Two Stradivari Violins

1701 Dushkin and 1702 Lyall

Many of the most celebrated human achievements in craft, art and science pale by comparison with the production from the Stradivari workshop in terms of innovative, artistic vision, overall quality, and quantity of output. By the dawn of the 18th century, Antonio Stradivari had already left a legacy easily sufficient to class him as the greatest violinmaker of them all, but he was to continue experimenting, refining, and innovating for almost four decades beyond 1700, until his death in 1737.

Much evidence points to commercial success matching and enabling the overwhelming artistic success that had been achieved by the Stradivari shop by 1700. Stradivari's commercial success was such that townspeople in Cremona were reputed to have used the saying, "as rich as Stradivari"? to generally describe affluence. There is some indication that Stradivari's commercial dominance was at least partly responsible for choking off the economic possibilities for other makers in Cremona at the time. The struggles of the Guarneris documented in the text of the books Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu, by Peter Biddulph, would seem to support this theory even if they do not prove it. In any case it can be said with confidence that if the Stradivari workshop was in an economic position to lavish unprecedented time and quality of materials on their productions almost from the beginning, they were much more equipped to do so from 1700 onwards.

For modern violinists the "long pattern" violins built from the early 1690's until around 1698 mark a distinct tonal improvement from their predecessors. The flatter arching and increased air space of the long pattern result in a level of power and depth not met with in earlier Stradivari violins. Despite this success, Stradivari remained restless in his pursuit of perfection, and by 1698 had moved away from the longer flatter model and on to new ideas. While the long pattern violins have a body length up to 363 millimeters, most of the Stradivari violins from 1698 to 1709 have a body length between 353 and 356 millimeters. While sometimes a bit longer than instruments from before 1687, post long model instruments are markedly shorter and wider than the "long pattern" instruments: but less full and broad overall than some of the spectacular and heroic productions of 1710-1718.

Along with body length and width, numerous other tweaks and adaptations can be observed in each violin from Stradivari's production. Where we can gain access to instruments near to each other in date of origin one can see that the experiments often follow seemingly concurrent evolutionary paths, with larger fuller models being produced alongside less full ones. Was the Stradivari atelier responding to specific commissions or was the master simply conducting experiments by trial and error? Perhaps both.

From 1700-1705 the Stradivari shop produced a group of similar violins, each tonally excellent, and with backs made from wood of a distinctive figure: From this group the "Lyall" violin of 1702, which we sold some years ago, shows the same sap pocket found on the "Dushkin" violin of 1701, which we sold more recently. The two violins share striking similarities, and several key differences: In general the "Lyall" is more delicate and refined. The edges and margins on the "Lyall" are narrower, and the arching is somewhat more scooped. The varnish on the "Lyall" is a delicate and transparent yellow orange, while the deeper hue on the "Dushkin" is more opaque. The "Dushkin" is just a bit flatter with shorter corners and a heavier edge that give it a slightly more robust appearance than that of the "Lyall". While both instruments are tonally superior, the differences in construction are reflected in the tonal properties of the violins: Where the "Dushkin" is bold and powerful, the "Lyall" is woody and colorful.

These two violins built on nearly the same model, with more or less the same materials, within a year or so of one another, demonstrate both the consistency and the versatility of the Stradivari atelier. These achievements among many others remain virtually unmatched in almost any craft in the nearly 300 years since the Stradivari shop was active.

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