Friday,
July 21,
The ANNOTICO Report
Andrea Amati, who made a violin for French King
Charles IX in 1566, created the design of the modern violin in
In May, a Stradivarius violin made in 1707 sold
for $3.54 million (1.92 million pounds) at Christie's, becoming the most
expensive musical instrument ever sold at auction.
Of the more than 1,100 instruments Stradivari is believed to have made, only about 620 violins survive today.
Reuters
By Lisa Jucca
Thursday, July 20, 2006
CREMONA,
Italy (Reuters) - To craft a violin that will last for centuries, you need red
maple, one month of painstaking work and that magic touch that turns wood into
an instrument that most resembles the human voice.
Master luthier Antonio Stradivari followed this recipe 300 years
ago, and this is still how violins are made in his hometown of
But like
"
"But
counterfeiting has now reached the violin-making sector and the damage to our
image is big," he said.
Andrea Amati, who
made a violin for French King Charles IX in 1566, created the design of the
modern violin there.
He was succeeded
by generations of Cremona-based violin-makers, most famously Stradivari and
Guarneri del Gesu.
The violins made
during this period are still prized. In May, a Stradivarius violin made in 1707
sold for $3.54 million (1.92 million pounds) at Christie's, becoming the most
expensive musical instrument ever sold at auction.
Of the more than
1,100 instruments Stradivari is believed to have made, only about 620 violins
survive today.
VIOLINS BY THE
DOZEN
"Violin-makers
have to learn to confront globalisation," said
Giorgio Scolari, who has been teaching at
"Chinese
violin-makers pump out violins by the dozens and their craft is starting to
improve," he said. "We have to focus on quality, both in terms of
layout and sound."
While a new
Cheap imports are
not, however, as big a threat as counterfeiting.
"The vast
majority of counterfeit violins comes from the
To protect their
tradition,
The town's master
luthiers are restricted to a maximum of 15 violins
each per year and have to keep the wood shavings of each instrument to prove
its authenticity.
The market for
violin-making in
MUSICAL PASSION
Yet students from
all over the world, especially from
Jonathan Hai, an Israeli civil engineer who made a radical career
change two years ago, is one of about 170, mostly foreign students who attend
"I have
always had a liking for old, manual crafts and I come from a musical
family," Hai, 36, said. "After 10 years as
a civil engineer I decided to try and combine these two passions."
Unlike the old
masters, modern violin-makers learn the ancient craft in specialised
schools rather than from their fathers or grandfathers.
"I am an
accidental violin-maker. My father was a builder but I liked music and chose to
attend the
But selling
violins can be tough as musicians snub newly made violins, and choose to buy
old, second-hand instruments even if are not made by famous craftsmen.
This trend has
led to a flourishing violin renovation business. In
Restoring old
instruments cannot, however, replace the pleasure of forging a new one with
your bare hands.
"I know that
outside
http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/
newsArticle.aspx?type=reutersEdge&storyID
=2006-07-20T093212Z_01_NOA034246
_RTRUKOC_0_ITALY-VIOLINMAKING.xml
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