n 1908 a famous Belgian violinist named Eugene Ysaye was on a concert tour in St. Petersburg in Russia. He had with him four Stradivarius violins. One of the Strads was stolen from his hotel room, and was not recovered. In 1951 a soldier in the Korean war found a violin hidden in the wall of a rundown farm house. It was subsequently authenticated as a genuine Stradivarius. Out of such stories as these – which are supposed to be true – has arisen a collectors’ myth. That myth is that you might find an incredibly valuable Strad yourself – hidden away in your attic or basement or perhaps at a yard sale down the block. And many people actually have found violins which carry the name of that master genius of violin-makers, the maestro of Cremona, Antonius Stradivari (whose name some misrepresent as “Stradivarius”). But these people are most often the victims of a cruel, if perhaps unwitting, hoax. Antonio Stradivari was born in 1644 and set up his shop in Cremona, Italy, where he made violins and other stringed instruments (harps, guitars, violas and cellos) until his death in 1737. He took a basic concept for the violin and refined its geometry and design to produce an instrument which has served violin makers ever since as the standard to strive for. His violins sang as none had before them, with a clearer voice and greater volume, and with a pureness of tone which made them seem almost alive in the hands of a great violinist. His was one of three great families of violin makers in Cremona during the 1700s and 1800s, the other two being those of Guarneri and Amati, but Stradivari’s violins have been judged by history to be the best. Two of Stradivari’s sons continued his work after his death. Every Strad was made entirely by hand, with a painstaking care devoted to the selection of woods and even the texture of the finishing varnishes. This was no assembly-line operation, and the best estimates have Antonio producing no more than around 1,100 instruments, including the violins, in his entire lifetime. Of these, an estimated 630 to 650 still survive the more than 250 years since they were made. 512 of these survivors are violins. Many others were destroyed in fires or other accidents, were lost at sea or in floods, and some were destroyed by the fire-bombing of Dresden in World War II. Virtually none are unaccounted for. Today a genuine Strad is worth two to three million dollars. So where did those violins which have turned up in attics and closets all over the world come from? Why would anyone who found one think he had a real Strad? The answer is very simple: copies. Today master violin-makers are using modern science – including the latest scanning devices and digital imaging techniques – to unlock the “secrets” of Stradivari and recreate instruments of his quality.
One Canadian violin-maker, Joseph Curtin, and his American partner, Gregg Alf, created a copy, right down to every scratch and shading of varnish, of a specific instrument known as the Booth Stradivari, which Stradivari made in 1716. It sold at a Sotheby’s auction in 1993 for $42,460 – to a concert violinist. But for close to two centuries much shabbier copies have been made and sold – bearing “Stradivarius” labels. For this reason, the presence of a Stradivarius label in a violin does not mean the instrument is genuine. The usual label – both genuine and false – carries the Latin inscription “Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis Faciebat Anno [date],” which gives the maker (Antonio Stradivari), the place (Cremona), and the year of manufacture, the actual date either printed or handwritten. It was this Latin label which gave the world the name “Stradivarius.” After 1891, when the United States required