[MORTARDUDE]

For over 250 years, the supreme acoustical and aesthetic model for the violin has been the design created by Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), a craftsman from the northern Italian city of Cremona. In that time, thousands of exact copies of have been made, repeating each element of the master's design, yet none have been able to replicate its distinct sound and expressive capacities.

What elements of a Stradivarius (Latin for Stradivari) combine to produce tones like no other violin? Joseph Nagvary, a biochemist and violin maker who has studied the design and construction of the Stradivarius for over 20 years, believes that the critical components are the varnish, the wood filler used in the seams and creases, and the sonorous qualities of the slow growing, tight-grained ancient maple wood used for the body. Theories abound as to the exact ingredients of Stradivari's varnish, but Nagvary believes it probably contained--in addition to oils and fruit tree extracts--particles of amber, porcelain, or powdered glass that helped stiffen the wood and give it greater resonance. The wood filler, he said, likely contained a kind of fruit gum with a crystal powder base.

The maple wood used in Stradivari's violins was transported to his workshop by stream, and it is believed that this prolonged soaking, which Stradivari may have extended, gave the wood an added stiffness and lightness when it was finally cured and ready for shaping. The result, constantly remarked upon by experts and musicians, is the Stradivarius's remarkable power and purity, a sound subtle enough for intimate chamber music, yet strong and clear enough to fill cavernous concert halls.

In both form and construction, each of Stradivari's violins was unique, the product of constant, if slight, experimentation. The arching under the bridge and on the back varied to some degree with each violin, and Stradivari constantly altered the size and shape of the 'c' curves, the thickness of the 'f'-hole swirl, and even the length of the instrument. Adding to this uniqueness were the natural--and unrepeatable--pattern of waves in the maple wood's grain and the contours of the age rings.

Stradivari made an estimated 1,200 violins in his lifetime; keeping a large inventory on hand and selling them only when he thought it time to part with one. Of these, there remain only about 600, three of which are played by master violinists Itzhak Perlman and Sir Yehudi Menuhin.