The history of the Stradivarius violin. The unique sound of Stradivarius violins was explained by the chemical composition of wood

The mystery of the unique sounding violins of the Italian master Antonio Stradivari has haunted many researchers for almost three hundred years. Some say that the Italian sold his soul to the devil for the secret of mastering unprecedented craftsmanship musical instruments.

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David Oistrakh's Stradivarius violins: how famous musician became the prototype of the musician Polyakov in the Weiner brothers’ novel “A Visit to the Minotaur.”

Robbery of David Oistrakh's apartment

In the fall of 1968, the Western press informed its readers from the front pages of the details of the “theft of the century” in the USSR: in Moscow, in house No. 14/16 on Chkalova Street, an apartment was robbed worldwide famous musician David Oistrakh. Currency was stolen (according to some sources, 120 thousand dollars), jewelry, including a gold cigarette case encrusted with diamonds donated by Ataturk (President of the Turkish Republic), an exclusive precious chessboard with gold and silver pieces - a gift from Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, a symbolic golden key to gate of Jerusalem. In total, according to Western press information, more than 4 kilograms of gold items were stolen from David Oistrakh’s apartment. The Soviet press, at Oistrakh’s request, remained silent: the musician was probably afraid of the class hatred of his fellow citizens.

in the photo: David Oistrakh (far left) visiting Queen Elizabeth of Belgium (right)

At the time of the theft, David Oistrakh was abroad, on tour, and the security alarm was turned on in his Moscow apartment. The thieves managed to turn off the alarm (as described below), the “unpickable” Swiss locks were masterfully picked, and the Oistrakh family would not have seen their relics if not for an accident: an expander fell out of the pocket of a thief operating in the apartment, on which was written in large letters the surname is written: NIKONOV. The thief did not notice the loss and left the robbed apartment.

After finding a “family” expander in the musician’s apartment, it was not difficult to find the thieves: they turned out to be a repeat offender, Boris Nikonov, who specialized in matters related to antiques and art objects, and his accomplices.

As Boris Nikonov told investigators, to turn off the security alarm Nikonov used the method of robbers from famous film“How to steal a million”: he provoked false calls to the security service in order to simulate a breakdown in the alarm system and force the security service to turn off the “broken” alarm in the musician’s apartment. To do this, Nikonov kicked the apartment door hard; The security service came 5 times and, finding no traces of a break-in, decided that there was a malfunction of the alarm system and, contrary to the rules, turned it off.

Stradivarius violins by David Oistrakh

The musician’s apartment also contained Stradivarius violins and Viola Viola. David Oistrakh had several Stradivarius violins: one was given to him for use from the state collection, and he bought the Marsik violin himself.

David Oistrakh changes strings on the Marsik Stradivarius violin

Another Stradivarius violin was given to David Oistrakh by the same Queen Elizabeth of Belgium - it was a miniature violin, which Oistrakh played only twice - it was too small for male hands. The thieves did not take the musical instruments, because they did not know that this was the very “million” that they were going to steal (the insurance value of the miniature Stradivarius violin alone was a million dollars when it was donated by the widow of David Oistrakh to the State central museum musical culture them. M.I.Glinka). According to Arkady Weiner, one of the thieves said that there was no need to steal these violins, since they can be bought at any music store for ten rubles apiece. In addition to Stradivarius violins and Viola Viola, the thieves left without attention a collection of 29 records from pure gold, released specifically for David Oistrakh: the records had a dark coating on top, and the thieves did not realize that they could be made of gold (allegedly, they took only one record, which was without a dark coating).

The Weiner brothers also conducted their own investigation into the robbery of David Oistrakh’s apartment: the novel “A Visit to the Minotaur” was written based on it. According to the plot of the Weiner brothers, in the apartment of musician Lev Polyakov (prototype - David Oistrakh), a more enlightened thief was operating, who stole the Stradivarius violin from the musician. The Weiner brothers' book was published in 1972 and filmed in 1987. The film featured the same miniature Stradivarius violin, given to David Oistrakh by Queen Elizabeth and donated to the museum. M.I.Glinka.

Stills from the film "A Visit to the Minotaur": investigator Shakurov opens a case with a miniature Stradivarius violin: a fragment of a Stradivarius violin and a sign:

The power of art is great, and especially strong impression it affects sensitive natures with a subtle mental organization: no less impressive than the film “How to Steal a Million” made on Boris Nikonov, “A Visit to the Minotaur” made on two thieves who, after watching the film, decided to steal a Stradivarius violin from a museum. In 1996, at the museum. M.I. Glinka was committed a burglary - a violin was stolen. The search for the burglars took a year and a half; the Stradivarius violin was found and returned to the museum. M.I. Glinka, where it is still located today.