it, copies might also have the actual country of origin printed in English at the bottom of the label: “Made in Czechoslovakia,” or just “Germany.” Hundreds of thousands of these copies were made in Germany, France, central and eastern Europe, England, China, and Japan, starting in the mid-19th century and continuing into current times – and literally millions exist today. They bear counterfeit labels proclaiming them to be by not only Stradivari but Vuillaume, Amati, Bergonzi, Guarneri, Gasparo da Salo, Stainer, and others. Music shops and mail order houses originally sold these violins at prices which made it plain no deception of the buyer was intended – some were claimed to be “tributes” – they ranged from $8.00 to $27.00 apiece, and were identified in advertisements as “copies” or “models.” But their similarity to the instruments they were copied from is minimal to a trained eye – or ear. While some involved hand-crafting, the vast majority were mass-produced. It was not until 1957 that the words “Copy of” were added to some of the labels. Even today one can find advertisements for a “Stradivarius Violin” which comes “Complete with Decorative Stand and Bow,” and is claimed to be “a wonderful replica of the eminent Stradivarius violin,” designed for displaying “on the wall or atop a bureau or coffee table” for a mere $29.95. Once in a while a real Strad turns up – usually after a theft or accidental loss. In 1967 a 1732 Strad, named for the Duke of Alcantara and owned by UCLA’s Department of Music, was loaned to a member of UCLA’s Roth String Quartet. He apparently either left it on top of his car and drove off, or had it stolen from inside his car. A woman turned up with it in 1994, claiming her former husband’s aunt had given it to her husband, and she had acquired it in a divorce settlement. She said their family lore had it that the aunt had found the violin beside a road. UCLA eventually gave the woman $11,500 to regain the violin and avoid a protracted court fight. So what should you do if you find a violin with a Stradivarius label – or that of any other famous violin maker from centuries ago? You should have it appraised by an expert, and most such experts are members of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers. Expect to pay for the appraisal. The authentication of a violin can be determined only by a careful examination of such factors as the design, model, craftsmanship, wood, and varnish. It’s not hard to separate out the mass-produced violins from the actual hand-made instruments, but it takes a well-trained violin appraiser to be able to attribute the violin to a specific maker or place of manufacture. Don’t expect your find to be genuine. The odds against finding the real thing are slim to none. Nevertheless, you might have a decent violin, and if you can play the instrument, that will be its own reward. Here below, you can have a list with existing original Stradivari instruments. So before you buy one…just double check this list and don’t blive in stories…
VIOLINS:
Sobriquet | Year | Provenance | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
ex-Back | 1666 | Royal Academy of Music | currently displayed as part of Royal Academy’s York Gate Collection | |
Dubois | 1667 | Canimex Foundation | on loan to Alexandre da Costa | |
Aranyi | 1667 | Francis Aranyi (collector) | sold at Sotheby’s London, 12 November 1986 | |
ex-Captain Saville | 1667 | Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume; Captain Saville (1901-1907) |
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Amatese | 1668 | though listed in many reference books as one of Stradivari’s earliest instruments, the modern consensus is that it is not a Stradivari; it was sold Sotheby’s New York 3 February 1982 as “an interesting violin.” | ||
Oistrakh | 1671 | David Oistrakh | Stolen from the Museum of Musical Culture in Russia in May 1996 but recovered in 2001. | |
Sellière | 1672 | Charles IV of Spain | ||
Spanish | 1677 | Finnish Cultural Foundation | on loan to Elina Vähälä | |
Hellier | 1679 | Sir Samuel Hellier | Smithsonian Institution | |
Paganini-Desaint | 1680 | Nippon Music Foundation | this violin along with the Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue violin of 1727, the Paganini-Mendelssohn viola 1731, and Paganini-Ladenburg cello of 1736, compose a group of instruments referred to as the Paganini Quartet; on loan to Kikuei Ikeda of the Tokyo String Quartet | |
1680 | The collection of Mr & Mrs Rin Kei Mei | |||
Fleming | 1681 | |||
Bucher | 1683 | |||
Cipriani Potter | 1683 | |||
Cobbett; ex-Holloway | 1683 | on loan to Sejong brokered by the Stradivari Society | ||
ex-Croall | 1684 | WestLB | ||
ex-Elphinstone | 1684 | |||
ex-Arma Senkrah | 1685 | |||
ex-Castelbarco | 1685 | |||
Goddard | 1686 | Miss Goddard; Antonio Fortunato | ||
Ole Bull | 1687 | Ole Bull (1844); Dr. Herbert Axelrod (1985-1997) |
Donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1997 by Herbert R. Axelrod. Now part of the Axelrod quartet. | |
Mercur-Avery | 1687 | on loan to Jonathan Carney, concertmaster of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra since 2002 | ||
1688 | The collection of Mr & Mrs Rin Kei Mei | |||
Auer | 1689 | on loan to Vadim Gluzman brokered by the Stradivari Society | ||
Arditi | 1689 | Dextra musica AS, Norway | on loan to Elise Båtnes, concertmaster, Oslo Philharmonic | |
Baumgartner | 1689 | Canada Council for the Arts | on loan to Judy Kang | |
Spanish I | 1689 | Patrimonio Nacional, Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain | date range 1687-1689; part of a duo of violins (Spanish I and II) referred to as los Decorados, and los Palatinos; also collectively known as del Cuarteto Real (The Royal Quartet) when included with the Spanish Court viola (1696) and cello (1694). | |
Spanish II | 1689 | Patrimonio Nacional, Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain | date range 1687-1689; part of a duo of violins (Spanish I and II) referred to as los Decorados, and los Palatinos; also collectively known as del Cuarteto Real (The Royal Quartet) when included with the Spanish Court viola (1696) and cello (1694). | |
Bingham | 1690 | |||
Bennett | 1692 | Winterthur-Versicherungen | on loan to Hanna Weinmeister | |
Falmouth | 1692 | on loan to Leonidas Kavakos | ||
Gould | 1693 | George Gould Metropolitan Museum of Art |
bequeathed by Gould to the Metropolitan Museum in 1955 | |
Harrison | 1693 | Richard Harrison; Henry Hottinger; Kyung-wha Chung | in the collection of the National Music Museum | |
Baillot-Pommerau | 1694 | Formerly owned by Arthur Catterall, then by Alfredo Campoli | ||
Rutson | 1694 | Royal Academy of Music | on loan to Clio Gould | |
Fetzer | 1695 | |||
1697 | Edvin Marton | Dima Bilan, together with Evgeni Plushenko, and Edvin Marton playing his Stradivarius, won the Eurovision Song Contest 2008 | ||
Cabriac | 1698 | |||
Baron Knoop | 1698 | one of eleven Stradivari violins associated with Baron Johann Knoop | ||
Joachim | 1698 | Royal Academy of Music | ||
Duc de Camposelice | 1699 | |||
Lady Tennant; Lafont | 1699 | Charles Phillipe Lafont; Marguerite Agaranthe Tennant |
on loan to Xiang Gao brokered by the Stradivari Society; sold at Christie’s auction US$2.032 million, April 2005 | |
Longuet | 1699 | |||
Countess Polignac | 1699 | on loan to Gil Shaham. | ||
Castelbarco | 1699 | Library of Congress | Presented by Gertrude Clarke Whittall | |
Kustendyke | 1699 | Royal Academy of Music | ||
Crespi | 1699 | Royal Academy of Music | ||
The Penny | 1700 | Barbara Penny | ||
Dragonetti | 1700 | Nippon Music Foundation | Formerly owned by Alfredo Campoli | |
Jupiter | 1700 | Giovanni Battista Viotti | ||
Taft; ex-Emil Heermann | 1700 | Canada Council for the Arts | on loan to Renée‑Paule Gauthier | |
Dushkin | 1701 | on loan to Dennis Kim, concertmaster, Seoul Philharmonic Orchestra | ||
Markees | 1701 | Music Chamber | ||
Irish | 1702 | OKO Bank, Finland | on loan to Réka Szilvay | |
Conte de Fontana; ex-Oistrach | 1702 | David Oistrakh (1953-1963); Riccardo Brengola; Pro Canale Foundation | Oistrakh’s first violin; on loan to Mariana Sirbu | |
Lukens; Edler Voicu | 1702 | A.W. Lukens; Jon Voicu; Romania Culture Ministry | on loan to Alexandru Tomescu through 2012 | |
King Maximilian Joseph | 1702 | |||
Lyall | 1702 | |||
Antonio Stradivari | 1703 | Bundesrepublik Deutschland | on exhibit at Musikinstrumentenmuseum, Berlin | |
La Rouse Boughton | 1703 | Österreichische Nationalbank | on loan to Boris Kuschnir of the Kopelman Quartet | |
Lord Newlands | 1702 | Nippon Music Foundation | on loan to Toru Yasunaga | |
Allegretti | 1703 | |||
Alsager | 1703 | |||
Lady Harmsworth | 1703 | Paul Bartel | on loan to Kristof Barati brokered by the Stradivari Society | |
Emiliani | 1703 | Anne-Sophie Mutter | ||
ex-Foulis | 1703 | on loan to Karen Gomyo | ||
Betts | 1704 | U.S. Library of Congress | Presented by Gertrude Clarke Whittall | |
Sleeping Beauty | 1704 | L-Bank Baden-Wurttemberg | on loan to Isabelle Faust. One of the few Stradivari violins to have retained original neck. | |
ex-Marsick; ex-Oistrach | 1705 | David Oistrach | acquired in trade by Oistrach for the 1702 Conte di Fontana | |
“ex-Tadolini” | 1706 | The collection of Mr & Mrs Rin Kei Mei | ||
ex-Brüstlein | 1707 | Österreichische Nationalbank | ||
La Cathédrale | 1707 | |||
Hammer | 1707 | Christian Hammer (collector) | sold at Christie’s New York on 16 May 2006 for a record US$3,544,000 (€2,765,080) after five minutes of bidding | |
Burstein; Bagshawe | 1708 | owned by the Jacobs family, loaned to Jeff Thayer, San Diego Symphony concertmaster | ||
Huggins | 1708 | Nippon Music Foundation | on loan to Sergey Khachatryan | |
Ruby | 1708 | on loan to Chen Xi brokered by the Stradivari Society | ||
Strauss | 1708 | on loan to Chee-Yun brokered by the Stradivari Society | ||
Greffuhle | 1709 | Donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1997 by Herbert R. Axelrod. Now part of the Axelrod quartet. | ||
Berlin Hochschule | 1709 | |||
Hammerle; ex-Adler | 1709 | Österreichische Nationalbank | on loan to Werner Hink | |
Ernst | 1709 | on loan to Zsigmondy Dénes through 2003 | ||
Engleman | 1709 | Nippon Music Foundation | on loan to Lisa Batiashvili | |
King Maximilian; Unico | 1709 | Axel Springer Foundation | on loan to Michel Schwalbé, concert master of the Berlin Philharmonic (1966-1986); reported stolen in 1999 | |
Viotti; ex-Bruce | 1709 | Royal Academy of Music | purchased in 2005 for GB£3.5 million | |
Marie Hall | 1709 | Giovanni Battista Viotti; The Chi-Mei Collection |
named after the violinist, Marie Hall | |
ex-Kempner | 1709 | on loan to Soovin Kim | ||
Camposelice | 1710 | Nippon Music Foundation | on loan to Kyoko Takezawa | |
Lord Dunn-Raven | 1710 | Anne-Sophie Mutter | ||
ex-Roederer | 1710 | on loan to David Grimal. | ||
ex-Vieuxtemps | 1710 | on loan to Samuel Magad, concertmaster, Chicago Symphony Orchestra | ||
the Lady Inchiquin | 1711 | previously owned by Fritz Kreisler | played by Frank Peter Zimmermann, a German banking company, WestLB AG, bought it for his use. | |
Earl of Plymouth; Kreisler | 1711 | Los Angeles Philharmonic | found in store room on the estate of the Earl of Plymouth along with The Messiah and Alard violins in 1925; purchased by Fritz Kreisler in 1928 and subsequently sold by him in 1946 | |
Liegnitz | 1711 | previously owned by Szymon Goldberg | ||
Le Brun | 1712 | Niccolò Paganini; Charles LeBrun; Otto Senn; | sold at Sotheby’s auction 13 November 2001 | |
Karpilowsky | 1712 | Harry Solloway | missing: stolen in 1953 from Solloway’s residence in Los Angeles | |
Schreiber | 1713 | |||
Antonio Stradivari | 1713 | |||
Boissier | 1713 | |||
Daniel | 1713 | on loan to Jhon Paul Reynols | ||
Gibson; ex-Huberman | 1713 | Bronisław Huberman; Joshua Bell |
stolen twice from Huberman | |
Lady Ley | 1713 | Stradivarius family | now bought by Jue Yao – Chinese violinist | |
Wirt | 1713 | |||
Dolphin; Delfino | 1714 | Jascha Heifetz; Nippon Music Foundation |
on loan to Akiko Suwanai | |
Soil | 1714 | Amédée Soil; Yehudi Menuhin; Itzhak Perlman | Subject of the Quest “Agatha’s Song” in the video game Fallout 3. | |
ex-Berou; ex-Thibaud | 1714 | |||
Le Maurien | 1714 | missing: stolen 2002 | ||
Leonora Jackson | 1714 | |||
Sinsheimer; General Kyd; Perlman | 1714 | Itzhak Perlman David L. Fulton | ||
Smith-Quersin | 1714 | Österreichische Nationalbank | on loan to Rainer Honeck | |
Alard-Baron Knoop | 1715 | |||
Baron Knoop; ex-Bevan | 1715 | |||
ex-Bazzini | 1715 | |||
Cremonese; ex-Harold, Joseph Joachim | 1715 | Municipality of Cremona | ||
Duke of Cambridge; Ex-Pierre Rode | 1715 | NPO “Yellow Angel” | on loan to Ryu Goto | |
Joachim | 1715 | Nippon Music Foundation | on loan to Sayaka Shoji | |
Lipinski | 1715 | on loan to Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra concertmaster, Frank Almond | ||
ex-Marsick | 1715 | on loan to James Ehnes | ||
Titian | 1715 | Jacob Lynam | ||
Cessole | 1716 | |||
Berthier | 1716 | Baron Vecsey de Vecse; Franco Gulli | ||
Booth | 1716 | Nippon Music Foundation | on loan to Shunsuke Sato; formerly loaned to Arabella Steinbacher; formerly loaned to Julia Fischer | |
Colossus | 1716 | missing: stolen 1998 | ||
Duranti | 1716 | Mariko Senju | ||
Monasterio | 1716 | Cyrus Forough | ||
Provigny | 1716 | |||
Messiah-Salabue | 1716 | Ashmolean Museum Oxford | on exhibit at the Oxford Ashmolean Museum | |
ex-Windsor-Weinstein; Fite | 1716 | Canada Council for the Arts | on loan to Caroline Chéhadé | |
Baron Wittgenstein | 1716 | The Bulgarian state | on loan to Mincio Mincev since 1979 | |
Gariel | 1717 | |||
ex-Wieniawski | 1717 | |||
Kochanski | 1717 | Pierre Amoyal | reported stolen in 1987; recovered in 1991 | |
Sasserno | 1717 | Nippon Music Foundation | on loan to Viviane Hagner | |
Viotti; ex-Rosé | 1718 | Giovanni Battista Viotti; Österreichische Nationalbank |
on loan to Volkhard Steude | |
Chanot-Chardon | 1718 | Timothy Baker; Joshua Bell |
shaped like a guitar; on loan to Simone Lamsma | |
Firebird; ex-Saint Exupéry | 1718 | Salvatore Accardo | name is taken from the colouration of the varnish and its brilliant sound. | |
Marquis de Riviere | 1718 | Daniel Majeske | played by Majeske while concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra from 1969-1993 | |
San Lorenzo | 1718 | Georg Talbot | on loan to David Garrett, while his Guadagnini is repaired. Initial news reports erroneously stated it was the San Lorenzo he had smashed. | |
ex-Count Vieri” | 1718 | The collection of Mr & Mrs Rin Kei Mei | ||
Lauterbach | 1719 | Johann Christoph Lauterbach; J.B. Vuillaume; Charles Philippe Lafont | ||
Madrileño | 1720 | |||
von Beckerath | 1720 | Michael Antonello | ||
Sinsheimer; Iselin | 1721 | reported stolen near Hanover, Germany in 2008; recovered in 2009. | ||
Lady Blunt | 1721 | Paolo Stradivari | named after Lady Anne Blunt, daughter of Ada Lovelace, granddaughter of Lord Byron. | |
