Dendrochronologia 21/1 (2003) 4145

Urban & Fischer Verlag

http://www.urbanfischer.de/journals/dendro

Short article

Stradivari, violins, tree rings, and the Maunder

Minimum: a hypothesis
Lloyd Burckle1, Henri D. Grissino-Mayer2
1
2

Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, New York

Laboratory of Tree-Ring Science, Department of Geography, University of Tennessee,
Knoxville, Tennessee, USA

Summary

Instruments produced by the master violinmakers of the late 17th and early 18th centuries are reputed to
have superior tonal qualities relative to more contemporary instruments. Many hypotheses have been
proffered to explain this difference in sound quality, but all hypotheses were found wanting. We propose an alternative hypothesis based on the unique climate situation that existed between AD 1645
1715 known as the Maunder Minimum. This period of reduced solar activity was noted also for its
lowered temperatures, which therefore caused reductions in tree growth rates. We hypothesize that
the longer winters and cooler summers produced wood that had slower, more even growth, desirable
properties for producing higher-quality sounding boards. During Stradivari's latter decades, he used
spruce wood that had grown mostly during the Maunder Minimum. These lowered temperatures, combined with the environmental setting (i. e., topography, elevation, and soil conditions) of the forest
stands from where the spruce wood was obtained, produced unique wood properties and superior
sound quality. This combination of climate and environmental properties has not occurred since Stradivari's ``Golden Period.
Keywords: Tree rings, Antonio Stradivari, Maunder Minimum, dendrochronology, violinmaking

Antonio Stradivari and the Violin

First developed in northern Italy ca. 1550 (Dilworth
1992), the violin received its distinctive sound with
the emergence of the famous violin-making families
of Amati, Stradivari, and Guarneri (Wechsberg 1973;
Dilworth 1992) and later during the extensive restoration of their instruments that took place in the
19th century (Gough 2000). Of these, the most famous violinmaker was Antonio Stradivari. Born in
1644, he established his workshop in Cremona,
Italy, and remained active there until his death in
1737 (Henley 1961). Stradivari made more than
1,100 instruments (Hill et al. 1902) violins, guitars, violas, and cellos of which more than 600 sur-

vive today (Doring 1945). Stradivari is responsible

for crafting the most celebrated violin in the world,
``The Messiah (Dilworth 1992, 2001), in 1716. Recent controversy concerning its provenance, supposed stylistic inconsistencies, and its dendrochronological dating have spurred renewed interest in this
Address for correspondence:
Henri D. Grissino-Mayer, Laboratory of Tree-Ring Science,
Department of Geography, University of Tennessee,
Knoxville, Tennessee 37996 USA
Tel.: (8 65) 9 74-60 29, Fax: (8 65) 9 74-60 25
grissino@utk.edu

1125-7865/03/21/01-041 $ 15.00/0

42 L. Burckle, H. D. Grissino-Mayer
remarkable violin (Pollens 1999; Topham, McCormick 2000; Grissino-Mayer et al. 2002, 2003 in
press) and the authentication of instruments held individually and in collections (e. g. Topham 2002).

Wood Properties and Violinmaking

Considerable debate still occurs surrounding reasons
why instruments made by the Cremonese artisans of
the late 17th early 18th centuries sound superior
compared to modern instruments (although some
even debate whether these older instruments truly
sound superior). The popular belief is that the skills
of the Cremonese violinmakers, combined with a
``secret ingredient (or undocumented technique),
gave these instruments the rich sound so highly
prized by professional musicians (Gough 2000).
The nature of that ``secret ingredient has been the
subject of debate for many years. Candidates include the development and use of a special varnish,
chemical treatment of the sounding wood, ``cooking
or drying the wood, storage time (i. e. wood seasoning), the use of very old wood from historic structures, and water leaching of supposedly harmful chemicals before seasoning.
These candidate explanations, however, were found
wanting. Drying wood in ovens has never been documented as a technique used by violinmakers, much
less the Cremonese makers, and was most likely unknown to these artisans (Peterlongo 1980). Seasoning of the wood also cannot be invoked as a possible
explanation because considerable variability exists in
the lengths of these seasoning periods, even among
individual makers (Gough 2000). Instruments made
by Stradivari have ``seasoning periods (as estimated by the interval of years between the outermost ring date and the label date) as short as seven
years and as long as 31 years, for example (Topham, McCormick 2000). A ``secret varnish has yet
to be demonstrated despite considerable scientific
analyses that include ultraviolet photography, electron microscopy, ion backscattering, and x-ray investigations (Tove et al. 1980; Barlow, Woodhouse
1988, 1989; Gough 2000). In fact, varnish is more a
protectant of the wood surface from water absorption
rather than an acoustic enhancer (Schelleng 1968;
Dilworth 1992). Similar negative findings discount
any possibility of soaking in water or chemical treatment (Barlow et al. 1988; Gough 2000), although

