STRADIVARIUS

A 'Stradivarius' is a stringed instrument built by members of the Stradivari family, especially by Antonio Stradivari.
The founder, Antonio Stradivari, was born in Italy in 1644. Antonio Stradivari may have been a disciple of Nicolo Amati, of the Amati family of violin makers of Cremona. Antonio Stradivari set up business for himself in 1680, though his early violins are generally considered inferior to those made between 1698 and 1720. While many of his techniques are still not fully understood by modern science, it is known for sure that the wood used included spruce for the harmonic top, willow for the internal parts and maple for the back, strip and neck, and that the wood was treated with several types of minerals, including potassium borate (borax), sodium and potassium silicate, and bianca (a varnish composed of Arabic gum, honey and egg white).
A Stradivarius made in the 1680s or during Stradivari's Brescian period form 1690-1700, could be worth several hundred thousand dollars or more at today's prices in auction. If made during Stradivari's "golden period" from 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 Hammer'', made in 1707, which sold for US$3,544,000 on May 16 2006. Private sales of Stradivari instruments have exceeded this price. Stradivarius tops auction record Successful $3,544,000 bid of "Hammer"
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 Palacio Real de Madrid. Another significant assemblage is the York Gate Collections of the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Many people will find violins labeled or branded as "Stradivarius", and believe them to be genuine. It is believed that there are fewer than 700 genuine extant instruments, very few of which are unaccounted for.
The fame of Stradivari's violins is not a modern phenomenon: the fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is supposed to have owned a Stradivarius with a description of how he purchased the instrument for fifty-five English shillings in the story, ''The Adventure of the Cardboard Box''. Another famous story is about ''Duport Stradivarius'' which is said to have the spur marks from the boots of Emperor Napoléon I of France when he tried his hand at playing it. They also played an important role in the James Bond film ''The Living Daylights''.
One aspect of Stradivari's approach is illustrated in the BBC TV series Lovejoy, in the episode ''Second Fiddle''. It is noted that one would expect the 'f'-holes in the front of a violin to be symmetrical yet, in Stradivaria, they are often slightly offset. This is put down to him being less of a perfectionist than tradition would credit but, if true, may express a preference for an aural aesthetic over a visual.
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!".
In 1924, The Vincent Bach Corporation began releasing a line of trumpets. Due to their amazing quality, people started calling them Stradivarius Trumpets, in honor of the strings of the same name.

Contents

Theories and reproduction attempts

Stradivari Instruments

Violins

Violas

Cellos

Guitars

Harps

Mandolins

References

External links

Theories and reproduction attempts

These instruments are famous for the quality of their sound. There have been many failed attempts to explain and reproduce the sound quality. One idea was 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 the idea that very, very old wood from the "little ice age" was used to construct Stradivari's instruments. This theory bases itself upon the high density of this wood; some consider it 'ideal' for making stringed instruments. Trees that grew during this freezing period contained tree rings which were closer together and denser than would be produced in more temperate conditions.^[1]
A National Geographic article provided further basis for the "ice age theory", simply by examining Stradivari's instruments and noticing that many of them had very dense rings in the wood. Did "Little Ice Age" Create Stradivarius Violins' Famous Tone? Some believe that a special wood glue was used in Stradivari's instruments, partly accounting for the high quality of the sound.
While the sound of Stradivari's instruments still has not been fully explained by modern research tools, 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.^[2]
It was reported in late March 2001 that Joseph Nagyvary, a biochemist at Texas A&M University, succeeded in making a violin somewhere near the quality of a Stradivarius by leaving the wood in sea water for a period of time.^[3] Due to lack of land space in Venice, in former times, imported wood was often stored in water in the Venice Lagoon, where a type of rotting affected it slightly. He managed to get hold of some wood shavings from a Stradivarius violin, and under a microscope he found that in that wood the natural filter plates in the pores between the tracheids had disappeared.
He also, reportedly, treated the wood with borax.
By late 2003, Nagyvary had refined his techniques and produced a violin that was tested in a duel between it and a top-tier Stradivarius.^[4] Both violins were played in each of four selections of music. World-class violinist Dalibor Karvay performed behind a screen to an audience of 600 (including 160 trained musicians and 303 regular concert attendees). This was the first public comparison of a great Stradivari with a new violin in front of a large audience. The audience cast ballots for the violins' tone qualities and projection. The results indicated that Nagyvary's instrument surpassed the Stradivarius by a small margin in each category.