Antonio Stradivarius or Stradivarius (1644 - December 18, 1737) - famous master string instruments, student of Nicolo Amati. About 650 instruments of his work have survived.
Having tried many professions, he experienced failure everywhere. He wanted to become a sculptor, like Michelangelo; the lines of his statues were elegant, but their faces were not expressive. He abandoned this craft, earned his living by carving wood, making wooden decorations for rich furniture, and became addicted to drawing; with the greatest suffering he studied the ornamentation of doors and wall paintings of cathedrals and the drawings of great masters. Then he was attracted to music and decided to become a musician. He studied violin playing hard; but the fingers lacked fluency and lightness, and the sound of the violin was dull and harsh. They said about him: " Musician's ear, carver's hands". And he gave up the craft of a musician. But he did not forget it.
Biography
Antonio Stradivari was born around 1644 in a small settlement near Cremona in the family of Alexandro Stradivari and Anna Moroni. His parents were from Cremona. But at this time, a terrible plague was raging in the southern part of Italy, which reached their city. People fled wherever they could. So the Stradivarius family settled near Cremona, and they never returned there again. The future great master spent his childhood there. For a long time, young Antonio could not decide what to do. He tried to be a sculptor, painter, woodcarver, and violinist. But in order to take music seriously, he lacked the mobility of his fingers, despite the fact that he ear for music was perfect. Violins interested him, and at the age of 18 Antonio became a free student of the well-known violin maker Nicolo Amati in Italy. At the first stage of his stay with Amati, Stradivari performed only the most menial work and was, as they say, at the beck and call of a recognized master. But one day Nicolo Amati saw Antonio carving f-holes on a useless piece of wood. And from that moment on, Antonio began to comprehend Amati’s skill, to learn how to choose wood, how to make maple or spruce sing, how thick the soundboards should be, what the purpose of the spring inside the instrument is, and what role the varnish covering it has in the sound of the violin. With persistence, Stradivarius achieved perfection in the sound of the violin. And when he heard that his violin sang the same way as Master Nicolo’s, he was overcome by the desire to make it different. Stradivari wanted to hear the sounds of women's and children's voices in it. But for a long time He failed to implement his idea. In 1680, Stradivarius began working independently.
In addition to the perfection of sound, his instruments were distinguished unusual design, as they would say today. All the violins were different, some he made narrower, others wider, some were shorter, some longer. Stradivarius decorated his instruments with pieces of mother-of-pearl, ebony, ivory, and images of flowers or cupids. They had a special sound; contemporaries compared the sound of his violins with the voice of a girl in a Cremona square. All this was said about own style his works, and therefore distinguished them favorably from many others. By the age of forty, Stradivarius was very rich and famous. The Italians said: “Rich as Stradivarius.”
It was difficult to call his personal life happy. He was widowed early and lost two adult sons, whom he hoped to make the support of his own old age, to reveal to them the secret of his skill and to pass on everything that he had achieved throughout his life. long life. However, he still has four more sons. Francesco and Omobono, although they worked with him, did not have his instincts, much less his talent. They just tried to copy him. The third son, Paolo, did not understand his craft at all, he was carried away by trade, and he was extremely far from art. The fourth son, Giuseppe, became a monk. Stradivarius was 76 years old. He lived to a ripe old age and achieved great respect and wealth. But thinking about his family, Antonio became increasingly gloomy. The violins understood and obeyed him much more than their own sons, and he knew how to feel them, which could not be said about his children. Stradivarius left them all his acquired property, they will acquire nice houses; but there was no one to leave the secret of his mastery to Stradivarius. For only a true master can pass on his experience and part of his talent; he did not feel even a grain of such abilities in his sons. He did not want to share with them the subtle ways of composing varnishes, recording the unevenness of the decks. Believing that all the nuances that he meticulously collected and learned over 70 years can only help, teach him to be a master and feel the tree as if it were alive, never. Calm does not leave Stradivarius. He will make tools until last days life, getting up early, sitting for hours in the laboratory and at the workbench. Despite the fact that every month it becomes more and more difficult for him to finish the violin he started. He stopped thinking about everything that had previously prevented him from sleeping peacefully. The master finally decided that he would take his secrets with him to the grave. It is better that they remain forever undiscovered than to pass on knowledge to those who have neither talent, nor love, nor courage. He already gave a lot to his family, they are rich, they still have his noble name and his good reputation. Over his long life, he made just over a thousand instruments, which were sold all over the world. In addition to violins, Stradivari made violas, guitars, cellos, and even made a harp. He was satisfied with the outcome of his journey, and therefore left calmly.
On December 18, 1737, Stradivari's heart stopped. Dressed in black robes with hoods, belted with ropes, and wearing rough wooden sandals, the monks of the Dominican order walked behind the hearse, in whose church the master bought a crypt for the burial of himself and his family during his lifetime. The sons walked solemnly and importantly behind the coffin, followed by the disciples. None of them ever learned the secret of the great master Antonio Stradivari.
The Mystery of Antonio Stradivari
The violin is in the hands of a wonderful musician, responding to his inspiration with a clear, deep voice. How Living being, she told us about grief and joy, about tragedy and happiness, and everyone understood it in their own way, it found its own response in everyone’s soul. Light golden, elegant, it sparkled with all its facets, and only a few knew that in fact its age was measured in centuries and that it was given to a musician from State collection only for this tour. This violin had no price: like any masterpiece, it was priceless. After two and a half centuries, it has retained all the nuances of its extraordinary sound. She brought to us the “soul of Stradivarius”... He was not loved for his stinginess and aloofness. They envied him - his wealth and fame. When he remarried at 55, a year after his wife's death, he was maligned. Not all of his eleven children survived, but when one of them died, they did not rush to him with words of consolation and sympathy. And they were also afraid of him, because he was terrible in his obsession: no one had ever seen him do nothing, not once in all nine decades of his life. Along with the first rays of the gentle Italian sun, he appeared on the roof of his three-story house in St. Domenic Square and hung up his tools; at sunset he went out to take them off. The students have long gone home, the sons helping with their work have gone to bed, and in the window of the workshop on the first floor there is a light shining, and every now and then the tall, thin figure of the great master flashes.
The Cremona school accumulated for almost two centuries violin makers experience in creating instruments that the European scene had never seen before. How many generations of masters had to change, passing on the secrets of their craft to each other, so that he, Stradivarius, could finally appear, who could not only absorb their knowledge, but also bring the common work to perfection!
80 years of intense, never-ending work. When my hands got tired, my brain continued to work. Antonio dreamed that he had to make a violin unsurpassed in its sound qualities, and he made it, although it took his whole life. At the age of 13, he glued his first instrument with the brilliant Nicolo Amati, but another 10 long years passed until, having opened his own workshop, he allowed himself not to be called a student on violin etiquette, and another 20 years, when he first made an instrument different from those what his teacher did.

