The History of Rosin and Stringed Instruments

Both rosin and music produced by strings go back thousands of years. When the two came together is uncertain, but it’s easy to understand why.

It’s somewhat challenging to identify when rosin met its first bow to produce music on a stringed instrument. A Google search fails to yield definitive information on where and when that would have happened. It might be similar to where and how early humans discovered how to sauteé vegetables – fire, oil and vegetables have existed for a long time, but just when they were used in combination is elusive.

But the two basic components of this question – when was rosin applied to stringed instruments – can each be traced separately to suggest it happened a long, long time ago.

First, the history’s oldest stringed musical instrument might have also been a hunting weapon. Cave paintings in Trois Frerers, France dating back to 13,000 BC show what appears to be a use of a single-stringed hunting bow to create music.

Over time stringed instruments evolved with the addition of features, most especially additional strings, which led to the lyre, bow harp, harp and lute. It’s clear the human instinct for music drove innovation to the creation of violins, violas, cellos, stringed bass, guitars, harpsichords, pianos, and their many variations (brass and woodwind instruments followed similar paths, albeit without creating sound with friction on strings).

So where did rosin come in? We know that rosin, still produced from tree resin (not sap) as it has always been, also had many uses in ancient history. It is sometimes referred to as colophon and colophony, which refer to an ancient Greek-Turkish city named Colophon, where it was initially produced, which was part of the Ionic period in the 6th to 7th centuries BC. Derived today as it was thousands of years ago, resin turned into rosin originated from pines, cedars, firs, spruce and junipers.

Rosin had many uses then and now. It was used medicinally for healing wounds, as a sealant (think floating conveyances such as boats made from wood, and floating fiber baskets), and as a part of how the Byzantine Empire fought wars. They had an early version of something resembling napalm, called “Greek Fire,” which was a viscous liquid that could be catapulted against an invading army or navy. Rosin was both a thickener in this deadly mix as well as fuel for the fiery havoc it would create.

Given the historical relationship between music and war – to rally the troops, and sometimes to intimidate the enemy – it suggests that instruments of ancient times easily accepted the use of rosin to provide bow friction to stringed instruments.

Today’s players of the violin and all other fine stringed instruments could not function without rosin. Its application to the bow is part of early musical instruction for children as well as the concertmaster of every orchestra in the world. While the word has many applications and many actual chemical compositions, the serious stringed instrument player would do well to work with their instructor and violin makers to identify which is right for him or her.

The Famous – or Infamous – Thefts of Stradivarius Violins

Despite the difficulty thieves might find reselling famous works of the master luthier, history shows that Stradivariuses hold enduring attraction to thieves.

The story of the stolen Stradivarius violin that is probably most familiar to Americans is that of the Totenberg-Ames Stradivari (circa 1734). This is because the first part of that name, Totenberg, is the surname of a longtime National Public Radio reporter, Nina Totenberg.

The violin was missing for 35 years but is today on loan to a young virtuoso named Nathan Meltzer. It was returned in 2015 to Ms. Totenberg and her two sisters, three years after the death of her father, Roman Totenberg. The elder Totenberg was a Polish-born prodigy, performer and teacher, who purchased his Stradivarius in 1943 for $15,000 (it is now valued at between $5 million and $10 million). The ex-wife of the likely thief found the instrument after his death and it was identified when she went to a reputable violin shop to have it appraised.

The story, which Ms. Totenberg reported to her national audience, raises awareness of the many thefts that have occurred with these highly prized Italian violins. (Stradivari primarily made violins, but also a smaller number of cellos and violas).

One such recent theft, in which the instrument went missing for only a week, was of the Lipinski Stradivarius (circa 1715), taken in an armed robbery from concertmaster Frank Almond after a performance in 2014 with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. The thief seemed to lack a plan for how to resell it, which is difficult to do with any rare instrument or piece of art because a buyer who would be willing to pay millions for it would in all likelihood also know the transaction and provenance are illegitimate.

Another stolen Stradivarius, which has yet to be recovered, was from the 91-year-old Erica Morini while she lay dying in a hospital. Taken from her New York apartment in 1995, the Davidoff-Morini (circa 1727) was purchased for her (price: $10,000) by her father in 1924.

Other Stradivari that have been stolen at some point include:

• Oistrakh (circa 1671), once owned by Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, it was stolen in 1996 and returned in 1997 to the Glinka Museum in Moscow
• Andrew Bernardi (current owner, circa 1696), it was taken from Min-Jin Kym in London in 2010 and recovered in 2013
• King Maximilian; Unico (circa 1790), stolen in 1999 and not recovered
• Karpilowsky (circa 1712), stolen from Harry Solloway in 1953 and not recovered
• Gibson; ex-Huberman (circa 1713), stolen, recovered and stolen a second time from Bronislaw Huberman in 1936 and recovered in 1985
• Le Maurien (circa 1714), stolen in 2002 and not recovered
• Colossus (circa 1716), stolen in Rome in 1998 and not recovered
• Kochanski (circa 1717), stolen in 1987 and recovered in 1991
• Sinsheimer; Iselin (circa 1721), stolen in 2008 and recovered in 2009
• Duke of Alcantara, aka the UCLA Strad (circa 1732), either stolen or left on the roof of a car in 1967 (seriously?), it was recovered in 1995
• Herkules/King David (circa 1734), stolen in 1908 and recovered in 1925
• Lamereaux (circa 1735), missing or stolen in 1962 and not recovered
• General Kyd (circa 1684), stolen in 2004 and recovered
• Gore Booth (circa 1710), stolen by the Nazis along with the Gustav Klimt “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I, the subject of the 2015 biographical movie “Woman in Gold;” it was recovered from German authorities in 1956

Other mishaps to Stradivarius violins include car accidents, car crashes and the bombing of Dresden in 1945. Art may endure, but the fine instruments of art themselves do not always survive. Which among the unrecovered instruments remain in someone’s attic, waiting to be found?