STRADIVARIUS AND CREMONA

Antonio Stradivari is the most famous violin-maker in the world. He was born in Cremona in 1644 (according to others, he was born some years later). His father was Alessandro Stradivari and her mother Anna Moroni. At the very beginning he worked for the architect Francesco Pescaroli and, from 1667 to 1679, he was a student of Nicola Amati. At that time, he got married with Francesca Ferraboschi (a widow who was eight years older than him) and he moved to Contrada Magistra, in the centre of Cremona. The marriage was combined. In effect, at that time being a widow was a very bad condition for a woman; in that specific case, Francesca was even pregnant and, for this reason, she absolutely had to find a husband. The marriage with Antonio Stradivari, however, was an happy marriage and they had five children. At the very beginning they had some economic problems and in this period Stradivari started his activity as violin-maker. Then, more or less in 1680, he opened a workshop with his sons Omobono and Francesco (and some students of his) in San Domenico Square, where he built the majority of his instruments.

After the death of Nicola Amati, in 1684, he became the most important violin-maker in Cremona. After the first period of his production (called “Amati period”), at the beginning of the 18th Century, he made some of his most famous instruments, like  Hellier”, i “Toscano” and the  viola “Medicea”. After the death of Francesca Ferraboschi in 1698, he got married with Antonia Zambelli and they had five children.

From the beginning he had changed the models of his teacher, changing the shape, the “f” holes, the roundeness and the thickness of the instruments. Probably, he was the first violin-maker who studied the possibility to change the inclination of the neck. Till that moment, the neck had been simply leant on the ribs and fixed with three nails (baroque method), but these instruments could be appreciated only in small rooms. With the modern music, that was played in theatres, it was decided to give more tension to the strings to increase the sound’s power. For this reason, it was necessary to tilt more the neck and and block it in the upper block. It was, then, necessary to lengthen the bass bar and the fingerboard choosing for it a stronger wood, the ebony. 
It was born the modern violin!

In this way were made the great Stradivari violins like “Betts” (1704),”Ernst”, “Greffhùle” (1709), il “Parke” (1711), il “Boissier”, “Sancy” (1713), “Cremonese” (ex “Joachim”, 1715), “Messia” (1716), “Canto del Cigno” (1737). In every violin of his it is written in Latin: Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis Faciebat Anno [date] (Antonio Stradivari Cremonese built it in …).
His best violins were made from 1698 to 1725. He reached his best moment from 1725 to 1730. After the year 1730 several violins made by Antonio Stradivari have in the label the words “Sub disciplina Stradivarii”, probably because they were made by his sons. Besides violins, violas and cellos, Stradivari made also harps, guitars, lutes and theorbos; it is said he made more than 1100 musical instruments.

Antonio Stradivari was expert in recognizing the best wood form the acoustic point if view. He personally went to Val di Fiemme (one of the best place in the world, famous for its wood) to choose the best trees. Some experts said that the excellent quality of the instruments was due to a mix of potassium calcium silicate he used to prepare the wood; according to other studies, a second reason that explains the high value of his production  is that in that period, called “small ice age”, the trees grew up in a healthy way and with regular rings. In this way Stradivari had the possibility to use wood without imperfections while today, because of the irregular climate, we can not count on perfect wood.

Antonio Stradivari died on the 18th of December 1737, some moths after his second wife.
They were both buried in San Domenico Cahedral, that was built in the public gardens in  Roma Square and where there is a gravestone with his name.

His sons Francesco and Omobono kept working in the workshop with Carlo Bergonzi. Other students of his were Domenico Montagnana, Alessandro Gagliano, Lorenzo Guadagnini.

Out of 1100 instruments he made, 650 are now considered his personal works and they are now appreciated as the best strings ever made. The violins that are perfectly stored (more or less 50) are played by the best violin players in the world and they have an incredible value. Only Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù can boast the same reputation among the musicians and the collectors.

The highest price for a Stradivari was 1.790.000 pounds (more than 3,4 millions of euros) paid for “The Hammer” at Christie’s in London, in 2006.

The main collection of Stradivari’s violins, that is made up of two violins, two cellos and one viola is owned by the King of Spain and it is stored now in the Royal Palace in Madrid. In the U.S. Library of Congress there is a collection of three violins, one viola and one cello.

 

Periods of production

The first period is from 1666 to 1680 and the style is extremely similar to the one of Nicolò Amati. The instruments have the label “Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis alunnum Nicolò Amati”, but it is possible to detect also a similarity with the work of Ruggeri (for example in Crysbi).

The second period is from 1680 to 1690, better defined as “Amati” period because it has the characteristics typical of all the Amati family. The models in these years are round, the violins are bigger in comparison with the previous period and are produced the first bigger cellos, with the “A” shape that are 79cm long, like the Mediceo Duport.

After the death of his teacher, Stradivari changed the lines of his instruments and the varnished used that became darker and reddish as in the violin “1685″.

The third period, that is from 1690 to 1700, is characterized by the long instruments that can be even 36cm. Long. The “C” holes are less round and longer and the edges get unciform while the black get thicker. The “f” holes are larger and more refined. He used a quite fragile varnish that can be easily broken. The instruments’ sound changed, it became darker in comparison with Amati’s style. In these years he planned the definitive shape of the viola he would built for several years.

The fourth period is called the “golden age”. In this period were built the most expensive violins like cremonese 1715, Messia, Tiziano, Soil and the cello Servais.

In 1700 his son Francesco started to work in the father’s workshop. It this phase were used unique and wonderful kinds of wood. The intervention of the son Francesco is quite evident: the varnish gets reddish and the wood is prepared with silicate. The purfling gets even bigger in the cellos 25-7-25. The sound is excellent.

In the fifth period, that is from 1720 to 1736, Francesco worked almost alone to the instruments and, in fact, the production got decisively worse. (From the site http://www.elisabettagiordano.com/stradivari.html)

Violin’s Museum in Cremona: