Word: stradivaris
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...because the years as such do not mean anything, but with the cello, not a day passes that I do not look for something new. I have played it for 58 years, and it is still full of surprises, full of adventures. Mine was made by Stradivari more than 250 years ago, but it stays forever young. How marvelously preserved it is! How beautiful it sounds...
...Concerning your article on early violins [Dec. 30], I can only say fiddlesticks! The authorities you cite mention every solution to the Stradivari problem but the historically honest one: restoration of the sound intended by its maker...
...impossible today to hear the original sound of a Stradivari because every one of these instruments has had its original fittings removed and more than 30 changes made; a modernized Strad does not bear any more resemblance to the sound intended by its maker than a harpsichord to a piano. Also, the excessive pressure of modern fittings is causing cracks, so that we have an ever increasing number of played-out Strads. The only solution to this vandalism: restore the original fittings and make the instruments true baroque violins that will blend with the harpsichord instead of drowning...
Golden Luster. Then there is the matter of the Great Varnish Mystery. Stradivari used a tacky concoction provided by a local apothecary, the known ingredients of which were oil, gum resin and vegetable coloring. But the precise proportions and the method of application remain unknown. Luthiers have been experimenting with secret formulas for decades, but so far none has been able to match the resiliency, golden luster and lasting power of Stradivari's "pasta." Varnish, contends London Violin Dealer Desmond Hill, is all-important because "it acts as a shock absorber. If the finish is too hard, it makes...
Fiddlesticks, says Konrad Leonhardt, director of the Mittenwald violin school in Germany. "Delightful as the Stradivari varnish might be to look at," he says, "it hardly contributes anything to the sound." Time, say the experts, is far more important. "A man reaches his prime around 40, a violin at about 100," explains Cremona Luthier Pietro Sgarabotto. Thus many luthiers insist that old violins are better only because they are older, that a century from now the fiddles being made by such modern masters as Sacconi, and Carl Becker Sr. of Chicago, will equal the fabled Strad. That, of course, remains...