Jean-Marie Leclair | 1721 | Jean-Marie Leclair; | on loan to Guido Rimonda | |
Red Mendelssohn | 1721 | Mendelssohn Family; Elizabeth Pitcairn |
inspiration for the 1998 film The Red Violin | |
The Macmillan | 1721 | On Loan to Ray Chen through Young Concert Artists | ||
Artot | 1722 | |||
Jules Falk | 1723 | Viktoria Mullova | ||
Jupiter; ex-Goding | 1722 | Nippon Music Foundation | on loan to Daishin Kashimoto; formerly Midori Goto | |
Laub-Petschnikoff | 1722 | |||
Elman | 1722 | Chi Mei Museum | ||
Cádiz | 1722 | Joseph Fuchs | on loan to Jennifer Frautschi; named after the city of Cádiz, Spain. | |
Kiesewetter | 1723 | Clement and Karen Arrison | on loan to Philippe Quint brokered by the Stradivari Society Left by Quint in taxi on 21 April 2008, and recovered the following day. | |
Earl Spencer | 1723 | on loan to Nicola Benedetti | ||
Le Sarasate | 1724 | Musée de la Musique, Paris | bequeathed to the Conservatory by Pablo de Sarasate | |
Brancaccio | 1725 | Destroyed in an allied air raid on Berlin. | owned by Carl Flesch, until 1928 where it was sold to Franz von Mendelssohn, banker and amateur violinist | |
Chaconne | 1725 | Österreichische Nationalbank | on loan to Rainer Küchel | |
Leonardo da Vinci | 1725 | Da Vinci family | ||
Wilhelmj | 1725 | Nippon Music Foundation | on loan to Baiba Skride; one of several Stradivari violins with the sobriquet “Wilhelmj” | |
Greville; Kreisler; Adams | 1726 | Fritz Kreisler | ||
Baron Deurbroucq | 1727 | Baron Deurbroucq (The Hague)(1870); Robert Crawford (Edinburgh); W.E. Hill & Sons (1902); Hans Wessely (1903-1926); David D. Walton (Boston) (1926); Emil Herrmann (19??-1945); Fredell Lack (1945-present) |
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Barrere | 1727 | on loan to Janine Jansen brokered by the Stradivari Society | ||
Davidoff-Morini | 1727 | missing: stolen in 1995 | ||
ex-General Dupont | 1727 | Arthur Grumiaux | on loan to Jennifer Koh | |
Holroyd | 1727 | |||
Kreutzer | 1727 | Maxim Vengerov | one of four Stradivari violins with the sobriquet Kreutzer (1701, 1720, 1731) | |
Hart; ex-Francescatti | 1727 | Salvatore Accardo | ||
Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue | 1727 | Nippon Music Foundation | this violin along with the Paganini-Desaint violin of 1680, the Paganini-Mendelssohn viola of 1731, and the Paganini-Ladenburg cello of 1736, compose a group of instruments referred to as the Paganini Quartet; on loan to Martin Beaver of the Tokyo String Quartet | |
Halphen | 1727 | Angelika Prokopp Private Foundation | on loan to Eckhard Seifert | |
Vesuvius | 1727 | Antonio Brosa Remo LauricellaTown of Cremona |
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A. J. Fletcher; Red Cross Knight | 1728 | A. J. Fletcher Foundation | on loan to Nicholas Kitchen of the Borromeo String Quartet; the instrument was made by Omobono Stradivarius | |
Artot-Alard | 1728 | Endre Balogh | a bench copy of this instrument was produced in 1996 by Gregg Alf and Joseph Curtin, using modern materials and methods;Balogh performs on both the 1728 original and the replica. | |
Dragonetti; Milanollo | 1728 | Giovanni Battista Viotti | on loan to Corey Cerovsek | |
Perkins | 1728 | Los Angeles Philharmonic | named after Frederick Perkins, formerly owned by Luigi Boccherini | |
Benny | 1729 | Jack Benny; Los Angeles Philharmonic |
bequeathed to the Los Angeles Philharmonic by Jack Benny | |
Solomon, ex-Lambert | 1729 | Murray Lambert; Seymour Solomon |
sold at Christie’s, New York for US$2,728,000 (€2,040,000) | |
Innes | 1729 | on loan to Eugen Sarbu; previously loaned to Wieniawski | ||
Guarneri | 1729 | Canada Council for the Arts on loan to Nikki Chooi | on loan to Nikki Chooi | |
