Violins

Is the enormous worth of revered violins rooted in myth or merit?

I like this sentence: "Psychology plays an important role. If musicians think they are playing one of the greatest instruments in the world, they may actually play better."

Pablo Heras-Casado conducted the violin soloist Joshua Bell at Avery Fisher Hall as part of the Mostly Mozart Festival.

 

Wish I were there!

$18 millions for an instrument!

Story (and video) here!

Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), the well-known master luthier, is believed to have created 1,100 violins in Cremona, Italy, and 650 of those are believed to still exist.One such violin, the Lady Tennant Stradivarius, was sold by Christie’s New York in April 2005 for US $2.03 million. There have, however, been private sales of similar violins crafted by Stradivari that likely exceeded this costly figure. This expensive violin was originally owned by Charles Lafont. Its name comes from Sir Charles Tennant, who purchased it for his wife in 1900.World’s most expensive violinA del GesùEven rarer than Stradivari instruments, however, are those created by Giuseppe Guarneri, del Gesù (1698-1744). Guarneri also worked in Cremona and was considered Stradivari’s only rival. He earned the title “del Gesù” (“of Jesus”), also used to refer to his violins, by using the nomina sacra, I. H. S. and a Roman Cross on his labels (...)