There is an old Hungarian proverb that says “a violin sounds beautiful because it is empty inside”. It’s just a minor point that this is used as a metaphor for empty speech, but it does make you wonder, is it really the empty inside of the violin that makes its sound unmistakable?
According to the latest research – carried out not by British scientists but by József Nagyváry, a retired professor of biochemistry at Texas A&M University – one of the secrets to the wonderful sound of the legendary Stradivarius violins lies in the secret ingredient used by the master to treat the wood of the violins and protect it against the ravages of pests. A small secret revealed in the elegant and sometimes mysterious world of the violin. Because anyone who has heard a high-quality violin concert can be sure that playing the violin conceals plenty of secrets. After all, the uninitiated cannot imagine how those few strings can be played so perfectly that it sends shivers down your spine.
You would probably be no closer to discovering the secret if you attended the Auer Violin Festival in Veszprém every August.
And why Lipót Auer? Because the composer, renowned from Russia to the USA, was born in Veszprém. His father was a simple carpenter, yet it was from such a background that Lipót’s music made him one of the immortals of classical music. And you can just listen and enjoy the music. Every word here would be as empty as the inside of a violin. And nobody would care that Stradivarius violins were treated with a mixture of borax, zinc, copper, alum and lime water.
