KEY POINTS:
Why are we asking this question now?
An anonymous bidder has created a sensation in the world of classical music by paying $3.8 million for a Stradivarius violin, the second highest price paid at an auction for a musical instrument. This was about twice its estimated worth,
but the buying agent, Ric Heinl, was convinced it was a bargain.
Classical music has extended from being a Western preoccupation to reach a worldwide audience, pushing up the prices of the finest instruments, especially those with the venerated Stradivarius label.
In June 1995, a British woman who wanted a Stradivarius for her 10-year-old daughter bought one for a little over £300,000. In 1998, a Stradivarius auctioned at Christie's was sold for £440,000. Seven years later, a similar instrument, the Lady Tennant, fetched more than £1 million.
Last May, another Stradivarius was snapped up for £1.8 million. One of the finest Stradavaris, the Viotti, was bought in 2005 for the British nation by a private and public consortium for £3.5 million.
There is no record of the birth of Antonio Stradivari. Who was he?
He was a child apprentice working in Cremona under Nicolo Amati, whose family were renowned violin-makers. By 1666, the apprentice had learned enough to put his name, in its Latin form Stradivarius, on the labels of instruments. In 1680, he opened his own workshop in the Piazza S. Domenico, where he lived and worked until his death in December 1737, when he is thought to have been 93 years old. No one has ever significantly improved on the instruments Stradivari designed. He is, perhaps, the most revered craftsman in history.
How many instruments did the great man make?
Around 1100 violins, violas, cellos, and guitars. About 650, including 450 violins, survive. The so-called Soloman, ex-Lambert that sold at Christie's in New York this week, is dated 1729, which means it was made after Stradivari's Golden Period, which is reckoned to have come to an end around 1720. If it had been a decade older, it would be worth more.
There are, however, a larger number of instruments with the Stradivarius label that were not created by the man himself, and are not as valuable. Antonio Stradivari had two sons, Francesco and Omobono, who worked with him, but were allowed only to complete cheaper instruments made from inferior wood.
After his death, and particularly in the 19th century, vast numbers of "Stradivarius" violins were made in England and France, there being no copyright on the name. This was not deliberate fraud, but it has meant that there are hundreds of thousands of fake Stradivarius violins around. Occasionally, one turns up in an attic, giving a family a day of false euphoria.
How do you tell a genuine Stradivarius?
Ask an expert, but one common giveaway is the label. The real items have a Latin inscription, and a date. Some have a "sotto la disciplina" label, meaning they were made under his supervision but not by him. But the real ones are sufficiently few that their whereabouts are known, and each has its distinctive history and a special name.
The one sold at Christie's was owned in the 1920s and 1930s by Murray Lambert, one of the few female professional violinists of that time. When she died, it was sold in an auction for £17,500 to Seymour Solomon, an amateur violinist and co-founder of Vanguard records. Hence its name, the Solomon ex-Lambert.
Who owns the others?
There have been a small number of musicians skilled enough and rich or well-connected enough to perform on their own Stradivaris. In 1950, Yehudi Menuhin bought the 1714 Soil Stradivari, which he sold in 1986 to Itzhak Perlman for around £600,000. But most of the instruments are in the hands of wealthy collectors or public institutions.
The Earl Spencer is named after Princess Diana's grandfather, the 6th Earl Spencer. In 1887, he married a member of the Baring banking family, and his bride was given the violin as a wedding present. The 7th Earl, Diana's father, auctioned it at Christie's in 1977. It is now used by Scottish violinist Nicola Benedetti.
The Chicago-based Stradivari Society owns about 20 instruments, worth more than $40 million which it loans to performers.
Perhaps the most famous of Stradivari's cellos is the 1712 Davidoff, which was bought by an anonymous benefactor in 1964 as a gift for the teenage cellist Jacqueline du Pre, who died in 1987.
What is the secret of Stradivari's violins?
It is still a mystery why they should sound so perfect, and why no one has been able to duplicate it. We know the master made very careful calculations as he worked out the perfect shape for the instrument, the size of the soundholes, the height of the bridge - each instrument was uniquely sculpted by hand and ear. It has also been suggested his secret was in the varnish. One violin, the 1716 Messiah, was examined by two US scientists, Lloyd Burkle and Henri Grissino-Mayer, who noted the unusual narrowness of the rings in the spruce wood. This was attributable to the unusually cold weather during the 70 years up to 1715.
The scientists put forward the idea that these narrow rings could be the cause of the unique sound. This hypothesis so outraged certain violin-makers that the authors received threatening phone calls.
Last year, a team at a Swedish University set itself the task of creating a violin as perfect as a Stradivarius. Instead of trying to assemble it part by part, they created a computer model and tinkered with it to test the sound. Even if that does not work, it is probable that eventually someone will accurately replicate a Stradivarius.
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