Stradivari Instruments

Violins

Sobriquet	Year	Provenance	Notes
''ex-Back''	1666	Royal Academy of Music	Currently displayed as part of Royal Academy's York Gate Collection
''Dubois''	1667	Canimex Foundation	on loan to Alexandre Dacosta [5]
''Aranyi''	1667	Francis Aranyi (collector);	sold at Sotheby's London, 12 November 1986 [6]
''ex-Captain Saville''	1667	Jean Baptiste Vuillaume; Captain Saville (1901-1907)
''Amatese''	1668		Though listed in many reference books as one of Stradivari's earliest instruments, the modern consensus is that it is not a Stradivari; it was sold Sotheby's New York 3 February 1982 as "an interesting violin." [7]
''Oistrakh''	1671	David Oistrakh	missing: stolen in 1996 Stolen Musical Instruments
''Sellière''	1672	Charles IV of Spain;
''Spanish''	1677	Finnish Cultural Foundation	on loan to Elina Vähälä [8]
''Hellier''	1679	Sir Samuel Hellier	Simthsonian Institution
''Paganini-Desaint''	1680	Nippon Music Foundation Instruments Owned by NMF	this violin along with the ''Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue'' violin of 1727, the ''Paganini-Mendelssohn'' viola 1731, and ''Paganini-Ladenburg'' cello of 1731, comprise a group of instruments referred to as ''The Paganini Quartet''; on loan to Kikuei Ikeda of the Tokyo String Quartet
''Fleming''	1681	Stradivari Society	on loan to Cecily Ward Recipients and Instrument Collection
''Chanot-Chardon''	1681	Timothy Baker; Joshua Bell	Shaped like a guitar
''Bucher''	1683
''Cipriani Potter''	1683
''Cobbett''; ''ex-Holloway''	1683
''ex-Arma Senkrah''	1685
''ex-Castelbarco''	1685
''Ole Bull''	1687	Ole Bull (1844); Dr. Herbert Axelrod (1985-1997)	Donated to the Smithsonian Institute in 1997 by Axelrod
''Mercur-Avery''	1687		on loan to Jonathan Carney, concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2002
''Auer''	1689	Stradivari Society	on loan to Vadim Gluzman
''Arditi''	1689	Dextra musica AS, Norway	on loan to Elise Båtnes, concertmaster, Oslo Philharmonic
''Baumgartner''	1689	Canada Council for the Arts	Musical Instrument Bank Director of Endowments and Prizes
''Bingham''	1690
''Bennett''	1692	Winterthur-Versicherungen	on loan to Hanna Weinmeister
''Falmouth''	1692		on loan to Leonidas Kavakos
''Gould''	1693	George Gould Metropolitan Museum of Art	bequethed by Gould to the Metropolitan Museum in 1955[9]
''Baillot-Pommerau''	1694
''Ruston''	1694	Royal Academy of Music	on loan to Clio Gould[10]
''Fetzer''	1695	Stradivari Society	on loan to Ruggero Allifranchini
''Cabriac''	1698
''Baron Knoop''	1698		one of eleven Stradivari violins associated with Baron Knoop
''Joachim''	1698	Royal Academy of Music
''Duc de Camposelice''	1699
''Lady Tennant''	1699		on loan to Yang Liu; sold at Christie's auction US$2.032 million, April 2005 [11]
''Longuet''	1699
''Countess Polignac''	1699		on loan to Gil Shaham.
''Castelbarco''	1699
''Kustendyke''	1699	Royal Academy of Music
''Crespi''	1699	Royal Academy of Music
''Cristiani''	1700
''Dragonetti''	1700	Nippon Music Foundation
''Jupiter''	1700	Giovanni Battista Viotti
''Taft; ex-Emil Heermann''	1700	Canada Council for the Arts	on loan to Jessica Linnebach
''Dushkin''	1701		on loan to Dennis Kim, concertmaster, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra
''Markees''	1701	Music Chamber	on loan to Leung Kin-fung
''Irish''	1702	OKO Bank, Finland	on loan to Réka Szilvay
''Conte di Fontana''; ''ex-Oistrach''	1702	David Oistrach (1953-1963); Massimo Quarta	Oistrakh's first violin
''Lukens''-''Edler Voicu''	1702	Romanian state	on loan to the Ion Voicu foundation; ownership disputed between the state of Romania and the "Ion Voicu" foundation.
''King Maximilian Joseph''	1702	Stradivari Society	on loan to Berent Korfker
''Lyall''	1702	Stradivari Society	on loan to Stefan Milenkovich
