Antonio Stradivari: a Surmountable Myth?

Abstract

Over the last 300 years, the name of Antonio Stradivari has been recognized as an excellence in the world of violin making, an expression of Italian genius in applied art. This myth has caused the prices of the few remaining instruments to rise, leaving the vast majority of concert performers without them. The research questions we will answer are: after so much time, what is the state of research on the original instruments? Will we ever be able to use our discoveries to produce, at reasonable costs, new instruments that replicate the same characteristics, and perhaps improve them? In other words, can the myth of Stradivari be overcome? We will start from the current analysis of the problem, addressing its economic, social and artistic implications. We will then examine the current state of the numerous researches already carried out on the instruments of the Great Cremonese and the discoveries now confirmed. Subsequently, we will examine the results of the studies on the construction techniques of Stradivari and we will indicate which experiments tend to demonstrate whether or not their acoustic qualities have already been surpassed by new instruments. Finally, after having examined the acoustic results offered by the new materials applied to both instruments and bows, we will dedicate a final look to a State School of violin making, an example of how a new generation of violin makers is already being formed today.