Musician Plays the Last Stradivarius Guitar in the World, the "Sabionari" Made in 1679

"Last night, while the home team lost the big game on TVs at a local dive bar, my noisy rock band opened for a cham­ber pop ensem­ble. Elec­tric gui­tars and feed­back gave way to clas­si­cal acoustics, vio­lin, piano, accor­dion, and even a saw. It was an inter­est­ing cul­tur­al jux­ta­po­si­tion in an evening of cul­tur­al jux­ta­po­si­tions. The sports and music did­n't gel, but an odd sym­me­try emerged from the two bands' con­trast­ing styles, to a degree."

"If you know noth­ing at all about music or musi­cal instru­ments, you know the name Stradi­vari and the vio­lins that bear his name. They are such cov­et­ed, valu­able objects they some­times appear as the tar­get of crime capers in the movies and on tele­vi­sion. This Stradi­var­ius gui­tar, called the "Sabionari," is even rar­er than the vio­lins. The Stradi­vari fam­i­ly, writes For­got­ten Gui­tar, "pro­duced over 1000 instru­ments, of which 960 were vio­lins.""

A noisy rock band opened for a chamber pop ensemble in a dive bar while the home team lost on TV, creating an odd cultural juxtaposition. Electric guitars and feedback gave way to violin, piano, accordion, and even a saw, producing a surprising symmetry between contrasting styles. A 1679 Stradivari guitar called the "Sabionari" is rarer than the famed violins and remains one of the few guitars from the Stradivari family. The instrument has been restored to high playability by luthiers Daniel Sinier, Fran­coise de Rid­der, and Loren­zo Frig­nani, and is heard in Baroque performance.

Read at Open Culture