00:04:11

(someone): They're like, hillbillies play fiddles. Yeah. Other people play violins. Exactly. So the fiddle at first was not a well regarded instrument. It was thought of as a sort of a cheap tavern instrument. You know, like you'd get drunk and hop up on the table at the tavern. Really? And beat out a little Irish jig.

00:04:29

(someone): Really?

00:04:30

(someone): Yeah. And it didn't have a good reputation. Wait, when? Well, I mean, this is the 16th century. Okay, so then, initially.

00:04:40

(someone): Yeah.

00:04:41

(someone): Okay, I'm with you then, I'm with you, okay. Hangin' on. And then, even in parts of Italy at first, the church ordered the destruction of violins. They were so, like, looked down upon. And then a lady named Catherine de Medici got on board, and she was like, this thing is wonderful. Sure. I'm gonna order 38 of them for my court from this guy named Nicholas Amati, who was the grandson of the great violin maker Andrea Amati. Actually, she probably bought them from Andrea if it was the 1500s. And yeah, it was 1564. And that was it. Things started to change and that's literally what kind of

00:12:12

(someone): Yes. Great movie. Agreed. Like, stick with it. I think I might have seen that on your recommendation years ago. Probably. If I'm not mistaken. Yeah, really good movie though. Yeah. So he's making violins, he moves into a home in 1680, and he started to get some recognition as a great builder and maker of violins, a great craftsman. He did, and he was still kind of living in the shadow of the Amatis, but when Nicola Amati died in 1684, by this time everyone said, this guy is Cremona's best maker of violins. Yeah. Which, since Cremona was the world capital of violin making, they were made elsewhere, but Cremona was like the place where the best were made. The creme of the Cremona. Right. That made him the world's best violin maker, and he hadn't even entered his golden period yet. Yeah, and he was making more than violins. He's making cellos and guitars and mandolins and harps. pretty much anything with strings. Except harpsichords. Who knows, he might have made a harpsichord. I'll bet that'd be worth a lot. Probably so. Alright, should we take a break here?

00:05:18

(someone): And that was it. Things started to change and that's literally what kind of led the violin down a path of respectability. Yeah, once you introduce it into court, people tend to follow suit. Yeah. Yeah, so the Amatis lived in a place called Cremona, Italy. That's right. And Cremona, because the Amatis lived there, who were basically the de facto inventors of the violin, cello, and viola as we recognize them today, Yeah. Because that's where they were from. Cremona became the center of violin production. Yeah. Stringed instrument production. Plain and simple. Yeah, which is pretty neat. The idea that that's where violins came from and that they're that recent in origin. And of course, it goes further back than that. Lutes were obviously around long before the violin. But again, if you look at a violin today and say, oh, that's a violin, you can thank the Amadis of Cremona for making that recognizable to you. Yeah, and here's another cool little fact. The fancy, beautiful shape of a violin is not for aesthetics. It is all about the sound that it makes. The violin doesn't give a damn whether you think it looks good. Well, it turned out to look beautiful, but all those curves allow for equal resonance of all the notes.

00:04:56 (someone): Yeah. So the Amadis lived in a place called Cremona, Italy. And Cremona, because the Amatis lived there, who were basically the de facto inventors of the violin, cello, and viola as we recognize them today, because that's where they were from, Cremona became the center of violin production, stringed instrument production. Yeah, which is pretty neat. The idea that that's where violins came from and that they're that recent in origin. And of course, it goes further back than that. Lutes were obviously around long before the violin. But again, if you look at a violin today and say, oh, that's a violin, you can thank the Amadis of Cremona for making that recognizable to you.

00:05:48 (someone): Yeah, and here's another cool little fact. The fancy, beautiful shape of a violin is not for aesthetics. It is all about the sound that it makes.

00:05:58 (someone): The violin doesn't give a damn whether you think it looks good.

00:06:01 (someone): Well, it turned out to look beautiful, but all those curves allow for equal resonance of all the notes. If it was more basically shaped, certain notes would sound better than others. So that allowed the entire fingerboard to sound wonderful.

00:06:19 (someone): Well, plus also if you look at a violin face-on, if you go down the sides, in the middle it's cut in. Those are called C-bouts. Those actually have a practical purpose, I'm sure in addition to helping produce sound, but it allows the bow to play the strings on either side.

