Music Sound

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 1 Instrument quality 2 Named Strads and their Namesakes 2.1 Violins 2.2 Violas 2.3 Cellos 2.4 Harp 2.5 Mandolins 3 References 4 External links

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 Lady Tennant', made in 1699 which sold for US $2,032,000 in 2005. 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.

These instruments are famous for the quality of their sound. There have been many failed attempts to explain and reproduce the sound quality. One theory stated that Stradivari used wood from an old cathedral to build his instruments, but tree-ring dating has shown this to be false. Another theory is that the density of the wood grown during the little ice age and used to build the instruments is responsible, and yet another theory states that the glue Stradivari used had a great effect on the sound. Modern research tools haven't 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.

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!".

Named Strads and their Namesakes

Violins

Aranyi 1667
ex Captain Saville 1667 - currently played by Andre Rieu
Amatese 1668
Oistrakh 1671 - David Oistrakh. Stolen in 1996, it is still missing. [1]
Spanish 1677
Paganini-Desaint (Paganini Quartet) 1680 - currently owned by the Nippon Music Foundation, on extended loan to Kikuei Ikeda of the Tokyo String Quartet
Fleming 1681 - currently owned by the Stradivari Society, on extended loan to Cecily Ward [2]
Bucher 1683
Cipriani Potter 1683
Cobbett ex Holloway 1683
ex Arma Senkrah 1685
ex Castelbarco 1685
"Mercur-Avery" 1687 - currently played by Jonathan Carney, concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra starting 2002.
Auer 1689 - currently owned by the Stradivari Society, on extended loan to Vadim Gluzman [3]
Arditi 1689
Baumgartner 1689 - currently played by Alexandre Da Costa, courtesy of The Canada Council for the Arts [4]
Bingham 1690
Bennet 1692
Falmouth 1692 - currently played by Leonidas Kavakos
Baillot-Pommerau 1694
Fetzer 1694 - currently owned by the Stradivari Society, on extended loan to Ruggero Allifranchini [5]
Cabriac 1698
ex Baron Knoop 1698
Joachim 1698 Currently owned by the Royal Academy of Music
The Lady Tennant 1699 [6]
Longuet 1699
Countess Polignac 1699 - Currently played by Gil Shaham.
Castelbarco 1699
Cristiani 1700
Taft ex Emil Heermann 1700
Dushkin 1701 - currently owned by the Stradivari Society, on extended loan to Frank Almond [7]
The Irish 1702 - currently owned by the Finnish OKO Bank, currently on loan to Réka Szilvay.
Conte di Fontana 1702 - David Oistrakh's first violin. Currently owned by Massimo Quarta.
King Maximilian Joseph c. 1702 - currently owned by the Stradivari Society [8], on extended loan to Berent Korfker [9].
Lyall 1702 - currently owned by the Stradivari Society, on extended loan to Stefan Milenkovich [10]
La Rouse Boughton 1703 – currently owned by the Austrian National Bank, on loan to Boris Kuschnir of the Kopelman Quartet
Allegretti 1703
Alsager 1703
Emiliani 1703 - currently owned by Anne-Sophie Mutter
Betts 1704 - part of the collection of the Library of Congress
ex Brüstlein 1707 – currently owned by the Austrian National Bank [11]
La Cathédrale 1707 - currently owned by the Stradivari Society, on extended loan to Tamaki Kawakubo [12]
Hammer 1707 - currently owned by Kyoko Takezawa
Burstein, Bagshawe 1708 - currently owned by the Stradivari Society, on extended loan to Janice Martin. [13]
Duc de Camposelice 1708
Ruby 1708 - currently owned by the Stradivari Society, occasionally used by Leila Josefowicz; currently played by Vadim Repin [14]
Berlin Hochschule 1709
Ernst 1709
Viotti 1709 Currently owned by the Royal Academy of Music
Lord Dunn-Raven 1710 - currently owned by Anne-Sophie Mutter
ex Roederer 1710 - currently played by David Grimal
ex Vieuxtemps 1710
Liegnitz 1711
Boissier 1713
Gibson ex Huberman 1713 - currently owned by Joshua Bell
Cremonese ex Joachim 1714 currently owned by the Royal Academy of Music
Dolphin 1714 - currently owned by the Nippon Music Foundation, formerly owned by Jascha Heifetz
Soil 1714 - currently owned by Itzhak Perlman
ex Berou ex Thibaud 1714
Le Maurien 1714 - Stolen in 2002, it is still missing. [15]
Leonora Jackson 1714
Lipinski 1715 - Missing since 1962.
Titian 1715
Alard 1715
ex Bazzini 1715
Cessole 1715
ex Marsick 1715 - currently played by James Ehnes
Berthier 1716
Booth 1716 - Currently played by Julia Fischer
Colossus 1716 - Stolen in 1998, it is still missing. [16]
Monasterio 1716
Provigny 1716
Messiah 1716
ex Wieniawski 1717
Gariel 1717
Windsor-Weinstein 1716 - currently owned by The Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank
Firebird ex Saint-Exupéry 1718 - currently owned by Salvatore Accardo
Madrileño 1720
ex Beckerath 1720
Red Mendelssohn 1720 - currently played by Elizabeth Pitcairn and inspired the Red Violin movie.
Artot 1722
Jupiter 1722 - currently owned by the Nippon Music Foundation, formerly used by Midori Goto
Laub-Petschnikoff 1722
Jules Falk 1723 - currently owned by Viktoria Mullova
Kiesewetter 1723 - currently owned by the Stradivari Society, currently on loan to Stefan Jackiw [17]
Le Saraste 1724 - currently owned by the Real Conservatorio Superior de Música in Madrid, Spain
Earl Spencer 1723 - formerly played by Emmy Verhey
Brancaccio 1725
Barrere 1727 - currently owned by the Stradivari Society, on extended loan to Janine Jansen. [18]
Davidov-Morini 1727 - Stolen in 1995, it is still missing. [19]
ex General Dupont 1727
Holroyd 1727
Kreutzer 1727 - currently played by Maxim Vengerov
Hart ex Francescatti 1727 – currently owned by Salvatore Accardo
Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue (Paganini Quartet) 1727 - currently owned by the Nippon Music Foundation, on extended loan to Martin Beaver of the Tokyo String Quartet
Benny 1729 - Jack Benny, bequeathed to the Los Angeles Philharmonic
Lady Jeanne 1731 - Currently owned by the Donald Kahn Foundation, on extended loan to Benjamin Schmid [20]
Herkules 1732 - belonged to Eugène Ysaye. Stolen in 1908, it is still missing. [21]
Des Rosiers 1733 currently owned by Angèle Dubeau
Khevenhüller 1733 - belonged to Yehudi Menuhin.
Rode 1733
Ames 1734 - Stolen, still missing. [22]
ex Baron von Feilitzsch 1734
Habeneck 1734 currently owned by the Royal Academy of Music
Lamoureux 1735 - Stolen, still missing. [23]
Muntz 1736 - currently owned by the Nippon Music Foundation.
Comte D'Armaille 1737
Lord Norton 1737
Chant du Cygne - Swansong 1737

