Books › Notice of Anthony Stradivari, the celebrated violin-maker, known by the name of Stradivarius:, 1864 › scan 99
Scan 99
Notice of Anthony Stradivari, the celebrated violin-maker, known by the name of Stradivarius:, 1864
8 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 77. See the scan on archive.org.
1them, to determine the laws which (even without his knowing it) had directed our celebrated artist in his labours.
3In general terms, the instruments of Stradivarius owe their admirable qualities: first, to the excellent choice of the wood; secondly, to the relations of sonority subsisting among the different pieces which compose these instruments; thirdly, to the capaciousness of the chest, combined with the proportions of thickness of the back and belly, from whence results the sound produced by the vibrations of the air under the action of the bow, which sets the sonorous body in motion; lastly, to the very exact precision of the workmanship, and to the varnish, whose essential properties are to protect the wood against the influence of the hygrometric changes of the atmosphere, without offering any obstacle to the elasticity on which the freedom of vibration depends.
5In analysing the instruments of Stradivarius, it was requisite to begin with an analysis of the sonority of the wood used by him. The appearance of it is of no assistance whatever as a guide to facts, in this respect; the most practised eye can discern nothing therein: carefully conducted experiments can alone afford any information.
7That all kinds of wood yield a sound, no one can doubt: but by what method can they be examined in order to determine their intonation? The specific sonority of wood was already known at the period when Mersenne published his Traité de l'Harmonie universelle (1636); he speaks of it, and indicates percussion as the means for knowing and determining it. No doubt this
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