Toby Faber

Let’s agree on something up front: No audio clip of me screeching a bow across a violin string will be attached to this blog.
You’re welcome. Now, then…

Some books pique your interest into exploring things further. Stradivari’s Genius by Toby Faber did that for me. The photos of the Messiah on page four motivated me to take my seldom-played violin out of its case and make visual comparisons. I started making horribly scratchy sounds with it sometime during the middle of the third show more chapter. By Chapter Eight, I was listening to the violin concertos of Beethoven and Brahms on CD for the first time in years, and to Paganini’s concerto for the first time in my life.

You don’t need to play the violin well (I certainly don’t!) or even know classical music to enjoy this slim little volume. Music is merely the background. In the first few chapters Faber summarizes the life and unmatched craftsmanship of Italian violin-maker Antonio Stradivari, then follows six specific Stradivari instruments through the last three centuries.

Each “Strad”, whether violin or cello, has a name and a story of its own. The pristine, barely played Messiah, for instance, sits within a glass case at Oxford, while Yo-Yo Ma plays the Davidov cello in large concert halls, and the mishandled Lipinski has slipped from sight completely. Between Stradivari’s time and ours the Strads have passed through the hands of amatuers and virtuosos, wealthy families and members of royalty. They have been sought, collected, and sold off. They have survived wars, disappeared into private collections, and reappeared in estate sales generations later. As their histories unfold, Faber investigates the Strad sound and the enduring legend.

This book was inspiring to me simply by nudging a bit more music into my day and an old violin into my hands. I hope you find the same pleasure.

Find more of my reviews at Mostly NF. show less

A captivating book that follows the trail of six of Stradivari's creations. Casting an spell, an irresistible spell, these instruments bring out the best and the worst of those who would own and play them.

Incredibly impressive and intricate examples of high kitsch, the Easter eggs Fabergé created for the Russian Imperial family have acquired mythic status: Toby Faber gives a fascinating account of the eggs, their life and times.

Although he employed over 1500 people and was a prolific jeweler, producing thousands of pieces ranging from cigarette cases to parasol handles, Fabergé will always be associated with the 50 jeweled eggs he made for the Romanovs.

Any history of the eggs must be a show more history of the doomed dynasty: Faber does a superb job of bringing the period and personalities to life. The only complaint is that there are not enough illustrations of the objet he so enticingly describes. show less

Pearl Ruled:: STRADIVARI'S GENIUS by[TOBY FABER (p59)

I just don't care. Stradivarius is dead on p59, buried next to his wife and across the street from their house, and I simply do not care.

I'm interested in the eighteenth century, and I like microhistory, and all things Italian make me smile. What is it about this book that fails to ignite my very congruent interest? I wish I knew. The writing's okay, not world-beating but not leaden or inept. The idea of tracing famous instrument-maker show more Stradivarius's creations through time and space is appealing, too.

But this book could not grab me and did not entice me. I might pick it up again one day, but I don't know what would make me do so. *shrug* show less