Dendrochronologia 21/1 (2003)

Rohloff (1940) suggests some violinmakers may

have soaked their wood prior to construction to reduce acoustic damping. Finally, some have suggested that Stradivari used ``cured wood from more
ancient castles or cathedrals (Wall 2002). This hypothesis is discounted because dendrochronological
analyses on numerous instruments attributed to Stradivari demonstrated ages for the spruce wood that
were contemporary with his lifetime (Topham,
McCormick 2000; Topham 2002, Grissino-Mayer et
al. 2003).
Violinmakers have always known that selection of
the wood makes the difference in quality violins
(Gough 2000). Maple (Acer spp.) is preferred for
the back, ribs, and neck, while spruce (Picea spp.)
is preferred for the top. These genera have superior
acoustical and mechanical properties that have the
least loss of energy through internal friction than
other woods (Kruger, Rohloff 1938). For example,
spruce cells are light, physiologically simple, hollow, and rigid, ideal properties for enhanced acoustic quality (Dilworth 1992). Stradivari and other eminent Italian violinmakers of the 17th and early 18th
centuries had neighboring workshops in Cremona
and likely used the nearby forests of the southern
Italian Alps as their source for spruce wood (Topham, McCormick 2000; Grissino-Mayer et al. 2002,
2003 in press). A candidate location for this source
is the well-known ``Forest of the Violins in the Parco Naturale Paneveggio in the eastern part of Trentino, Italy, known among violinmakers for its ``fir
trees of resonance (Parco Naturale Paneveggio
2002; see also Peterlongo 1980).
Only trees that have grown at higher elevations on
north-facing slopes (and perhaps in thin, nutrientpoor soils) have the slow growth and dense wood
grain that help instill a superior tone and brilliance
in violins (Peterlongo 1980). Indeed, wood grown
under conditions that promote fast growth is likely
to be less resonant and less able to stand up to the
stresses it is subjected to as a violin (Gough 2000).
This occurs because the percentage of earlywood
(i. e. thin-walled, less dense cells) is greater relative
to the percentage of latewood (i. e. thick-walled, denser cells) in trees growing under optimal environmental conditions. This fast-grown, less dense wood
is therefore softer and more porous, giving the violin
a dull, muffled sound that limits resonance.

Stradivari, violins, tree rings, and the maunder minimum: a hypothesis 43

Stradivari and the Maunder Minimum:

