A Stradivarius Violin Could This Week Become the Most Expensive Musical Instrument Ever Sold at Auction

There is a certain paradox to the greatest violins. No matter how uniform the testimony of their players and audiences, a skeptic might question their supremacy. After all, these instruments have been played, for centuries now, by the most gifted violinists in the world — the ones who can coax, from any instrument, the most varied colors and tones. It is reasonable to wonder whether the renown of the great luthiers, above all Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri “del Gesù,” is due as much to those violinists’ talents as to the qualities of the instruments themselves. Perhaps for that reason, famous violins are often known in part by their former owners’ names — the Szigeti Strad and the Kochanski Guarneri, to name just two. It is just such a violin that will be offered at auction by Sotheby’s, as part of its Masters Week. The “Joachim-Ma” Stradivarius, made in 1714, is being sold by the New England Conservatory and the proceeds will fund student scholarships. Sotheby’s is predicting a winning bid of between $12 million and $18 million. The gavel will sound on February 7. For NEC, there is every reason to hope that the violin could fetch a historic price, perhaps exceeding that of the “Lady Blunt” Strad, sold in 2011 for $15.9 million, the world record for a musical instrument sold at auction. In the Joachim-Ma’s favor are its reputed intrinsic qualities and condition, and its history. Moreover, while all valuable violins are called beautiful, photographs suggest that the violin is truly that: touched by a pale gold, like winter sun on an old table. The violin’s past only adds to its worth. The Hungarian Joseph Joachim (1831-1907), the owner of the violin between 1849 and 1885, was one of the most influential musicians of the 19th century. He was a different kind of violinist from the prevailing image of earlier times — a figure not of ostentatious virtuosity, à la Paganini, but of searching musicianship and interpretative rigor. It was to Joachim that Brahms dedicated his monumental violin concerto, among the three or four greatest in the repertoire; and this Strad was likely the instrument Joachim played for the concerto’s premiere. In a memorable if apocryphal remark, one listener commented that the concerto was not so much “for” the violin as “against it.” Evidently the instrument is resilient. The ‘Joachim-Ma’ Stradivarius, 1714. Via Sotheby’s For the latter part of the 20th century, the violin was owned by Si-Hon Ma, a Chinese violinist who came to America in 1948 and earned both a master’s degree and an artist diploma from NEC. Upon Ma’s death, in 2009, the violin was bequeathed to his alma mater. In recent years, the violin has been loaned to NEC students for temporary use. An Avery Fisher Career Grant winner who earned his artist diploma from NEC, Alexi Kenney, described the Joachim-Ma in a 2016 essay, comparing other violins to its sublimity. He reckoned, “It’s like sugar versus caramel. … [The Strad is] sweet, yes, but it has an undefinable quality, an almost savory umami … carrying with it darkness, depth, and a silken sweetness that doesn’t overpower.” Mr. Kenney’s ear surely can be trusted — though for some potential buyers, the actual sound may not be the first consideration. Joel Link, first violinist of the Dover Quartet, told me that “there are many reasons why an instrument becomes famous, including its provenance and historical significance. Who has owned it, and who has played it.”Yet the absolute preeminence of the violins of Stradivari and Guarneri has occasionally been challenged. A 2014 study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, investigated the supposed “tonal superiority” of these violins. The 10 soloists who participated each blind-tested six contemporary violins and six old Italian instruments — five by Stradivari. The results were surprising: “When asked to choose a violin to replace their own … 6 of the 10 soloists chose a new instrument. A single new violin was easily the most-preferred of the 12. On average, soloists rated their favorite new violins more highly than their favorite old for playability, articulation, and projection, and at least equal to old in terms of timbre.” Such practical empiricism, one suspects, has limited sway for those susceptible to the sorcery of a Strad. Old violins do not yield up their secrets in the two or three hours allotted in such tests. Nor can it be supposed that the soloists and concertmasters who choose old violins, often at great personal expense, are doing so merely on the basis of historical prestige. In a filmed interview near the end of his career, the Israeli violinist Ivry Gitlis was asked about his 1713 Stradivarius. “It took me a year and a half to get to know,” the old man said, “and then I always find new things.” He looked down at the violin, turning it this way and that, his hands unsentimental, his voice vitally serious. “I said, whatever you give to it, it gives you back. Not like with people.”

A Stradivarius Violin Could This Week Become the Most Expensive Musical Instrument Ever Sold at Auction

More from the New York Sun

Iran Adds 7 Years to Prison Sentence for Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi

Democrats Notch Another Unexpected Win in Special Election, Swinging Louisiana Legislative Seat 30 Points to the Left

Lawyers Prepare To Release New Evidence in Case of Chicago Woman Shot by Customs and Border Patrol

More from the New York Sun

Iran Adds 7 Years to Prison Sentence for Nobel Laureate Narges Mohammadi

Democrats Notch Another Unexpected Win in Special Election, Swinging Louisiana Legislative Seat 30 Points to the Left

Lawyers Prepare To Release New Evidence in Case of Chicago Woman Shot by Customs and Border Patrol

FCC Launches Investigation into ‘The View’ Over Equal Airtime Rules

The Honda Prelude Is a Prius Pretending To Be a Sports Coupe

A Ma Maniére Is No Longer Special

Samsung’s $2,899 Trifold Phone Arrives in America

Pagani Shows Why Hypercar Makers Need Better Standards