The General Kyd; ex-Stern Stradivarius is an antique cello

Cello

The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...

 crafted in 1684 by Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 luthier

Luthier

A luthier is someone who makes or repairs lutes and other string instruments. In the United States, the term is used interchangeably with a term for the specialty of each maker, such as violinmaker, guitar maker, lute maker, etc...

 Antonio Stradivari

Antonio Stradivari

Antonio Stradivari was an Italian luthier and a crafter of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas, and harps. Stradivari is generally considered the most significant artisan in this field. The Latinized form of his surname, Stradivarius, as well as the colloquial, "Strad", is...

 of Cremona

Cremona

Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...

.

It was used by the English cellist Leo Stern

Leo Stern

Leo Stern was an English cellist, best remembered for being the soloist in the premiere performance of Antonín Dvořák's Cello Concerto in B minor in London in 1896.-Biography:...

 in the premiere of Antonín Dvořák

Antonín Dvorák

Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...

's Cello Concerto in B minor

Cello Concerto (Dvorák)

The Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104, B. 191, by Antonín Dvořák was the composer's last solo concerto, and was written in 1894–1895 for his friend, the cellist Hanuš Wihan, but premiered by the English cellist Leo Stern.- Structure :...

 in London in 1896.

Noted owners of the General Kyd-Stern are its namesakes, General Kyd and Leo Stern, as well as Lord Amherst of Hackney

William Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney

William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney DL, JP was a British Conservative Member of Parliament and collector of books and works of art.-Background and education:...

, W.E. Hill & Sons and Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume.

At the time of Stern's death in 1904, the General Kyd was valued at US$6,000; its current value is US$3.5 million.

This cello, currently owned by the Los Angeles Philharmonic

Los Angeles Philharmonic

The Los Angeles Philharmonic is an American orchestra based in Los Angeles, California, United States. It has a regular season of concerts from October through June at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, and a summer season at the Hollywood Bowl from July through September...

 and played by Peter Stumpf

Peter Stumpf (Cellist)

Peter Stumpf is the current principal cellist of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. He was educated first at the Curtis Institute of Music and then the New England Conservatory. At age sixteen, he proceeded to start his professional career as a cellist in the Hartford Symphony...

, was stolen from Stumpf's porch in 2004. The General Kyd was later recovered after narrowly escaping being turned into a fancy CD rack

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

.