Part 10

Of the stringed instruments used in our orchestra, the _violin_ (Fig. 52) is the one which has been longest preserved entirely unaltered. Its name (Italian, _violino_), a diminutive of _viola_, suggests that our _tenor_ (_viola di braccio_) is the older instrument of the two. The _viol_ (Fig. 53, facing p. 104) in use about three centuries ago, was however somewhat different in shape. As the oldest-known instruments played with a bow, which in European countries preceded the violin, may be mentioned:――The _rebec_, which, it appears, was first popular in Spain; the _crwth_ of the Welsh; the _fidla_ of the Norwegian, which, in shape somewhat resembled the _crwth_, and which, with some slight modifications, is still occasionally to be found in Iceland, where it is called _langspiel_; and the _fithele_ of the Anglo-Saxons.

Such were the instruments from which our violin has gradually been developed, until it attained, in the seventeenth century, that degree of perfection which has never since been surpassed. The violin makers whose instruments are still most highly valued are:――Antonio Amati, whose most flourishing period dates between the years 1592 and 1619; Nicolo Amati, the nephew of the preceding, 1662-1692; Giuseppe Guarneri, 1690-1707; Antonio Stradivari, 1700-1725; and Jakob Stainer, 1650-1670. All these celebrated makers, except Jakob Stainer, were Italians, living at Cremona. Jakob Stainer (or Jacobus Steiner) was a native of Absam, a village near Innsbruck in the Tyrol. Few musical instruments have experienced so great an increase in price as the violins of these celebrated makers. Stainer used himself to carry his violins to the monasteries situated in the neighbourhood of Absam, where he lived. He sold them at 40 florins apiece. It was not until after his death that his workmanship was duly appreciated.

The _viola da gamba_ (French, _basse de viole_; German, _Kniegeige_) derives its name from its being held between the knees of the performer (Figs. 54 and 55). It was the predecessor of the violoncello, and was made with frets. It was a favourite instrument in England at the time of Queen Elizabeth, and even ladies played it occasionally. In England it was called _base viol_, and also _viol-de-gambo_. Sir Toby Belch, in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” says of Sir Andrew Aguecheek:――

“He plays o’ the viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four languages word for word without book, and hath all the good gifts of nature.”

Among the English public performers on the _viola da gamba_ are recorded a Mrs. Sarah Ottey, in the year 1723, and a Miss Ford in 1760. Carl Friedrich Abel, a German, who lived in London during the latter half of the eighteenth century, was the last performer of celebrity on this instrument. Johann Sebastian Bach has employed it in his admirable “Passionsmusik des Matthæus”; and there are some fine “Suites,” still occasionally to be met with, composed for it by M. de Caix d’Herveloix, published in the year 1710. The tone of the _viola da gamba_ is rather nasal, but sweet and expressive; indeed, it is to be regretted that this charming instrument has fallen into disuse. There is, however, a _gamba_ stop in the organ, which resembles the famous _vox humana_ stop, and which has recently been much favoured by organ builders.

The _violoncello_ came into competition with the _viola da gamba_ at the beginning of the eighteenth century, and has now entirely superseded its predecessor.

A _viola di bardone_ in the Museum (Fig. 56) has a neck of carved and pierced box-wood, terminating in a figure of Apollo playing the lyre; the principal finger-board is of ivory, engraved and inlaid with ebony and tortoiseshell, with figures of Jupiter and Juno, and a lady playing a lute; the second finger-board is also of pierced and engraved ivory. The instrument has four catgut and fourteen metal sympathetic strings, and a double wrest. It was made by Jaques Sainprae, of Berlin, and is said to have belonged to Quanz, music master of Frederick the Great.

The most accomplished performers on the _viola di bardone_ were Anton Lidl of Vienna (to whom is sometimes erroneously ascribed the invention of this instrument) and Karl Franz, a musician of the band of Prince Esterhazy, about the middle of the 18th century. Lidl played on the _viola di bardone_ in concerts in England during the year 1776. Joachim Tielke of Hamburg, the manufacturer of a specimen in the Museum, was an instrument maker whose lutes were much esteemed on account of their fine tone, and their elegant ornamentation. He made them of ebony inlaid with ivory, mother-of-pearl, silver, and gold.

Joseph Haydn wrote sixty-three compositions for the _viola di bardone_ by order of Prince Esterhazy, who was himself a performer on this instrument, and who admired it greatly. Its tone is soft and very expressive, but rather tremulous; owing to this quality, probably, it was also called _viola di fagotto_. It never became very popular, since its rather complicated construction offered too many difficulties in its treatment. In Germany it was generally called _Baryton_.

