秃公
加入时间: 2006/09/12 文章: 1667
经验值: 1777
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作者:秃公 在 寒山小径 发贴, 来自 http://www.hjclub.org

The 300-year-old Stradivarius violin, known as "The Taft", is delicately removed from a display case before its auction at Christie's in New York May 5, 2000. "The Hammer," built during Stradivari's "golden period," will go to auction on Monday, May 15, and is expected to go for over $2 million. (Doug Kanter/AFP/Getty Images)
Mystery solved: Chemicals made Stradivarius violins unique, says professor
Answering a question that has lingered for centuries, a team of scientists has proved that chemicals used to treat the wood used in Stradivarius and Guarneri violins are the reasons for the distinct sound produced by the world-famous instruments.
The conclusions, published in the current issue of Nature magazine, have confirmed 30 years of work into the subject by Joseph Nagyvary, professor emeritus of biochemistry at Texas A&M University, who was the first to theorize that chemicals – not necessarily the wood – created the unique sound of the two violins. Nagyvary teamed with collaborators Joseph DiVerdi of Colorado State University and Noel Owen of Brigham Young University on the project.
“This research proves unquestionably that the wood of the great masters was subjected to an aggressive chemical treatment and the chemicals – most likely some sort of oxidizing agents – had a crucial role in creating the great sound of the Stradivarius and the Guarneri,” Nagyvary says.
“Like many discoveries, this one could have been accidental. Perhaps the violin makers were not even aware of the acoustical effects of the chemicals. Both Stradivari and Guarneri wanted to treat their violins to prevent worms from eating away the wood. They used some chemical agents to protect the wood from worm infestations of the time, and the unintended consequence from these chemicals was a sound like none other,” he adds.
The team tested several instruments, including violins and cellos, produced by Stradivari and Guarneri from 1717 to around 1741, using spectra analysis and other methods.
The results and those previously reported by Nagyvary showed that two specific areas of the instruments accounted for their unique sound – chemicals used in the varnish and fillers of the instruments, and the overall wood treatment process used by Stradivari and Guarneri.
作者:秃公 在 寒山小径 发贴, 来自 http://www.hjclub.org |
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