The Missing Strad: The Story of the World's Greatest Violin Forgery

by Gerald Gaul

Pay attention to that violin you used in high school. Look closely at the next violin you see at a garage sale. It might be worth millions of dollars.

The greatest violin ever made is not in a museum. It might be in your violin case because it was involved in a perfect forgery more than a century ago. No one noticed when the criminal got rid of the evidence by passing it on to an unsuspecting customer.

A witness is now ready to tell you the truth from beyond the grave, but only if you read the story of his famous father, the diseased and demonically possessed Niccolò Paganini.

Enter a world of murders, madness, creepy love affairs, strange historical objects, awkward musical performances, extremely valuable animal intestines, large quantities of gold . . . and a homeless decaying corpse.

336 pages, Paperback

Published October 20, 2021

About the author

Gerald Gaul is a violinist, violist, author, and ophthalmologist whose lifelong passion for stringed instruments has positioned him as one of the most uniquely credentialed voices in the world of classical music scholarship. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Viola Performance from New College of the University of South Florida, a Master's degree in Violin Performance from the University of North Dakota, and a medical degree from the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, where he trained as an eye surgeon and went on to teach in both the medical school and music department at the University of North Dakota.

Gaul currently serves as Vice-Chairman of the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota, and performs as a violist with both the Space Coast Symphony Orchestra and the World Doctors Orchestra. Amazon He previously performed for twenty years with the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra. University of St. Thomas

For more than two decades, Gaul has devoted himself to the intensive scholarly study of violin bows from the classical period. His debut book, The Missing Strad: The Story of the World's Greatest Violin Forgery (2021), draws on this deep expertise to present one of the most compelling unsolved mysteries in the history of music. When he is not writing or performing, he continues his personal search for the missing Stradivarius.

Reviews

[Toni Mosrrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

i really love this story and i will recommend it for my daughter