What did he change then? Yes, he made the model longer, but a little narrower. The sound timbre became lower. And then he began to weigh the parts of the violin. It seemed to him that he was about to find in this flat instrument the best proportion between the upper soundboard and the lower one. Then the idea appeared that the sound depended on the thickness of the decks. Dozens of prototypes were made, and it turned out that the thinner the deck, the lower the tone. But can the thickness be the same throughout? What should it be like then? Long years calculations, experiments: somewhere, in some place a little thicker, somewhere a little thinner, just a fraction of a millimeter - and a different sound. Was it really necessary to live 93 years to finally establish a system by which the thickness of the decks in different places is determined, the change from the center to the edges? Hundreds and thousands of options and, finally, the conclusion - the top part should be made of spruce, and not from Saxon, which has a lot of resin, but from Tyrolean or Italian. And for interior decoration alder and linden will do. How good maple works! He has one beautiful drawing cut: the tool must be elegant. Italian maple has a special shine, the surface of its cuts is silky, but you only need to take the trunk that was cut down in January, otherwise there will be a lot of juice in it - this will ruin everything.
Antonio is convinced that his violins should last for centuries. Stradivarius learned to choose wood accurately. But he rarely came across a good tree; he sometimes used one trunk for a whole decade, carefully selecting piece by piece. It’s better to glue it, take a chance with the design - as long as it sounds. And only he knew which tree to choose: young, old, or even with wormholes. When did he create his final model? In 1704? Decades of work and searches before a problem with many unknowns was solved. Yes, he found the main unknown when he was already 60 years old: he proved that its “voice” depends on the composition of the varnish with which the instrument is coated. And not only from the varnish, but also from the primer that needs to be used to cover the wood so that the varnish is not absorbed into it. And who can suggest their composition - scientists, alchemists? How much do they know about this? About one and a half thousand The instruments came from the workshop of the great Antonio Stradivari, and he made every single one of them with his own hands. And how much did he then reject in the process of endless searches?! This is what took 80 years, spent like one day, alone with the singing tree. He achieved fame and glory. He is commissioned for instruments - and not only violins, but also violas and viols - by kings and nobles. His creations are the best of all that was created in Europe; it was they who confirmed the superiority of the “Italian timbre” inherent only to them...
So what is the master dissatisfied with, what makes him suffer?
For centuries, the skill of making musical instruments has been passed down by inheritance: from grandfather to father, from father to son, grandson. In Northern Italy, in Brescia, there was a dynasty of violin makers, originating from Gasparo Bertolotti. Here in Cremona, a dynasty has existed for 200 years, founded by Andrea Amati, whose grandson Nicola, who lived 88 years, taught Stradivarius this craft. Nikola's son, violin maker Girolami Amati, is still alive; he is only five years younger than Stradivari. Even Andrea Guarneri, with whom Antonio studied with Amati, became the founder of a dynasty of masters, and his grandson Giuseppe, nicknamed del Gesu, seems to eclipse the glory of Stradivari himself. And only Signor Antonio himself does not leave behind heirs to his talent. Both of his sons, Francesco and Omobono, did not go further than apprentices. Why did he work so hard, to whom will he leave the secrets of his mastery? To whom will he reveal the great meaning of deck thickness tables, the system of measuring points - its points, the composition of the primer and varnish, the methods of their preparation? Take them with you to the grave? He spent 80 years trying to achieve perfection in his craft. Can anyone else do this? So, is he destined to remain unsurpassed for centuries?
