Stradivari's Genius: Five Violins, One Cello, and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection

Blending history, biography, meticulous detective work, and an abiding passion for music, Faber takes us from the salons of Vienna to the concert halls of New York, and from the breakthroughs of Beethoven’s last quartets to the first phonographic recordings. In this fascinating book, Toby Faber traces the rich, multilayered stories of six of these peerless creations–five violins and a cello–and the one towering artist who brought them into being. In the course of his long career in the northern Italian city of Cremona, he created more than a thousand stringed instruments; approximately six hundred survive, their quality unequalled by any subsequent violin-maker. This magnificent narrative invites us to share the life, the intrigue, and the incomparable beauty of the world’s most marvelous stringed instruments.. Antonio Stradivari (1644—1737) was a perfectionist whose single-minded pursuit of excellence changed the world of music

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Faber, the former managing director of British publishing house Faber and Faber, begins with a short account of Stradivari's life (1644–1737) and methods in the Italian city of Cremona, where violin-making techniques achieved their zenith. As the Cremonese violins passed through the hands of musicians, the instruments' rich tone and penetrating sonic power stimulated a new style of virtuoso violin-playing that held Europe's concert halls enthralled. Faber's stylish account savors Stradivari's marvelous acoustics and the individual personalities of his instruments while exploring the science behind them (X-rays, chemical tests and tree-ring analysis have all been deployed to unlock their secrets) and regal

Interesting Stradivarius violins are reknown for their beauty and powerful voices. This book traces Antonio Stradivari's life, that of his children, and more importantly, the journeys made by 5 violins and 1 cello made by him. The Lipinski, the Viotti, the Messiah (which almost never was played), the Paganini and the Khevenhuller are the violins and their owners are followed and described in this book, and the Davidov, the cello currently owned and played on by YoYo Ma.Having worked from violin designs from Nicolo Amati, another famous Cremona luthier, research pro. "Interesting Overview" according to Brandon Slocumb. I really enjoyed this book. It contains a short but thorough (especially considering how little is known about the early life of Stradivari) biography and explanations of the violin making process before delving into the history of 6 particular instruments. I think I would have preferred that the history be divided into chapters that followed each individual instrument rather than an interweaving of all their stories together. If you are reading this book casually or among several other books it is easy to forget something that occurred two chapters ago. Brunhilde said Excellent book that anyone interested in classical music should enjoy. Excellent book that anyone interested in classical music should enjoy. Good detail of instrument construction and illustrates pride of old world craftsmanship. Highly recommended.