00:11:12

(someone): Yeah, I didn't get what the... Well, it says he was a pupil in the inscription. Right. But the other thought is that maybe it was a bit of a career move to say, I was taught by the great Ahmadi. Right. Who's dead now and can't say otherwise. Maybe. But who knows? I bet he was probably a pupil. Actually, he wasn't dead, so that would have been pretty gutsy to have done that, because Ahmadi didn't die for many years, many more years after 1666. So I think the common consensus is that he was a pupil of Ahmadi. He would have said, he's stealing my business, so what up with that? Right. Man, this thing is going to be lousy with that. All right, so 1666, you are correct. He builds his very first violin on his own. He continues to build violins. on his own in his attic, which was apparently the tradish. Attic violin building. Was it? That's what it said. Huh. I guess that was just like where you would put your workshop. Okay. Who knows? Maybe it, I don't know. Have you ever seen the movie The Red Violin? Yes. Great movie.

00:09:04 (someone): Yeah. Uh, Antonio Stradivari was born in Cremona. They're not sure when, they think probably about 1644.

00:09:10 (someone): His life is a bit of a mystery, his young life, at least. Right. Not a lot of great records on it.

00:09:17 (someone): You know what? This just, uh, jogged my memory. We never explained why Alexander Hamilton would shave two years off of his age, even though we specifically said we were going to. Well, that's awesome.

00:09:30 (someone): So we follow up now.

00:09:33 (someone): Probably not. I think people would get mad.

00:09:35 (someone): Yeah, if you want to know, write in and we'll tell you. Or maybe we'll post it on social media.

00:09:40 (someone): I think that's better. But who cares? We're talking Stradivari now. Yeah, we've moved on. So Stradivari, there's not very good records about his youth, I think, as you said. But he pops up in 1666 at the very latest. That's right. A violin pops up in 1666, I should say. It has an inscription on it and a label, actually. And if you translate it to English, it says, made by Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, pupil of Niccolo Amati in 1666. Well done.

00:10:19 (someone): Year of Satan.

00:08:50

(someone): Then you have your bridge, which is the very thin piece of wood that keeps the strings off of the violin body itself and taut. Then you have your tailpiece at the bottom where the strings end, and then the all-important chin rest. And that's a violin. Bam. Go make one now. I'm leaving. So again, that was the Amatis that came up with the violin you just described. That's right. And one of the Amatis, the grandson of Andrea Amati, who I think is credited with inventing the violin, basically, but his grandson, Nicola, taught a young man by the name of Antonio, Antonio Stradivari. Ooh, that name sounds familiar. Yeah. Antonio Stradivari was born in Cremona. They're not sure when. They think probably about 1644. His life is a bit of a mystery. His young life, at least. Right. Not a lot of great records on it. You know what? This just jogged my memory. We never explained why Alexander Hamilton would shave two years off of his age, even though we specifically said we were going to. Well, that's awesome. Should we follow up now? She's probably not. I think people would get mad. Yeah, if you want to know, write in and we'll tell you.

00:22:08

(someone): To be the one leader is a bigger accomplishment. I'm very curious to know how, say, like the Golden State Warriors are going to be next season with Durant and Steph Curry and Klay Thompson on there. Thompson not so much, but like Steph Curry and Kevin Durant, they're like two of the greatest players that have ever lived. Ever lived, not just are playing right now. How are they going to gel? The idea that Dwayne Wade and Chris Bosh and LeBron James were all able to keep their egos in check and come together to work together and lead a team together? I think that's harder than just being like, forget it, I'll do it myself. You think? Yes. All right, so Stradivari is making his mark on the world, getting his reputation, and he's making a lot of money. He wasn't one of these, it's like, after he died, they later realized how great he was. He was a rich man making and selling these violins. Yeah, apparently there's a phrase, rich as Stradivari. Yeah. Like richer than an astronaut is what we would say today. Yeah, he was one of the more famous guys in Italy at the time, for sure. Yeah, and rightfully so. His crowning achievement supposedly is in 1716 when he built the Messiah And this is the only violin that he never sold that he kept in his workshop till the day died it was his head stash violin and He this this violin has rarely been played apparently one of the

00:07:41 (someone): Sure. Seabout's my favorite, so you take it from there.

00:07:44 (someone): Well, if you look at a violin, you've got the very above those little tuning pegs, which are contained in the peg box, you've got the scroll, which is that kind of curvy, lovely, fancy piece at the top. Yeah. Then you have the neck and the fingerboard. The neck goes from basically down to the body of the violin, but the fingerboard continues on through it. The upper bout, the lower bout, and then that C bout you mentioned, which is also called the waist. Then you have your two F holes cut on either side. The fancy holes. Yeah, they look like Fs. Then you have your bridge, which is the very thin piece of wood that keeps the strings off of the violin body itself and taut. Then you have your tailpiece at the bottom where the strings end, and then the all-important chin rest. And that's a violin. Bam.