The _viola d’amore_ (Fig. 57) was often strung entirely with wire. It appears to have been a novelty to Evelyn, for he records in his Diary of November 20th, 1679, “I dined with Mr. Slingsby, Master of the Mint, with my wife, invited to hear music, which was exquisitely performed by four of the most renowned masters: Du Prue, a Frenchman, on the lute; Signor Bartholomeo, an Italian, on the harpsichord; Nicholao, on the violin; but above all, for its sweetness and novelty, the _viol d’amore_ of five wire strings played on with a bow, being but an ordinary violin played on lyre-way by a German.” Mattheson (“Das Neu-Eröffnete Orchestre,” Hamburg, 1713) describes the _viola d’amore_ as being mounted with four wire strings, and with one catgut string for the highest tone.

He praises its sweetness of sound, but does not mention the sympathetic strings. The transformation of the wire-strung _viola d’amore_ into the so-called psaltery or sultana, which has no sympathetic strings, is indicated in the following statement by Sir John Graham Dalyell (“Musical Memoirs of Scotland,” Edinburgh, 1849), “The instrument was first introduced in public in London during the year 1715, when it was heard between the acts of an opera. It was known in Scotland in the middle of the century, and a taste for it was probably encouraged by the performance of Passerini, an Italian resident in Edinburgh, in the year 1752, when it was said to be a new instrument called _viole d’amour_. Passerini was manager of the Gentleman’s and St. Cecilia Concert, where he and his wife had a permanent engagement as skilled musicians. He played solos and accompanied singing with the instrument. Perhaps the _viole d’amour_ underwent several modifications, as its name was changed to _psaltery_, in the belief of its being the ancient instrument so denominated, which is quite different according to most authorities, not belonging to the fidicinal tribe. In 1754 a concert for the new instrument called the _psaltery_ was announced for Signor Carusi’s benefit concert in Edinburgh, and performed by Pasquali, another Italian musician, also resident there. From its soft and simple nature it was eulogised in 1762 as unequalled for delicacy and sweetness. I knew a lady many years ago in Edinburgh who played melodies with great delicacy on this instrument, which was strung with wire, and had frets on the finger-board.” From these accounts it would appear that the _viola d’amore_ strung entirely with wire was not much used in England before the year 1700, although it evidently existed in this country in the seventeenth century.

The _double-bass_ (Italian, _contrebasso_, _violone_; French, _contrebasse_; German, _grosse Bassgeige_, _Kontrabass_) is either four-stringed or three-stringed. A three-stringed example known as “The Giant” presented by Dragonetti to the Duke of Leinster, and given by the latter to the Museum, is illustrated in Fig. 58.

Dragonetti, the celebrated _virtuoso_ on the double-bass, came to England in the year 1794. His favourite instrument, upon which he played in public concerts, was a “Gaspar di Salo,” which he obtained from the Convent of St. Pietro at Vicenza, and which he never could be induced to part with, although £800, it is said, was offered him for it by one of his rich and enthusiastic pupils in England. After the death of Dragonetti this bass, and another valuable one by Stradivarius, were sent back to Italy, he having bequeathed them in his will to the town of Venice. Dragonetti died in the year 1846 at his house in Leicester Square, at the age of eighty-three. A year before his death he was still able to assist in the public performances at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn. His friend H. Philipps mentions in his “Musical Recollections” that the ends of Dragonetti’s fingers had gradually become quite flat and deformed from playing.

Some double-basses of extraordinarily large size are known to have been made in England. William Gardiner (“Music and Friends,” London, 1838, p. 70) mentions such an instrument, made by Martin in Leicester, which he saw in the year 1786, and which, if his statement may be relied upon, “was of such height that Mr. Martin was obliged to cut a hole in the ceiling to let the head through; so that it was tuned by going upstairs into the room above.”

A _sordino_ (French, _pochette_; German, _Taschengeige_) is illustrated in Fig. 59. About 300 years ago the _sordino_ was kept by gentlemen in a case resembling a pen case, which they put in the pocket when they went to a singing party; and they used the instrument for insuring correct intonation while singing madrigals and catches. Kircher, in his “Musurgia Universalis,” Romæ, 1650, calls it _linterculus_, no doubt from its resemblance to a small boat.

Fig. 60 represents a _bûche_ (German, _Scheitholz_) made by Fleurot, of the Val d’Ajol, in the Vosges Mountains, early in the last century.

