Stradivari's Secrets

Three centuries ago, Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) set the standard for violin craftsmanship. Now scientists say they've discovered the secret to his instruments' sublime sounds.

It is, they say, the remarkably even density of the wood. Or, it may be a special fungus that rots the wood. Heck, it might even be the way the Italian master treated his instruments.

Good Wood

For the latest study, researchers subjected two priceless violins made by Stradivari and three made by Giuseppe Guarneri (Stradivari's main competitor in virtuoso violin-making) to the same high-tech CT scans that medical doctors use to look at lung tissue.

Their findings: the wood used by both masters has a remarkable property. Most nontropical trees grow more in the summer than in the winter, creating uneven densities that can affect the wood's resonating quality. But the wood of Stradivari's and Guarneri's 300-year-old violins shows a far more even grain.

"Climate difference could explain part of it," says researcher Dr. Berend Stoel, alluding to a common belief that Stradivari and Guarneri benefited from cool 17th-century temperatures that hampered trees' seasonal growth. "But it could also be that the masters used some secret treatment of the wood."

Secret Treatments

There is no shortage of studies on Stradivari's and Guarneri's possible "secret treatments." Most recently, researchers have fingered a fungus that rots wood in a helpful way. Normally, sound travels less well through rotten wood. But last month, researchers reported that certain kinds of fungus will cause a rot that actually improves wood's acoustic properties.

Those researchers haven't yet tested a Stradivari or Guarneri violin to see if they show signs of the helpful fungus. But, back in 2006, chemist and violin maker Joseph Nagyvary did find evidence that wood from both Italian masters' acoustical marvels had been "brutally treated by chemicals."

Nagyvary thinks the master-craftsmen boiled their wood in chemically treated water to protect it against scourges like woodworm. This pest-control practice, he thinks, actually altered the acoustical properties of the instruments Stradivari and Guarneri made. Ultimately, he hopes to figure out exactly which chemicals they used.

Great Violins

That may prove difficult. Nagyvary needs wood shavings from the instruments, and Stradivarius shavings are hard to come by. Fewer than 700 of the instruments still exist, and the last one sold at public auction fetched $3.5 million.

This much we know. The modern violin evolved during the Renaissance, from earlier stringed instruments such as the medieval fiddle, which varied in size, shape, and number of strings. It soon became a favorite of composers, musicians, and audiences alike. Around 1700, Stradivari and others innovated its design, changing the violin's proportions and establishing a standard that "luthiers" (stringed instrument makers) have aimed for practically ever since.

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Baroque violin virtuoso Antonio Vivaldi. Even as Stradivari was innovating the violin's design, Vivaldi was dazzling audiences with his fancy fingerwork--and developing the instrument's musical potential. Whether you know it or not, you know Vivaldi's work. But do you know him?

Members, meet him now

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