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They are deemed to be among the most exquisite musical instruments ever made, and collectors have parted with millions just to have one to call one their own.
But it appears that concert violinists cannot tell from the sound alone whether they are playing a 300-year-old Stradivarius or an instrument made last week. And, for playing quality alone, the virtuoso will opt for the modern one when asked which fiddle they would like to take home.
These discordant findings emerge from experiments by Claudia Fritz, a researcher at the University of Paris, at an international violin competition in Indianapolis in 2010. She asked 21 musicians to play six different violins, three modern instruments and three by Italian maestros – one made by Guarneri del Gesu around 1740, and two made in Antonio Stradivari's workshop around 1700.
Fritz commandeered a large room, dimmed the lights and passed the violins in random order to the musicians, who had to wear welders' goggles and stand on the other side of a dividing curtain. Each had time to play the six instruments and rank them according to their playability, projection, response and "tone colours", a measure of the quality of the sound.
www.theguardian.com
But it appears that concert violinists cannot tell from the sound alone whether they are playing a 300-year-old Stradivarius or an instrument made last week. And, for playing quality alone, the virtuoso will opt for the modern one when asked which fiddle they would like to take home.
These discordant findings emerge from experiments by Claudia Fritz, a researcher at the University of Paris, at an international violin competition in Indianapolis in 2010. She asked 21 musicians to play six different violins, three modern instruments and three by Italian maestros – one made by Guarneri del Gesu around 1740, and two made in Antonio Stradivari's workshop around 1700.
Fritz commandeered a large room, dimmed the lights and passed the violins in random order to the musicians, who had to wear welders' goggles and stand on the other side of a dividing curtain. Each had time to play the six instruments and rank them according to their playability, projection, response and "tone colours", a measure of the quality of the sound.
How many notes would a virtuoso violinist pay for a Stradivarius?
Study finds musicians cannot tell from sound alone whether they are playing an old classic instrument or one made last week
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