50-451: Strad may refer to: Stradivarius , a stringed instrument Steradian , the measurement of solid angles The Strad , a classical music magazine "Strad", by C418 from Minecraft - Volume Beta , 2013 Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Strad . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change
100-475: A Stradivarius label does not confirm that the instrument is a genuine work of Stradivari. Recordings made with original Stradivarius string instruments Recordings made with replicas of Stradivarius string instruments The Museo del Violino in Cremona , Italy embarked on a project to preserve the sound of Stradivarius instruments. In January 2019, four musicians recorded scales and arpeggios using two violins,
150-514: A double-blind test in 2012 published in the study " Player preferences among new and old violins ", expert players could not distinguish old from new instruments by playing them for a short time in a small room. In an additional test, performed in a concert hall, one of the Stradivarius violins placed first, but one of the participants stated that "the audience in the concert hall were essentially equivocal on which instruments were better in each of
200-413: A general in his army, Marshal Gabriel Jean Joseph Molitor , 1er Comte Molitor), sold in 2010 at Tarisio Auctions to violinist Anne Akiko Meyers for $ 3,600,000, at the time a world record. Depending on condition, instruments made during Stradivari's "golden period" from 1700 to about 1725 can be worth millions of dollars. In 2011, his "Lady Blunt" violin from 1721, which is in pristine condition,
250-399: A higher national examination score. In recent years, medicine , electrical engineering , law , and finance have been the most selective majors. Most majors take four years to complete while both the dental and the medical degrees take six years to finish. The International Chinese Language Program (ICLP) , founded by Stanford University , is located at National Taiwan University. NTU
300-469: A mandatory core curriculum , comprising Chinese, freshman English, physical education, and public service. The medical school in addition dictates each of its students to take philosophy and sociology classes as well as seminars in ethics and thanatology . Military training is no longer an obligatory course for male students, but it is a prerequisite if they plan to apply to become officers during their compulsory military service. NTU's programs cover
350-522: A member of the imperial university system administered by the Empire of Japan . The school's first president was Taira Shidehara [ ja ] . Taihoku Imperial University began with the faculty of Liberal Arts and Law and the Faculty of Science and Agriculture serving 60 students. The university was intended mainly for Japanese nationals; few Taiwanese students were admitted. The Faculty of Medicine and
400-541: A minimum bid of $ 45 million. The auction failed to reach its minimum bid by 25 June 2014, and the viola was not sold. Vice magazine reported in May 2013 that "in recent years, Stradivarius investment funds have started to appear, pushing already astronomical prices even higher". Stradivarius instruments are at risk of theft. Stolen instruments are often recovered, even after being missing for many years. They are difficult to sell illicitly, as dealers will typically call
450-421: A particularly famous test on a BBC Radio 3 programme in 1977, the violinists Isaac Stern and Pinchas Zukerman and the violin expert and dealer Charles Beare tried to distinguish between the "Chaconne" Stradivarius, a 1739 Guarneri del Gesú, an 1846 Vuillaume, and a 1976 British violin played behind a screen by a professional soloist. The two violinists were allowed to play all the instruments first. None of
500-493: A permanent collection at the Museo del Violino. Fausto Cacciatori, curator of the museum, emphasized that while the sounds of these instruments change over time due to natural aging, the project will allow future generations to experience the original sound of these Stradivarius instruments. National Taiwan University National Taiwan University ( NTU ; Chinese : 國立臺灣大學 ; Pe̍h-ōe-jī : Kok-li̍p Tâi-oân Tāi-ha̍k )
550-547: A simple examination of the dense growth rings in the wood used in Stradivari's instruments. Two researchers – University of Tennessee tree-ring scientist Henri Grissino-Mayer and Lloyd Burckle, a Columbia University climatologist – published their conclusions supporting the theory on increased wood density in the journal Dendrochronologia . In 2008, researchers from the Leiden University Medical Center in
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#1733085231667600-434: A viola, and a cello, including a famous 1727 violin named "Vesuvio." These recordings, known as the "Stradivarius Sound Bank," preserve the sounds. The project involved closing off streets and minimizing noise to ensure a quiet environment during the recordings. The musicians recorded over one million sound files across different techniques to capture the instruments' tonal characteristics. These recordings are stored as part of
650-452: A violin made in 2002 by Stefan-Peter Greiner . He states that the listener cannot tell that his instrument is modern, and he regards it as excellent for Bach and better than a Stradivarius for "the big Romantic and 20th-century concertos ." Some maintain that the very best Stradivari have unique superiorities. Various attempts at explaining these supposed qualities have been undertaken, most results being unsuccessful or inconclusive. Over
700-424: A wide array of disciplines across science, arts, and the humanities, with up to 8,000 courses made available for selection each semester. Students are able to select courses offered by any of the colleges; however, compulsory subjects designated for each major needs to be completed to be awarded a degree. A student must declare a major during college application, some majors are more competitive than others and require
