Italian family of violin makers.
F.J. Fétis: Antoine Stradivari (Paris, 1856; Eng. trans., 1864/R)
P. Lombardini: Cenni sulla celebre scuola cremonese (Cremona, 1872)
G. Hart: The Violin: its Famous Makers and their Imitators (London, 1875, later edns to 1909)
A. Vidal: Les instruments à archet (Paris, 1876–8/R)
The ‘Tuscan’: a Short Account of a Violin by Stradivari (London, 1891)
R. Harrison, ed.: The Salabue Stradivari (London, 1891)
W.H. Hill and others: Antonio Stradivari: his Life and Work (1644–1737) (London, 1902/R, 2/1909)
C. Bonetti, U. Gualazzini and A. Cavalcabò: Antonio Stradivari: notizie e documenti (Cremona, 1937)
E.N. Doring: How Many Strads? Our Heritage from the Master (Chicago, 1945, 2/1998)
A. Baruzzi: La casa nuziale di Antonio Stradivari a Cremona, 1667–1680 (Brescia, 1959; Eng. trans., 1962)
D.D. Boyden: Catalogue of the Hill Collection of Musical Instruments in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (London, 1969)
H.K. Goodkind: Violin Iconography of Antonio Stradivari, 1644–1737 (Larchmont, NY, 1972) [lists 700 known instruments with past and present owners]
S.F. Sacconi: I ‘segreti’ di Stradivari (Cremona, 1972)
E. Santoro: Antonius Stradivarius (Cremona, 1987)
S. Pollens: The Violin Forms of Antonio Stradivari (London, 1992)
C. Beare: Antonio Stradivari: the Cremona Exhibition of 1987 (London, 1993)
G. Gregori: ‘La harpe et les guitares de Stradivarius’, Musiques, signes, images, ii (1996), 8–31
C. Chiesa and D. Rosengard: The Stradivari Legacy (London, 1998)
S. Pollens: ‘Le Messie’, Journal of the Violin Society of America, xvi/1 (1999)
CHARLES BEARE/CARLO CHIESA, DUANE ROSENGARD
(b ? Cremona, 1644–9; d Cremona, 18 Dec 1737). Maker of violins and other instruments. Since the end of the 18th century he has been universally regarded as the greatest of all violin makers. In point of tonal excellence, design, beauty to the eye and accuracy of workmanship his instruments have never been surpassed. Stradivari inherited more than 100 years of Cremonese violin-making tradition, and upon this firmest of foundations he built his own unique career. At the peak of a working life spanning almost 70 years he brought his art to a perfection which has not been equalled. Later, at least two of his sons worked with him, but both died within a few years of their father, and thus almost the entire production of the family workshop is attributed to Antonio. In all, some 650 of his instruments survive, many of them used by the world’s leading string players.
Although the surname Stradivari was common to the area around Cremona during the 16th century, nothing concrete is known of Antonio's origins or his family background, except that his father was named Alessandro. Of his education and professional formation, various hypotheses have been advanced: it is possible that he was first apprenticed to a wood carver before turning to instrument building, or he may have been a pupil of Nicolò Amati. The nature of Stradivari's rapport with Amati is unclear, although on his first known violin label (dated 1666) Stradivari claimed to be Amati's pupil. The violin that bears this label shows a hand already adept in the use of woodcarving tools, though inexperienced in certain of the finer points of violin construction. In July 1667 Stradivari married Francesca Feraboschi, a young widow who bore him six children, including (2) Francesco and (3) Omobono.
The rarity of surviving violins by Antonio from 1666 to 1680 is surprising, unless only a part of his time was devoted to their manufacture. Possibly he was working for other makers, such as Amati or Rugeri. Of violins from this early period there are fewer than 20, and one viola; all are thoroughly Cremonese in character, and beautifully made, though perhaps not stamped with the mark of genius: these are the instruments to which the term ‘Amatisé’ is correctly applied, to indicate their close stylistic adherence to the work of Amati. Two works deserve special mention for their originality, each a landmark of its kind. One is the contralto (i.e. smaller-sized) viola of 1672, of original design and a fairly rare size for the period, its body measuring just over 41 cm (now in the collection of Rolf Habisreutinger, St Gallen, Switzerland). The other is the first of ten known ‘inlaid’ instruments, the ‘Lever du soleil’ violin of 1677 (sold in 1971–2 to a private collector). In this the traditional purfling is replaced by a strip of dark paste, flanked by purfling at each side, into which are set alternate ivory or bone diamonds and circles. The sides and scroll are also ornamented, with painted or inlaid designs. Such embellishment was not entirely new to violins, and was perfectly normal for fine guitars; Stradivari, however, carried it out with a delicacy and charm unequalled by others (seeViolin, fig.13).