Almost two and a half centuries have passed since the death of the great master Antonio Stradivari. His careless sons outlived their father by only 5-6 years. Until his last days, 93-year-old Stradivarius worked on violins. Blanks of instruments have been preserved, on the label of which, next to the traditional Maltese cross, is the name of the creator and the date - 1737, the year of his death. There are about 800 instruments in the world now, which are known for sure to have been made by the hand of the great Stradivarius. Among them are the famous cello called “Bass of Spain” and tiny “pochettes” - violins for dance teachers, the Master’s most magnificent creation - the “Messiah” violin and the “Münz” violin, from the inscription on which it was determined that the master was born in 1644. But the secrets of creativity, which suddenly disappeared with his death, have not yet been solved. Everything that can be measured has been measured, everything that can be copied has been copied, but no one can make a violin made according to these measurements “sing” the way it did with the great Stradivarius. To this day it is not possible to determine the chemical composition of the primer and varnish applied to his instruments. That is why the legend about the “soul of Stradivari”, imprisoned in his violins and talking to his descendants, is passed down from generation to generation.
The secret of Antonio Stradivari's violins
Scientists around the world are trying to unravel the mystery of Stradivarius violins. Even during his lifetime, the masters said that he sold his soul to the devil - but they also said that several violins were made from the wreckage of Noah's Ark. Stradivari made his first violin in 1666, but for more than 30 years he searched for his own model. Only in the early 1700s did the master construct his own, still unsurpassed, violin. It was elongated in shape and had kinks and irregularities inside the body, due to which the sound was enriched due to the appearance of a large number of high overtones. From that time on, Antonio no longer made fundamental deviations from the developed model, but experimented until the end of his long life. Stradivari died in 1737, but his violins are still highly valued; they practically do not age and do not change their “voice.” During his life, Antonio Stradivari made about 2,500 instruments, of which 732 are undoubtedly authentic. In addition to bowed ones, he also made one harp and two guitars. It is generally accepted that the most best tools were made from 1698 to 1725 (and the best in 1715). They are especially rare and therefore highly prized by both musicians and collectors. Many Stradivarius instruments are in rich private collections. There are about two dozen Stradivarius violins in Russia: several violins are in the State Collection of Musical Instruments, one in the Glinka Museum and several more in private ownership. Scientists and musicians around the world are trying to unravel the mystery of how Stradivarius violins were created. Even during his lifetime, the masters said that he sold his soul to the devil, they even said that the wood from which several of the most famous violins were made were the fragments of Noah's Ark. There is an opinion that Stradivarius violins are so good because a real instrument begins to sound truly good only after two or three hundred years. Many scientists have conducted hundreds of studies on violins using latest technologies, but they have not yet been able to unravel the secret of Stradivarius violins. It is known that the master soaked the wood in sea water and exposed it to complex chemical compounds of plant origin.
At one time it was believed that Stradivari's secret was in the form of the instrument, later great importance they began to use a material that is constant for Stradivarius violins: spruce for the top soundboard, maple for the bottom soundboard. They even believed that it was all about the varnishes; The elastic varnish covering Stradivarius violins allows the soundboards to resonate and “breathe.” This gives the timbre a characteristic “big” sound.
According to legend, Cremonese craftsmen prepared their mixtures from the resins of some trees that grew in those days in the Tyrolean forests and were soon completely cut down. The exact composition of those varnishes has not been established to this day - even the most sophisticated chemical analysis was powerless here. In 2001, biochemist Joseph Nigiware of the University of Texas announced that he had unraveled the secret of Stradivarius. The scientist came to the conclusion that the special sound of the bowed strings was the result of the master’s efforts to protect them from the woodworm. Nigiwara found out that when the master created violins, wooden blanks were often affected by woodworm, and Stradivari resorted to borax to protect the unique musical instruments. This substance seemed to solder the molecules of the wood, changing the overall sound of the violin. When Stradivari died, the victory over the woodworm in Northern Italy had already been won, and subsequently the borax was no longer used to protect the tree. Thus, according to Nigiwara, the master took the secret with him to the grave.

