1,720,960 research outputs found
NON INVASIVE ANALYTICAL METHODS FOR THE STUDY OF MATERIALS OF ANCIENT MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
No full textDuring the last decades many researchers have tried to understand what has most influenced the extraordinary sound and beauty of the masterpieces made by the ancient violin makers, and this still represents a challenge for the coming future. Due to the fact that historical written documents about the making process are scarce, the current knowledge is mainly based on the rediscover of the ancient know-how through scientific analyses performed on the materials. This article focuses on the research activities and the methods developed in the Arvedi Laboratory of Non-Invasive Diagnostic of the University of Pavia. The lab, hosted in the prestigious Museo del Violino in Cremona, has the privilege to get in contact with some of the most important musical instruments of the violin making history. Many admirable works of famous violin makers such as Stradivari, Amati and Guarneri are analyzed through many different non-invasive and non-destructive techniques. The research team uses standardized methods according to an analytical protocol specially developed for this purpose. These activities aim to enrich a basic knowledge focused on Antonio Stradivari and his contemporaries violins' materials and bring us closer to the enigma surrounding the beauty and the sound of their masterpiece
A combined approach for the attribution of handwriting: the case of Antonio Stradivari’s manuscripts
No full textNumerous artefacts from Antonio Stradivari’s workshop are currently preserved in the “Museo del Violino” (Museum of the Violin) in Cremona, Italy. A large number of them are paper models containing instructions and technical notes by the great violin maker. After his death, this collection has had several owners, while new annotations added to the original ones, sometimes imitating Stradivari’s handwriting, caused problems of authenticity. The attribution of these relics is a complex task and, until now, only a small part of them has been examined by palaeographers. This paper introduces a multi-analytical approach able to facilitate the study of handwriting in manuscripts with the combined use of image processing and X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy: the former provides a fast and automatic screening of documents; the latter allows to analyse the chemical composition of inks. For our tests, 17 paper relics, dated between 1684 and 1729, were chosen. Palaeographic analysis was used as reference. The results obtained showed the validity of the combined approach proposed herein: the two techniques proved to be complementary and useful to clarify the attribution of different pieces of handwriting
Canne d’organo: caratterizzazione del degrado di leghe metalliche ricerche e studi applicati
No full textNel campo dello studio e conservazione degli strumenti musicali, gli organi sono da sempre tra i manufatti storici più importanti e interessati da tipologie di degrado tra le più complesse, soprattutto in relazione alle caratteristiche del materiale costituente le canne, responsabile della buona resa acustica dello strumento. Nel corso dei secoli si hanno testimonianze di canne d’organo costituite da materiali di diversa natura: avorio, legno o cartone; le leghe metalliche ricche in stagno e quelle ricche in piombo sono certamente tra le più diffuse. Le leghe metalliche sono però oggetto, nel tempo, di differenti fenomeni di degrado che provocano la disgregazione di intere parti della canna. Il degrado delle leghe ricche in stagno avviene essenzialmente attraverso due processi: la corrosione e la trasformazione allotropica dello stagno, definita “peste dello stagno”. In entrambi i casi, le canne degradate mostrano la presenza in superficie di “pustole scure”, fratture, esfoliazioni che portano alla formazione di crateri e fori. Questo tipo di degrado è tra i più documentati, ma le reali cause che determinano il passaggio di fase cristallina dello stagno e la conseguente alterazione non sono ancora definitivamente chiarite. Allo stesso modo, le leghe ricche in piombo possono essere affette da fenomeni di corrosione superficiale, dovuti principalmente all’interazione con l’ambiente circostante e con i materiali con cui sono a contatto. In particolare temperatura, umidità relativa e la presenza di vapori acidi, come acido acetico e acido formico emessi dalle parti lignee dell’organo, sono causa di processi di corrosione. I processi di alterazione in questo caso riguardano i fenomeni corrosivi della lega costituente le canne, con conseguente produzione di sali superficiali e modificazioni strutturali, acustiche e cromatiche. Lo studio è strettamente correlato all’intervento di restauro di due organi storici italiani eseguiti dalla Fabbrica d’Organi Inzoli Cav. Pacifico e F. di Bonizzi F.lli: 1. Organo positivo a trasmissione meccanica. Autore Francesco D’Onofrio da Caccavone (1756/57), Chiesa di San Giovanni Battista, Montedorisio (Chieti). Anno Restauro: 2005. 