A few days ago in one of my devotions, I read that Stradivari of Cremona marked every one of his now priceless violins with the name of Jesus. This really moved me and I wanted to blog about it. In researching the story, to my deep disappointment, I found it was not Stradivari who marked his violins with the name of Jesus, but Giuseppe Guarneri, a violin maker fifty years younger than Stradivari who crafted stringed instruments at the same time in the northern Italian city of Cremona.

Stradivari and Guarneri are known as the greatest luthiers (violin makers) of all time, but while I knew Stradivari, I’d never heard of Guarneri (keep in mind, I can’t shake a can of beans, let along play a violin, but music deeply moves me.

Researching further, I found out of the great musicians who live by violins, some prefer Stradivari and some Guarneri instruments. I also found that Stradivari’s early instruments aren’t as good as his later craftings. Stradivari’s “golden period” instruments sell for millions.

I didn’t come across the same information with Guarneri (don’t know if his first violins were as good as the ones he made later), but I did read it wasn’t until 1731 that Guarneri began to mark his instruments with the monogram IHS (Iesus Hominem Salvator: Jesus Saviour of Man) which led to his nickname: Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu.

Del Gesu in Latin means “of Jesus.”

Unlike Stradivari, Guarneri made his violins swiftly and sold them cheaply, yet they rivaled Stradivari’s instruments created more slowly and sold mostly to the wealthy. Kings ordered Stradivari’s violins.

The name Stradivari is widely known, yet Guarneri today not so. And when Guarneri is talked about in modern times, he and his violins are always remembered by the name del Gesu.

The gist of the devotion that started all this for me was: what is your life marked by?

Whose label is on you?

Violins carry labels. Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesu are the masters of the musical realm. Their labels on a violin make that violin nearly priceless nowadays. Hundreds of years after they lived and crafted their instruments, I could see how a Christian writer of the early 1900s who put together the devotion could make the mistake of confusing these two men. That writer didn’t have the Internet to research and she wasn’t really talking about violin makers, after all. Her point was: whose label is on you?

Going deeper, is the fact that two men made miraculous violins and one man is known by his own name, Stradivari, and the other is known by del Gesu (of Jesus). The world has exalted Stradivari, and it seems, forgotten Guarneri (unless you love violins).

Yet, in all my digging, I found that many musicians favor the Guarneri violin because it all but plays itself. The Stradivari violin is known for being temperamental. You have to be a great musician to make the most of the Stradivari.

The Guarneri makes the most of the musician.

In blogging this piece, I learned the lesson God has been trying to teach me lately: the prideful woman in me wants the Stradivari. But the broken woman I really am needs the Guarneri.