Royal Spanish | 1730 | Anne Akiko Meyers | once owned by the King of Spain | |
Lady Jeanne | 1731 | Donald Kahn Foundation | on loan to Benjamin Schmid | |
Garcin | 1731 | Jules Garcin; Sidney Harth | ||
Heifetz-Piel | 1731 | Rudolph Piel; Jascha Heifetz |
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Baillot | 1732 | Fondazione Casa di Risparmio | lent to Giuliano Carmignola for the DG recording of Vivaldi: Concertos for Two Violins | |
Duke of Alcantara | 1732 | an obscure Spanish nobleman described as an aide-de-camp of King Don Carlos; UCLA | Genevieve Vedder donated the instrument to the University of California at Los Angeles’ music department in the 1960s. In 1967, the instrument was on loan to David Margetts. Whether it was left on the roof of his car or stolen is uncertain, but for 27 years the violin was considered missing until it was recovered from an amateur violinist who claimed to have found it on a freeway. A settlement was made and the Stradivarius was returned to UCLA in 1995. | |
Herkules | 1732 | Eugène Ysaÿe | missing: stolen in Russia in 1908 | |
Red Diamond | 1732 | Louis Von Spencer IV | ||
Tom Taylor | 1732 | previously loaned to Joshua Bell | ||
Des Rosiers | 1733 | Angèle Dubeau | ||
Huberman; Kreisler | 1733 | Bronisław Huberman; Fritz Kreisler |
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Khevenhüller | 1733 | Yehudi Menuhin | ||
Rode | 1733 | |||
Ames | 1734 | missing: stolen in 1981 | ||
Baron Feilitzsch; Heermann | 1734 | Baron Feilitzsch; Hugo Heerman Gidon Kremer |
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Habeneck | 1734 | Royal Academy of Music | ||
Herkules; Ysaye; ex-Szeryng; King David | 1734 | Eugène Ysaÿe; Charles Münch; Henryk Szeryng; State of Israel |
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Lord Amherst of Hackney | 1734 | Fritz Kreisler | ||
Lamoureux; ex Zimbalist | 1735 | missing: stolen | ||
Muntz | 1736 | Nippon Music Foundation | on loan to Arabella Steinbacher | |
ex.Roussy | 1736 | Chisako Takashima | ||
Comte d’Amaille | 1737 | |||
Lord Norton | 1737 | |||
Chant du Cygne; Swan Song | 1737 | Ivry Gitlis |
VIOLAS: There are thirteen known extant Stradivari violas.
Sobriquet | Year | Provenance | Notes | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Tuscan-Medici | 1690 | Cosimo III de’ Medici | commissioned by Cosimo III de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany; currently on loan to the U.S. Library of Congress | |
Axelrod | 1696 | Donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1997 by Herbert R. Axelrod. Now part of the Axelrod quartet. | ||
Archinto | 1696 | Royal Academy of Music | ||
Spanish Court | 1696 | Patrimonio Nacional, Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain | collectively known as del Cuarteto Real (The Royal Quartet) when included with the violin duo, los Decorados (Spanish I and II, 1687-1689), and the Spanish Court cello of 1694. | |
Kux; Castelbarco | 1714 | Royal Academy of Music | converted from viol to viola by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume | |
The Russian | 1715 | Russian State Collection | ||
Cassavetti | 1727 | U.S. Library of Congress | Presented by Gertrude Clarke Whittall | |
Paganini-Mendelssohn | 1731 | Nippon Music Foundation | this viola along with the Paganini-Desaint violin of 1680, the Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue violin of 1727, and the Paganini-Ladenburg cello of 1736, compose a group of instruments referred to as the Paganini Quartet; on loan to Kazuhide Isomura of the Tokyo String Quartet | |
Gibson | 1734 | Stradivari-Stiftung Habisreutinger | Presented by David Greenless (Stradivari Quartett) |
CELLI: Antonio Stradivari built between 70 and 80 cellos in his lifetime, of which 63 are extant.