''La Rouse Boughton''	1703	Österreichische Nationalbank [12]	on loan to Boris Kuschnir of the Kopelman Quartet
''Lord Newlands''	1702	Nippon Music Foundation	on loan to Toru Yasunaga
''Allegretti''	1703
''Alsager''	1703
''Emiliani''	1703	Anne-Sophie Mutter
''Betts''	1704	U.S. Library of Congress
''Sleeping Beauty''	1704	L-Bank Baden-Wurttemberg	On loan to Isabelle Faust. One of the few Stradivari violins to have retained original neck.
''ex-Marsick; ex-Oistrach''	1705	David Oistrach	acquired in trade by Oistrach for the 1702 ''Conte di Fontana''
''ex-Brüstlein''	1707	Österreichische Nationalbank[13]
''La Cathédrale''	1707	Stradivari Society	on loan to Tamaki Kawakubo
''Hammer''	1707	Christian Hammer (collector)	on loan to Kyoko Takezawa; sold at Christie's New York on 16 May 2006 for a record US$3,544,000 (€2,765,080) after five minutes of bidding.
''Burstein Bagshawe''	1708	Stradivari Society	on loan to Janice Martin
''Huggins''	1708	Nippon Music Foundation	on loan to Sergey Khachatryan [14]
''Ruby''	1708	Stradivari Society	on loan to Leila Josefowicz and Vadim Repin
''Berlin Hochschule''	1709
''Hammerle; ex-Adler''	1709	Österreichische Nationalbank	on loan to Werner Hink
''Ernst''	1709		on loan to Zsigmondy Dénes through 2003
''Engleman''	1709	Nippon Music Foundation	on loan to Lisa Batiashvili
''Viotti; ex-Bruce''	1709	Royal Academy of Music	purchased in 2005 for GB£3.5 million
''Marie Hall''	1709	Giovanni Battista Viotti; The Chi-Mei Collection	named after violinist, Marie Hall
''ex-Kempner''	1709		on loan to Soovin Kim
''Camposelice''	1710	Nippon Music Foundation	on loan to Kyoko Takezawa
''Lord Dunn-Raven''	1710	Anne-Sophie Mutter
''ex-Roederer''	1710		on loan to David Grimal.
''ex-Vieuxtemps''	1710		on loan to Samuel Magad, concertmaster, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
''Earl of Plymouth; Kreisler''	1711	Fritz Kreisler
''Liegnitz''	1711
''Karpilowsky''	1712	Harry Solloway	missing: stolen in 1953 from Solloway's residence in Los Angeles
''Boissier''	1713
''Gibson; ex-Huberman''	1713	Bronislaw Huberman; Joshua Bell	stolen twice before Bell's acquisition
''Dolphin; Delfino''	1714	Jascha Heifetz; Nippon Music Foundation	on loan to Akiko Suwanai
''Soil''	1714	Itzhak Perlman
''ex-Berou''; ''ex-Thibaud''	1714
''Le Maurien''	1714		missing: stolen 2002
''Leonora Jackson''	1714
''Sinsheimer; General Kyd; Perlman''	1714	Itzhak Perlman David L. Fulton
''Smith-Quersin''	1714	Österreichische Nationalbank	on loan to Rainer Honeck
''Alard-Baron Knoop''	1715
''Baron Knoop; ex-Bevan''	1715
''ex-Bazzini''	1715
''Cremonese''; ''ex-Harold Joachim''	1715	Municipality of Cremona
''Joachim''	1715	Nippon Music Foundation	on loan to Sayaka Shoji
''Lipinski''	1715		missing: stolen in 1962
''ex-Marsick	1715		on loan to James Ehnes
''Titian''	1715	Jacob Lynam
''Cessole''	1716
''Berthier''	1716
''Booth''	1716	Nippon Music Foundation	on loan to Shunsuke Sato; formerly loaned to Arabella Steinbacher; formerly loaned to Julia Fischer
''Colossus''	1716		missing: stolen 1998
''Monasterio''	1716		Cyrus Forough
''Provigny''	1716
''Messiah-Salabue''	1716	Ashmolean Museum Oxford	on exhibit at the Oxford Ashmolean Museum
''ex-Windsor-Weinstein''; ''Fite''	1716	Canada Council for the Arts	on loan to Jean-Sébastien Roy
''Baron Wittgenstein''	1716		on loan to Mincio Mincev
''Gariel''	1717
''ex-Wieniawski''	1717
''Sasserno''	1717	Nippon Music Foundation	on loan to Viviane Hagner
''Viotti''; ''ex-Rosé''	1718	Giovanni Battista Viotti; Österreichische Nationalbank	on loan to Volkhard Steude
''Firebird''; ''ex-Saint Exupéry''	1718	Salvatore Accardo	Its name is taken from the colouration of the varnish and its brilliant sound.
''Marquis de Riviere''	1718	Daniel Majeske	played by Majeske while concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1969-1993.
''San Lorenzo''	1718	Talbot Aachen	on loan to David Garrett
