00:30So this is a 1714 golden period Stradivarius.
00:42So this is a violin that was created by Antonio Stradivari in the city of Cremona in Italy
00:47and these are synonymous with the quintessential musical instrument.
00:51I think Stradivarius as a name has now kind of gotten that sort of allure that you know
00:55that a Stradivarius is the best of the best.
01:26The auction is going to be on February 7th and the estimate of the
01:30Stradivarius is 12 to 18 million dollars.
01:47Stradivarius made just over a thousand violins and at this point in time over 300 years later
01:53around 600 of those still exist. Not all of them are playable,
01:56they're in different states and conditions. This one is an exceptional condition.
02:23This one is also from the golden period. The golden period is a period of his production
02:33which was the very peak of his production. So at the time he made this violin in 1714
02:38he was about 70 years old and one would think that that's pretty elderly for a luthier but
02:43at that point he had really perfected the craft, changed the shape of the violin and
02:47gotten to the point where he had perfected exactly how to create the best possible sound.
02:52So that's why these are the most prized Stradivarius violins.
03:14Stradivariuses are renowned for their depth of sound, the sweetness of their sound
03:19and there is something about the Stradivarius and it's still unknown to this day what it is
03:23about the Stradivarius. Whether it's the shape of the violin, the way that it's constructed,
03:28the wood, the actual varnish that makes it so special. But it is by all accounts anyone who
03:34plays the violin can tell you that it is something different when you hold and hear a Stradivarius
03:39that just differentiates it from any other musical instrument.
03:49So the New England Conservatory was gifted this violin by a violinist who was an alum of the
04:08conservatory named Si Hun Ma. He was a Chinese violinist living in the United States and he
04:14had purchased this violin at the beginning of the 1900s and then in his will he left this
04:20violin to the conservatory specifically with the purpose of their eventual sale
04:24to fund student scholarships.
05:14you
Comments