“The Wizard of Oz” had a budget of around $3 million. But if you listen closely to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” you will hear the rich sounds of a Stradivarius violin, which was purchased for $25,000 in 1924.
That violin from the beloved 1939 film sold for $15.34 million in 2022.
The record for the most expensive musical instrument sold at auction belongs to another Stradivarius, the 1721 Lady Blunt Stradivarius, which sold for $15.9 million in 2011.
Come this February, that record might be broken. By another Stradivarius, naturally.
Why are these violins so special? After all, they come from a time before the internet, baseball or jazz. And doesn’t technology improve at an ever-accelerating rate? Shouldn’t the violins of today be far superior to anything created so long ago?
Yes and no.
It has been three centuries since the creation of the greatest violins in history. Modern attempts have failed repeatedly to match the quality of the Italian master Antonio Stradivari in the minds of musicians.
Coupled with their rarity, this has resulted in the violins becoming the most expensive in the world.
During his life, Stradivari built approximately 1,100 instruments, of which less than 650 survive today.
Stradivarius violins have been renowned for their sound for centuries, and they remain favorites among the top players in the world, despite the fact multiple blind studies have found musicians are unable to tell the difference between a Stradivarius and another high-quality modern violin. It’s once the identity of the instrument is revealed they unflinchingly select the Strat.
Whether the result of unprecedented and never-repeated craftsmanship, or the allure of history, these violins retain the highest regard.
“I don’t know any great soloist who has a Strad … who is trading it in for a new instrument,” Earl Carlyss of the Juilliard String Quartet told the New York Times in 2014.
Sotheby’s is selling the Joachim-Ma Stradivarius, built in 1714 during what is known as Stradivari’s “Golden Period,” with an estimated value of $12 million to $18 million.
While all Stradivarius instruments are worth a fortune, this piece has a reputation as among the finest-sounding in the world.
It was once owned by Joseph Joachim, who used the instrument during Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major premiere in 1879.
“The rich, resonant tone of the Joachim-Ma Stradivarius is believed to have deeply influenced Brahms as he composed this monumental work,” the auction house writes.
it was later owned by famed musician Si-Jon Ma. After his death in 2009, he donated it to the New England Conservatory, which has consigned the instrument to Sotheby’s. Proceeds from the auction are to be used for student scholarships.
“The first time we actually saw the instrument, we were really, truly blown away just by its presence,” Sotheby’s chairman and president for the Americas, global business development, Mari-Claudia Jimenez told ARTnews.
“This violin represents the pinnacle of artistic craftsmanship and a direct link to some of the most defining moments in classical music,” the NEC said in a statement.
As much as artists harp on the near-mythical sound of the instruments created so long ago, the market has long since turned these pieces into commodities. In 2013, Vice remarked that investment funds had become responsible for the ever-rising prices of the instruments.
Whether due to rarity, myth, status, or, as some believe, unique chemical treatments used by its maker, the most valuable instrument in the world will remain a Stradivarius, whether or not the Joachim-Ma specimen achieves the top result.
As the New York Times reported in 1924 after the musician Toscha Seidel purchased the da Vinci Stradivarious — later used in “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” — for $25,000, “He wouldn't part with the famous old violin ‘for a million dollars.’“
The sentiment remains.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct.