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“’Tis God gives skill, but not without men’s hands: He could not make Antonio Stradivari’s violins without Antonio.”
–George Eliot
Antonio Stradivari (1644—1737) was a perfectionist whose single-minded pursuit of excellence changed the world of music. In the course of his long career in the northern Italian city of Cremona, he created more than a thousand stringed instruments; approximately six hundred survive. In this fascinating book, Toby Faber traces the rich, multilayered stories of six of these peerless instruments–five violins and a cello–and the one towering artist who brought them into being.
Blending history, biography, meticulous detective work, and an abiding passion for music, Faber embarks on an absorbing journey as he follows some of the most prized instruments of all time. Mysteries and unanswered questions proliferate from the outset–starting with the enigma of Antonio Stradivari himself. What made this apparently unsophisticated craftsman so special? Why were his techniques not maintained by his successors? How is it that even two and a half centuries after his death, no one has succeeded in matching the purity, depth, and delicacy of a Stradivarius?
In Faber’s illuminating narrative, each of the six fabled instruments becomes a character in its own right–a living entity cherished by artists, bought and sold by princes and plutocrats, coveted, collected, hidden, lost, copied, and occasionally played by a musician whose skill matches its maker’s.
Here is the fabulous Viotti, named for the virtuoso who enchanted all Paris in the 1780s, only to fall foul of the French Revolution. Paganini supposedly made a pact with the devil to transform the art of the violin–and by the end of his life he owned eleven Strads. Then there’s the Davidov cello, fashioned in 1712 and lovingly handed down through a succession of celebrated artists until, in the 1980s, it passed into the capable hands of Yo-Yo Ma.
From the salons of Vienna to the concert halls of New York, from the breakthroughs of Beethoven’s last quartets to the first phonographic recordings, Faber unfolds a narrative magnificent in its range and brilliant in its detail. “A great violin is alive,” said Yehudi Menuhin of his own Stradivarius. In the pages of this book, Faber invites us to share the life, the passion, the intrigue, and the incomparable beauty of the world’s most marvelous stringed instruments.
- Sales Rank: #1261523 in Books
- Published on: 2005-04-05
- Released on: 2005-04-05
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 8.40" h x 1.30" w x 5.80" l,
- Binding: Hardcover
- 288 pages
From Publishers Weekly
One of modern technology's greatest embarrassments is its inability to produce violins with the awesome musical qualities of those made almost 400 years ago by Stradivarius. This engaging appreciation celebrates the maestro's legacy by following the adventures of six of his instruments. Faber, the former managing director of British publishing house Faber and Faber, begins with a short account of Stradivari's life (1644–1737) and methods in the Italian city of Cremona, where violin-making techniques achieved their zenith. As the Cremonese violins passed through the hands of musicians, the instruments' rich tone and penetrating sonic power stimulated a new style of virtuoso violin-playing that held Europe's concert halls enthralled. And as time passed and the violins' value soared, they spawned whole new industries in collecting, appraising, curating and faking them. Faber's stylish account savors Stradivari's marvelous acoustics and the individual personalities of his instruments while exploring the science behind them (X-rays, chemical tests and tree-ring analysis have all been deployed to unlock their secrets) and regaling readers with colorful tales of the musicians who built their careers around them. The result is an illuminating look at an enduring cultural monument. Photos.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
From Booklist
Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), Cremona's greatest luthier, pioneered the modern shape of the violin. Working from designs begun by Nicolo Amati 100 years earlier, Stradivari built sonically superb, exquisitely crafted instruments meant to last. Faber begins with a brief history of Cremona's luthiers, the biography of Stradivari and his sons, who continued his atelier, and a discussion of Stradivari's innovations. Faber then traces the journeys of five violins and one cello through the hands of famous players from Paganini and Joachim to Marie Hall and Yo Yo Ma, and also of famous dealers, such as W. E. Hill of London and Vuillaume of Paris, who often repaired and, more notoriously, copied many instruments, and continuing until their whereabouts today are accounted for. Perforce, Faber concisely covers three centuries of the performance and ownership of what are considered the finest-sounding stringed instruments ever made. Sadly, private collections and museums own many instruments and keep them unheard. Those whose stories Faber tells so are but five of more than 1,000 instruments from Stradivari's workshop. Alan Hirsch
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Advance praise for Stradivari’s Genius
“Toby Faber’s engaging new book on Antonio Stradivari traces the history of a handful of his instruments–their biographies, who played them, where they went–and through it we learn a lot about how violins are made and the music world. It’s fascinating, accessible, and enjoyable reading.”
–Tracy Chevalier, author of Girl with a Pearl Earring
“A captivating book that follows the trail of six of Stradivari’s creations. Like strange totems that cast an irresistible spell, these instruments bring out the best and the worst of those who would own them, and Faber deftly tells the stories in all their rich and surprising detail. Avarice and intrigue compete with generosity and love of music in a drama that Faber brings alive at every turn. An extraordinary accomplishment and a compelling read.”
–Thad Carhart, author of The Piano Shop on the Left Bank
Most helpful customer reviews
27 of 28 people found the following review helpful.