00:08:36 (someone): Go make one now. I'm leaving. So again, that was the Amatis that came up with the violin you just described. That's right. And one of the Amatis, the grandson of Andrea Amati, who I think is credited with inventing the violin basically, but his grandson Nicola taught a young man by the name of Antonio, Antonio Stradivari.

00:09:03 (someone): Ooh, that name sounds familiar.

00:09:04 (someone): Yeah. Uh, Antonio Stradivari was born in Cremona.

00:10:06

(someone): I think people would get mad. Yeah, if you want to know, write in and we'll tell you. Or maybe we'll post it on social medias. I think that's better. But, who cares? We're talking Stradivari now. Yeah, we've moved on. All right, so Stradivari, there's not very good records about his youth, I think, as you said. But he pops up in 1666 at the very latest. That's right. A violin pops up in 1666, I should say. It has an inscription on it and a label, actually. And if you translate it to English, it says, made by Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, Pupil of Niccolo Amati in 1666. Well done. Year of Satan. And that means he was either a pupil, which it clearly says. Sure. Or a bit of a stretch of the truth and a bit of a ruse and a career move. Really? Yeah, there's some people that say, and that's why I was wondering, it says, people believe, some people believe he was a pupil. Yeah, I didn't get what the... Well, it says he was a pupil in the inscription. Right.

00:35:02

(someone): He had a lot of pushback. Well, his theory's not entirely out of left field. It's pretty much accepted that if you put the wrong kind of varnish on a violin, it's going to ruin the sound. So his whole thing was, well, why couldn't you stumble upon some varnish that actually enhanced the sound? And that was his idea, that that accounted for Stradivari's violin sounding like that. Yeah, I think he did get a lot of pushback. He did. There seems to be, even if he's right, there seems to be a desire among the people who collect and play Stradivarius violins is that we'll never understand what makes it special. We don't really want to know what will make it special. Yeah. There's a guy who was widely quoted. He's a violinist from America. His name's James Eanes. Enes? Eanes. Man. Well, James, his whole view is that he's played a number of Stradivarius violins and other stringed instruments, and he said that there's probably a thousand things that make them special, and we can never possibly know what all those thousand things are, and there's never just going to be this one thing that is the key to what made Stradivarius violins so great. Yeah, I think, I watched a BBC documentary that was really pretty great, and they interviewed another violin maker, and he said, you know, it was a right place, right time thing.

00:41:15

(someone): So if you find one of these violins in your attic, and it looks pretty old, it literally says in Italian, this violin was made by Stradivarius in 1679. You could be forgiven to think that you have just found a Stradivarius violin, and all of your money problems are over. You can go buy more meth than you'll ever be able to do in your entire life. It might say made in Germany too, though. That's a big giveaway. It is. And apparently if you're an appraiser of this kind of thing, you are so sick of people calling you that you can't even hide it when you're interviewed in an article. Yeah, the one guy even said that, he's like, people get angry. When you tell them it's not, he said, because they think they got a lottery ticket, and you have to break it to them, and he said, they get mad on these phone calls. And they're like, well, do you have 20 bucks for meth? That's pretty funny. Do you got anything else? Yeah, if you find a violin, and you look it over, and it says Stradivarius, and you look even further, and it doesn't say made in Germany. Fake. If it doesn't say that. I know, but it's still probably a fake. Well, you can, there's a Smithsonian article about it that has basically step-by-step what you can do and who you can submit photos to to get it basically pre-appraised, well not appraised, but just looked at.

00:11:12

(someone): Yeah, I didn't get what the... Well, it says he was a pupil in the inscription. Right. But the other thought is that maybe it was a bit of a career move to say, I was taught by the great Ahmadi. Right. Who's dead now and can't say otherwise. Maybe. But who knows? I bet he was probably a pupil. Actually, he wasn't dead, so that would have been pretty gutsy to have done that, because Ahmadi didn't die for many years, many more years after 1666. So I think the common consensus is that he was a pupil of Ahmadi. He would have said, he's stealing my business, so what up with that? Right. Man, this thing is going to be lousy with that. All right, so 1666, you are correct. He builds his very first violin on his own. He continues to build violins. on his own in his attic, which was apparently the tradish. Attic violin building. Was it? That's what it said. Huh. I guess that was just like where you would put your workshop. Okay. Who knows? Maybe it, I don't know. Have you ever seen the movie The Red Violin? Yes. Great movie.

