譯/李京倫 In the violin-making world, two names reign above all others: Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri.
Both masters lived during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, in a small town in northern Italy called Cremona, and garnered a reputation for making the best stringed instruments in the world. Since then, luthiers have tirelessly tried to imitate Stradivari's and Guarneri's craftsmanship, copying their wood choice, geometry and construction methods. But their efforts have met with little success.
在小提琴製造界，有兩個名字高高在上、無人能及：安東尼奧．史特拉底瓦里與朱塞佩．瓜奈里。
兩位大師都是17世紀末到18世紀初的人，都住在義大利北部小鎮克里蒙納，都以製作舉世最佳弦樂器聞名。從那時起，製琴師孜孜不倦地模仿史特拉底瓦里和瓜奈里的工藝，在木材選擇、零件之間的關係和製作方法上仿照兩人的作法，卻幾無成效可言。
For hundreds of years, the best violin players have almost unanimously said they prefer a Stradivari or a Guarneri instrument.
Why nobody has been able to replicate that sound remains one of the most enduring mysteries of instrument building. A new study, published last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggests that answers may lie in the wood: Mineral treatments, followed by centuries of aging and transformation from playing, might give these instruments unique tonal qualities.
數百年來，頂尖小提琴家幾乎一致表示，史特拉底瓦里或瓜奈里是他們的首選。
為什麼沒有人能複製那樣的音色，仍是樂器製作上最持久的奧祕之一。上個月發表在美國國家科學院院刊的新研究結果指出，答案可能在木材裡：木材經礦物處理，繼之以數百年來的老化，加上演奏帶來的變化，可能造就了這些樂器獨特的音質。
"If you compare Stradivari's maple with modern, high-quality maple wood that is almost the same, the two woods are very different," said Hwan-Ching Tai, a professor of chemistry at National Taiwan University and an author of the paper.
In the study, done in collaboration with the Chimei Museum in Taiwan, Tai and his colleagues used five analytical techniques to assess wood shavings from two Stradivari violins, two Stradivari cellos and one Guarneri violin. Their measurements yielded several major findings.
台灣大學化學系教授戴桓青是論文作者之一，他說：「如果你拿史特拉底瓦里小提琴的楓木和幾乎一樣的現代高品質楓木相比，二者差別頗大。」
這份研究係與台灣奇美博物館合力完成。在研究中，戴桓青與研究夥伴用5種分析技術，檢視從兩把史特拉底瓦里小提琴、兩把史特拉底瓦里大提琴和一把瓜奈里小提琴刨下來的木頭薄片。測量結果有幾個重大發現。
First, they found evidence of chemical treatments containing aluminum, calcium, copper and other elements — a practice lost to later generations of violin makers.
Tai's team also found a property in the Stradivari violin samples but not the cellos: When they heated the wood shavings of the violins, they found an extra peak in oxidation, which implies a detachment between wood fibers.
第一，他們發現化學處理的證據，包括鋁、鈣、銅和其他元素，而這種處理技術其後已經失傳。
戴桓青的團隊還發現史特拉底瓦里小提琴樣本具備、大提琴樣本卻沒有的特性：當他們把小提琴的木頭薄片加熱時，發現氧化得特別厲害，意味木質纖維的分離。
This detachment, possibly the result of centuries of vibrations from playing, may give the instruments greater expressiveness, Tai said, adding, "Top violinists often feel like these old violins vibrate more freely, which allows them to express a wider set of emotions."
Tai hopes that decoding the secrets in the wood of Cremonese violins will help guide attempts to build replicas that can preserve the sounds of Stradivari and Guarneri, adding, "These instruments will not last forever."
戴桓青說，木質纖維分離或許是數百年演奏造成的震動所致，可能賦予樂器更豐厚的表達力，「頂尖小提琴家常常覺得，這些古老的小提琴震動起來更自由，能表現更多種感情」。
戴桓青希望，解開克里蒙納小提琴木材的秘密有助於製成複製品，以保存史特拉底瓦里和瓜奈里小提琴的音色，他說，「這些樂器不會永存不朽」。
說文解字看新聞
文/李京倫
台灣大學化學系教授戴桓青在最新研究中，試圖揭開製琴大師史特拉底瓦里（Stradivari）製作的小提琴音色動聽的祕密。
常見樂器有幾種：木管樂器（wood-wind instruments），這類樂器原本都用木材製作，經過改良後，改用金屬或其他材料，不一定是木製，如長笛、風琴、薩克斯風；銅管樂器（brass instruments），都用金屬製作，如法國號、小喇叭；弦樂器（string instruments），如小提琴、豎琴、吉他、鋼琴（屬擊弦樂器）。
提琴家族包括小提琴（Violin）、中提琴（Viola）、大提琴（Cello）和低音大提琴（Double Bass）。
luthier是法文luth（魯特琴，英文是lute）的衍生字，指製作弦樂器的人。Chinese lute是琵琶。
craftsmanship是指手工藝品呈現出的精美質感，例如形容廟宇雕刻精美絕倫：the superb craftsmanship of the temple carvings。craft是手工藝，craftsman是工匠，從craft衍伸出一些單字如housecraft管理家務的技能、stagecraft編劇或演戲的才能、tradecraft諜報技術。