In 1680 Stradivari moved with his family to the Piazza S Domenico, where he lived and worked for the rest of his life. With the move came a change of emphasis in Stradivari's work, and from 1680 he made many more violins and quite a number of cellos. With the death of Amati in 1684, Stradivari was recognizably superior to all his competitors, and his fame began to spread beyond Cremona. From 1680 to 1690 his work moved away from Amati's and his instruments became more robust in certain features, particularly the corners. The varnish, however, is still often the soft, honey-coloured Amati covering, with an occasional warm orange tint. Tonally these violins are more powerful than those of the Amati family.
After 1690 there was a surge of individuality, the beginning of a new era of violin making. The heavy corners of the previous decade were now matched by wider purfling, bolder soundholes, stronger arching in the tables, varnish of deeper colour which often crumbled readily away from the wood, forming spontaneously the splendid patterns of wear which so excite the eye. Stradivari was also active with a change in design, the introduction of the ‘Long Strad’, whose outlines preoccupied him all through the 1690s. With this increased length he doubtless sought to introduce some of the tonal qualities of the old Brescian makers, whose violins offered a darker sound than those of the Cremonese, combined with extra strength of response. These elegant violins, representing a huge improvement on everything that had gone before, are not always as well appreciated for their tone as perhaps they should be.
In 1698 Stradivari's first wife died, and in the following year he married Antonia Zambelli Costa, who bore him five more children, including Paolo (b 26 Jan 1708; d 14 Oct 1775). By this time Francesco was fully occupied in the workshop; Omobono was often attending to business affairs unconnected to violin making. It is rare at any period but the very last to find an instrument made by either brother without their father's participation. Both sons were completely dominated by Antonio: they most likely carried out the rough work and were only occasionally allowed to complete a cheaper order, using an inferior grade of maple or beechwood. Many of these types of instrument were given a ‘sotto la disciplina’ label, indicating that they were made under the auspices of Antonio but not by him.
The period from about 1700 to 1720 (the ‘golden’ period to most writers) shows the ultimate development of Stradivari's powers, with the highest pinnacle being reached in about 1715. The gradual adoption of a broader, squarer-looking centre bout saw out the last noticeable sign of Amati's influence, and the varnish took on the ultimate, now well-known orange brown colour. These developments were complemented by magnificently flamed maple backs, in one and two pieces, so that the appearance of the whole leaves nothing to be desired. So it is too with the tone, for in these instruments there is incredible richness and ease of response, with an ample reserve of power. Outstanding examples are far too numerous to list comprehensively, though no account of Stradivari could fail to note the ‘Betts’ (1704), the ‘Alard’ (1715) and the ‘Messiah’ (1716), and that most of the world’s finest artists have preferred these violins for two centuries. The ‘Betts’, one of Stradivari's greatest achievements, was bought by John Betts for only £1; in excellent condition, it is now in the Library of Congress, Washington, DC (seeViolin, fig.12b). The ‘Alard’ is regarded by Hill and others as marginally the finest Stradivari in existence. The ‘Messiah’ remained in Antonio's family for a long time after his death, and was passed in perfect condition to the collector-dealerLuigi Tarisio by Countignazio alessandro Cozio di salabue, who had bought it and several other of Antonio's violins in 1775–6 from Paolo, Antonio's last surviving son. The ‘Messiah'’s next purchaser, jean baptiste Vuillaume, unfortunately modernized the violin, replacing the original bass-bar and fingerboard and lengthening the neck. It is still the most perfectly preserved Stradivari, looking almost new (although some scholars continue to question its authenticity; see Pollens, 1999). It is now in the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford (seefig.2).
At the turn of the century Stradivari began to direct his inventive mind towards the problems of the cellist. Previously his cellos had been exclusively large: all but one out of 35 or so have now had their dimensions reduced. Maggini had made some smaller cellos, and the last quarter of the 17th century saw Cremonese and other Italian makers doing likewise, facilitating the emergence of a new breed of virtuoso cellist. Stradivari's first concessions to this trend came in 1699–1700, but between about 1707 and 1710 he designed and made a smaller model of cello, known as the ‘forma B’, which has served as a model for almost every maker since the beginning of the 19th century. His achievement with this numerically small series of instruments (only about 20 survive) is no less than that with the violins. They have an extraordinary quality of sound that carries through a hall even when played pianissimo, and have an immediate response and swelling power. The sound projects forward from the instrument in such a way that the player is at first not aware how much volume he can produce. In the last ten years of his life Stradivari narrowed his outline to produce a cello with similar proportions to those of the ‘Long Strad’ violins. Another model retained the width but shortened the length. Though excellent instruments, these last creations are not really as satisfactory as the ‘Duport’ (owned by Rostropovich) and its sisters.
