In the first week of August, it was reported that a stolen Stradivarius was found, 35 years later! As a musician, I naturally read with joy about this remarkable recovery of the Ames Stradivarius violin which was stolen from the eminent Roman Totenberg.

Unfortunately however, the press ignored the true nature and history of such instrument by giving the incorrect impression that this great instrument is the same instrument that was built in Cremona in 1734. The fact is that virtually all the great baroque violins underwent radical changes in the late 18th and 19th centuries to meet the demand for a much bigger, penetrating sound.

Thus, any Stradivarius played today has had its neck re-angled and fingerboard replaced, the bridge raised, the bass bar and sound post inside the body thickened, and possibly the top or bottom replaced. Moreover, the strings would be different in thickness and material.  Other than that, it would be more or less just like Stradivari made it!

The mythology attached to these instruments has made them collector's items afforded only by the very wealthy and outside the reach of even very successful violinists. One wonders how many collectors realised that they were not buying an original Stradivarius, but a 'hopped-up' one!

Therefore, the notion that these modified (and still magnificent) instruments are authentic Stradivarius violins is absolutely false.

Jos Edmond Zarb

Birkirkara