As a 290-year-old violin is auctioned for Pounds 8.75m, AndyMcSmith celebrates the most famous brand in musical instrument-making
One of the most valuable objects ever constructed out of sprucewood and sheep gut set off a concerto of mouse clicks yesterday asbidders around the world competed in an internet auction for what isknown as the "Mona Lisa" of musical instruments.
The Lady Blunt Stradivarius violin is already a record breakerthat caused of gasps of astonishment on the last two occasions itwas up for sale because of the prices it fetched. This time, themoney raised - a whopping 8.75m - will go to relieving victims ofthe Japanese earthquake and tsunami.
Jason Price, director of the Tarisio auction house whichorganised yesterday's sale, made the comparison to Leonardo'smasterpiece, but to the inexperienced eye the violin is, at firstglance, unimpressive. Other violins made by the Italian mastercraftsman, Antonio Stradavari, who died in 1737, aged over 90, bearthe marks of the hands that have held them, the bows that havescraped them and the chins under which they have rested. But theLady Blunt looks almost new, because it has rarely been played,which is part of the explanation for its exceptional value. In 1971,it sold at Sotheby's for what was then a record-shattering sum for aviolin of 84,000. In 2008, the Nippon Music Foundation bought it ina private sale for $10m (6.2m).
Until yesterday, the highest figure reached for a violin at anauction was $3.6m for another Stradivarius, known as the Molitor,sold by the same auction house.
Any genuine Stradivarius instrument is worth a six-figure sum atthe very least, but the Lady Blunt is exceptional even among theserarities because its original varnish still shimmers and the marksof Stradivari's tools are still visible on the body.
The concert violinist Itzhak Perlman, who plays the onlymarginally less valuable "Soil" Stradavari, said: "I remember beinginitially very unimpressed by the way it looked because - I meanthat as a compliment - it looks like a brand new violin. Then yourealise, '1721, oh my God!'"
The only other Stradivarius in such pristine condition is theMessiah, made in 1716, which is kept in the Ashmolean Museum inOxford. The two instruments were photographed side by side thismonth, as part of the build-up to the sale of the Lady Blunt.
The 290-year-old instrument is named after an English aristocrat,Anne Blunt, famous in her lifetime as an explorer and horsebreederas well as being an accomplished musician. Just before her death in1917, she inherited the title Baroness Wentworth through her mother,daughter of the poet Byron. She bought the violin from her teacher,the French violin maker Jean Baptiste Vuillaume. It has passedthrough the hands of several other collectors, all of whom havetreated it with exemplary care.
Antonio Stradivari, who was born around 1644, made some 1,100violins, violas, cellos, and guitars. About 650 of theseinstruments, including 450 violins, survive. There is a much largernumber of instruments bearing his name which were not made by himand are not as valuable. The genuine Stradavari have a Latininscription and a date, and are so rare that the whereabouts ofevery one is known, except for one instrument worth 1.2m stolen byopportunist theives in a coffee shop on Euston Station six monthsago.
A very small number are owned by the virtuosos who play them,because there are not many musicians who can afford the price. Mostbelong to museums or societies such as the Nippon Music Foundationor the Stradivari Society in Chicago. Others are held by privatecollectors, some of whom will lend them to professional performers.
No one knows why these violins constructed in a workshop inCremona, Italy, three centuries ago have their exceptionally richsound, which has never been duplicated. The master made carefulcalculations as he worked out the perfect shape for the instrument,the size of the soundholes, the height of the bridge, etc, eachinstrument uniquely sculpted by hand and ear. It has also beensuggested that his secret was in the varnish he used.
Two US scientists who examined the Messiah noted the unusualnarrowness of the rings in the spruce wood. This was attributable tothe cold weather during the 70 years up to 1715, resulting from aperiod of low sunspot activity known as the Maunder Minimum. Thescientists suggested that these narrow rings could be the cause ofthe unique Stradivarius sound, a hypothesis that so outraged certainviolin makers that the authors were subjected to threatening phonecalls.
Parting with the Lady Blunt will be a wrench for the staff of theNippon Music Foundation, because it is the single most valuable oftheir large collection of instruments. Its president, Kazuko Shiomi,said: "Each of the instruments in our collection is very dear to us.However, the extent of the devastation facing Japan is very seriousand we feel that everyone and every organisation should make somesacrifice for those affected by this tragedy."
MUSICAL PERFECTION
Molitor, 1697 (left)
Named after Gabriel Molitor, one of Napoleon Bonaparte'sgenerals, it sold for $3.6m (2.2m) at the Tarisio auction house inNew York last October.
Lady Tennant, 1699 (above)
The Scottish industrialist Charles Tennant bought this in 1900 asa present for his wife. In April 2005, it was sold at auction formore than 1m to an anonymous bidder, who allowed Yang Liu to performon it at the Kennedy Centre in Washington, DC two months later.
Viotti, ex-Bruce, 1709 (below)
Named after the Italian violinist Giovanni Battista Viotti,right, who died in London in 1824, and its last private owner, JohnBruce. In September 2005, it was bought by the Royal Academy ofMusic for 3.5m.
Viotti, 1709, left
Confusingly, Viotti owned two Stradivarius violins, both made inthe same year. The other was bought after he died, by the Duke ofCambridge for 152. In 1988, it was sold at auction for 473,000, to aBrazilian who sold it on to the Chi Mei Foundation.
Soil, 1714 (below)
Once owned by the Belgian industrialist Amde Soil (pronounced"swahle"). Bought in 1950 by Yehudi Menuhin, right, who sold it in1986 to Itzhak Perlman for about 600,000. It also appears in apopular video game.
Earl Spencer, 1723, left
Named after Princess Diana's great-grandfather the 6th EarlSpencer, above. The family sold it at auction in 1977. This was theinstrument 22-year-old Nicola Benedetti used to perform VaughanWilliams's The Lark Ascending at the Proms last year. It is reckonedto be worth 2m.
Solomon, ex-Lambert, 1729 (below)
Named after Murray Lambert, one of the few female professionalviolinists of her time, and Seymour Solomon, who bought it at anauction for 17,500 after her death in 1972. Sold at auction atChristie's New York in April 2007 for 1.38m.
... AND BITTERSWEET SYMPHONIES
The internationally acclaimed Min-Jin Kym put down her 314-year-old Stradivarius, valued at 1.2m, while she bought a sandwich andcoffee at Pret a Manger, at Euston station on 29 November last year.It was snatched by a gang of thieves, who tried to sell it in aninternet caf the next day for 100. The three thieves were latercaught, but the violin has not been recovered.
The virtuoso David Garrett paid 510,000 in 2003 for a 1772 violinmade by an alumnus of Stradivarius. In December 2007, he felldownstairs, landing on his violin case, and smashed the instrument,by now worth an estimated 2.5m. Repairs were expected to cost around80,000.
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