Stradivari's Genius: Five Violins, One Cello, and Three Centuries of Enduring Perfection

“’Tis God gives skill, but not without men’s hands: He could not make Antonio Stradivari’s violins without Antonio.”
–George Eliot

Antonio Stradivari (1644—1737) was a perfectionist whose single-minded pursuit of excellence changed the world of music. In the course of his long career in the northern Italian city of Cremona, he created more than a thousand stringed instruments; approximately six hundred survive. In this fascinating book, Toby Faber traces the rich, multilayered stories of six ...