Stradivarius is still the violin of choice from violin makers, according to a study published in The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America. The results suggest that the Stradivarius is the preferred violin due to its characteristic timbre.
For some musicians, Stradivarius violins have the perfect sound. But what makes the sound of these famous violins better than other types of violins? Are they really better than other musical instruments?
To answer these questions, a team from the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche Nanoscience Institute (CNR-Nano) in Italy asked 70 violin makers from Cremona to participate in a listening experiment to assess the sound of four different types of violins, including a Stradivarius. These violins are recognised around the world for their excellent craftsmanship and quality as musical instruments. They are a model to follow for both violinists and violin makers.
The study aimed to compare the timbre of different violins — two modern, one factory, and one Stradivarius — to a reference sound from a Stradivarius violin. Using only five notes, the participants had to rank the violins in terms of what they thought was the best sounding instrument.
“This is a double-blind listening experiment, i.e., conducted without the listeners and us researchers knowing which violin was playing while they were listening,” explains Massimo Grassi from UniPadova. “We used a very simple sound stimulus – the musical scale – so that the judgments were guided only by the timbre of the violin and not by other factors such as ‘liking/disliking’ a particular piece of music.”
The listeners showed a specific preference for one particular violin: the Stradivarius. Participants explained that the Stradivarius has a kind of “sound signature” that cannot be heard in the other instruments. “Thanks to an in-depth analysis of the descriptions provided by the listeners and vibroacoustic measurements made on the instruments, we were able to describe the preferred sound as one that has a particular balance of ‘openness,’ ‘clarity,’ and ‘nasality,'” said Carlo Andrea Rozzi from CNR-Nano and first author of the study.
For the researchers, establishing what aspects of the sound make the violin have a desirable timbre is crucial for violin makers and musicians, and it may lead to the creation of musical instruments with specific timbral properties. Ultimately, the aim is to build a data repository that links timbre and vibrations in the violin to help violin makers.
“The results suggest that not all instruments are created equal, regardless of whether they were built by Stradivari; but rather that we can find in the timbre of an instrument the qualities that make it better appreciated by listeners,” added Rozzi.
For this study, the researchers had access to violins currently in the Historical collection of the Cremona Violin museum. In addition, “the broad and committed participation of master violin makers and students from the International School of Violin Making provided us with very reliable data,” concluded the researcher.
Rozzi C, Voltini A, Antonacci F, Nucci M and Grassi M (2022) A listening experiment comparing the timbre of two Stradivari with other violins. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 151, 443; https://doi.org/10.1121/10.0009320