A Hypothesis
Wood with high density, however, can be found in
trees growing in a variety of habitats and environmental settings in numerous higher-elevation locations throughout the world. Hence, an explanation
of superior sound quality based solely on wood properties is insufficient. Instead, could the superior
sound quality be explained by a unique combination
of wood properties, environmental characteristics,
and macroclimatic properties? Could the wood used
by the Cremonese makers have had unique physical
characteristics that were perhaps time-specific? In
other words, could the trees growing during the lifetime of Stradivari have experienced a unique set of
environmental conditions that has not occurred
since?
We propose that a major multi-decadal change in climate that affected tree growth rates contributed to an
improved acoustic quality of musical instruments
produced during the working lifetime of Stradivari.
The climatic regime that gripped Europe and perhaps
much of the world during the time of Stradivari supports this hypothesis. The well-known Maunder
Minimum (AD 16451715) was a period characterized by a scarcity of sunspots and a reduction in the
Sun's overall activity (Eddy 1975, 1976; Landsberg
1980; Esper et al. 2002). The low recorded sunspot
numbers were a direct indication of less intense solar
radiation and activity during this period (Suess 1979;
Ribes, Nesmeribes 1993). It coincided with a sharp
dip in temperatures during the Little Ice Age (LIA)
and a period of very cold weather in western Europe.
Estimates of the magnitude of cooling during the
Maunder Minimum range from 12 C (Shindell et
al. 2001) compared to the 0.51.5 C range for the
LIA overall (Rind, Overpeck 1993).
The Maunder Minimum is clearly seen in some treering records from high-elevation forest stands in the
European Alps. Grissino-Mayer et al. (2003 in press)
developed a regional composite chronology from
16 individual high-elevation alpine chronologies
(Fig. 1), representing information from several hundred trees from three different species (Larix decidua
Mill. = European larch, Picea abies (L.) Karst. =
Norway spruce, and Pinus cembra L. = Swiss stone
pine) growing in five countries, extending from western France to southern Germany (ca. 600 km). Inter-

chronology correlations (i. e., one alpine chronology

correlated against a master chronology developed
from the remaining 15) were all statistically significant (p < 0.0001), ranging from 0.49 to 0.74 (Grissino-Mayer et al. 2003 in press). These correlations
indicate a strong regional climate signal.
The long period of reduced growth rates between ca.
AD 16251720 is clearly indicated in the alpine treering record developed from these 16 sites (Fig. 1).
The duration of this period (ca. 95yr) is also unprecedented during the last 500yrs (although another
period of reduced growth occurred between ca. AD
18101865) (Fig. 1). This period of reduced growth
is contemporaneous with the Maunder Minimum
(AD 16451715). In Europe, this 70yr period was
wetter and colder during the summers and the latter
part of the Maunder Minimum was one of the few
periods when cold temperatures persisted for decades (Luterbacher et al. 1999, 2000). Furthermore,
Briffa et al. (1999) have shown that this decadalscale period of reduced temperatures likely began
as early as the 1570s, also evident in the regional
composite chronology (Fig. 1).
Interestingly, Stradivari was born one year before the
beginning of the Maunder Minimum. His ``Amati
Period (16661690), ``Experimentation Period
(16901700), and ``Golden Period (17001720,
when he fashioned perhaps the most prized and valued instruments, see Henley 1961) all coincided
with the Maunder Minimum.
Long winters and cool summers produce wood that
has slow, even growth, desirable properties for producing quality sounding boards. The violinmakers
of Cremona during this period used the only wood
available to them, i. e. from trees that grew during
the Maunder Minimum. We suggest that the narrow
tree rings that identify the Maunder Minimum in
Europe played a role in the enhanced sound quality
of instruments produced by the Cremona violinmakers. Narrow tree rings would not only strengthen the violin but would increase the wood's density.
The onset of the Maunder Minimum at a time when
the skills of the Cremonese violinmakers reached
their zenith perhaps made the difference in the violin's tone and brilliance. Furthermore, the combination of elevation, topography, nutrient-poor soil
properties, and a deterioration in climate was temporally unique climate conditions with temperatures
such as those that occurred during the Maunder

Dendrochronologia 21/1 (2003)

44 L. Burckle, H. D. Grissino-Mayer

Figure 1. The standard tree-ring index chronology developed from 16 alpine chronologies in five central European countries (GrissinoMayer et al. 2003 in press). The bold curve represents an 11yr moving average that accentuates the low-frequency trends. The Maunder
Minimum is indicated in the shaded region between ca. AD 16201715.

Minimum simply can not and do not occur today in

areas where the Cremonese makers likely obtained
their wood.
Acknowledgements
Paul Sheppard (University of Arizona) and Malcolm Cleaveland (University of Arkansas) participated in the original research that investigated the authenticity of the famous
``Messiah violin attributed to Antonio Stradivari, and to
them we are thankful for their insights on tree-ring dating of
musical instruments. Paolo Cherubini, Swiss Federal Institute
for Forest, Snow and Landscape Research, provided valuable
insights on Paneveggio and the ``Forest of the Violins. This is
Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory Contribution No. 6389.

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