Simply the Best
By Rob Hardy
Quick, name a violin maker. For most people, there is only one name that comes to mind, Stradivarius (or in non-Latin form, Stradivari). It is not so surprising that the name lives on: "More than 250 years after his death, Stradivari's violins and cellos remain the best in the world." So writes Tony Faber in _Stradivari's Genius: Five Violins, One Cello, and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection_ (Random House). The master made more than a thousand instruments and six hundred are documented as still surviving. Faber has chosen six Strads upon which to fasten a story of art, history, and science. He admits they aren't the most celebrated instruments, nor are they all now used by famous players (in fact, only two are being played at all). But in examining them, we get an idea of what makes the brand so special, and why they are so fervently beloved by listeners and players, and sometimes so firmly locked up by museums and collectors that they cannot come out and play.
Stradivari was born in 1644, in or near the Amati family home, Cremona, Italy. He lived to be 93, working all his years, and fathered eleven children, but not a family dynasty of instrument makers. His instruments, mainly violins and cellos, but also a few violas and a single harp, were valued in his own lifetime, and he was wealthy. The instruments were eventually perfect for playing in large halls because of their ability to project their sound. It was as if Stradivari predicted that larger halls and a romantic sound were going to come into permanent fashion. At least partially because of Stradivari, violins have a prominence as the chief instrument of the orchestra. Faber follows the fortunes of five of Stradivari's violins - the _Lipinski_, the _Viotti_, the _Messiah_, the _Paganini_ and the _Khevenhuller_ - and of one cello, the _Davidov_ (now played by Yo Yo Ma). Stradivari didn't name his instruments; they acquired names usually from famous owners. Not the Messiah! The way it got its name is typical of anecdotes in this book. The instruments have all been sold and handed down many times (some of them have holes in their provenance, periods of time when no one knows where they were). The yet-to-be-named _Messiah_ was in possession of a certain dealer, one Luigi Tarisio, a carpenter and violinist who loved instruments from Cremona. He made trips to Paris to sell off parts of his collection (sometimes with "a little judicious forgery," as he was a bit of a trickster), but he teased potential Parisian purchasers by not bringing along what he told them was a perfect 1716 Stradivarius. During one such visit, the violinist Delphin Alard exclaimed in exasperation, "So, your violin is like the Messiah, always expected and it never appears." The name stuck, and the _Messiah_ eventually appeared, of course, but it almost never made a sound. More than any other Strad, its lifetime has included being owned without being played.
That controversy was settled by science, but there has been surprisingly little scientific capacity to answer the big question: What makes these instruments so good? There are lots and lots of theories, and it is worth speculating about, because if there is a secret, it can be followed and instruments of this quality can be made again. Perhaps it is the varnish; no other part of the violin, and of Stradivari's violins in particular, has been argued about so much. Yes, a bad varnish can deaden a violin's sound; but can good varnish actually enhance the tone? And what varnish did Stradivari use? We don't know. Electron microscopy has revealed that there is Pozzolana earth, a volcanic ash, between the wood and the varnish; is it the key? Perhaps it was that the spruce was floated down the river for transportation, a soaking that road transportation subsequently eliminated. Or maybe it was deliberately soaked in salt water. There are, Faber shows, just too many variables to test. Even if test violins could be made to test all variables, they would still have to be played for long enough by good enough players to bring out their tone, and they would have to age fifty or a hundred years. Such requirements mock the capacity of the scientific method. The career of one violin here, the _Lipinski_, demonstrates the need for an answer, though; it was played for two hundred years, and restored, and revarnished, and internally patched. Perhaps all the work was necessary, but the sound understandably diminished, and since its last sale in 1962, it has not been heard from. Violins are machines for making sounds, and like all machines, they wear out, even the finest ones. It is thus fascinating and sad that our technological capacities have not been able to unlock Stradivari's secrets. Centuries later, no one is building instruments better than these, the ones that shaped the world's musical history.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful.
Five Stars
By Grateful
Wonderful book for the artist, wood worker, violinist...
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful.
Lord of the strings
By Eric J. Lyman
Like most people, I had heard of the renowned Stradivarius string instruments, but aside from a vague idea about how well made, rare, and expensive they are, I knew little else about them. If you are in that same category, then author Toby Faber's passionate and well-written Stradivarius: Five Violins, One Cello and a Genius is worth a look..
I didn't say it is a must-read, because any conclusions one draws about these outstanding instruments after reading the book's 300 or so pages comes from a kind of triangulation based on the six chapters, one each about the six best-known examples of violin-maker Antonio Stradivari's work. Each story is compelling in a different way -- my favorite is about the so-called "Messiah," believed to be the only Stradivarius in existence that has never been played -- but the quality of each tale varies a bit.
One of my favorite quotes from the book is from the writer George Eliot. "Tis God [who] gives skill," she wrote, "but not without men's hands ... He could not make Antonio Stradivari's violins without Antonio." Quite an endorsement from a writer not known for hyperbole.
The most interesting theme with a subject like this one is how and why these instruments made with relatively crude technology and tested by Mr. Stradivari's more or less untrained ear during a brief span starting more than 300 years ago have elicited praise like Ms. Eliot's and, according to most experts, have never been equalled in quality. But that important story is told here as much by implication as by intent; I would have liked to have seen more discussion or analysis in this area, perhaps in some kind of concluding or summary chapter.
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