The price is right

Could a skilled violinist born around 1700 have afforded a new Stradivari violin? Wenjie Cai and Hwan-Ching Tai examine the economics of Baroque music making, and find that the answer is yes

Lutherie

Could the ‘Lord Wilton’ Guarneri, bought for $6m in 2008, have been within a player’s grasp in 1742?

What was the cost of a brand-new Stradivari violin? This question is frequently brought up but is difficult to answer. In Stradivari’s last will and testament, written in 1729, each violin was valued at 167 lire, about 720gS (grams of silver) or 48gG (grams of gold). In 1729, 720gS was worth £6 and 9 shillings, equivalent to £1,000 today after adjusting for inflation. (As a useful rule of thumb, 1gS in 1729 can be taken as around US$1 in today’s money.) Alternatively, according to current silver/gold prices, 720gS is worth £500 and 48gG is worth £2,000. None of these answers seems satisfactory or realistic.

Instead, we could ask: ‘If a skilled violinist was born between 1650 and 1700, could he or she afford a Stradivari?’ To answer this, we need to understand the overall economic situation of Italy and the Baroque period, and musicrelated professions of the time.

There was little inflation in Italy between the 16th and 19th centuries, and the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita remained around 600gS per year. It is said that an income of 2,860gS could have comfortably supported a family of five. The average musician’s salaries in Rome, Venice, and Malta were quite similar, around 100 per cent of the per capita GDP – barely enough to raise a family. Highly skilled instrumentalists or maestro di cappella would have earned three to six times more.

To give specific examples: the average annual salary of musicians at St Mark’s in Venice was 720gS, much lower than the 3,810gS at the affluent Florentine court. The average trumpet player in Italian town bands was paid 1,730–3,460gS, and those in the Mantuan court under Monteverdi received 2,460gS. The 23-year-old Monteverdi’s initial salary at Mantua as a singer and viol player was 3,850gS, which was raised to 6,170 when he was made maestro della musica. At the peak of Monteverdi’s career in Venice, his salary was 11,600gS. In 1708 the top violinists in Rome had taxable incomes of 2,230gS. At this income level, a Stradivari violin was probably still affordable after saving up for a few years.

Table 1, compiled from various sources, shows Italian violin prices in the Baroque era. The market classification included ordinary violins starting at 5 per cent of GDP, while better-made ones are at 15–30% GDP. Master instruments for professionals (Rugeri or Tecchler) went for 40–80% GDP, and top new violins (Amati or Stradivari) would have cost 80–120% GDP. On the other hand, in 17th and 18th-century England, imported new Cremonese violins cost £10–£12 each (£1 = 111.2gS from 1600 to 1816), roughly equal to 100% of per capita GDP in England. So we conclude that Baroque violinists were willing to pay around 100% GDP for a top new instrument, but only those with good employment could afford it.

The 1708 tax records of Rome, researched by Patrizio Barbieri, revealed the plight of the violin making business. The average taxable annual income was 340gS per violin maker (there were 15 in the city), compared to 920gS per harpsichord maker (of which there were 10), 1,820gS per organ maker (7), and 6,360gS per gut string maker (11).

STRADIVARI’S PEAK INCOME WOULD HAVE BEEN COMPARABLE TO MONTE VERDI’S IN VENICE

Rome was the capital of string making and the tax records reflected its profitability. There were seven illiterate artisans among the violin makers, but only one in the other three professions. David Tecchler’s taxable income was only 380gS, equal to what he charged for a single violin. Even average musicians earned 600gS. Obviously, violin making was an unattractive, low-paying profession. This may partiallly explain why Pietro Guarneri, a highly promising violin maker, moved from Cremona to Mantua to become a court musician.

Handel lived in Rome from 1707 to 1710 in search of career opportunities, so the city’s music business would have been reasonably active. We do not know why violin sales were so sluggish. One clue may be that Italy’s per capita GDP was only half of England’s, as Italy was out-competed in international trade. Handel moved to England shortly afterwards for better employment. The weakness was also reflected in the Austrian invasion of northern Italy that ended the Spanish rule over Cremona in 1707. The financial decline of Italian city-states may have resulted in a drop in art sponsorships from the nobility. It was plausible that nobles or court musicians sold off their fine instruments during financial turmoil, affecting the sales of new master violins. It is also possible that the new wealthy class, who made fortunes from industry and commerce, had not yet acquired a taste for fine instruments and settled for lesser ones.

Stradivari, whose clientele included nobilities all over Europe, was seemingly unaffected by these economic troubles. The Hills estimated that, with the help of his two sons, the Stradivari workshop maintained its annual output, equivalent to 25 violins, for decades. At 720gS each, the gross income could have reached 18,000gS. Stradivari’s peak income would have been comparable to Monteverdi’s in Venice. Stradivari was further supported by sponsorships from noble clients, such as the gift of 2,620gS from the Duke of Modena, who ordered a cello of unknown price in 1686.

Around 1700 the posthumous prices of Amati and Stainer instruments in Italy were somewhat higher than Stradivaris. However, the prices of old Cremonese violins (presumably Amatis) were soaring in England (Table 2). In 1692 old Cremonese violins were auctioned alongside old master paintings, even reaching 11,120gS (£100) by 1705, fifteen times Stradivari’s asking price. The growing disparity between the primary market (new violins) and the secondary market (old violins) had already become apparent.

In summary, the most convenient way to compare historic violin prices is to calculate their ratios against contemporary per capita GDP. Relative to GDP, the prices of new Baroque violins were more or less comparable to today’s prices. This is probably because the labour invested into each hand-made violin remains unchanged. Today’s top new violins may even sell for 150–200% GDP, and many say that we have entered the second Golden Age of violin making. Looking back at the first decade of the 18th century, the financial difficulties of violin makers were inevitably associated with the decline of Italian economies and nobilities. With David Tecchler struggling financially in Rome and the Guarneri family going bankrupt in Cremona, it is not difficult to understand why the first Golden Age of violin making would soon meet its end.