Antonio Stradivari
Antonio Giacomo Stradivarius (also Antonius Stradivarius Latinized; * 1644 or, according to recent research, in 1648, the place of birth is unknown, † December 18, 1737 in Cremona ) was an Italian master violin maker who, like Guarneri del Gesu was established in Cremona. He is regarded by many as the best violin makers in history. His violins are the most valuable stringed instruments that currently exist on the market, and some are traded for many millions of euros.
Life and work
Antonio Stradivari was probably born in 1644 in Cremona, Italy. It is not certain when and where he learned his craft, but already his earliest works show his great talent. Some believe that he was a pupil of Nicola Amati, the grandson of the great violin maker Andrea Amati. This is justified by the wording of the label of the earliest known Stradivari: " Made by Antonio Stradivari in Cremona, a pupil of Nicolo Amati, 1666 ."
Other theories suggest that Stradivari may, before he became a violin maker, has learned the trade of carpenter, which would explain the exquisite design in particular its ornate instruments. Records show the census that he lived in the 'Casa nuziale ' from 1667 to 1680, a house that belonged to the wood carver and cabinetmaker Francesco Pescaroli. Stradivari married in 1667 Signora Francesca Feraboschi and spent the next 13 years in the 'Casa nuziale '. Over the course of eight years of violin maker and his wife had six children. In 1680 he bought a house on the Piazza San Domenico, so close to the workshops of Amati and Ruggieri. There he is said to have made according to tradition, his most famous violin in the attic and experimenting with sound and style. His work is usually in three ( or four ) periods divided ( according to Hill: Antonio Stradivari, his life and work ): the first, up to about 1680, is referred to as ' Amatise ' because his instruments very strongly to those of Nicolo Amati are based. In the second period, until 1700, he experimented with a slightly longer model, hence the name 'long pattern'. From 1700 followed his so-called ' golden period ', sometimes limited to 1720/1725, followed by the late phase until his death in 1737. However, these are only rough classifications and not every instrument of a certain ' period ' fits this classification. A special example of the transitional period of the ' Amatise' - to ' pattern ' long period is the " Hellier " violin from 1679 It is one of the few ( 10 in total) decorated instruments, and to the -. Upon the dimensions - greatest instruments that Stradivari built. In the 1680s Stradivari is solved by the model N. Amati and sought his own model ( it is also speculated that he became acquainted with instruments from Brescia by G. da Salo and Maggini and their sound take after ). Although he still used the basic structure of Amati, but also built modifications and experimented with different thicknesses of wood and various paints. The f- holes were longer and ' steep ' and he knew the instruments often with a more powerful ( the Hills call them ' manly ') screw.
His two sons, Francesco (1671-1743) and Omobono (1679-1742) entered in 1698 to the family business, but before 1725 can not detect traces of their involvement on the instruments of Antonio.
During his heyday, he created violins, the sound box are unmatched even today. The execution was in a unique deep red paint, with black border, wide margins and wide corners. Among his most famous violins, which he created from 1700 to 1725, include the " Lipinski " from 1715 and the " Messiah " of 1716., The " Messiah ", he has never sold or given away, and she remained his property until his death. After he had reached eighty, his works seem to have become a little less pristine than those which he produced during the golden years. However, he practiced his craft until his death in 1737 and built from 1733 still the " Khevenhüller ".
The by posterity as his best-rated instruments he built 1700-1725. Available instruments that are signed after 1730, possibly his sons Francesco and Omobono have participated. It is estimated that Stradivari made about 1,100 violins, violas, cellos, some guitars and a harp. From the cellos today there are only about 60 pieces, an estimated total of 650 instruments are still preserved.
Antonio Stradivari died on December 18, 1737 in Cremona and was buried in the Basilica di San Domenico. When they broke the church in 1868, his grave stone was moved to the Piazza Roma.
After his two sons violin be built had died, Carlo Bergonzi has taken his workshop. Much of his Stradivari, tools, models and templates work has been preserved and is on display in the Stradivari Museum in Cremona.
Effect
Since about 1800 his instruments are very popular and achieve maximum prices for sales. 1998 were paid at an auction at Christie's in London for the " Kreutzer Strad " about 1.5 million euros. The highest price achieved to date the auctioned by the auction house Tarisio in London in June 2011 " Lady Blunt ": an unidentified bidder paid 9.8 million pounds sterling ( 12.07 million euros ). Another record price achieved the auctioned by Christie's in New York " Lady Tennant violin " in April 2005: an unidentified bidder paid 1.53 million euros. On 16 May 2006 this price record was sent off again in the shadows, as Christie's Musical Instruments New York auctioned ( 2.797 million euros ) in Rockefeller Plaza a Stradivarius for 3.544 million dollars. The violin named " Hammer" was built in 1707 in Cremona, Italy. It takes its name from its first documented owner occupied, the Swedish court jeweler and collector Christian Hammer. He had bought the violin in the 19th century.
Among the largest publicly accessible collections of Stradivari instruments include the Spanish royal family. It consists of two violins, two cellos and a viola. The peculiarity of this quintet ( group of five ) is that all instruments are decorated. They are exhibited in the Music Museum at the Royal Palace in Madrid. Another quartet decorated instruments plus an undecorated cello are in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC., Only two kilometers away are another five Stradivarius instruments, namely, in the Library of Congress. Another great collection of stringed instruments, also with five instruments made by Antonio Stradivari is located in Paris; is the collection of the Conservatory of Music, now at the Cité de la musique. Even the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna shows in his collection of old musical instruments a quartet of Stradivari. That three hundred years after its construction are still many instruments in use, evidenced by the fact that five musicians of the Vienna Philharmonic play instruments by Stradivari. With the Tokyo String Quartet and the Stradivari Quartet, there are currently (2009) also two ensembles that play exclusively on Stradivarius instruments.
Sound of his instruments
Have been put forward a variety of theories over time, which should explain the sound characteristics of Stradivari's instruments. According to a 2005 theory bandied particular climatic conditions in Europe were responsible for that instrument wood qualities could be used that do not exist anymore during the so-called " Little Ice Age " (16th - 18th centuries). The lower average temperatures led to an altered tree growth with lower annual ring spacing and reduced latewood proportion (darker annual rings ). The less latewood is formed per annual ring, the lower the bulk density, which should have a favorable effect on the sound quality of the instrument. The theory of the " Little Ice Age " was confirmed in 2008 by Berend Stoel of Leiden University and the violin maker Terry Borman at a computer tomograph. The wood of the instruments was infested tree along the radius of uniform high density, but probably also of molds. Therefore, the Swiss materials engineering Melanie Spycher tries in their research at EMPA, edit modern instrument wood using special holzzersetzender mushrooms so that it receives similar sound characteristics. But not only are the wood of the special sound of Stradivarius violins, as this was also another former luthiers available. According to the annual -ring dating is also not due to extremely long drying time of the woods, as the time difference between hitting the wood and marked on the label violin was built in only 20 years or less. Wood studies of Stradivari's instruments show that this was an unusually good acoustic material. So was about to be shown that the top wood of a Stradivarius cello has a density of only 390 kg / m³. The density of "normal" spruce varies around the value 450 kg / m³. Investigations of primer and paint with a scanning electron microscope reveal an unusually high proportion and a large layer thickness of mineral substances.
Specifically, the Stradivari violins are highly valued and sought after not only by collectors but also for musicians. Your game is often described as "intense ", they " flicker ", the sound " moves like a candle light ". Another special feature of a Stradivarius is that she plays extremely well in the range 2000-4000 Hz, the sound range where the human ear is most sensitive. This means that even a very low tone played in a large concert hall is widely heard when it is played on a Stradivarius.
The Munich-based master violin maker and physicist Martin Schleske has measured with specially developed by him computer programs for vibration analysis, the acoustic behavior of old master violins in a grid of many points and discovered that special asymmetric deviations of the thickness of the material play an important role for the tone. According to him, the special sound of those violins is not based on a single mystery, but in addition to the special characteristics of wood on meticulous craftsmanship and precise observation, the Stradivarius dominated apparently masterful.
The physicist Heinrich Dünnwald found out through sound analysis, that the spectrum of Stradivarius violins very the vowel " E" or "I" is similar to the human voice, making her sound will be perceived as pleasant and particularly familiar and emotionally moving. Other violins often have a narrower band spectrum, which, however, sounds rather thin or garish. According Dünnwald the exact paint formulation of Stradivari plays a decisive role, since most of these violins have lost over the centuries much of the paint due to wear or were later repainted. Further adjust the way ordinary violins improve significantly towards Stradivari, by attaching a small weight of less than 1/ 10 grams at a specific site. In the TV show " W How knowledge" he clung to the suggestion of a lump of plasticine center to the edge of the ridge, where he pointed out that he did not reveal the exact location as a trade secret. Because both Schleske and thin forest ( with luthier Stefan -Peter Greiner ) represent himself forth quality crafted copies of Stradivari and Guarneri violins for musicians.
In the TV show " The secret of Stradivari " (2005 Arte France & Associés ) was conducted a blind listening test with four different, two violinists played violins at the Institute for Musical Acoustics University of Paris Pierre and Marie Curie. However, this showed that not every listener the Stradivarius as expected as the most emotionally moving instrument recognized, but many instead held a certain modern violin for the Stradivarius. The makers of the show attracted so the absolute claim often expressed in doubt, Stradivarius violins were basically the best or even the "perfect " sound. In the film, also, it is argued that over the centuries a Stradivarius Nimbus was created, which led to many legends and, not least, to some extent no longer -follow price trends and a " Instrumentenspekulantentum " (see eg. the fraud of Dietmar Machold ).
Stradivari's instruments
Violins
The list below contains 144 Stradivarius violins.
Built out over the snappiest form of the Master. The instrument is the " twin sister" of the " Dancla - Milstein " in 1710 (model, design and choice of wood; split up flamed )
( Picture book: " Stradivari in Japan," Shinichi Yokoyama, Gakken, Tokyo, 1984)
Joseph Joachim (1831-1907) had five Stradivarius violins: the " ex - Joachim" (1714 ) his main instrument; 1714 "Dolphin", 1715 " ex-Alard/Baron Knoop ," 1722 " Laurie " and 1725 " Chaconne / Hammig ".
Violas
The existence of 18 Stradivarius violas is known.
Cellos
Antonio Stradivari built in his life between 70 and 80 cellos, 63 of which still exist.
Guitars
There are still five complete, built by Stradivari guitars, still also some fragments. All guitars have five double strings.
Harps
Antonio Stradivari built in his life a single harp. She now belongs to the Museum of the Conservatory of Naples.