Did Stradivarius make the best violins? April 10th, 2014

Show me your violin,” said Stradivarius.

The man carefully took the violin out of the case, still chatting:

My owner is a great connoisseur, he highly values ​​this violin, it sings with such a strong, thick voice that I have never heard any violin before.

The violin is in the hands of Stradivarius. It is large format; light varnish. And he immediately realized whose work it was.

Leave her here,” he said dryly.

When the chatterbox left, bowing and greeting the master, Stradivarius took the bow in his hands and began to test the sound. The violin really sounded powerful; the sound was big and full. The damage was minor and it didn't really affect the sound. He began to examine her. The violin is beautifully crafted, although it has an oversized format, thick edges and long f-holes that look like the folds of a laughing mouth. Another hand means a different way of working. Only now did he look into the hole in the f-hole, checking himself.

Yes, only one person can work like this.

Inside, on the label, in black, even letters, it was written: “Joseph Guarnerius.”

It was the label of the master Giuseppe Guarneri, nicknamed Del Gesu. He remembered that he had recently seen Del Gesu from the terrace returning home at dawn; he was staggering, talking to himself, waving his arms.

How can such a person work? How can anything come out of his faithless hands? And yet... He took the Guarneri violin again and began to play.

What a big, deep sound! And even if you go under open sky to Cremona Square and play in front of a large crowd - and then it will be heard far around.

Since the death of Nicolo Amati, his teacher, not a single violin, not a single master, can compare in the softness and brilliance of sound with his, Stradivarius, violins! Carried! In the power of sound, he, the noble master Antonio Stradivari, must yield to this drunkard. This means his skill was not perfect, which means he needs something else that he doesn’t know, but the dissolute man whose hands made this violin knows. This means that he has not yet done everything and his experiments on the acoustics of wood, his experiments on the composition of varnishes are not complete. The free melodious tone of his violins can still be enriched with new colors and greater power.

He pulled himself together. In your old age, you don't need to worry too much. And he reassured himself that the sound of Guarneri violins was sharper, that his customers, noble lords, would not order violins from Guarneri. And now he has received an order for a quintet: two violins, two violas and a cello - from the Spanish court. The order pleased him, he had been thinking about it for a whole week, making sketches, drawings, choosing wood, and decided to try it new way spring attachment. He sketched a series of designs for inlays and drew the coat of arms of a high-profile customer. Such customers will not go to Guarneri, they do not need his violins, because they do not need the depth of sound. In addition, Guarneri is a drunkard and a brawler. He cannot be a dangerous opponent for him. And yet Giuseppe Guarneri Del Gesu overshadowed the last years of Antonio Stradivari.

While still going down the stairs, he heard loud voices coming from the workshop.

Usually, when students arrive, they immediately go to their workbenches and get to work. This has been the case for a long time. Now they were talking noisily. Something apparently happened.

Tonight, at three o'clock...

I didn’t see it myself, the owner told me that they were leading him along our street...

What will happen to his students now?

Don't know. The workshop is closed, there is a lock on the door...

What a master, says Omobono, is first of all a drunkard, and this should have been expected long ago.

Stradivarius entered the workshop.

What's happened?

Giuseppe Guarneri was arrested today and taken to prison,” Bergonzi said sadly.

Stradivarius stood rooted to the spot in the middle of the workshop.

Suddenly his knees began to shake.

So this is how Del Gesu ends! However, this really was to be expected. Let him now play his violins and delight the ears of the jailers. The room, however, is not enough for his powerful violins, and the listeners will probably cover their ears...

So, everything comes to its turn. How desperately all the Guarneri fought against failure! When this Del Gesu's uncle, Pietro, died, his widow Catarina took over the workshop. But the workshop was soon to close. This is not a woman’s business, not handicraft. Then they began to say: Giuseppe will show you. The Guarneri haven't died yet! And watch him beat the oldest Antonio! And now it’s his turn.

Stradivari did not like this man not only because he was afraid of competition and thought that Guarneri surpassed him in skill. But along with Guarneri Del Gesu, a spirit of restlessness and violence entered the Cremona masters. His workshop was often closed, the students disbanded and carried away their comrades who worked for other masters. Stradivari himself went through the entire art of craftsmanship - from apprentice to master - he loved order and order in everything. And Del Gesu's life, vague and unstable, was in his eyes a life unworthy of a master. Now he's finished. There is no return from prison to the master's chair. Now he, Stradivarius, was left alone. He looked sternly at his students.

“We won’t waste time,” he said.

