ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the following questions: How do value and prestige get attached to material goods? How might prestige be established through performance? How have violins been taken up in art, pop culture, and commercial imagery? From a social sciences perspective, an object’s prestige is related to its association with social groups of high status. One way that the prestige of some violins is marked, and even enhanced, is through exhibition in museums. The prestige symbolism of string instruments and the power structures associated with Western classical music are manifested dramatically when used to control public space. The chapter describes the ways in which the violin is associated with prestige: as an object connected to monetary value and social status, as a treasured work of art, as a vehicle for competition, and as a commercial image. Anthropology provides intellectual tools to describe, compare, and ask questions about violins and other musical instruments.