Stradivari's achievement with violas is rather less significant, since fewer than a dozen complete examples are now known. It is curious that he should have made so few, for no-one doubts the greatness of those that are still heard. Most of these are alto violas built on the model Stradivari created about 1690 for the Medici court, slightly over 40 cm in length. Only one tenor viola survives, the stunning specimen now in Florence, also made in 1690 for the Medici: its body length is 47.6 cm.
Stradivari also made a large variety of other stringed instruments, principally plucked ones, however only one harp, a mandolin and a few guitars survive (for illustration, seeGuitar, fig.9). Stradivari's original designs for viols, lutes, mandolins, guitars and other instruments are now in the Museo Stradivariano in Cremona, together with patterns and moulds for instruments of the violin family and many of his tools. All of the workshop materials were bought en bloc, along with the violins mentioned above, by Cozio di Salabue. Later, the majority of these relics passed to the Marquis Della Valle who sold them in 1920 to the violin maker Giuseppe Fiorini, who in turn donated them to the city of Cremona. Six of the wooden moulds which had been part of Cozio's collection are today in the Musée de la Musique, Paris.
After 1720 Stradivari seems to have been less easily able to obtain the most handsome maple. Wood of local origin predominates from this date to 1730. There can have been no slowing down in production, and players are at least as well served by these later violins. There are few signs of Stradivari's old age until after 1730, though almost to the end his craftsmanship was superb. In the last year of his long life he was still supervising the activity of the workshop. After his death, control of the business passed to his son Francesco.
Stradivari's work was copied from the first, but not until the end of the 18th century did it begin to achieve the extraordinary ascendancy that it enjoys today over that of Amati and Stainer. To follow his pattern was one thing, but in the 19th century the art of imitation was developed, particularly in France and England, and many forgeries were constructed, sometimes of a very high quality. Today hundreds of thousands of inferior factory-made instruments bear copies of Stradivari's label. Most of them were made at the end of the 19th century for sale through music shops, with no intent to deceive. These turn up in attics all over the world, providing for their owners a brief period of ecstatic anticipation, but their similarity to the real thing is minimal to a trained eye.
Much has been written of Stradivari's varnish and the loss of its recipe. The influence of varnish on the quality and carrying power of violin tone is considerable. A varnish which, when completely dry, has a hard consistency generally causes an instrument to produce a hard, glassy sound with a limited range of tone-colour. A thick, heavy, oily coating inhibits the wood’s vibrations in a different way and is equally unsatisfactory. Somewhere between the two is a varnish that dries to the point of forming a light, delicate, elastic skin but no further. This is the characteristic of most old Italian varnish, and that used by Stradivari and certain of his contemporaries seems to represent the ideal.
The varnish, which has defied so many attempts at analysis and rediscovery, is only a part of the ‘secret’ of Stradivari. He succeeded in all branches of the violin maker's art, given the best initial training, as fine a hand and eye as it is possible to have, a comprehending and inventive mind, and a long working life in a superior artistic environment. His understanding of design and structure was probably unique, at least until the emergence of Guarneri ‘del Gesù’, and the remarkable appearance and effect of his best varnish is but one more triumph of his genius.
(b Cremona, 1 Feb 1671; d Cremona, 11 May 1743). Violin maker, eldest son of (1) Antonio Stradivari. Although only a handful of his instruments still bear their original labels, he was nevertheless a highly important maker, though perhaps less spontaneous and confident than his father. He was his father's right-hand man for over 50 years, during which time he assisted in the building and occasionally the design of a wide variety of bowed and plucked instruments. He was perhaps responsible for the modification of the ‘forma B’ cello, about 1730, and was the author of the drawing used for a further modification of the same model, called the ‘forma B piccola’. Antonio's models for mandolins were also slightly modified by Francesco. His most distinguished violin is the ‘Ex-Salabue’ of 1742.
(b Cremona, 14 Nov 1679; d Cremona, 9 June 1742). Violin maker, son of (1) Antonio Stradivari. While still a young man he travelled to Naples, perhaps in pursuit of a career outside violin making. He made violins intermittently after 1700, and a great deal of his time was taken up with social acitivities unrelated to the family workshop. The most well travelled of the Stradivaris, as a young man he spent a long period in Naples. Later in life he was on familiar terms with Tomaso Vitali, the leading violinist at Modena. Nevertheless, Omobono did build a recognizable number of violins which though not up to high artistic standards of his father and brother, are highly appreciated for their acoustic qualities.