31 July 2006

Stradivari's Genius

When my wife was pregnant with our first son and we began considering what to name him, I proposed Strad.  To violinists (a group of which I at least once counted myself a member), Stradivarius is the epitome of perfection.  While cries of horror from certain members of the family resulted in my son being named Julian, not Strad, I have remained a devotee of the brilliant instrument maker and can think of few things that better reflect the virtues of TED — the confluence of technology, entertainment and design — than the Stradivarius. 

I have just finished reading Stradivari’s Genius by Toby Faber, a book that explores each of these aspects of Stadivari’s work — the history of violin making technology, the intimate relationship between great musicians and their Strads throughout time, and Stradivari’s subtle design innovations that led to perfection of both aesthetics and acoustics.  Stradivari’s Genius follows the paths of 6 Strads from creation to modern times.  The drama of the instruments and their owners makes for a fascinating read. 

Interestingly, three of those six instruments have crossed paths with TED over the years.  Two of the violins — the Messiah and Viotti — are on display at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford.  About a year ago today I stood in the Ashmolean enjoying conversation among dinosaur bones at TED Global.  If only I had known then that two of the greatest violins in the world were mere feet away in the musical instrument room.  The third TED instrument chronicled in Stradivari’s Genius, is the Davidov cello.  A succession of the greatest cellists to live have owned the Davidov, including Carl Davidov, Jacquiline du Pre, and now Yoyo Ma, who likely played the Davidov while performing at TED2002 with his Silk Road Project. 

Perhaps TED will bring me in contact with the remaining three instruments — the Pagannini, Khevenhuller and Lipinski — some day soon.  In the mean time, I think I’ll start calling my son Julian "Strad."  I should never have listened to my mother in law.

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