Green mountainous area a few miles from Cremona. And like a gray, dirty spot - a gloomy low building with bars on the windows, surrounded by a battlement. Tall, heavy gates close the entrance to the courtyard. This is a prison where people languish behind thick walls and iron doors.

During the day, prisoners are kept in solitary confinement; at night they are transferred to a large semi-basement cell for sleeping.

A man with a scraggly beard sits quietly in one of the solitary confinement cells. He's only here for a few days. Until now he had not been bored. He looked out the window at the greenery, the earth, the sky, the birds that quickly rushed past the window; for hours, barely audibly, he whistled some monotonous melody. He was busy with his thoughts. Now he was bored with idleness and was languishing.

How long will you have to stay here?

No one really knows what crime he is serving his sentence for. When he is transferred to a general cell for the night in the evening, everyone bombards him with questions. He answers willingly, but none of his answers clearly understand what the matter is.

They know that his craft is to make violins.

The girl, the jailer’s daughter, who runs and plays near the prison, also knows about this.

My father said one evening:

This man makes, they say, violins that cost a lot of money.

One day a wandering musician wandered into their yard, he was so funny, and he had a big black hat on his head. And he began to play.

After all, no one comes close to them, people don’t like to come here, and the guards drive away everyone who comes a little closer to their gate. And this musician began to play, and she begged her father to let him finish playing. When the guards finally drove him away, she ran after him, far away, and when no one was nearby, he suddenly called her and asked tenderly:

Do you like the way I play?

She said:

Like.

Can you sing? “Sing me a song,” he asked.

She sang her favorite song to him. Then the man in the hat, without even listening to her, put the violin on his shoulder and played what she was now singing.

She opened her eyes wide with joy. She was pleased that she could hear her song being played on the violin. Then the musician said to her:

I will come here and play you every day whatever you want, but in return, do me a favor. You will give this little note to the prisoner who is sitting in that cell,” he pointed to one of the windows, “he is the one who knows how to make violins so well, and I played his violin.” He good man, don't be afraid of him. Don't tell your father anything. And if you don’t give me the note, I won’t play for you anymore.

The girl ran around the prison yard, sang at the gate, all the prisoners and guards knew her, they paid as little attention to her as to the cats that climbed on the roofs and the birds that sat on the windows.

It happened that she would sneak behind her father into the low prison corridor. While her father opened the cells, she looked with all her eyes at the prisoners. We're used to it.

This is how she managed to pass the note. When the jailer, during his evening rounds, opened the cell door and shouted: “Get ready for the night!” ", walked further, to next doors, the girl ducked inside the cell and hurriedly said:

The man in the big black hat promised to play often, every day, and for this he asked me to give you a note.

She looked at him and came closer.

And he also said that the violin he played was made by you, sir, prisoner. This is true?

She looked up at him in surprise.

Then he stroked her head.

You have to go, girl. It's not good if you get caught here.

Then he added:

Get me a stick and a knife. Do you want me to make you a pipe and you can play it?

The prisoner hid the note. He only managed to read it the next morning. The note read: “To the Honorable Giuseppe Guarneri Del Ges. “The love of your students is always with you.” He clutched the note tightly in his hand and smiled.

The girl became friends with Guarneri. At first she came secretly, and her father did not notice it, but when one day the girl came home and brought a ringing wooden pipe, he forced her to confess everything. And, strangely enough, the jailer was not angry. He twirled the smooth pipe in his fingers and thought.

The next day he went into Del Gesu's cell after hours.

“If you need wood,” he said curtly, “you can get it.”

“I need my tools,” said the prisoner.

“No tools,” said the jailer and left.

A day later he entered the cell again.

What tools? - he asked. “A plane is okay, but a file is not.” If you use a carpenter's saw, then you can.

So in Del Gesu’s chamber there was a stump of a spruce log, a carpenter’s saw and glue. Then the jailer obtained varnish from the painter who was painting the prison chapel.

And he was touched by his own generosity. His late wife always said that he was a worthy and good person. He will make life easier for this unfortunate man, will sell his violins and charge a high price for them, and will buy tobacco and wine for the prisoner.

“Why does a prisoner need money?”

But how do you sell violins without anyone knowing about it?

He thought about it.

“Regina,” he thought about his daughter. - No, she’s too small for this, she probably won’t be able to handle it. “Okay, let’s see,” he decided. “Let him make violins, we’ll make it happen somehow.”

It is difficult for Giuseppe Guarneri to work his violins in a small low chamber with a thick saw and a large plane, but the days are now passing faster.

First violin, second, third... Days change...

The jailer sells violins. He got a new dress, he became important and fat. At what price does he sell the violins? Giuseppe Guarneri Del Gesu does not know this. He receives tobacco and wine. And it's all.

