"Schneider's glasses"

The most famous violin in the world

The "Messiah" is in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford. No one is allowed to play it.

(Bild: APA/University of Oxford/Ashmolean M)

"Krone" columnist Robert Schneider takes on a particularly bizarre story today. It's about the Stradivarius "Messiah" - a violin that is valued at around 200 million euros and on which no one is allowed to play.

They are called "Princess Aurora", "Viotti ex Bruce", "Gibson ex Huberman", "Lady Blunt" and "Messiah". Of the 1,100 or so instruments that guitar and violin maker Antonio Stradivari from Cremona made in his long 93-year life, around 600 have survived to this day. Each one has a sonorous name and has passed through many hands over the centuries.

And each one, if it could, would have an adventurous story to tell. Wolf Wondratschek made such an attempt in his story "Mara" (2003), where he describes the turbulent history of a Stradivarius cello that has 300 years under its belt, has traveled around the world several times and is named after the virtuoso Mara, who was notorious for his escapades and drinking bouts. Heinrich Schiff played this cello.

However, a Stradivarius is considered to be the master's most valuable instrument because he never gave it away throughout his life. The violin, which became known as the "Messiah", remained in his workshop until his death. Today it is in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford, England.

No one is allowed to play it. It is also not lent out. This has prompted many doubters, but a dendrochronological examination revealed that it was partly cut from the same tree trunk as the top of a Rogeri violin from Brescia.

Antonio Stradivari's mysterious masterpiece was long in the possession of the instrument collector Luigi Tarisio. He always talked about his wonderful violin, but never showed it to anyone. This inspired the later owner Delphin Alard to say: "The violin is like the Messiah. You wait for him, but he never comes." This is where the current name "Messiah" comes from.