What would you do if you had $15 million?
There are people who will buy a Stradivarius violin with that money. On the one hand, there is nothing wrong with that. Amount of money depends on each person. There are also cases where a small piece of paper called a stamp has such values. Now the other side should be considered. If you've inherited a violin with moldy strings and broken strings along with antique furniture, and if it doesn't turn out to be a Stradivarius violin, you'll be an instant millionaire.
It is said that when the colonialists came to Sri Lanka, they brought these valuable violins to Sri Lanka. It is said that when the famous Titanic sank, the musicians on board did not stop playing. The violin played there is also said to be a Stradivarius violin.
The human mind is amazing. We are always finding ways to satisfy the mind. Please the eye, ear, nose, tongue and body. How can one of these please the ear to the maximum? Perhaps by listening to a song or music. A song? A play?
If it was a musical instrument, what would be the best sound you would like to hear? There is no one who does not know the seven tones. If that is the case, how can we recognize the two tones created by a flute and a violin heard in the distance? Here, the quality that is the basis of this identification is called "acoustic quality". That is, the difference between the two sounds of the same tone coming out of two musical instruments.
To put this further, for a sound to be a musical tone, a sound must have a vibrational magnitude greater than 20. Also should be less than 20,000. It is the human vocal range. The frequency of standard C is 256. But as one ages, the upper range in particular decreases even more. In old-fashioned television maintenance, we heard the horizontal frequency, or 15625, the frequency at which the electronic beam that draws its images moves horizontally. [Horizontal oscillation frequency] Although we heard it then, we no longer hear it. The reason is that the sensitivity of the ear decreases due to aging. Now to take our topic, let's take the same tone that can be produced by a violin and a flute.
To simplify the story, let's assume that the vowel is standard "s". Then both those chords have only 256 vibrations. If so, how can we hear two sounds? The reason for this is the change in the nature of the two waves in the violin and the flute, like the up and down wave that occurs when a stone is placed in still water. Although the distance between two higher moments of the same frequency or wave is the same, the other subtle waves added to that main wave have changed.
Now we have to think about why these Italian violins are considered so high in acoustic quality.
A piece of music has sounds of different frequencies. The sound produced by the strings is gradually resonating the various parts of the violin. But what is this resonance? If there is a railroad passing by the house, it is easily understood. That is, when a train goes on that railway, we can hear a window open. That is, the natural frequency of that window is the same as the sound made by the train.
For all the sounds a high-pitched violin makes, its body is the resonance. It's the difference between a $15 violin and a $15 million violin. It is still a mystery today how "Antonio Stradivarius" from Cremona in Northern Italy was able to make the violin resonate at all frequencies from 20 to 20,000.
There are approximately 650 surviving Stradivarius violins, most of which are owned by private collectors. They are safely hidden from public view. Why is a Stradivarius violin so expensive?
Another reason is the difference between supply and demand. That said, one of the reasons why a Stradivarius violin is so valuable is because there are so few of them left and they are no longer made. Simple economics dictates that value increases when there is demand but less supply.
Antonio Stradivari's Golden Age products are highly prized violins. They often have individual names. "Soil" is considered one of his best violins. It was acquired by Yehudi Menuhin in 1950 and its current owner is Itzhak Perlman in 1986. In 1997, the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra played it on a recording.
Another valuable violin, the “Messiah” by Stradivarius, is in the custody of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England. Although it has not been publicly auctioned, it is valued at around US$20 million.
The most expensive Stradivarius violins were made during what is considered his golden age from 1700 to 1720. The types of wood used for high-end violins vary according to the position of the violin. The violin included spruce for the top, willow for the inside, and maple for the back, known as the ribs, and the neck. Oak wood is also suitable for this purpose. There are speculations that the wood used before and after making a violin is treated with certain chemicals.
The "Guarneri del Gesù" violin is the world's most expensive violin, selling for an estimated $16m (£ 10.5 million). Its new owner anonymously lent it to violinist “Anne Akiko Meyers” for the rest of her life.
After restoration, the violin, “The Lady Blunt Strad,” sold at auction for $201,000. The buyer (Robert Lowe) owned it for 30 years and then it was acquired by the “Nippon Music Foundation” for $10 million.
Antonio Stradivari, the creator of these wonderful violins, was born in Cremona, Italy in the 16th century. There are legends that he sometimes used the wood of oak trees that had grown near churches for thousands of years for those violins. It is said that the sound of the church choir has been imprinted on the oak tree for thousands of years, making it very suitable for violin making. This Italian violin maker brought the craft of violin making to its highest level.
When his wife died prematurely, he collected her blood before it turned to stone to make a varnish for violins, according to the movie The Red Violin. Surprisingly, some violin varnishes have been found to contain human components when chemically tested. From that "red violin" comes the sound of a woman crying.
Hwan-Ching Tai, an author of the study at National Taiwan University, said Stradivari violins were often described as having "brightness" and "brilliance", both qualities rooted in the violin's high-frequency tones. That can be taken. Let someone who knows the "musical" difference between the two words say.
Some of the studieres violins that are closer to the female voice produce the melodious and soulful voice of a happy woman. Others, such as "The Red Violin," depict the voice of a weeping woman in a Shakespearean tragedy.