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History unfolds in tree rings. were used to determine age of historical buildings together When the Vikings first came to America. Now, tree rings have shed light on a long-standing mystery in the rarest world of multi-million dollar musical instruments.

A team of researchers analyzed the wood of two 17th-century two-string instruments, uncovering evidence of how Antonio Stradivari may have developed his craft, and refined the skills used in the creation of the rare, namesake. Stradivarius violins.

Mauro Bernabei, a dendrochronologist at the Italian National Research Council in San Michele all’Adige, and colleagues have published their results. Last month in the journal Dendrochronologiaand his findings are consistent with the young Stradivari’s apprenticeship with Nicola Amati, a master luthier about 40 years his senior. Such a connection between two famous masters long assumed.

In the 17th and early 18th centuries, Stradivari created string instruments renowned for their craftsmanship and superior sound. “Strdivari is generally considered the greatest violin maker to have ever lived,” said Kevin Kelly. violin maker The one who uses dozens of Stradivarius instruments in Boston.

Only about 600 of the Stradivari survive today, all equally prized by collectors and artists. A Stradivarius violin currently on the auction block – the first such sale in decades – Expected to reach $20 million.

Stradivari probably learned his craft by apprenticing, as was customary at the time, with an older mentor. This could have been Amati, who lived in Cremona, a city well established in the mid-17th century and also in what is now Italy.

“Some people assume that because Stradivari is Cremonese and a very good violin maker, he must have apprenticed with Amati,” said Mr Kelly, who was not involved in the new study.

But the evidence for the connection between Stradivari and Amati remains stubbornly obscure: a violin. Carries a label made by Stradivari Reading “Antonius Stradiuarius Cremonensis Alumnus Nicolaij Amati, Faciebat Anno 1666”. This phrase implies that Stradivari was a disciple of Amati, Mr. Kelly said, but that was the only label that popped up.

To shed light on this musical mystery, Dr. Bernabei and his team visited the Conservatory Museum of San Pietro a Majella in Naples and examined the wood of a small harp made by Stradivari in 1681. The researchers precisely measured the width of the 157 tree rings visible on the instrument’s spruce soundboard.

The pattern created by drawing the width of the tree rings one after the other is like a fingerprint. Dr. This is because the amount a tree grows each year depends on weather, water conditions and a host of other factors, Bernabei said. “Plants register very accurately what is happening in their environment.”

The researchers compared the measurements from the Stradivari harp with other tree-ring strings measured from string instruments. One of the more than 600 recordings stood out for being surprisingly similar: a spruce soundboard from a cello made by Nicola Amati in 1679. Dr. “All the maximum and minimum values ​​overlap,” said Bernabei. “It’s like someone tearing a trunk into two different pieces.”

Dr. Bernabei and colleagues suggest that indeed the same wood was used to make the Stradivari harp and the Amati cello. The team concluded that this was consistent with the two artisans sharing a workshop and the older Amati possibly guiding the young Stradivari.

Maybe that’s true, said Mr Kelly, but that’s not the only possibility. Instead, Mr. Amati and Stradivari may have bought wood from the same person, he said. Ultimately, Mr Kelly said, luthiers in 17th and 18th century Cremona belonged to a small community. “Basically they all lived on the same street.”