Secret Knowledge: Stradivarius and Me

[Richard Tarleton]

I appear to have answered my own question !!

At least she only wore 2 outfits - let's hear it for continuity! Actually the end was a bit puzzling - I thought we must be about to go into the Sheldonian for a concert of Strads, but that was the end of the programme.

There's a whole chapter on the Messiah in the Faber book - even the suggestion that (for various stated reasons) that it might even have been the work of an apprentice, possibly even the eldest son of Stradivari's second marriage, who died young, which might explain why Stradivari kept it....There are several imperfections, apparently. Just about everything about it is speculation. There's also a bit for laymen like me on how violins have been modified since the early 19th century.

Nice to see and hear Jennifer Pike.

I refrained from comment on the Ken Dodd song, which I once heard described (by Ken Dodd) as the most beautiful song ever written