Cart
Free Shipping in Ireland
Proud to be B-Corp

Stradivari Stewart Pollens (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

Stradivari By Stewart Pollens (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

Summary

Since the eighteenth century Antonio Stradivari has been universally regarded as the greatest of all violin makers. Stradivari provides a fascinating biography of this legendary maker, as well as a detailed study of the tools he used. Lavishly illustrated throughout, the book includes colour photographs of 16 famous Stradivari instruments.

Stradivari Summary

Stradivari by Stewart Pollens (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

For over 200 years, Antonio Stradivari has been universally regarded as the greatest violin maker who ever lived, yet it is not widely known that he made virtually every kind of bowed- and plucked-string instrument popular in the Baroque period, including lutes, viols, mandolins, guitars, and harps. Stradivari provides a fascinating biography of this legendary maker, based on newly discovered material in church and civic archives, alongside technical descriptions and analyses of many of the maker's workshop materials preserved in the Museo Stradivariano in Cremona, particularly as they relate to extant and lost instruments, baroque stringing and instrument adjustment, and early performance practice. There are separate chapters for each type of instrument, allowing the reader to easily locate information. The book contains tables of measurements of Stradivari's forms and patterns, over 100 black and white photographs and drawings, and colour photographs of 16 of Stradivari's most important violins, violas, and cellos.

Stradivari Reviews

'... this is a masterly study by an acknowledged expert ...' The Tablet
' ... for practitioners and teachers of any of the instruments investigated - the book is an extremely important tool in understanding the history and development of those instruments. It contains a great deal of useful resources: three appendices, extensive routes on primary and secondary sources, and a splendid bibliography. it is very much a book to be dipped into time and time again. Music Teacher

About Stewart Pollens (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)

Stewart Pollens served as the conservator of musical instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1976 to 2006, where his duties included the restoration and maintenance of the museum's encyclopedic collection of over 5000 instruments.

Table of Contents

Preface; 1. Historical background; 2. Stradivari's workshop materials; 3. The violin forms and patterns; 4. Violin fittings and setup; 5. The dance master's kit; 6. The viola da gamba and viola d' amore; 7. The lute; 8. The mandola and mandolino; 9. The guitar; 10. The harp; 11. The workshop; Appendices: 1. The Hill Bass-Bar collection; 2. Thomas Salmon's 'The Theory of Musick Reduced to Arithmetical and Geometric Proportions' from Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, 1705; 3. A case study: The 'Messiah'; Color plates.

Additional information

CIN0521873045G
9780521873048
0521873045
Stradivari by Stewart Pollens (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York)
Used - Good
Hardback
Cambridge University Press
20100211
366
Winner of A Choice Outstanding Academic Title 2011
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Stradivari