Varnish can't take the shine off violin genius

Published on Saturday 5 December 2009 18:53

IT'S A mystery that has fascinated and confounded music lovers, instrument makers and collectors for centuries – just how did Antonio Stradivari create such unique sound when he crafted his violins?

Now, in a discovery that is certain to add to one of the longest running debates in music, a detailed analysis of the varnish on five instruments reveals that he coated the wood with a rather humdrum mix of oil and resin. Those looking to the varnish as the secret of the master Italian violin maker's renown, the study suggests, had best look elsewhere.

"It's a very basic recipe," said Jean-Philippe chard, a chemist at the Muse de la Musique in Paris, who, with other researchers in France and Germany, analysed tiny samples of wood and varnish from the museum's Stradivarius collection: four violins and a viola d'amore dating from 1692 to 1724.

Their study, published online by a German chemistry journal, Angewandte Chemie International Edition, found that a drying oil, linseed or walnut, was used as a first coat to seal the wood. That was followed by a coat of oil and pine, fir or larch resin, with red pigments added in all but the earliest instruments. The recipe was probably little different from that used by others in the town of Cremona. "The ingredients were simple, so probably the skill was in his hand and eye," chard said.

Born in Italy in 1644, Antonio Stradivari set up his own workshop in 1680 in Cremona and his reputation was sealed in the "golden age" between 1698 and 1720.

It is believed that only 600 of his original instruments still exist. On the rare occasions that one of these instruments comes on the market, it can command a price of over 1m.

Such is the fascination with the Strad that even reproductions made in Czechoslovakia and Germany in the early and mid-1700s are considered to be worth more than 2,500.

The reputation of the originals straddles fact and fiction. Sherlock Holmes, most famously, is described as having owned a Stradivarius, although less credibly the great detective is described as having purchased it "for 55 shillings" (2.75).

In the centuries since Stradivari's death, musicians, critics and luthiers — makers of stringed instruments — have debated what gives his instruments their brilliant tone.

Perhaps it was the wood he used or the patterns he developed, which are widely copied today. Or perhaps, some suggested, there was a secret ingredient in his varnish — egg or animal-hide proteins in the base coat, and amber, myrrh or some other more exotic substance in the top coat — that stiffened the wood just so.

Earlier studies had found traces of minerals and proteins in the wood, fuelling the debate. One group found evidence of volcanic ash; another suggested that bacteria or fungi played a role. In a study published in the spring in The Strad magazine, Stewart Pollens, a former conservator of musical instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, found evidence of proteins and gums, although, like the European group, he suggested the varnish was largely oil and resin.

But studies of Stradivari's varnish have been hampered by the lack of samples, which is understandable given the rarity and value of the instruments. Most researchers have relied on a single sample, or on surface measurements of an intact instrument, although Pollens's studies included three samples of wood taken from instruments that were restored.

Dr Joseph Nagyvary, a retired professor at Texas A&M University, who created an outcry several decades ago when he suggested that there were minerals in the varnish of old Italian instruments, used samples from cellos by other makers. "We never had the privilege of getting a sample from a Strad," he said. "I tried that for 30 years and got nothing but insults."

Nagyvary, who has experimented with varnishes of his own, using ingredients like shrimp shells to add protein, said the new findings were "something of great interest".

"We have to take them seriously, but there are many other claims," he said.

chard's group had access to the museum's collection, but even so it took days to decide where on each instrument to take samples. Often this was from an area under the tailpiece, which was both unobtrusive and less likely to have been retouched.

"What we are sure is that what we have sampled from the violin are the best representative samples from Stradivari's technique," chard said.

Douglas Cox, a violin maker in Vermont US said he was not surprised by the findings. "The simplest explanation is most likely to be true," he said.

The recipe "is not all that different from varnishes found on fine furniture from the same area."

Perhaps, chard suggested half-jokingly, what makes some of Stradivari's violins special is the attitude of the musician who plays them.

"Maybe a player, when seeing a beautiful instrument, plays better," he said. "Maybe this is the secret."