00:17:06

(someone): some new finishes. I'm gonna make that C-bout a little straighter than you're used to. Yeah, make the F's a little straighter, the F-holes. Oh, is it straighter, was that the deal? I think so. And then we altered the F-hole some. And something with the scroll too, is that right? He made it more amazing. And he made the scroll larger. Big scrolls. The F holes, not only straighter, but longer. Right. Larger scroll and a straighter and stronger C bout. That was like, mechanically, those were the biggest differences. Right, but he also crucially came up with his own formula for a varnish. It's a very easily recognized deep, deep red brown varnish. That's right. That his violins have. It's very handsome, but a lot of people, as we'll see later, believe that it's possibly the varnish that makes Stradivarius violins so great. Yeah. Because when he made these changes, Not only was he making these changes to the shape and appearance of the violin, he was also like a master wood inlayer, like the craftsmanship that his violins had were just unparalleled. They were flawless, flawless works of art as musical instruments. So in addition to just being a flawless work of art, they also sounded better than anything.

00:24:28

(someone): Oh yeah, he's still churning out the good stuff, but nothing like that golden period. And he worked into his 90s, so he was building violins for, you know, 70 years. He worked up to his death as far as I understand. I think so. So yeah, but that golden period stuff, there was the Messiah from 1716, the Allard from 1715, the Betts from 1704. Those are just a few of the ones that he made during this period that are still around today. He made, I saw 1,000, I also saw 1,500 stringed instruments during his career. About 650 survive today. And they tend to have names, especially the ones from his golden period, as you just heard. They have names, and they're usually the name of the most famous player who owned it. They weren't like Skippy and Old Roy. Right. Barnabas. Barnabas the violin.

00:25:29

(someone): Right.

00:25:30

(someone): So, there's a superstition among violinists that the the more you play a violin, the more a particular person plays violin, the more that violin takes on the character of that player, right? So much so that a violinist or even a cellist or a violist can come along afterward and play that person's violin, and it will sound much more like the person whose violin it is than the person playing it. And there's a further superstition that the more you play a violin, the better it sounds.

00:08:50

(someone): Then you have your bridge, which is the very thin piece of wood that keeps the strings off of the violin body itself and taut. Then you have your tailpiece at the bottom where the strings end, and then the all-important chin rest. And that's a violin. Bam. Go make one now. I'm leaving. So again, that was the Amatis that came up with the violin you just described. That's right. And one of the Amatis, the grandson of Andrea Amati, who I think is credited with inventing the violin, basically, but his grandson, Nicola, taught a young man by the name of Antonio, Antonio Stradivari. Ooh, that name sounds familiar. Yeah. Antonio Stradivari was born in Cremona. They're not sure when. They think probably about 1644. His life is a bit of a mystery. His young life, at least. Right. Not a lot of great records on it. You know what? This just jogged my memory. We never explained why Alexander Hamilton would shave two years off of his age, even though we specifically said we were going to. Well, that's awesome. Should we follow up now? She's probably not. I think people would get mad. Yeah, if you want to know, write in and we'll tell you.

00:12:12

(someone): Yes. Great movie. Agreed. Like, stick with it. I think I might have seen that on your recommendation years ago. Probably. If I'm not mistaken. Yeah, really good movie though. Yeah. So he's making violins, he moves into a home in 1680, and he started to get some recognition as a great builder and maker of violins, a great craftsman. He did, and he was still kind of living in the shadow of the Amatis, but when Nicola Amati died in 1684, by this time everyone said, this guy is Cremona's best maker of violins. Yeah. Which, since Cremona was the world capital of violin making, they were made elsewhere, but Cremona was like the place where the best were made. The creme of the Cremona. Right. That made him the world's best violin maker, and he hadn't even entered his golden period yet. Yeah, and he was making more than violins. He's making cellos and guitars and mandolins and harps. pretty much anything with strings. Except harpsichords. Who knows, he might have made a harpsichord. I'll bet that'd be worth a lot. Probably so. Alright, should we take a break here?

00:39:59

(someone): Did you ever see that video of things that were very expensive things that were accidentally broken that I made years back?

00:40:06

(someone): I remember that, yeah.

00:40:07

(someone): It's just like, it was tough to make. I bet. It's tough to watch, too. Yeah. So over the years, there have been many, many, many, many fakes. As soon as he died, they started pumping out forgeries And not even forgeries, like just mass-produced violins that they would throw a label on. At the time, in the 19th century, 18th and 19th century, the people buying the violins knew that they were knock-off manufactured fakes. Yeah, largely in Germany, right? Right, but they weren't like... Yeah, they weren't being duped. It was like, this is in the style of Stradivarius or whatever. Yeah, largely in Germany and Czechoslovakia. And the thing is, though, is over time, these, what are now pretty old violins, because they were, again, made in the 18th and 19th century, they had labels on them that would say, like, Stradivarius Cremonisus Facciabatano, and then say like 1679 or something like that, right? So if you find one of these violins in your attic, and it looks pretty old, it literally says in Italian, this violin was made by Stradivarius in 1679. You could be forgiven to think that you have just found a Stradivarius violin, and all of your money problems are over.