750-602: Is a national public research university in Taipei , Taiwan . The university was founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as the seventh of the Imperial Universities . It was named Taihoku Imperial University ( 臺北帝國大學 ) and served during the period of Japanese colonization. After World War II , the Nationalist government assumed the administration of the university. The Ministry of Education reorganized and renamed
800-589: Is a member of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities , Washington University in St. Louis's McDonnell International Scholars Academy, and the Association of East Asian Research Universities . NTU also participates in several programs of the Taiwan International Graduate Program of Academia Sinica , Taiwan's most preeminent academic research institution. In 2021, the "International College"
850-522: Is affiliated with National Taiwan Normal University and National Taiwan University of Science and Technology as part of the NTU System. National Taiwan University has its origins as the Taihoku Imperial University ( Japanese : 台北帝国大学 , romanized : Taihoku Teikoku Daigaku ; Chinese : 臺北帝國大學 ; pinyin : Taibeidiguodaxue ), founded in 1928 during Japanese rule as
900-483: Is described as more "direct and precise", responding to the slightest touch with refined direction and elegance. There has been conjecture that the wood used may have been treated with several types of minerals, both before and after construction of a violin. Scientists at National Taiwan University have detected trace amounts of aluminum , copper , and calcium in wood from Stradivari violins. The traces may have come from chemical preservatives applied by loggers to
950-727: Is no longer visible to the human eye on the surface of older violins, it can be detected within the top layers of cells. A lower layer of varnish is found within the topmost wood cells while an upper rests upon the wood. Echard's findings suggest that Stradivari used a mixture of common Cremonese resin, oil, and pigment as a varnish, rather than making his own. Echard did not find traces of specialized ingredients such as protein materials, gums, or fossil amber. A comparative study published in PLOS One in 2008 found no significant differences in median densities between modern and classical violins, or between classical violins from different origins; instead
1000-527: Is ranked first in Taiwan in the majority of subjects. In the THE Subject Rankings, NTU is ranked first in Taiwan in all subjects. The president heads the university. Each college is headed by a dean and each department by a chairman. Students elect their own representatives each year to attend administrative meetings. NTU has produced many notable alumni. Lai Ching-Te , the current President of
1050-519: The Stradivarius Sound Bank have aimed to digitally capture and preserve the sounds of these instruments for future generations. Stradivarius instruments have become known in popular culture, appearing in fiction and representing elite musical artistry. Stradivari made his instruments using an inner form, unlike the French copyists, such as Vuillaume , who employed an outer form. It is clear from
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#17330852316671100-537: The 19th century to the present have often found no significant difference between Stradivari violins and high-quality modern violins. These findings have led some to question the objectivity of the instruments' legendary status. Stradivarius instruments are still played by leading musicians and housed in museums worldwide, such as the Museo del Violino in Cremona, which preserves several Stradivarius instruments. Initiatives like
1150-678: The ARWU 2022. The Aggregate Ranking of Top Universities (ARTU), which sorts universities based on their aggregate performance across THE, QS, and ARWU, ranked NTU 135th worldwide in 2022. With other peering references of academic ranking, NTU also releases NTU World Universities ranking annually on the Double Ten Day , the National Holiday of the Republic of China . In the QS and ARWU subject rankings, NTU
1200-579: The British violinist Matthew Trusler played his 1711 Stradivarius, said to be worth two million U.S. dollars, and four modern violins made by the Swiss violin-maker Michael Rhonheimer [ de ] . One of Rhonheimer's violins, made with wood that the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology researcher Francis Schwarze had treated with fungi, received 90 of the 180 votes for
1250-855: The College of Agriculture has renamed the College of Bio-resources and Agriculture, and in 2002 a College of Life Sciences was added. NTU selected as the national seven universities in research in 2002 (currently merged into six universities). Kuan Chung-ming , an economist who previously served in the Ma Administration, was named university president-elect in January 2018 but soon became embroiled in allegations related to plagiarism, academic misconduct, and violations of civil code which stipulated that Taiwanese public servants were not permitted to deliver lectures or to be involved in any mainland China-related academic activities due to national security concerns. During
1300-583: The College of Public Health in 1993 and the College of Electrical Engineering in 1997. The College of Electrical Engineering was later reorganized as the College of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. In 1999, the College of Law has renamed the College of Social Sciences, and the Night Division and the Center for Continuing Education were combined to form the School for Professional and Continuing Studies. In 2002,
