Word: instrumentality
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Classical musicians and music lovers believe that prized string instruments are enriched by the generations of virtuosi who have played on them. In the case of the great Cremonese instrument maker Antonio Stradivari, whose violins and cellos have been the choice of the world's best musicians for three centuries, this belief is coupled with the theory that Stradivari was an inimitable genius on the scale of Mozart and Beethoven. What else could explain why Stradivari's instruments remain the best in the world so long after the death of their creator...
...There is a possibility here that Stradivari received the wood pre-treated and so did not even know these minerals in his wood were the crucial factor for the sound, and this is why, despite almost surely having apprentices, the art of his instrument making was not passed on," he says...
...Nagyvary believes this evidence upends the widespread belief among instrument makers that only the strongest wood can produce a lush, full sound. According to Nagyvary, the opposite is true. He also says it casts doubt on the working hypothesis of many scientists that Stradivari worked during Europe's "little ice age" of the 15th-17th centuries, in which low summer temperatures led to slow but uniform growth in the Spruce trees used for instruments, and that the wood's uniform density explains the instruments' high quality of sound. Last year, researchers in The Netherlands and the U.S. used medical imaging...
...Ironically, Fairey’s work has itself become an instrument of political satire. The website Obamaicon.me, on which anyone can create an image in the mold of Obama’s poster, has increased the presence of his stylized imagery as students replace Fairey’s image with their own, appropriating his creation for humorous ends, decorations and House Council campaigns. However, most are unaware of the work’s provenance outside the presidential campaign...
...Sanders Theatre this past Friday, cellist Yo-Yo Ma ’76 showed off his exuberant stage presence—with and without his instrument. Ma was joined onstage by President Drew G. Faust, Humanities Professor Stephen J. Greenblatt, and Literature Professor Diana Sorensen, who heaped praise on Ma for his talent and character as they announced new Harvard initiatives in accordance with the recommendations of the Task Force on the Arts. Introduced by Faust as “the beautiful Yo-Yo Ma,” Ma performed an awe-inspiring rendition of the Sarabande from Bach?...