This is all he has left. Are the violins he gives to the jailer good? If only he could avoid putting his name on them!

Can the varnish he uses improve the sound? It only muffles the sound and makes it motionless. Carriages can be coated with this varnish! It makes the violin shine - and that’s all.

And all that remained for Giuseppe Guarneri was tobacco and wine. Sometimes a girl comes to him. He whiles away the hours with her. She tells the news that happens within the walls of the prison. She herself doesn’t know more, and if she knew, she would be afraid to say: she is strictly forbidden by her father to talk too much.

The father makes sure that the prisoner cannot hear from his friends. The jailer is afraid: now this is a very important prisoner, dear to him. He makes money from it.

In the intervals between orders, Guarneri makes a long small violin for the girl from a piece of spruce board.

This is a sordino,” he explains to her, “you can put it in your pocket.” It is played by dance teachers in rich houses when they teach smartly dressed children to dance.

The girl sits quietly and listens carefully to his stories. It happens that he tells her about life in freedom, about his workshop, about his violins. He talks about them as if they were people. It happens that he suddenly forgets about her presence, jumps up, begins to walk around the cell with wide steps, waves his arms, and says words that are tricky for a girl. Then she gets bored and sneaks out of the cell unnoticed.

Death and Eternal Life

Every year it becomes more and more difficult for Antonio Stradivari to work on his violins himself. Now he must resort to the help of others. Increasingly, the inscription began to appear on the labels of his instruments:

Sotto la Disciplina d'Antonio

Stradiuari F. in Cremonae.1737.

Vision changes, hands are unsteady, f-holes are becoming more and more difficult to cut, varnish lies in uneven layers.

But cheerfulness and calmness do not leave the master. He continues his daily work, gets up early, goes up to his terrace, sits in the workshop at the workbench, works for hours in the laboratory.

Now he needs a lot of time to finish the violin he started, but he still brings it to completion, and on the label with pride, with a trembling hand, he writes a note:

Antonius Stradivarius Gremonensis

Faciebat Anno 1736, D' Anni 92.

He stopped thinking about everything that worried him before; he came to a certain decision: he would take his secrets with him to the grave. It is better that no one owns them than to give them to people who have neither talent, nor love, nor audacity.

He gave his family everything he could: wealth and a noble name.

Over his long life, he made about a thousand instruments, which are scattered throughout the world. It's time for him to rest. He leaves his life calmly. Now nothing overshadows him recent years. He was wrong about Guarneri. And how could he think that this unfortunate man sitting in prison could do anything to interfere with him? Nice violins The Guarneri were just an accident. Now this is clear and confirmed by facts: the violins he now makes are crude, incomparable with the previous ones, prison violins are unworthy of Cremonese masters. The master has fallen...

He did not want to think about the conditions under which Guarneri worked, what kind of wood he used, how stuffy and dark it was in his cell, that the tools he was working with were more suitable for making chairs than for working on violins.

Antonio Stradivari calmed down because he was wrong.

In front of the house of Antonio Stradivari, on St. Dominica, people are crowding.

Boys are running around, looking into the windows. The windows are covered with dark cloth. Quiet, everyone is talking in a low voice...

He lived ninety-four years, I can’t believe he died.

He outlived his wife for a short time; he respected her very much.

What will happen to the workshop now? Sons are not like an old man.

They'll close, that's right. Paolo will sell everything and put the money in his pocket.

But where do they need money, and so my father left it enough.

More and more new faces arrive, some mix in the crowd, others enter the house; every now and then the doors open, and then weeping voices are heard - this, according to the customs of Italy, women loudly mourn the deceased.

A tall, thin monk with his head bowed entered the door.

Look, look: Giuseppe came to say goodbye to his father. He didn’t visit the old man very often; he was at odds with his father.

Move aside!

A hearse pulled by eight horses and decorated with feathers and flowers arrived.

And the funeral bells rang subtly. Omobono and Francesco carried the long and light coffin with their father's body in their arms and placed it on the hearse. And the procession moved.

Little girls, covered to their toes in white veils, scattered flowers. On the sides, on each side, were women dressed in black dresses, in black thick veils, with large lighted candles in their hands.

The sons walked solemnly and importantly behind the coffin, followed by the disciples.

In black robes with hoods, belted with ropes, and wearing rough wooden sandals, monks of the Dominican order, in whose church he bought during his lifetime, walked in a dense crowd place of honor for his burial by master Antonio Stradivari.

Black carriages pulled along, The horses were led by the bridle at a quiet pace, because from Stradivari's house to the church of St. Dominic was very close. And the horses, sensing the crowd, nodded their white plumes on their heads.

So slowly, decently and importantly, the master Antonio Stradivari was buried on a cool December day.

