Musicians and music aficionados alike have lengthy savored the wealthy sound high quality of the violins created by Antonio Stradivari, significantly on the daybreak of the 18th century (the so-called “golden interval“). Scientists have been equally fascinated by why Stradivari violins appear to sound so a lot better than fashionable devices; it has been an lively space of analysis for many years.
A latest paper printed within the journal Analytical Chemistry reported that nanoscale imaging of two such devices revealed a protein-based layer on the interface of the wooden and the varnish, which can affect the wooden’s pure resonance, and therefore the ensuing sound. In the meantime, one other paper printed within the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America confirmed that the higher resonance of older violins produces stronger mixture tones, which might additionally have an effect on the notion of musical tones.
I’ve written extensively about this matter up to now, and you’ll learn a useful abstract of a few of the analysis on this space thus far right here. Per my 2021 article, the (perceived) distinctive sound cannot simply be as a result of instrument’s geometry, though Stradivari’s geometrical strategy gave us the violin’s signature form. One speculation is that Stradivari could have used Alpine spruce that grew throughout a interval of uncommonly chilly climate, which prompted the annual progress rings to be nearer collectively, making the wooden abnormally dense. One other fashionable idea has to do with the varnish: specifically, that Stradivari used an ingenious cocktail of honey, egg whites, and gum arabic from sub-Saharan bushes—or maybe salts or different chemical compounds.
It is the varnish that has acquired essentially the most consideration in recent times. The idea dates again to 2006 when Joseph Nagyvary, a professor emeritus of biochemistry at Texas A&M College, made headlines with a paper in Nature claiming that it was the chemical compounds used to deal with the wooden—not essentially the wooden itself—that was answerable for the distinctive sound of a Stradivarius violin.
Particularly, it was salts of copper, iron, and chromium, all of that are glorious wooden preservers however may additionally have altered the devices’ acoustical properties. He primarily based his findings on research utilizing infrared and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy to review the chemical properties of the backboards of a number of violins (the backboard is the instrument’s largest resonant part).
Extra proof in favor of Staff Varnish got here from a 2016 research by researchers on the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Supplies Science and Know-how (EMPA). They studied how a varnish’s chemical composition, thickness, and diploma of penetration into the wooden affected the acoustics of the instrument. The researchers discovered that each one the varnishes elevated the wooden’s dampening potential—that’s, how effectively it absorbs and stops vibrations, bringing out a hotter, mellower, and aesthetically pleasing sound. A 2017 research by Taiwanese researchers in contrast the maple utilized by Stradivarius with fashionable, high-quality maple wooden. Their evaluation confirmed proof of chemical therapies within the type of aluminum, calcium, and copper, amongst different parts.
And final 12 months, researchers analyzed hint chemical compounds preserved within the maple wooden used to make the soundboards of Stradivari and Guarneri devices. The analysis concerned a uncommon assortment of Cremonese wooden samples of spruce and maple utilized by Stradivari, Guarneri, and Amati, and the outcomes have been then in comparison with fashionable spruce and maple tonewoods, in addition to woods from vintage Chinese language zithers and fewer distinctive previous European violins. They discovered traces of borax and a number of other steel sulfates within the wooden samples courting between 1600 to 1750. “I imagine that chemically processed wooden was the lacking key that prevented us from reproducing Stradivari’s tone,” co-author Bruce Tai informed Ars final 12 months.