Sobriquet | Year | Provenance | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
ex-Du Pre; ex-Harrell | 1673 | Jacqueline du Pré Lynn Harrell |
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General Kyd; ex-Leo Stern | 1684 | Los Angeles Philharmonic | the instrument was stolen in 2004 and later recovered. |
Marylebone | 1688 | Donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1997 by Herbert R. Axelrod. Now part of the Axelrod quartet. | |
Barjansky | 1690 | Julian Lloyd Webber | |
ex-Gendron; ex-Lord Speyer | 1693 | Edgar Speyer; Kunststiftung NRW | on loan to Maria Kliegel; previously loaned to Maurice Gendron (1958-1990) |
Spanish Court | 1694 | Patrimonio Nacional, Palacio Real, Madrid, Spain | collectively known as del Cuarteto Real (The Royal Quartet) when included with the violin duo, los Decorados (Spanish I and II 1687-1689), and the Spanish Court viola of 1696. |
Bonjour | 1696 | Abel Bonjour Canada Council for the Arts |
on loan to Rachel Mercer |
Lord Aylesford | 1696 | Nippon Music Foundation | on loan to Danjulo Ishizaka; previously loaned to Janos Starker (1950-1965) |
Castelbarco | 1697 | Library of Congress | Presented by Gertrude Clarke Whittall |
Cristiani | 1700 | Elise Barbier Cristiani Jean Pierre Duport |
On display at Stradivarius Collection in Civic Museum of Cremona |
Servais | 1701 | National Museum of American History | on loan to Anner Bylsma; |
Paganini-Countess of Stanlein | 1707 | Bernard Greenhouse | |
Markevitch; Delphino | 1709 | Royal Academy of Music | |
Gore Booth; Baron Rothschild | 1710 | Rocco Filippini | |
Duport | 1711 | Mstislav Rostropovich (1974-2007) | |
Mara | 1711 | Heinrich Schiff | |
Davidov | 1712 | Karl Davidov Jacqueline du Pré |
on loan to Yo-Yo Ma. |
Batta | 1714 | J. P. Thibout Alexander Batta; W.E. Hill & Sons; Baron Johann Knoop; Gregor Piatigorsky |
|
de Vaux | 1717 | on loan to Adam Klocek. | |
Amaryllis Fleming | 1717 | ex-Blair-Oliphant, ex-Hegar, ex-Kühn, ex-Küchler | Owned by the late Amaryllis Fleming, half sister to writers Ian and Peter Fleming. Neck, head and table are not original, after extensive repairs in 18th century by Spanish luthier Jose Conteras. |
Becker | 1719 | ||
Piatti | 1720 | Carlos Prieto | |
Baudiot | 1725 | Gregor Piatigorsky | |
Chevillard | 1725 | Museu da Música (Lisbon) | |
Marquis de Corberon; ex-Loeb | 1726 | Royal Academy of Music | Was once owned by Hugo Becker. Later owned by Audrey Melville who bequeathed it to the RAM in 1960. Her friend Zara Nelsova had lifelong possession of it, until her death in 2002, as a condition of Melville’s bequest. |
De Munck; ex-Feuermann | 1730 | Emmanuel Feuermann Aldo Parisot Nippon Music Foundation |
on loan to Steven Isserli |
Pawle | 1730 | Chi Mei Museum | |
Braga | 1731 | played by Myung-wha Chung | |
Stuart | 1732 | Steven Honigberg | |
Paganini-Ladenburg | 1736 | Nippon Music Foundation | this cello along with the Paganini-Desaint violin of 1686, the Paganini-Comte Cozio di Salabue violin of 1727, and the Paganini-Mendelssohn viola of 1731, compose a group of instruments referred to as the Paganini Quartet; on loan to Clive Greensmith of the Tokyo String Quartet |