We reached the end of the square. At the very end of the square, at the turn, a convoy came alongside the funeral procession.

The convoy was led by a squat, bearded man. His dress was worn and light, the December air was cool, and he shivered.

At first, he watched large crowds of people with curiosity - apparently he was unaccustomed to this. Then his eyes narrowed, and the expression of a man who suddenly remembered something long forgotten appeared on his face. He began to peer intently at people passing by.

Who is being buried?

A hearse drove by.

Two important and straightforward, no longer young men walked closely behind the hearse.

And he recognized them.

“How old they are…” he thought, and then he only realized who it was and whose coffin they were following, he realized that they were burying the master Antonio Stradivari.

They never had to meet, they didn’t have to talk to the proud old man. But he wanted it, he thought about it more than once. What about his secrets now? Who did he leave them to?

Well, time is running out,” the guard told him, “don’t stop, let’s go…” And he pushed the prisoner.

The prisoner was Giuseppe Guarneri, returning from another interrogation to prison.

The singers began to sing, and the sounds of the organ playing a requiem in the church could be heard.

Thin bells rang.

Gloomy and confused, Omobono and Francesco are sitting in their father’s workshop.

All searches are in vain, everything has been revised, everything has been rummaged through, no signs of records, no recipes for making varnish, nothing that could shed light on my father’s secrets, explain why their violins - exact copies paternal ones sound different.

So, all hopes are in vain. They will not achieve their father's glory. Maybe it’s better to do what Paola suggested: quit everything and do something else? “Why do you need all this,” says Paolo, “sell the workshop, you want to sit in one place all day at a workbench.” Really, my craft is better - buy and sell, and the money is in my pocket.

Maybe Paolo is right? Dismiss the students and close the workshop?

What's left in my father's workshop? A few ready-made tools, and the rest are all scattered parts that no one can assemble the way their father would have assembled them. Nineteen samples for violin barrels, on which the father’s handwritten signature - one is completely fresh...

But these signatures are perhaps more valuable than the parts themselves; It is possible, not so successfully, to connect the disparate parts, but the famous signature, familiar throughout Cremona and other cities, will vouch for them. Even after his death, the old man will make more than one violin for his sons.

And what else? Yes, maybe samples of f-holes made of paper, and even the exact size of Amati f-holes made of the finest copper, made by an old man in his youth, various drawings and drawings for a twelve-string “viola d'amour”, a five-string “viola da gamba”; this viola was commissioned by the noble Donna Visconti half a century ago. Drawings of fingerboards, bows, parts of a bow, the finest script for painting barrels, sketches of the coats of arms of the Medici family - high patrons and customers, drawings of Cupid for the underneck and, finally, a wooden seal for labels made of three movable numbers: 1,6,6. For many years, my father added sign by sign to this three-digit number, clearing out the second six and adding the next number by hand, until the 17th century ended. then the old man erased both sixes with a thin knife and left one unit - he was so used to the old numbers. For thirty-seven years he assigned numbers to this unit, until finally the numbers stopped at thirty-seven: 1737.

Maybe Paolo is right?

And just like before, they continue to be painfully jealous of their father, who left them so much money and things and took with him something that you can’t buy from anyone, you can’t get anywhere - the secret of mastery.

No,” Francesco suddenly said stubbornly, “whether for good or bad we will continue our father’s work, what can we do, we will continue to work.” Tell Angelica to clean up the workshop and post a notice on the door: “Orders are being accepted for violins, viols, and cellos.” Repairs are being made."

And they sat down at their workbenches.

Antonio Stradivari lived to be 92 years old and spent his entire long life making musical instruments. He made about 600 items known as Stradivarius violins. Such hard work could not go unnoticed. The result of his work were violins with a unique sound.

The instruments from the last years of the master’s life are exclusive. They have their own names and history. People hunted for these violins, tried to buy them and steal them. They became a symbol of worship. Nowadays only great musicians play Stradivarius violins. The cost of these instruments exceeds all acceptable limits and is equal to a fortune.

The uniqueness of violins is that in the age of new technologies and modern materials it is impossible to create similar instruments. This remains the secret of Antonio Stradivari. The Association of Violin Makers in Great Britain, in its magazine, has tried many times to reveal the secrets of the violin maker. And every time to no avail. The secret remained a secret.

Experts believe that the uniqueness is associated with the 17th century wood from which the instruments are made. Now there is no such wood and there is a high probability that it will never appear again. The climate at that time was changing dramatically, the trees tried to quickly adapt to the new temperature conditions. Special chemical processes occurred in the composition of wood. It was during this period that the main part was made unique instruments. Later, the trees adapted to new climatic conditions and such processes no longer occurred within the wood. But the violins, whose unique sound remains.