At the present day the people twang the bûche with a quill; but in olden time it was played thus:――The performer, having placed the instrument on a table, twanged the strings with the thumb of his right hand, while he used his left hand in pressing down, by means of a little stick, those strings which are placed over the frets, and which, being tuned in unison, serve for producing the melody. The other strings, tuned a _fifth_ lower, were occasionally struck as an accompaniment.

Primitive in construction, and imperfect for our present musical performances as the _Scheitholz_ is, it nevertheless is interesting, not only on account of its popularity three centuries ago, but also because it is the prototype of the horizontal cither, which has come somewhat into vogue in the last century.

The most popular instruments played with a bow, in the seventeenth century, were the _treble-viol_, the _tenor-viol_, and the _bass-viol_. It was usual for viol players to have “a chest of viols,” a case containing four or more viols, of different sizes. Thus, Thomas Mace in his directions for the use of the viol, “Musick’s Monument” 1676, remarks, “Your best provision, and most complete, will be a good chest of viols, six in number, viz., two basses, two tenors, and two trebles, all truly and proportionately suited.” The violist, to be properly furnished with his requirements, had therefore to supply himself with a larger stock of instruments than the violinist of the present day.

The _virginal_ (Figs. 61 and 62) is said to have obtained its name from having been intended especially to be played by young ladies. The statement of some writers that it was called virginal in compliment to Queen Elizabeth, is refuted by the fact of its being mentioned among the musical instruments of King Henry VIII., in the beginning of the sixteenth century. Probably the name was originally given to it in honour of the Virgin Mary, since the _virginal_ was used by the nuns for accompanying their hymns addressed to the Holy Virgin. It was made of various sizes, but generally small in comparison with our square pianoforte. The Italians, about three hundred years ago, constructed a small portable instrument of this kind, which they called _ottavino_ (or _octavina_) because its pitch was an octave higher than that of the clavicembalo, or harpsichord.

Queen Elizabeth was a performer on the _virginal_ (_see_ Fig. 61) as well as on the lute. Sir James Melville, the Scotch ambassador, records in his memoirs an interview with Queen Elizabeth, in the year 1564, in which he heard her play upon the virginal:――“Then sche asked wither the Quen (Mary of Scotland) or sche played best. In that I gaif hir the prayse.” During the Shakesperian age a virginal generally stood in the barbers’ shops for the amusement of the customers. The instrument had evidently retained its popularity at the time of the Great Fire of London; for Pepys (Diary, September 2nd, 1666) records:――“River full of lighters and boats taking in goods, and good goods swimming in the water; and only I observed that hardly one lighter or boat in three that had the goods of a house in, but there was a pair of virginalls in it.”

The instrument has metal strings, one for each tone, which are twanged by means of small portions of quill, attached to slips of wood called “jacks,” and provided with thin metal springs. Its construction is therefore similar to that of the spinet and harpischord. Crowquills were most commonly used in the construction of such instruments; but other materials, as for instance leather, whalebone, and even elastic strips of metal, were occasionally adopted instead.

There evidently prevailed, some centuries ago, much vagueness in the designation of certain stringed instruments with a key-board. The term _clavichord_ seems to have not unfrequently been applied to any stringed instrument with a key-board, no matter what its interior construction might be. Johann Walther, in his “Musicalisches Lexicon,” Leipzig, 1732, describes the _virginal_ (or “Virginale,” as he calls it), in these words:-“Ein Clavier vors Frauenzimmer” (_a clavichord for ladies_). The following brief explanation of the difference between the spinet and the clavichord may therefore be of interest to some inquirers.

The _spinet_ (Italian, _spinetta_ or _spinetto_; French, _épinette_) is said to have derived its name from the little quill (_spina_) used in its mechanism, which is the same as that of the harpsichord and the virginal, described before.

The more commonly-known spinet (Figs. 63 and 64) resembles in shape the harpsichord and the grand piano. It is, however, smaller than the harpsichord, and its key-board is placed in a somewhat oblique direction. The tone of the spinet was generally a _fifth_ higher than that of the harpsichord.