''Lauterbach''	1719	Johann Christoph Lauterbach	missing: stolen
''Madrileño''	1720
''von Beckerath''	1720	Michael Antonello
''Red Mendelssohn''	1720		on loan to Elizabeth Pitcairn; inspiration for the 1998 film, ''The Red Violin''
''Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis''	1721		recovered in southern Germany in 2006
''Lady Blunt''	1721	Paolo Stradivari	named after Lady Anne Blunt, daughter of Ada Lovelace, granddaughter of Lord Byron.
''Jean-Marie Leclair''	1721	Jean-Marie Leclair;	on loan to Guido Rimonda [1]
''Artot''	1722
''Jupiter; ex-Goding''	1722	Nippon Music Foundation	on loan to Daishin Kashimoto; formerly Midori Goto
''Laub-Petschnikoff''	1722
''Jules Falk''	1722	Viktoria Mullova
''Elman''	1722	Chi Mei Museum
''Cádiz''	1722	Joseph Fuchs	on loan to Jennifer Frautschi; named after the city of Cádiz, Spain.
''Kiesewetter''	1723	Stradivari Society	on loan to Stefan Jackiw.
''Earl Spencer''	1723		loaned to Emmy Verhey
''Le Sarastre''	1724	Real Conservatorio Superior de Música, Madrid	bequeathed to the Conservatory by Pablo de Sarasate; on loan to Chen Xi
''Brancaccio''	1725
''Chaconne''	1725	Österreichische Nationalbank	on loan to Rainer Küchel
''Wilhelmj''	1725	Nippon Music Foundation	on loan to Baiba Skride; one of several Stradivari violins with the sobriquet ''Wilhelmj''
''Greville; Kreisler; Adams''	1726	Fritz Kreisler
''Barrere''	1727	Stradivari Society	on loan to Janine Jansen
''Davidoff-Morini''	1727		missing: stolen in 1995 [15]
''ex-General Dupont''	1727		on loan to Jennifer Koh
''Holroyd''	1727
''Kreutzer''	1727	Maxim Vengerov	one of four Stradivari violins with the sobriquet ''Kreutzer'' (1701, 1720, 1731)
''Hart''; ''ex-Francescatti''	1727	Salvatore Accardo
''Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue''	1727	Nippon Music Foundation	this violin along with the ''Paganini-Desaint'' violin of 1680, the ''Paganini-Mendelssohn'' viola of 1731, and the ''Paganini-Ladenburg'' cello of 1736, comprise a group of instruments referred to as ''The Paganini Quartet''; on loan to Martin Beaver of the Tokyo String Quartet
''Halphen''	1727	Angelika Prokopp Private Foundation	on loan to Eckhard Seifert
''A. J. Fletcher; Red Cross Knight''	1728	A. J. Fletcher Foundation	on loan to Nicholas Kitchen of the Borromeo String Quartet; the instrument was made by Omobono Stradivarius [16]
''Artot-Alard''	1728
''Dragonetti; Milanollo''	1728	Giovanni Battista Viotti	on loan to Corey Cerovsek
''Benny''	1729	Jack Benny; Los Angeles Philharmonic	bequeathed to the Los Angeles Philharmonic by Jack Benny
''Solomon, ex-Lambert''	1729	Murray Lambert; Seymour Solomon	sold at Christie's, New York for US$2,728,000 (€2,040,000)
''Innes''	1729		on loan to Eugen Sarbu; previously loaned to Wieniawski
''Guarneri''	1729	Canada Council for the Arts	on loan to Yi-Ja Suzanne Hou in 2003 Musical Instrument Bank Director of Endowments and Prizes
''Lady Jeanne''	1731	Donald Kahn Foundation	on loan to Benjamin Schmid
''Heifetz-Piel''	1731	Rudolph Piel; Jascha Heifetz
''Herkules''	1732	Eugène Ysaÿe	missing: stolen in 1908
''Tom Taylor''	1732		previously loaned to Joshua Bell
''Des Rosiers''	1733	Angèle Dubeau
''Huberman; Kreisler''	1733	Bronislaw Huberman; Fritz Kreisler
''Khevenhüller''	1733	Yehudi Menuhin
''Rode''	1733
''Ames''	1734		missing: stolen in the 1960s
''Baron Feititsch''; ''Heermann''	1734	Baron Feititzsch; Hugo Heerman Gidon Kremer
''Habeneck''	1734	Royal Academy of Music
''Herkules; Ysaye; ex-Szeryng; King David''	1734	Eugène Ysaÿe; Charles Münch; Henryk Szeryng; State of Israel
''Lord Amherst of Hackney''	1734	Fritz Kreisler
''Lamoreux''	1735		missing: stolen
''Muntz''	1736	Nippon Music Foundation	on loan to Arabella Steinbacher
''Comte d'Amaille''	1737
''Lord Norton''	1737
''Chant du Cygne''; ''Swan Song''	1737	Ivry Gitlis

