The Violin: A Social History of the World's Most Versatile Instrument

About this book

The life times and travels of a remarkable instrument and the people who have made sold played and cherished it. A 16-ounce package of polished wood strings and air the violin is perhaps the most affordable portable and adaptable instrument ever created. As congenial to reels ragas Delta blues and indie rock as it is to solo Bach and late Beethoven it has been played standing or sitting alone or in groups in bars churches concert halls lumber camps even concentration camps by pros and amateurs adults and children men and women at virtually any latitude on any continent. Despite dogged attempts by musicologists worldwide to find its source the violins origins remain maddeningly elusive. The instrument surfaced from nowhere in particular in a world that Columbus had only recently left behind and Shakespeare had yet to put on paper. By the end of the violins first century people were just discovering its possibilities. But it was already the instrument of choice for some of the greatest music ever composed by the end of its second. By the dawn of its fifth it was established on five continents as an icon of globalization modernization and social mobility an A-list trophy and a potential capital gain. In The Violin David Schoenbaum has combined the stories of its makers dealers and players into a global history of the past five centuries. From the earliest days when violin makers acquired their craft from box makers to Stradivari and the Golden Age of Cremona; Vuillaume and the Hills who turned it into a global collectible; and incomparable performers from Paganini and Joachim to Heifetz and Oistrakh Schoenbaum lays out the business politics and art of the worlds most versatile instrument. 16 pages of illustrations