Stradivari Cellos - Davidov Stradivarius, Servais Stradivarius, General Kyd Stradivarius, Duport Stradivarius, Bonjour Stradivarius (Paperback)

Chapters: Davidov Stradivarius, Servais Stradivarius, General Kyd Stradivarius, Duport Stradivarius, Bonjour Stradivarius, Du Pre Stradivarius, Barjansky Stradivarius, de Munck Stradivarius, Ex Vatican Stradivarius. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 26. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: The Davidov Stradivarius (also: Davidoff or Davydov), is an antique cello fabricated in 1712 by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona, Italy. It is very similar in construction and form to the equally famed Duport Stradivarius built a year earlier and played by Mstislav Rostropovich until his death in 2007. The varnish is of a rich orange-red hue, produced with oil color glazes. Its owners have included Jacqueline du Pre, and it is currently used by cellist Yo-Yo Ma. In 1870, it was given to Karl Davydov (1838-1889) by patron, Count Wielhorsky at the court of Tsar, Alexander II, and it is Davydov's name the cello bears today. Davydov was a Russian cellist of great renown at the time, described as the "czar of cellists" by Tchaikovsky, though far less successful as a composer. The cello body has a few marks and scratches due to mishandling from this period. After Davydov's death, the cello was sold in Paris in 1888. In 1928 it was purchased by Herbert N. Straus, an American business executive. When he died, his widow asked New York City musical instrument dealer Rembert Wurlitzer to sell the instrument for her. In 1964 the Davydov cello was purchased for US$90,000 by Ismena Holland who in turn presented the instrument to her goddaughter, the English cellist, Jacqueline du Pre. Upon receiving the Davydov, Du Pre's instructor, William Pleeth, declared it as "one of the really great instruments of the world." Practically all of du Pre's recordings from 1968 to 1970 were made on this instrument. By...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=50916