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RELATED LINKS:
Stradivarius
You found a strad?
Journal of Arch. Science
Tree Ring Pages
Dr. Henri Grissino-Mayer
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Antonio Stradivari was born in 1644, and established his shop in Cremona, Italy, where he remained active until his death in 1737. His interpretation of geometry and design for the violin has served as a conceptual model for violin makers for more than 250 years.
Stradivari also made harps, guitars, violas, and cellos--more than 1,100 instruments in all, by current estimate. About 650 of these instruments survive today. In addition, thousands of violins have been made in tribute to Stradivari, copying his model and bearing labels that read "Stradivarius." Therefore, the presence of a Stradivarius label in a violin has no bearing on whether the instrument is genuine.
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Since well before the turn of the twentieth century, manufacturers of violins, often nestled in the valleys of southern as well as western and eastern Germany, were producing tens of thousands of violins annually, labeled "Antonius Stradiuarius, Cremonenfis Faciebat Anno 17 " and had a circular embellishment on these labels which included a cross above the initials "A" and "S". More often than not, the last two digits of the date were penciled or inked in by hand. Sometimes it was left blank.
These manufacturers, housed in such towns as "Bubenreuth", "Mittenwald", " Markneukirchen" to mention a few, mass produced these violins, in part by hand or completely by machine, and, until 1957, labeled them exactly as the master did. After that date, the words "Copy of" were often included on the labels.
They were also made world-wide in such places as Bulgaria, China, Czechoslovakia, France, Japan, England and elsewhere.
Millions of these instruments exist today.
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HIGH TECH TUESDAY:
Violin Science
edited by Charmian
Antonio Stradivari's violin design set the standard. After the master's death in 1737, thousands of copies of his stringed instruments were made, many bearing the label "Stradivarius."
About 650 of the 1,100 instruments Stradivari actually made survive. These authentic "Strads" have acquired an almost mystical stature, their individual histories charted as if they were pedigrees, interwoven with stories of intrigue, loss and discovery.
Arguably the most famous and controversial Strad, the Messiah, is the centerpiece of the Hill Collection in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England.
The pristine condition of the Messiah -- said to have been kept by Stradivari himself until his death in 1737 -- has long prompted questions about its authenticity.
Several experts, most recently violin specialist Steward Pollens, have concluded that the Messiah is actually a copy. Pollens' primary evidence came from a blind study he requested from German dendrochronologist Peter Klein.
Dendrochronology, the analysis of the growth rings in trees, is recognized as a highly reliable method for dating the soft woods used to make stringed instruments.
Given only photographs and told nothing about the instrument itself, Klein concluded that the wood on the Messiah's front could not have been harvested during Stradivari's lifetime.
The case was further complicated when English violin maker Jonathan Topham did his own assessment of the Messiah's rings, concluding that the wood predated 1738.
At this point, University of Tennessee dendrochronologist Henri Grissino-Mayer entered the fray. He proposed to re-examine Topham's data, intending to settle the controversy at a panel session with Pollens and Topham at the Violin Society of America (VSA) conference held this fall in Cincinnati.
But shortly before the conference, Grissino received word that the Hill family -- who still own the Messiah -- had denied him access to the tree-ring data developed by Topham.
Grissino maintains that science can end this debate. "We simply cannot have two calendar dates for one set of tree rings," he declares. "One group of experts must be wrong. But which one?"
The UT researcher anticipates that the VSA will appoint a special panel to end the debate once and for all by pressing for access to the Topham data. Grissino believes that he can bring the controversy to an end, but is not sure that his contribution will be appreciated.
"In some ways, I'm not too keen on this," he says, "I don't relish the role of announcing that the world's most famous and priceless instrument might be an elaborate forgery."
Reprinted from UniSci
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