Violas

There are thirteen known extant Stradivari violas. Extant Stradivari works

Sobriquet	Year	Provenance	Notes
''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
''Ex Kux/Castelbarco''	1714	Royal Academy of Music	Converted from viol to viola by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume[17]
''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 1731, comprise a group of instruments referred to as ''The Paganini Quartet''; on loan to Kazuhide Isomura of the Tokyo String Quartet

Cellos

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

Sobriquet	Year	Provenance	Notes
''General Kyd; ex-Leo Stern''	1684	Los Angeles Philharmonic	On April 25, 2004, the instrument was stolen from the front porch of Peter Stumpf. and was later found in a garbage container by Melanie Stevens who planned to have it made into a CD shelf. It was returned when she saw a television report about the cello. [18][19][20]
''Antonio Stradivaruis''	1673	Jacqueline du Pré Lynn Harrell
''Barjanski''	1690	Julian Lloyd Webber [21]
''ex-Gendron; ex-Lord Speyer''	1693	Kunststiftung NRW	on loan to Maria Kliegel; previously loaned to Maurice Gendron (1958-1990)
''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
''Davydov''	1712	Karl Davydov Jacqueline du Pré	on loan to Yo-Yo Ma.
''Batta''	1714	Alexander Batta Gregor Piatigorsky
''Becker''	1719
''Piatti''	1720	Carlos Prieto
''Cristiani''	1720
''Baudiot''	1725	Gregor Piatigorsky
''Chevillard''	1725	Music Museum (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 [22]
''Pawle''	1730	Chi Mei Museum
''Braga''	1731
''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

Guitars

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.^[23] These guitars have ten (doubled strings), which was typical of the era.

