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Antonio Stradivari's violins, made in Cremona, Italy, around 1700, are among the most valuable instruments in the world. Yet in blind tests, where players could not see which violin they held, leading soloists often preferred new violins and could not reliably tell old from new.

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Stradivari (c. 1644–1737) made more than 1,100 instruments, mostly violins, and about 650 survive. Those from his 'golden period', about 1700 to 1725, are the most prized and sell for millions: the 'Lady Blunt' of 1721 fetched 15.9 million dollars in 2011, raised for victims of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Researchers have long searched for a secret, from dense wood grown during the cold centuries of the Little Ice Age to chemical treatments of the wood and varnish. The French acoustician Claudia Fritz and the American violin maker Joseph Curtin tested the reputation itself. In a study published in 2012, 21 experienced violinists tried old and new violins without knowing which was which; the least-preferred instrument was a Stradivari. In 2014, 6 of 10 renowned soloists chose a new violin to take on an imagined concert tour.

Türkçe oku
Antonio Stradivari'nin 1700 dolaylarında İtalya'nın Cremona kentinde yaptığı kemanlar dünyanın en değerli çalgıları arasındadır. Oysa elindeki kemanın hangisi olduğunu görmeden çalan ünlü solistler, kör testlerde çoğu zaman yeni kemanları seçti; eskiyle yeniyi de güvenilir biçimde ayırt edemedi.

Stradivari (1644 dolayları-1737) çoğu keman olmak üzere 1.100'ü aşkın çalgı yaptı; bunların 650 kadarı günümüze ulaştı. En değerlileri, yaklaşık 1700-1725 arasındaki “altın dönemi”nde yapılanlardır ve milyonlarca dolara satılır: 1721 yapımı “Lady Blunt”, 2011'de Japonya'daki deprem ve tsunaminin mağdurlarına yardım için 15,9 milyon dolara satıldı. Araştırmacılar uzun süre bir sır aradı; Küçük Buzul Çağı'nın soğuk yüzyıllarında yavaş büyüyen sık dokulu ağaçlardan ahşaba ve verniğe uygulanan kimyasal işlemlere kadar pek çok açıklama öne sürüldü. Fransız akustik uzmanı Claudia Fritz ile Amerikalı keman yapımcısı Joseph Curtin ise bu ünün hak edilip edilmediğini sınadı. 2012'de yayımlanan çalışmalarında 21 deneyimli kemancı, hangisinin hangisi olduğunu bilmeden eski ve yeni kemanları denedi; en az beğenilen çalgı bir Stradivari'ydi. 2014'teki çalışmada ise 10 ünlü solistten 6'sı, hayali bir konser turnesine yanında götürmek için yeni bir keman seçti.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Stradivarius
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