The _clavichord_ (Italian, _clavicordo_; German, _Clavier_, or _Klavier_), differs from the spinet inasmuch as it is of an oblong-square shape (Fig. 65), and especially in its being constructed with so-called _tangents_, _i.e._, metal pins which press under the strings when the keys are struck. The strings are of thin brass wire. The oldest specimens of the clavichord still extant are from three to four feet in length, and about two feet in width. The lower keys are black, and the upper ones are white. There is only a single string for each tone and its upper semitone; thus, there is but one string for _C_ and _C-sharp_, and likewise for _D_ and _D-sharp_, and so on. The semitone is produced by a second tangent, which touches the string at a place a little distant from that at which it is touched by the tangent producing the whole-tone. On being pressed under the string, the tangent divides it into two vibrating parts, one of which is considerably longer than the other and gives the sound. The other part is too short to be distinctly audible, and therefore does not very perceptibly interfere with the clearness of the sound. Moreover, its vibration is checked by a strip of cloth interlaced with the strings. It will easily be understood that of the two tangents, the one which most shortens the sounding part of the string, must produce a tone of a higher pitch than the other.

Such was the construction of the _clavichord_ until about the year 1700, when it was improved in so far as that each key was supplied with a separate string. The clavichord is pre-eminently a German instrument. Although now almost entirely supplanted by the pianoforte, it is still occasionally to be met with in the house of the German village schoolmaster and of the country parson. Though but weak in sound, it admits of much expression; and most of the German classical composers who lived before the invention of the pianoforte preferred the clavichord to the harpsichord. In England it has never become popular. Considering the simplicity of its construction, it might be surmised that the price of a clavichord was generally very moderate. In the latter half of the eighteenth century the prices charged for such instruments by some of the best manufacturers were as follows:――Carl Lemme, in Brunswick, made clavichords of various qualities, which fetched from three to twelve Louis d’ors a-piece; he also made, for exportation to Batavia, clavichords with a compressed sounding-board, invented by his father in the year 1771; Krämer, in Göttingen, charged from four to fourteen Louis d’ors, according to size and finish; and Wilhelmi, in Cassel, charged from twenty to fifty thalers,――from about £3 to £7 10s.

The _clavicembalo_ (often designated merely _cembalo_) is called in German “Flügel,” on account of its shape somewhat resembling the wing of a bird. _Clavicembali_ formerly in use generally had a compass of five octaves. The instrument was usually supplied with some stops by means of which the quality of sound could in some measure be modified. Furthermore, it was frequently made with two keyboards, one for the loud and another for the soft tones. The harpsichord made in England was precisely of the same construction. In fact, the best harpsichord makers in England were emigrants from the continent, and the founders of some of the great pianoforte manufactories still flourishing in London. Burkhardt Tschudi, for instance, a harpsichord maker from Switzerland, was the founder of Broadwood’s celebrated manufactory, which dates from the year 1732. Kirkman, a German (who, before he established himself in England, wrote his name Kirchmann) sold his harpsichords in London, according to the German Musical Almanac for the year 1782, at the price of from 60_l._ to 90_l._ apiece. In the beginning of the eighteenth century many of the harpsichords made in England had, according to Grassineau (Musical Dictionary, London, 1740), a compass of only four octaves.

However, already as early as in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, harpsichords or clavicembali, of a superior quality, manufactured by Hans Ruckers and his sons Jean and Andreas, were imported into England. The instruments of these celebrated Antwerp manufacturers were tastefully embellished, and the best Dutch painters not infrequently enriched them with devices. The consequence has been that after the invention of the pianoforte, many of these old harpsichords were taken to pieces in order to preserve the valuable panels. The price of a fine harpsichord by Ruckers about 1770, was £120.

The old _clavicembalo_ by Antonio Baffo, of Venice (Fig. 66), has slips of prepared leather instead of the usual crowquills, which, if original, would show that the statement of some writers as to Pascal Taskin in Paris being the first to use leather is erroneous. Taskin, in constructing in the year 1768 the _Clavecin à peau de buffle_, may have revived an old invention, which, however, he seems to have much improved. He made a _clavecin_ with three keyboards, two of which were connected with actions constructed of crowquills, and the third with an action of leather. The modification in quality of sound thereby obtained was greatly admired.

The illustration (Fig. 67) represents a clavecin made by Pascal Taskin in the year 1786. The case is highly ornamented with Japanese figures and gilding.

The invention of the _clavicembalo_ as well as of the _clavicordo_, is by some old writers ascribed to Guido Aretinus (or Guido d’Arezzo), the famous monk who is recorded to have invented, in the year 1025, the Solmisation, and also to have first conceived the idea of employing lines and dots in the notation of musical sounds. Unauthentic though the tradition may be which assigns to Guido the invention of the stringed instruments with a keyboard, it appears very probable that some rude kind of clavichord was first constructed about his time, or soon after.