The Violin: Its Famous Makers and Their Imitators

The violin is the most coveted object in music. Stradivari's instruments sell for tens of millions; orchestras kill for a Guarneri del Gesù. But who were the men who carved these instruments from wood, and why has no one ever replicated their magic? George Hart's definitive history traces the violin from its murky origins, rooted in Renaissance Italy, possibly descended from medieval rebecs, through the golden age of Cremona, where the Amati family first perfected the instrument's shape, and into the hands of Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri, whose rivalry produced the finest instruments the world has ever known. Hart examines their techniques, their temperaments, and the vast fortunes their work would command. He also tracks the imitations and forgeries that followed, as craftsmen around Europe attempted to capture, and cash in on, Cremonese greatness. This is a book for anyone who has ever wondered why a 300-year-old piece of wood still sounds like no other instrument on earth. Hart writes with the reverence of a collector and the curiosity of a historian, laying bare the legends, the rivalries, and the unanswered question that haunts every luthier: what exactly did the old masters know that we've forgotten?