2. Organo a trasmissione meccanica. Autore Fratelli Lingiardi (1890), Chiesa di San Lanfranco, Pavia. Anno Restauro: 1995. Il lavoro di ricerca prende in considerazione due set di frammenti di leghe metalliche di canne d’organo provenienti dal restauro dei due organi, unitamente a frammenti di lamina metallica riconducibili ad organi storici italiani di età compresa tra il XVII e il XIX secolo. Il primo set è costituito da lamine in lega ricca in stagno mentre il secondo in lega ricca in piombo. Lo studio approfondisce la conoscenza dei fenomeni di degrado delle canne d’organo mediante una completa caratterizzazione materica delle lamine. A tal fine, tutti i campioni sono stati sottoposti ad indagini di tipo non invasivo e microdistruttivo: osservazioni mediante Stereo Microscopio Ottico (SMO), spettroscopia di Fluorescenza a Raggi X (XRF), Microscopio Elettronico a Scansione equipaggiato con sonda a Dispersione di Energia (SEM-EDX), osservazioni al Microscopio Ottico (MO) di sezioni trasversali, Diffrazione ai Raggi X (XRD)
A non-invasive stratigraphic study by reflection FT-IR spectroscopy and UV-induced fluorescence technique: The case of historical violins
No full textn the Cultural Heritage field, stratigraphic analysis is commonly carried out by applying microscopic and micro- analytical techniques to cross-sections of micro-samples taken from artwork. This methodology provides the most comprehensive information on the object's physical structure, but necessarily implies the loss of precious or unique fragments. For this reason, sampling is rarely feasible on musical instruments having such a historical and commercial value as Stradivari or Guarneri violins. Having been played over the centuries, these master- pieces have undergone different kinds of degradation and wear, and subsequent invasive restorations. Varnish layers have therefore been thinned or even removed from the surface and other materials could have been added overlaying the original ones, with consequent variations in coating thickness and composition over time. In the present work, a novel non-destructive and non-invasive methodology combined UV-Induced Fluorescence (UVIFL) photography and reflection FT-IR spectroscopy to investigate how and to what extent varnish thick- nesses vary on the surface of historical violins as well as to reconstruct the stratigraphic layer order and chemical composition. Firstly, UV-induced variations and IR diagnostic bands were identified on numerous model samples reproducing musical instrument stratigraphy. Then the methodology was applied to the study of several Stradi- vari and Guarneri violins and its limitations and strengths were showed in three representative case studies
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Innovative monitoring plan for the preventive conservation of historical musical instruments
No full textThe Cultural Heritage preservation, preventive actions and preventive conservation have assumed during the last years an increasing relevance. These actions are aimed to reduce the risk of artworks’ deterioration and to protect the constituent materials, implicating several difficulties for the conservators. The musical instruments represent a particular class of artworks, because their conservation it’s not limited to the material preservation, but the original function of the object (that is to produce sounds) should be taken into account [Bucur, 2016]: the musical instruments, especially violins, can undergo to different degradation phenomena due to the use of the object. The validity of the existing practice in the museum, and the potential transformations originated from the “Object-Environment” system can be registered and evaluated applying a monitoring program through scheduled and periodic inspections.
The research team from University of Pavia have developed an innovative monitoring plan, in order to study the conservation status of the violins held in the collection of Museum of Violin in Cremona.
Two historic violins - Vesuvio 1727 by Antonio Stradivari and Carlo IX 1566 by Andrea Amati - have been selected for their greater and lesser use in performances over the years 2016/2017 and were analyzed by non-invasive methods at well-defined time spans. In addition, the Antonio Stradivari cello ex-Cristiani (1700) has been included in the monitoring plan with the aim to evaluate the modification of the varnishes after the performances.
Wear areas of the violins due to the contact with the musicians, were identified by preliminary imaging analyses [Dondi, 2017], and a monitoring control of the microclimatic parameters (temperature and relative humidity) as well as illuminance were measured. The analytical investigations were performed every three months: weight measurements, UV-induced fluorescence light imaging, colorimetric measurements, X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF) and Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) reflection spectroscopy have been performed.
Preliminary results have allowed to outline a detailed framework about the state of conservation of the musical instruments. The data acquired in the course of the year will be used to improve the existing conservative procedures thus ensuring the materials durability as well as the sound preservation
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