Three centuries have passed since the death of the great Italian string business master Antonio Stradivari, and the secret to the manufacture of his instruments has not been revealed. The sound of the violins made by him, like the singing of an angel, lifts the listener to heaven.
Youth of Stradivarius
As a child, Antonio tried to express in a voice what was hidden in his heart, but the boy didn’t do very well, and people simply mocked him. The strange child constantly carried with him a small penknife, with the help of which he carved various wooden figures. The boy’s parents wished him a cabinetry career. At eleven, Stradivari learned that the famous Nicolo Amati, who was considered the best violin master in all of Italy, lives in their hometown of Cremona. Antonio loved music, so the choice of profession was obvious. The boy became a student of Amati.
Carier start
In 1655, Stradivarius was just one of the many students of the master. Initially, his duties included delivering messages to the milkman, the butcher, and the suppliers of the tree. The teacher, of course, shared his secrets with the guys, but the most important ones, thanks to which the violin had a unique sound, told only to the eldest son, because it was, in fact, a family craft. The first serious thing for the young Stradivarius was the manufacture of strings, which he made from the veins of lambs, the best were obtained from 7-8 months old animals. The next mystery was the quality and variety of wood. The fir trees grown in the Swiss Alps were considered the most suitable tree for making the upper part of the violin, the lower part was made of maple. The first Stradivarius violin was created by him at 22 years old. Antonio carefully honed his skills with each new tool, but still worked in a foreign workshop.
Short-lived happiness
Stradivarius opened his own business only at the age of 40, but the Stradivarius violin was still a semblance of his teacher’s instruments. At the same age, he married Francesca Ferrabochi, she gave him five children. But the master’s happiness was short-lived, because a plague came to their city. Wife and all five children got sick and died. Even the Stradivarius violin was no longer pleasing, out of desperation, he almost did not play and did not make instruments.
Back to life
After the epidemic, one of his students knocked at the house of Antonio Stradivari with sad news. The boy’s parents died, and he could not learn from the master due to lack of funds. Antonio felt sorry for the young man and took him to his house, later adopting. Once again, Stradivarius felt a taste of life, he wanted to create something extraordinary. Antonio decided to create unique, unlike the others in sounding violins. Dreams of the master came true only at the age of sixty. The Stradivarius violin had a flying unearthly sound that no one can still reproduce.
Legends
The mystery and unearthly beauty of the sound of the master's violins gave rise to all kinds of gossip, it was rumored that the old man had sold his soul to the devil, and that he created the tools from the wreckage of Noah’s ark. Although the reason lay in a completely different way: incredible hard work and love for his creations.
The cost of an unusual tool
The Stradivarius violin, whose price during the lifetime of the master was 166 Cremona lira (about 700 US dollars), now costs about 5 million dollars. If you look from the point of view of value for art, then the works of the master are priceless.
How many Stradivarius violins are left on the planet
Antonio was an incredible workaholic, a genius created tools until his death in 93 years. Stradivarius created up to 25 violin instruments a year. Modern best craftsmen make manually no more than 3-4 pieces. In total, the maestro made about 2500 violins, violas, cellos, but only 630-650 instruments, most of which are violins, have survived to our time.