Paganini’s violin is sent for analysis
NewsThe Guarnerius violin known as ‘Il Cannone’ (the cannon) has been sent from Niccolo Paganini’s home town of Genoa to the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility in Grenoble for X-ray micro-analysis.
The aim is to record every particle of its struture and to detect possible flaws before they become serious. The violin dates from 1743.
It is played nowadays by the winners of Genoa’s Premio Paganini international violin competition.
Paganini died in 1840.
How exciting! If they could document every atom in the violin, then they could use AI and 3D printing to mass produce exact replicas and we could end up getting a Strad from Amazon for less than the cost of a pint.
I can only hope you were being sarcastic. 😉
Other violinists are also allowed to play it, by invitation, and many of them have remarked it is the most powerful violin they have ever played. Regina Carter has played it in concert and also on a recording. She said that when she got her own violin back “it sounded like a mouse.”
Nice to see Paganini’s Guarneri is being well cared for in a climate controlled room with gut strings, unlike Heifetz’s, which is being played in an orchestra on a nightly basis.
It doesn’t hurt a stringed instrument to play it. It actually keeps it “alive” and well. It’s how you treat it when you aren’t playing it, and where you keep it stored in the meantime, or transported from venue to venue.
(I come from a Family of fiddle and viola, bass and cello players.
Oh, and the Piano, which is half-stringed and half-percussion.)
Absolutely! The Stradivari “Messiah”, arguably the most famous violin other than the “Cannon”, hasn’t been played since the 1960s, it’s in a museum in Oxford. As long as the instrument is in decent shape, it needs to be played on a regular basis.
The ‘David-Heifetz’ del Gesu is certainly not being kept alive by a mediocre violinist in an orchestra who leaves it unattended at SF Conservatory for students to try. The violin isn’t even kept in its original condition that Jascha Heifetz left it in. The luthier taking care of it has gutted the elegant fittings from Vuillaume, the bridge, and type of strings Mr. Heifetz used. Heifetz stipulated in his will that it was to be played on by “talented artists” not by one singular artist, and that it was to be played on “special occasions” instead of multiple times a season in a symphony orchestra. With those conditions, Mr. Heifetz bequeathed the violin to the fine arts museum in SF. Stick to things you understand and are qualified to talk about. Being related to some string players does NOT make you uniquely knowledgeable about violins!
“record every particle…”
I predict someone will eventually 3D print a new one from this data.
I couldn’t help but notice the typo “struture” [sic] — how ironic, in that the stated purpose is “…to record every particle of its structure [corrected] and to detect possible flaws before they become serious.”
Indeed!
Best wishes,
Dan T.
It’s all psychological, if I know I’m playing a famous instrument I would be all psyched up and declare it the best thing since sliced tofu, or whatever.
I have heard all kinds of violins in 30 years of concertgoing, from cheap $500 ones to Strads and Guarneris and they ALL sounded the same. It’s the players that sounded different with their varying degrees of technique and artistry.
“IL Canone” has been scanned, tested and retested. Like the La Scala impending regime change, it is yet another Italian cycle.
Maybe they should dig up Paganini and send him for analysis.
They did that already in 1893 with Paganini’s grandson and violinist Frantisek Ondricek watching on. Ondricek’s wife was also there and became violently ill when they opened the box. Samples were taken which remain in a lab somewhere in Italy. They eventually reburied him in 1896.
I would not be surprised if IA would state that it comes from China and was manufactured a few months back.Hu hu hu