhouse 

Markevitch; Delphino 1709 Royal Academy of Music 

Gore Booth; Baron Rothschild 1710 Rocco Filippini 

Duport 1711 Mstislav Rostropovich (1974-2007)
 
Mara 1711 Heinrich Schiff 

Davidov 1712 Karl Davidov

Jacqueline du Pré on loan to Yo-Yo Ma.

Batta 1714 J. P. Thibout

Alexander Batta; W.E. Hill & Sons; Baron Johann Knoop; Gregor Piatigorsky
 
de Vaux 1717  on loan to Adam Klocek.

Becker 1719   

Piatti 1720 Carlos Prieto 

Cristiani 1720   

Baudiot 1725 Gregor Piatigorsky 

Chevillard 1725 Museu da Música (Lisbon) 

Marquis de Corberon; ex-Loeb 1726 Royal Academy of Music 

De Munck; ex-Feuermann 1730 Emmanuel Feuermann

Aldo Parisot

Nippon Music Foundation on loan to Steven Isserlis

Pawle 1730 Chi Mei Museum
 
Braga 1731  played by Myung-Wha Chung

Paganini-Ladenburg 1736 Nippon Music Foundation; this cello along with the Paganini-Desaint violin of 1686, the Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue violin of 1727, and the Paganini-Mendelssohn viola of 1731, comprise a group of instruments referred to as the Paganini Quartet; on loan to Clive Greensmith of the Tokyo String Quartet 

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G U I T A R S






There are two complete extant guitars by Stradivari, and a few fragments of others, including the
neck of a third guitar which is owned by the Conservatoire de Musique in Paris.

These guitars have ten (doubled) strings, which was typical of the era.






Hill 1688 Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University


 

Rawlins 1700 National Music Museum South Dakota

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H A R P





The only Stradivarius harp to survive today is the arpetta (little harp), owned by

San Pietro a Maiella Music Conservatory in Naples, Italy.

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M A N D O L I N S



                                  There are two known extant Stradivari mandolins.








The Cutler-Challen Choral Mandolino of 1680, is currently in the collection of the National Music
Museum at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota.

The other, dated ca. 1706, is owned by private collector Charles Beare of London.

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The violin came into existence in around 1550 as the successor to the viol, a mediaeval string instrument.

The idea behind the violin was to imitate the high female singing voice, with all its musical possibilities – ‘singing’ long, romantic melodies, whether loud and strong or soft as a whisper... And the instrument even has a feminine shape, with its nice rounded shoulders, its waist and hips, neck and head.

Playing the violin is a real experience. When you play an instrument like this it is actually like a relationship with someone you really love.



In my life I’ve played a number of beautiful violins, but my present instrument is the best of all!

It was built in 1667 by Antonio Stradivarius, undoubtedly the best and most famous violin builder of all times. He built this violin when he was 23 years old, in the year when he married. He must have been very much in love at that time, and sometimes I imagine that his betrothed was a very beautiful girl and that he built this violin especially for her. He may even have built it to celebrate her qualities, who knows?

The sound of the instrument is so romantic, loving and warm!












http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKRZ-eJeiPQ&feature=related

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                        San Zaccaria Altarpiece
                         Venice

                         Giovanni Bellini,
                         1505

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The most famous violin makers (luthiers) between the late 16th century and the 18th century included:







Amati family of Italian violin makers:



Andrea Amati (1500-1577),

Antonio Amati (1540-1607),

Hieronymus Amati I (1561-1630),

Nicolo Amati (1596-1684),

Hieronymus Amati II (1649-1740)





Guarneri family of Italian violin makers:



Andrea Guarneri (1626-1698),

Pietro of Mantua (1655-1720),

Giuseppe Guarneri (Joseph filius Andreae) (1666-1739),

Pietro Guarneri (of Venice) (1695-1762), and

Giuseppe (del Gesu) (1698-1744)





Stradivari Family (1644-1737) of Cremona





Gagliano family of Italian violin makers:



Alexander,

Nicolo I and

Ferdinand are outstanding of these





Giovanni Battista Guadagnini of Piacenza (1711-1786)





Jacob Stainer (1617-1683) of Absam in Tyrol

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Messiah Stradivarius

Stradivarius.CigarHub.com
 
 

The Messiah-Salabue Stradivarius of 1716 is a violin made by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona.

The Messiah, sobriquet Le Messie, remained in the Stradivarius workshop until his death in 1737.

It was then sold by his son Paolo to Count Cozio di Salabue in 1775, and for a time, the violin bore
the name Salabue.

The instrument was then purchased by Luigi Tarisio in 1827, and later by French luthier Jean Baptiste Vuillaume
of Paris purchased the Messiah along with Tarisio's entire collection upon Tarisio’s death in 1854. Vuillaume's son-
in-law named it Le Messie because, he said,


"[this] violin is like the Messiah of the Jews,

because one always waits for him but he never appears."



