Architecture or Stradivari: the restoration between memory, aesthetics and function
The purpose of this essay is to recall some passages from the lively interdisciplinary debate in which
musicologists, organologists, architects, art historians, restorers and jurists questioned about the possible
extension of the unit of the restoration methodology to the complex theme of the conservation of the
musical instruments.
The comparison between architecture and lutherie, two forms of art united by the ‘function of use’,
has, for example, accompanied the theoretical reflections towards a renewed verification of the Brandian
principles applied to the specific conservative instances of the luthier’s heritage.
The summary of these reflections is the “Carta di Cremona” drawn up in 1987, based on two fundamental
principles: the handed down musical instruments have the same function and importance of the historical
documents and, as such, they must be fully preserved for future generations; the musical instruments have
a sound function that must be maintained and, where possible, restored.