Violas

There are 13 extant Antonio Stradivari violas. [24]

Archinto 1696 Currently owned by the Royal Academy of Music
Paganini-Mendelssohn (Paganini Quartet) 1731 - owned by the Nippon Music Foundation, on extended loan to Kazuhide Isomura of the Tokyo String Quartet

Cellos

Antonio Stradivari built between 70 and 80 cellos in his lifetime [25], 63 of which are extant. [26]

General Kyd ex Leo Stern 1684- left on driveway and *Lord Aylesford 1696 - owned by the Nippon Music Foundation. Played by Janos Starker from 1950-1965.
Castelbarco 1697
Servais 1701
Paganini-Countess of Stanlein 1707 - owned by Bernard Greenhouse. Not to be confused with the Paganini-Ladenburg cello of the Paganini Quartet.
Gore-Booth 1710
Duport 1711 - currently owned by Mstislav Rostropovich
Davidov 1712 - Karl Davidov, Russian "Czar of Cellists" (as described by Tchaikovsky). Formerly owned by Jacqueline du Pré. Currently played by Yo-Yo Ma.
Batta 1709 - Currently owned by the Royal Academy of Music
Batta 1714 - formerly owned by Gregor Piatigorsky
Becker 1719
Piatti 1720, Chelo Prieto. Owned and played by Carlos Prieto, [27]
Baudiot 1725 - formerly owned by Gregor Piatigorsky
Marquis 1726 - owned by the Royal Academy of Music
De Munck ex Feuermann 1730 - Emmanuel Feuermann. Owned by the Nippon Music Foundation, on extended loan to Steven Isserlis
Braga 1731
Paganini-Ladenburg (Paganini Quartet) 1736 - owned by the Nippon Music Foundation, on extended loan to Clive Greensmith of the Tokyo String Quartet

Harp

Antonio Stradivari made a single harp during his lifetime. [28]

Mandolins

There are two known surviving mandolins by Stradivari.

• The Cutler-Challen Choral Mandolino, 1680, in the collection of the National Music Museum (http://www.usd.edu/smm/) at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States of America.
• As of 2006 the other was privately owned in London.

References

• Scientific research on the sound of the great violins
• National Geographic magazine article on the "little ice age" theory of the Strad's unique sound qualities
• Chladni patterns for visualizing violin plate resonance patterns

External links

• Cozio.com Online database of instruments by Antonio Stradivari.
• National Music Museum.