Chris on Stradivarius

Antonio Stradivarius (Chris Graham)

Antonio Stradivari, or Stradivarius, was born in 1644 in Cremona Italy. There is little known about his childhood, however, based on documentation found along with his instruments, historians can accurately place his birth around that time. His family had been established in the town for nearly five centuries. Cremona was most known for being a town home to extraordinary violin makers, its most notable artist being Niccolo Amanti, a third-generation master violin maker. Antonio was probably apprenticed to him by the early 1660’s. By the late 1660’s he had formed a business of his own and was making instruments of his own design. He continued to follow Amanti’s mentorship until the man’s death in 1684. In the years prior, Stradivari had created a wide variety of stringed instruments, including guitars, harps, lutes, and mandolins.

Stradivari and his family moved to a new house in 1680, which became his workshop for the remainder of his life. Here, he would work on new ways to perfect his craft, moving away from his old mentor’s style and forming new, more solid-looking, pieces made of new materials and finishes. Stradivari’s violins rapidly gained a powerful following both in and outside of Cremona. Upon Amanti’s death in 1684, Stradivari had become the new most famed violin maker in the city.

Despite his wide renown, Stradivari was constantly looking for new and better ways to make his instruments. He created a fuller, deeper tone than any of the other instrument makers in Cremona had ever been able to achieve. He only took a leave of absence in 1698 when his first wife passed away. He remarried the following year. In total, Stradivari had eleven children.

Between the years of 1700 and 1720, Stradivari entered what is known as his “Golden Period”. This was the time during which he perfected his design and created what is almost universally accepted as the finest stringed instruments of the time. his choices of wood and varnish would give some of his pieces almost an identity of their own. Some of the most famous include the 1704 "Betts" violin, now in the United States Library of Congress; the 1715 "Alard," which is considered the finest Stradivarius in existence; and the 1716 "Messiah," an instrument that Stradivari never sold and is now in the best condition of any of his surviving pieces.

Stradivari continued to produce instruments until his death in 1737. The number produced began to rapidly dwindle and his work began to show the tell-tale signs of an aging craftsman. Only a precious few remain known today. His work is considered by many to be the finest example of instrument making in the past few hundred years. His pieces, when they do come up for sale which is seldom, consistently bring in the high seven figures. A viola recently put up on offer was entered with a minimum bid of 45 million dollars.

http://www.notablebiographies.com/St-Tr/Stradivari-Antonio.html