00:04:11

(someone): They're like, hillbillies play fiddles. Yeah. Other people play violins. Exactly. So the fiddle at first was not a well regarded instrument. It was thought of as a sort of a cheap tavern instrument. You know, like you'd get drunk and hop up on the table at the tavern. Really? And beat out a little Irish jig.

00:04:29

(someone): Really?

00:04:30

(someone): Yeah. And it didn't have a good reputation. Wait, when? Well, I mean, this is the 16th century. Okay, so then, initially.

00:04:40

(someone): Yeah.

00:04:41

(someone): Okay, I'm with you then, I'm with you, okay. Hangin' on. And then, even in parts of Italy at first, the church ordered the destruction of violins. They were so, like, looked down upon. And then a lady named Catherine de Medici got on board, and she was like, this thing is wonderful. Sure. I'm gonna order 38 of them for my court from this guy named Nicholas Amati, who was the grandson of the great violin maker Andrea Amati. Actually, she probably bought them from Andrea if it was the 1500s. And yeah, it was 1564. And that was it. Things started to change and that's literally what kind of

00:23:14

(someone): Yeah, and rightfully so. His crowning achievement supposedly is in 1716 when he built the Messiah And this is the only violin that he never sold that he kept in his workshop till the day died it was his head stash violin and He this this violin has rarely been played apparently one of the sort of things, unspoken rules when this thing's been sold and passed down, is that don't even play it. This one should remain pristine. Yeah, it's basically as close to a mint condition Stradivarius as you can find in the world. Oh, it's not close, it's mint. Yeah. But I mean, a couple people have played it. Oh, really? Yeah. It's not been unplayed. Okay. A couple of bad eggs in there. A couple of super lucky violin players. Said, screw your unwritten rules, I'm playing this thing. This is before the Ashmolean got their hands on it. Oh, okay. So, post 1720, post Golden Period, he still produced violins and things, but apparently his eyesight was going, his hands were not as steady. and they weren't quite what they were during the golden period. I'm sure they were still wonderful violins. Oh yeah, he's still churning out the good stuff, but nothing like that golden period. And he worked into his 90s, so he was building violins for, you know, 70 years.

00:05:18

(someone): And that was it. Things started to change and that's literally what kind of led the violin down a path of respectability. Yeah, once you introduce it into court, people tend to follow suit. Yeah. Yeah, so the Amatis lived in a place called Cremona, Italy. That's right. And Cremona, because the Amatis lived there, who were basically the de facto inventors of the violin, cello, and viola as we recognize them today, Yeah. Because that's where they were from. Cremona became the center of violin production. Yeah. Stringed instrument production. Plain and simple. Yeah, which is pretty neat. The idea that that's where violins came from and that they're that recent in origin. And of course, it goes further back than that. Lutes were obviously around long before the violin. But again, if you look at a violin today and say, oh, that's a violin, you can thank the Amadis of Cremona for making that recognizable to you. Yeah, and here's another cool little fact. The fancy, beautiful shape of a violin is not for aesthetics. It is all about the sound that it makes. The violin doesn't give a damn whether you think it looks good. Well, it turned out to look beautiful, but all those curves allow for equal resonance of all the notes.

00:18:26

(someone): They were flawless, flawless works of art as musical instruments. So in addition to just being a flawless work of art, they also sounded better than anything. anything that could possibly compare, be compared to it. And what's really exceptional about Stradivarius is it's not just one of those things where like, oh, the name is actually what is really driving it. A Stradivarius violin that's 300 years old today is probably better than any violin that's been produced in the last 300 years, including a brand new one. Like they're only now getting to the point where they've discovered techniques where they can start to replicate the sound of a Stradivarius. That's how good this guy's violins were. It's not a joke, it's not hyperbole of how great the Stradivarius violins were. They are still, the ones that this guy made by hand, are still the best violins in the world. That's really saying something, considering how much progress we've made in the last 300 years on just about everything. And these are, you know, for the finest tuned ears in the world, like, clearly there are flawless, amazing instruments and violins being produced since then, but for the true, like, aficionado, they can spot the difference apparently.

00:19:51

(someone): Oh yeah.

00:19:51

(someone): Like you and I can't. No, but people whose job it is to identify and appraise Stradivarius violins, say that comparing it to a non-Stradivarius, like a knockoff or something, is like comparing a Ferrari to a school bus. It's like that obvious to them.