Sobriquet	Year	Provenance	Notes
''Hill''	1688	Ashmolean Museum at Oxford University[24]
''Rawlins''	1700	National Music Museum South Dakota [25]

Harps

A number of sources claim that Stradivarius made only one harp in his life. It may be, however, that only one instrument has survived. Sources at the ''San Pietro a Maiella'' music conservatory in Naples, Italy, describe the ''arpettea'' (little harp) on display in their instrument museum as being the only ''surviving'' harp made by Stradivarius.^[26] Documentation for the instrument says it was one of three.

Mandolins

There are two known surviving mandolins made by Stradivari:

★ ''Cutler-Challen Choral Mandolino'', 1680, in the collection of the National Music Museum at the University of South Dakota in Vermillion, South Dakota [2]

★ As of 2006 the other was privately owned in London.

References

1. Cool weather may be Stradivarius' secret
2. Documentation of Double Bass Plate Modes Using the Scanning Laser Vibrometer Andrew W. Brown
3. Stradivari 'owes it all to worms'
4. Violin Duel a Draw for Antique Stradivarius, New Instrument
5. Stradivarius
6. Violin by Antonio Stradivari, 1666-70 (Aranyi)
7. Violin by Antonio Stradivari, 1664 (Amatese)
8. http://www.jwentworth.com/orchestral_soloists/elina_vahala/index.htm
9. Daily Artwork Arcdhive
10. Clio Gould AGSM, Hon RAM
11. "The Lady Tennant" sold for more than million
12. Wertvolle alte Streichinstrumente
13. "ex Brüstlein" owned the Austrian National Bank
14. Sergey Khachatryan:
15. Theft Notices & Recoveries
16. http://www.borromeoquartet.org/biography/bio_kitchen.html
17. http://www.yorkgate.ram.ac.uk/emuweb/pages/ram/Display.php?irn=941&QueryPage=%2Femuweb%2Fpages%2Fram%2FQuery.php
18. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/3728193.stm
19. http://www.laobserved.com/archive/2004/05/cello_returned.php
20. http://www.cozio.com/Instrument.aspx?id=265
21. http://www.julianlloydwebber.com/biography.asp
22. Cello by Antonio Stradivari, 1730c (Feuermann; De Munck, Gardiner)
23. Get ready for videos of the classics
24. Music Notes: Get Ready for Videos of the Classics
25. Stradivari Guitar on Exhibit at the National Music Museum
26. Stradivarius made one harp


★ Stradivari’s Genius: Five Violins, One Cello, and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection, , Toby, Faber, New York: Random House, 2004,

★ Biography of Antonio Stradivari

★ Science and the Stradivarius

★ Stradivarius’ Secret

External links

★ The Stradivarius Project Random people are asked to play a Stradivarius violin. The individual footage was then cut based on simple sounds and spliced back together to form music.

★ A FourDoc (short on-line documentary) about a group of violin makers making a violin in the original spec of the maurin Stradivarius in just five days

★ What makes a Stradivarius so Great?

★ Cozio.com Online database of instruments by Antonio Stradivari.

★ National Music Museum

★ Cheniston K. Roland, Discography (incomplete) of Stradivarius recordings

★ Mark Levine, "Medici of the Meadowlands", ''New York Times'' 3 August 2003 Herbert R. Axelrod's Stravarius collection.

★ Online version of 1902 book about Stradivari by the W.E. Hill & Sons.

★ Why do Stradivarius's violins sound sublime?

★ Scientific research on the sound of the great violins

★ Chladni patterns for visualizing violin plate resonance patterns

★ Violin Dual a Draw for Antique Stradivarius vs. New Instrument - A blind test shows that Strad's legendary status may be unwarranted.

★ Stradivari Violin Forms A detailed study of Stradivari's molds and drawings kept in the Cremona Museum..