1350-410: The Faculty of Engineering were added in 1935 and 1943, respectively. After World War II , the then-Chinese National government (the now-called Republic of China (Taiwan) ) reorganized the school as an institution for Chinese-speaking students. The school was renamed National Taiwan University on November 15, 1945, and Lo Tsung-lo was appointed as its president. The Literature and Politics division
1400-458: The Netherlands, announced further evidence that wood density caused the claimed high quality of these instruments. After examining the violins with X-rays , the researchers found that these violins all have extremely consistent density, with relatively low variation in the apparent growth patterns of the trees that produced this wood. Yet another possible explanation is that the maple wood used
1450-552: The Stradivari family, particularly Antonio Stradivari ( Latin : Antonius Stradivarius), in Cremona , Italy, during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. These instruments are known for their craftsmanship, tonal quality, and lasting legacy, and are considered some of the finest ever made. Stradivari's violins, in particular, are coveted by musicians and collectors, with many selling for millions of dollars. Antonio Stradivari made over 1,100 instruments, with approximately 650 surviving today. The exact methods Stradivari used to produce
1500-419: The belief that there are a wide range of chemicals that will improve the violin's sound. In a 2009 study co-authored with Renald Guillemette and Clifford Spiegelman, Nagyvary obtained shavings from a Stradivarius violin and examined them, and analysis indicated they contained " borax , fluorides , chromium and iron salts." He also found that the wood had decayed a little, to the extent that the filter plates in
1550-432: The best tone, while the Stradivarius came second with 39 votes. The majority (113) of the listeners misidentified the winning violin as the Stradivarius. Analysis of the treated wood revealed a reduction in density, accompanied by relatively little change in the speed of sound. According to this analysis, treatment improves the sound radiation ratio to the level of cold-climate wood considered to have superior resonance. In
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1600-670: The centuries, numerous theories have been presented – and debunked – including an assertion that the wood was salvaged from old cathedrals. A more modern theory attributes tree growth during a time of global low temperatures during the Little Ice Age associated with unusually low solar activity of the Maunder Minimum , circa 1645 to 1750, during which cooler temperatures throughout Europe are believed to have caused stunted and slowed tree growth, resulting in unusually dense wood. Further evidence for this "Little Ice Age theory" comes from
1650-462: The election and the subsequent investigation, Tei-Wei Kuo served as the interim president of the university while the president-elect underwent multiple legal investigations from the ruling DPP government. Though Kuan was eventually cleared of all accusations and officially named as the university president in January 2019 (see 2018 NTU Presidential Election Controversy [ zh ] ), this prolonged investigation raised suspicion regarding
1700-521: The instruments' famed sound remain unknown, with theories ranging from the unique quality of the wood used during the Little Ice Age to the varnishes and chemical treatments applied. Despite extensive scientific research, including modern acoustic analysis and CT scans , no one has been able to conclusively replicate or fully explain the tonal qualities of Stradivarius instruments. The reputation of Stradivarius instruments for having unmatched sound quality has been debated. Blind experiments conducted from
1750-1120: The intervention from the ruling DPP government. Three Ministers of Education stepped down as a result of this event. NTU has a main campus in Daan District , Taipei City and has additional campuses in Taipei , New Taipei City , Hsinchu County , Yunlin County , and Nantou County . The main campus is home to most college department buildings and administrative buildings. The university governs farms, forests, and hospitals for education and research purposes. The total area of NTU exceeds 340 square kilometers (34,000 hectares), accounting for one percent of Taiwan's total land area. The five campuses are: The university comprises 11 colleges: Liberal Arts, Engineering, Science, Social Sciences, Law, Bio-Resources & Agriculture, Management, Public Health, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science, Medicine, and Life Science. NTU offers bachelor's degrees , master's degrees , and doctorate degrees in many disciplines. NTU requires most of its undergraduate students to take
1800-484: The link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Strad&oldid=1131402825 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Stradivarius A Stradivarius is one of the string instruments, such as violins , violas , cellos , and guitars, crafted by members of
1850-402: The listeners identified more than two of the four instruments. Two of the listeners identified the 20th-century violin as the Stradivarius. Violinists and others have criticized these tests on various grounds such as that they are not double-blind (in most cases), the judges are often not experts, and the sounds of violins are hard to evaluate objectively and reproducibly. In a test in 2009,
1900-403: The number of forms throughout his career that he experimented with some of the dimensions of his instruments. The woods used included spruce for the top, willow for the internal blocks and linings, and maple for the back, ribs, and neck. Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri 's violins differ in their tonal quality, comparable to the difference between red and white wine. The Stradivari's sound
