Review: Stradivarius by Toby Faber (original) (raw)

Stradivarius: Five Violins, One Cello and a Genius
by Toby Faber
288pp, Macmillan, £17.99

Toby Faber notes a strange phenomenon, one with which I'm familiar. I am myself a violinist, and while carrying my instrument home on the bus, I too sometimes get asked in a jokey way: "Is that a Stradivarius?" It is proof that Stradivarius is synonymous with instrument-making and that he has become an international household name. This is pretty rare in most walks of life, but especially so within the small, specialised world of classical music. More than 250 years after his death in 1737, Antonio Stradivarius is still one of the most influential craftsman ever to have lived.

My English violin dates from the 1860s. As there is no record of its genealogy, it is romantic to think of the people who have played it before me. There is a quote from the great violinist Ivry Gitlis on the front page of this book: "I have a violin that was born in 1713. It was alive long before me and I hope it lives long after me. I don't consider it as my violin. Rather I am perhaps its violinist; I am passing through its life." Stradivarius made over 1,000 instruments, 600 of which are known to have survived, including two guitars and a very ornamental harp. Faber traces the lives of five of the most important violins - the Lipinski, the Viotti, the Messiah, the Paganini and the Khevenhuller - and of one cello, the Davidov (now played by Yo Yo Ma). Faber follows these instruments from the time of Stradivarius's contemporary Corelli to the 20th century and artists like Yehudi Menuhin, and on to their present-day owners. He asks how these instruments can be so loved, coveted and cloaked in mystery; why they are still the ultimate tools of the trade; whether there is a secret recipe in their making; why they have become so valuable as to be almost unobtainable; and whether it is possible for a musical instrument to be a work of art.

The language that many players of Strads have used is revealing. The sound "was so focused, it was like a 'laser beam' " (Thomas Bowes, 1990, on the Viotti). "It is perfection and must be played to perfection" (Menuhin on the Khevenhuller).

The violinist and teacher Tartini (born in Pirano in 1692) was possibly the first owner of the Lipinski violin, which was constructed in 1715 at the peak of Stradivarius's output. Like those of other figures in the book, Tartini's story draws the reader in with the impact of a historical novel. Tartini gave it to his pupil, Signor Salvini, in 1818, who subsequently passed it on to its eponymous owner. Salvini asked Lipinski to play to him. After he had done so, Salvini told him to return the next day. Before Lipinski had unfolded his music, Salvini said, "Please give me your violin." Lipinski did as he was asked. "I was amazed to see him strike it with all his might on the edge of the table, on which it fell, smashed to atoms." Salvini then opened a violin case and, taking from it a violin, said to Lipinski, "Try this instrument." The Lipinski, as it later became known, was played for 200 years, which demonstrates its great power, but it has disappeared from sight since its last sale in 1962.

Faber places the violin-maker in his socio-historical context. The Cremonese luthier tradition had been strong for a century before his birth, and had been dominated by Andrea Amati. Amati cannot be credited with inventing the violin. It was "more like a piece of social history than the consequence of one person's brilliance". However, he "established the blueprint" for the modern-style violin, viola and cello, and made the world's earliest surviving violin, dated 1564, now in the Ashmolean Museum.

Stradivarius is not thought to have been apprenticed to Amati but to the woodcarver Francesco Pescaroli, and lived in his house from 1667 to 1680. This may be the key to his supremacy: he may have set himself apart from other luthiers with his woodwork skills. Even his early instruments are well carved, showing skilful purfling (the thin inlay of veneer round the entire edge of an instrument). It is possible that he decorated some of Amati's violins when he was only 13.

The third generation of the Amati dynasty produced the only real competition Stradivarius has ever had, in the form of Giuseppe Guarneri "del Gesu", grandson of Andrea Guarneri, who had been a pupil of Andrea Amati's grandson Nicolo. Their genius, it seems, did have a common factor: they graduated the backs of their violins differently from other Cremonese makers. Some virtuosos enjoy their "wild and earthy" touch, as Menuhin described it, "finding them more tolerant than the sensitive Stradivarius".

Stradivarius had a very long life, working right up until his death at 93, and creating his masterpiece, the Khevenhuller, when he was 90. His career gave him time to experiment. Thus in 1697 he produced the "Long Strads" which have an expanded soundbox and flatter back and belly. He took methodical notes on his experiments, helping his successors , such as the French violin-maker Vuillaume, born in 1798, to make perfect copies. However, these were tonally deficient. This has led to speculation that there is a "secret" ingredient in the materials themselves, such as the varnish. Cremonese varnish was very soft and took a long time to dry, so that 18th-century luthiers moved away from it towards a tougher and quicker-drying solution, not so good for the instruments' acoustics.

Stradivarius was visionary in his decision to rework and increase the power of his soundboxes, which led to them becoming the prototype for the soundboxes of today. Composition was becoming increasingly virtuoso, and he could see that the tonal capacity of Cremonese violins would ultimately be limited.

Faber's fresh narrative style will appeal to many readers, specialists included. His book is not intended to be a musicological treatise, and his account is mainly descriptive. It is full of interesting facts and anecdotes. Some points, however, could have been made in more detail. For instance, Stradivarius's use of the "golden mean" proportions in his internal moulds is given only a fleeting mention, but may be a reason for his dominance. The influential pedagogue Otakar Sevcik is mentioned by name only: the reader might be interested to know that his studies are still compulsory learning for violinists today.

Of the six instruments discussed, only two are now being played: the Davidov and the Paganini. The other four are in museums. Maybe Strads do have a shelf life. After so many hundreds of years, the dealer Charles Beare thinks modern instrument-makers may be catching up. In the UK alone, there is a thriving community. We must watch and see whether someone will rise from the ashes and take on the mantle of Stradivarius. Bowed stringed instruments take so long to mature that rival instruments may already exist.

· Calina de la Mare has been a session violin player for David Gray, George Michael and The Divine Comedy.