Violin
Maker
Antonio Stradivari
Date1693
Place MadeCremona, Italy, Europe
ModelLong pattern
Serial No.none
SignedPrinted on paper label, the last two digits of year written in black ink: Antonius Stradiuarius Cremonentis / Faciebat Anno 1693 [Stradivari monogram]MarkingsWritten in black ink on paper label: P-734
Engraved on tailpiece (in gold oval): A with superimposed W
DescriptionThe Harrison Stradivari is one of the maker's Long Pattern instruments made in the 1690s. At approximately one centimeter longer than the conventional violin, and with a relatively flat arching, this design represents a departure from the classic Amati model of Cremonese instruments. The Harrison is exceptionally well preserved, with its original neck and top block.
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: narrow grain; maple pins through both the top and bottom blocks under purfling
Back: two-piece, quarter-cut maple: prominent, medium curl descending slightly from center joint; maple pins through both the top and bottom blocks under purfling; ebony crown over back button (later)
Ribs: quarter-cut maple: prominent medium curl, curl angled slightly to the left; one-piece lower rib
Head and neck: maple: prominent, medium curl; neck re-angled at the heel and reshaped
Arching: low
Varnish: medium orange-brown
Fingerboard: ebony; later
Nut: ebony; later
Tailpiece: ebony; later
Pegs: four rosewood with oval low karat red gold pins
Saddle: ebony with ebony wing extending over the top of the ribs
Endpin: boxwood and ivory decoratively turned end pin; later
F-holes: inside edge of f-holes stained black
Linings: spruce
Corner blocks: willow or poplar; chisel marks visible on blocks
Top block: willow or poplar enclosed in later spruce
Bottom block: willow or poplar
Bassbar: spruce; later
Technical drawing available for purchase.
DimensionsTotal length: 690 mm
Back length: 363 mm
Upper bout width: 161 mm
Center bout width: 109 mm
Lower bout width: 203 mm
Upper rib height: 30.4-31.5 mm
Center rib height: 31.5 mm
Lower rib height: 31.5 mm
Stop length: 200 mm
Vibrating string length: 330 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 133 mm
ProvenanceGeorge Smart, UK
John Betts, London, England
Philippe le Bon, Brachay, France
Alexander Glennie
Lord Arbuthnot, Kent, UK
W. E. Hill & Sons, London, UK
Richard Harrison, London, UK
Edwin C. Hodgkins
Richard Bennett, Southport, Lancashire, UK
William Bardsley, Melbourne, Australia
Emil Herrmann, New York, New York
Henry Hottinger, New York, New York
Rembert Wurlitzer, New York, New York
Kyung-Wha Chung, London, UK
Purchased by the National Music Museum through Bein & Fushi, Chicago, in 1984.
Published ReferencesW. Henry Hill, Arthur F. Hill, and Alfred E. Hill, Antonio Stradivari: His Life & Work (1644-1737), reprint of 1902 edition (New York: Dover Publications, 1963), between pp. 20-21 and 48.
Herbert Goodkind, Violin Iconography of Antonio Stradivari 1644-1937 (Larchmont, New York: Herbert Goodkind, 1972), pp. 243-244.
Simone F. Sacconi, The Secrets of Stradivari (Cremona : Libreria Del Convegno, 1979), pp. 26-27.
"Known as the 'Harrison' . . . Famous 1693 Strad Acquired," Shrine to Music Museum, Inc. Newsletter 12, No. 3 (April 1985), pp. 1-2.
"USD Music Museum Buys 1693 'Harrison' Strad," Newsletter of the American Musical Instrument Society 14, No. 2 (June 1985), p. 11.
Roger Hargrave, "Preservation Order," The Strad 96, No. 1142 (June 1985), cover and p. 128.
Bein & Fushi, Inc., 1986 Calendar.
Charles Beare, Capolavori di Antonio Stradivari (Milan: Arnoldo Mondadori, 1987), pp. 56-57.
Margaret Downie Banks, "The Witten-Rawlins Collection and Other Early Italian Stringed Instruments at The Shrine to Music Museum," Journal of the Violin Society of America 8, No. 3 (1987), pp. 39-41.
André P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), opposite contents and pp. 6, 17 and 48.
Margaret Downie Banks, "The 'Harrison' Violin, the 'Rawlins' Guitar, and other Stradivari Materials at The Shrine to Music Museum," Journal of the Violin Society of America 9, No. 3 (1989), pp. 19-27.
André P. Larson, "The 'Harrison' Violin," The South Dakota Musician, 26, No. 3 (Spring 1992), front cover and p. 22.
Charles Beare, with the collaboration of Bruce Carlson, Antonio Stradivari: The Cremona Exhibition of 1987 (London: J & A. Beare, 1993), pp. 108-113; 316-317.
"In Memoriam," The Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 21, No. 2 (January 1994), p. 7.
The 2001 Strad Calendar, April 2001.
André P. Larson, “Once-In-A-Lifetime Opportunity . . . Eugene Fodor to Play Museum's 1693 Antonio Stradivari Violin,” National Music Museum Newsletter 29, No. 1 (February 2002), pp. 1-2.
Jeffrey S. Loen and A. Thomas King, "Thick and Thin," The Strad 113, No. 1352 (December 2002), pp. 1354-1359.
André P. Larson, Beethoven & Berlioz, Paris & Vienna: Musical Treasures from the Age of Revolution & Romance 1789-1848, with essay by John Koster, exhibition catalog, Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls, South Dakota, September 12-November 2, 2003 (Vermillion: National Music Museum 2003), cover and pp. 12, 26.
André P. Larson, “Celebrating 30 Great Years . . . Sioux Falls Exhibition Crowns Another Notable Year,” National Music Museum Newsletter 30, No. 4 (November 2003), pp. 1-3.
“NMM Partners with the Sioux City Symphony,” National Music Museum Newsletter 33, No. 1 (February 2006), p. 7.
Greg Dean Petersen, "Bridge location on the early Italian violin," Early Music 35, No. 1 (February 2007), pp. 49-64.
Panagiotis Poulopoulos, The Guittar in the British Isles 1750-1810, Ph.D. Dissertation (Edinburgh, The University of Edinbught, 2011) p. 58.
Lammers, Dirk. “Filled with Rare Instruments, SD’s National Music Museum Looks to Raise $15M for Revamp.” Associated Press, Published: 17 February 2013. As seen on Washington Post website: http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/filled-with-rare-instruments-sds-national-music-museum-looks-to-raise-15m-to-revamp/2013/02/17/8c29ca62-7929-11e2-9c27-fdd594ea6286_story.html as seen on 18 February 2013.
Andrew Dipper, "The Start of Something Big," The Strad 133, No. 1592 (December 2022), pp. 26-33.
NMM catalog: _As Good as Gold: The First 50 Years (1973-2023)_. Vermillion, SD: National Music Museum, 2023. (pp. 36-37, 42-43)
"Soundpost," The Strad 134, No. 1594 (February 2023), pp. 10-11
Article: Kyle MacMillan, "State of Being: Restoration or Conservation?," Early Music America 30, No. 3 (September 2024), p. 21. (image)
Technical Drawings
Credit LineRawlins Fund, 1985
Object number03598
On View
On view