The Messiah eventually was bequeathed to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England.

As a condition in the will of the former owner, the Museum can never allow the violin to be played.

Today, the violin remains unplayed and is almost in its original state as when it was made in 1716.

Because of this, it one of the most valuable of all the Stradivari instruments.

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                                                            The "Messiah"



                                                            Stradivari Violin






Antonio Stradivari, the great master luthier, died in 1737 at the age of 94. His sons, Francesco and Omobono continued his workshop.

Between the years 1774 and 1776 the great violin collector Count Cozio di Salabue bought many violins made by Francesco Stradivari, as well as many of Antonio's violins that were still available in the Stradivari workshop, from Antonio's youngest son, Paolo, who was a cloth dealer. One of these violins, purportedly made by Antonio Stradivari in 1716, later became known as the "Messiah" or "Messie."

In 1827 the traveling Italian violin dealer, Luigi Tarisio, acquired the violin. Tarisio constantly boasted to his acquaintances of the beautiful violin he had discovered, but he never brought it forth to show anyone. The French violinist Delphin Alard (son-in-law of the famous French luthier, Vuillaume) exclaimed, "Your violin is like the Messiah...One always waits for him, but he never appears!"

When Tarisio died in 1855, Vuillaume, the great Parisian luthier and dealer, realizing that Tarisio had a large stock of valuable Italian violins laid away somewhere in Italy, traveled to a farm near Milan, belonging to Tarisio, where he found and purchased over 140 instruments, including the fabled "Messiah," which apparently had never been used. Even though it was already nearly 150 years old, it looked as new as if it had just come from Stradivari's hands.

Vuillaume opened the violin and changed the bass-bar and modernized the neck angle. He displayed it in a glass case in his home, and made several very fine copies. It was his delight to challenge visitors to tell which violin was his, and which was Stradivari's. In 1872 he exhibited it at the Exhibition of Ancient Musical Instruments in London. Vuillaume died in 1875, but the "Messiah" remained in the possession of his family, until it was purchased by Alard, his son-in-law.

The Hill family, a famous family of luthiers and collectors in England, bought the "Messiah" from Alard in 1890. The price was a record £2000, and they purchased the violin on behalf of a wealthy collector from Edinburgh. The Hills opened the violin, and changed the bass-bar again. They wrote about the "Messiah" in their famous work on the life of Antonio Stradivari, and also wrote a monograph just about the "Messiah." They repurchased the violin in 1904, sold it again in 1913, and repurchased it again in 1928. (Since then, the value of the instrument has been estimated to be £10,000,000 by the well-known dealer, Charles Beare.)

In 1940 the Hill family donated the legendary violin to the British Nation, in order to see it permanently preserved in pristine condition. It is housed at the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, in the Hill Room. Access to the instrument is strictly limited.

Click here to see audio/video movies about the "Messiah" violin.

A debate is presently raging amongst experts as to whether or not the violin was actually made by Antonio Stradivari, as some scientific authorities have dated the wood of the instrument as coming from the year following the death of the master luthier. See this article for more information on dating problems. And this article, too. And a third article.



http://www.cello.org/heaven/hill/messiah/messiah.htm

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                                          Secrets of Stradivari cracked



                             Anti- worm chemicals 'gave violins their unique sound'






 (ANSA)
- Rome,
January 23, 2009

- Researchers from the United States claim to have cracked the riddle of why Italian-made Stradivari and Guarneri violins have a distinctive sound.

Joseph Nagyvary, a biochemist at Texas A&M University, believes that wood-preserving chemicals are responsible for the 18th-century instruments' unique sound - explaining why subsequent generations of violin-makers have never been able to recreate the famous violins from natural wood.

The violin-makers would have used the potion to protect the wood from being eaten by worms, but it had a ''collateral effect'', according to Nagyvary.

''It influenced the mechanical and acoustic properties of the wood, conferring on the instruments a sound without equal,'' he said.

Nagyvary's team published the theory in Nature three years ago after a preliminary analysis of slivers of wood obtained from restorers working on the instruments.

But in new research published in the journal Public Library of Science, the team has succeeded in identifying the special chemical cocktail used on the instruments by burning the wood slivers and analysing the ashes.

Borax, fluorides, chromium and iron salts form the base of the wood-preserving mixture.

''Borax has a long history as a conserver - the ancient Egyptians used it for mummification,'' said Nagyvary, who has been working on his theory for over 30 years since learning to play the violin on an instrument once belonging to Albert Einstein.

The researchers believe the discovery could lead to changes in the practice of modern violinmakers.

Some 600 of the 1,000 violins thought to have been crafted by Antonio Stradivari still exist, each valued at around five million dollars.

Around 140 violins survive by Stradivari's rival, Bartolomeo Guarneri (del Gesu'), and are valued at the same amount.