1950-495: The pair-wise instrument comparisons" and "I could tell slight differences in the instruments... but overall they were all great. None of them sounded substantially weaker than the others." Modern violins were rated as having better sound-carrying qualities and were preferred again in a study in 2017. While many world-class soloists play violins by Antonio Stradivari, there are notable exceptions. For example, Christian Tetzlaff formerly played "a quite famous Strad", but switched to
2000-504: The police if approached by a seller with a Stradivarius known to have been stolen. The General Kyd Stradivarius was stolen in 2004. It was returned three weeks later by a woman who found it and handed it over to the police. The Sinsheimer/Iselin was stolen in Hanover, Germany in 2008 and recovered in 2009. The Lipinski Stradivarius was stolen in an armed robbery on 27 January 2014 and subsequently recovered. The Ames Stradivarius
2050-790: The pores between the wood's component tracheids had rotted away, perhaps while the wood was stored in or under water in the Venice lagoon before Stradivarius used it. Steven Sirr, a radiologist, worked with researchers to perform a CT scan of a Stradivari known as the " Betts ". Data regarding the differing densities of woods used were then used to create a reproduction instrument. Stradivari made mainly violins but also violas, cellos and some plucked string instruments (five guitars, two mandolins and one harp are known). About 650 original Stradivarius instruments have survived. Thousands of violins have been made in tribute to Stradivari, copying his model and bearing labels that read "Stradivarius". The presence of
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2100-513: The role available materials may have played in sound production differences, though it made no comment on variations in density differentials. The content of copper and aluminium is higher than current instruments. A Stradivarius made in the 1680s, or during Stradivari's "Long Pattern" period from 1690 to 1700, could be worth hundreds of thousands to several million U.S. dollars at today's prices. The 1697 " Molitor " Stradivarius, once rumored to have belonged to Napoleon (it actually belonged to
2150-407: The survey of several modern and classical examples of violins highlighted a notable distinction when comparing density differentials. These results suggest that differences in density differentials in the material may have played a significant role in the sound production of classical violins. A later survey, focused on comparing median densities in both classical and modern violin examples, questioned
2200-606: The university to its current name on November 15, 1945, with its roots of liberal tradition from Peking University in Beijing by former NTU President Fu Ssu-nien . The university consists of 11 colleges, 56 departments, 133 graduate institutes, about 60 research centers, and a school of professional education and continuing studies. NTU alumni include many presidents of Taiwan , as well as Turing Award laureate Andrew Yao , and Nobel Prize in Chemistry laureate Yuan T. Lee . NTU
2250-570: The wood they sold. As well, the violin makers applied varnishes to their instruments. Potassium borate ( borax ) may have been used to protect against woodworm . Sodium and potassium silicate may have been used to prevent mildew , rotting and insect damage. Simone Fernando Sacconi suggested that Vernice bianca , an egg tempera varnish composed of gum arabic , honey , and egg white , may have been used. French chemist Jean-Philippe Echard and his co-workers have studied varnishes on Stradivarius violins. He reported in 2010 that even when varnish
2300-426: Was divided into the College of Liberal Arts and the College of Law. Additionally, colleges of Science, Medicine, Engineering, and Agriculture were established. Initially, there were six colleges with 22 departments. In 1945, student enrollment was 585. In 1960, the night school was initiated on a trial basis, and in 1967 a new night school was established. In 1987, the College of Management was established, followed by
2350-696: Was established, primarily enrolling international students of foreign nationality and offering courses entirely in English. National Taiwan University is widely considered to be the best university in Taiwan. NTU was ranked 68th worldwide in the QS World University Rankings 2025, 187th worldwide in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2023, 203rd worldwide in the US News 2022-2023, and 201-300th worldwide in
2400-582: Was sold in London for $ 15.9 million (it is named after Lord Byron 's granddaughter Lady Anne Blunt , who owned it for 30 years). It was sold by the Nippon Music Foundation in aid of the Japanese earthquake and tsunami appeal. In Spring 2014 the "Macdonald" viola was put up for auction through the musical instrument auction house Ingles & Hayday in conjunction with Sotheby's via silent auction with
2450-461: Was sourced from the forests of northern Croatia . This wood is known for its extreme density resulting from the slow growth caused by harsh Croatian winters. Croatian wood was traded by Venetian merchants of the era, and is still used today by local luthiers and craftsfolk for musical instruments. Some research points to wood preservatives used in that day as contributing to the resonant qualities. Joseph Nagyvary reveals that he has always held
2500-707: Was stolen in 1981 and recovered in 2015. A number of stolen instruments remain missing, such as the Karpilowsky , stolen in 1953. the Davidoff-Morini , stolen in 1995, and the Le Maurien , stolen in 2002. The Stradivarius instruments are famous for the quality of sound they produce. However, the many blind experiments from 1817 to as recent as 2014 have never found any difference in sound between Stradivari's violins and high-quality violins in comparable style of other makers and periods, nor has acoustic analysis. In
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