Scott Yoo honors Vivaldi by playing an excerpt from "The Four Seasons" on a $15 million Stradivari violin.Hear a $15 Million Stradivarius | Now Hear This | September 17, 2019 | Great Performances | PBS
Scott Yoo honors Vivaldi by playing an excerpt from "The Four Seasons" on a $15 million Stradivari violin.Hear a $15 Million Stradivarius | Now Hear This | September 17, 2019 | Great Performances | PBS
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Music lovers around the world sing the praises of certain violins and cellos that were made more than 300 years ago in the small city of Cremona in northern Italy. The instruments made by Antonio Stradivarius, in particular, are highly regarded and the few hundred that survive today command prices in the millions of dollars. For many years craftsmen and scientists have studied these violins to find their secret. Now, a chemist in Texas claims he has already found it -- not in the structure of the instruments, but in chemicals used to preserve the wood.Stradivarius Secret Found By Texas Chemist | March 11, 2009 | VOA News
The contrasting view. BTW, the chemist is on the right track, IMHO, because the only way the 18th c violins made it this far to age beautifully is, the wood was treated. That does *not* mean that wood selection wasn't important, doesn't mean that craftsmanship wasn't important, etc. Also, I'd point out that the violins from Cremona and Venice probably haven't all survived, but there were multiple builders, mitigating in favor of the wood treatment model.
Physicist William F. "Jack" Fry and violinist Rose Mary Harbison rediscover the legendary sound of the Stradivarius violin.Since the early 1700s, "Golden Age" Italian violins have been revered for their superior tone. Scores of scientists, artisans, and musicians have sought answers to the mystery of their sound, but none has been able to duplicate the magic created by these coveted instruments. Characterizing varnish, wood, and geography as secondary factors, William Fry has revived the 17th century science of levers, focusing on the violin's inner graduations.Solving the Stradivarius Secret - William F. "Jack" Fry and Rose Mary Harbison | November 21, 2013 | Museum of Science, Boston
