Part 11

The _claviorganum_, or organ-harpsichord, consists of an organ and a harpsichord (or a spinet) combined. Either can be played separately or with the other together. The separation and the union are effected by means of a stop or a pedal. The claviorganum was, some centuries ago, not uncommon. It enables the performer to sustain the sound at pleasure, which on the harpsichord is as little possible as on the pianoforte. A _claviorganum_ from Ightham Mote, near Sevenoaks, illustrated in Fig. 68, affords evidence of a higher antiquity of instruments of this kind than might perhaps be expected. It bears the inscription, _Lodowicus Theewes me fecit_, 1579. There is scarcely more remaining of this interesting relic than the outer case; but this is so elaborately finished that, if the mechanism was constructed with equal care and success, it must have been a superior instrument. The maker is unknown in musical history. Perhaps he belonged to the family of Treu (also written Trew), musicians of repute in Anspach about the year 1600.

The pianoforte, which now has entirely superseded the harpsichord, was first constructed at the beginning of the eighteenth century, in Italy and Germany. About the year 1767 it was from Germany introduced into England; but the English musicians for a considerable period objected to it, and preferred to retain the harpsichord.

That there was, in the time of Shakespeare, a species of flageolet, called _recorder_, is undoubtedly known to most readers from the stage direction in Hamlet: _Re-enter players with recorders_. The recorder is also mentioned by Milton, and described by Bacon, who states that “the figures of recorders, flutes and pipes are straight; but the recorder hath a less bore, and a greater above and below.” An illustration of this old instrument, which has now become very scarce, is given in “The Genteel Companion; Being exact Directions for the Recorder: etc.” London, 1683.

The _flauto dolce_ (French, _flûte douce_, and _flûte à bec_), much in use some centuries ago, was made of various lengths (Fig. 70). The Germans called it _Pflockflöte_, _i.e._, a flute with a plug in the mouth-hole. The most common _flûte à bec_ was made with six finger-holes, and its compass embraced somewhat more than two octaves. Several of the finger-holes required to be only partly covered in order to produce the desired tone. There was often a key on this instrument in addition to the finger-holes. This flute was much in favour in England; hence it was called in France “Flûte d’Angleterre.” It has gradually been supplanted by the “Flûte traversière,” or “German Flute.”

The _flageolet_ (Fig. 71), the smallest _flûte à bec_, was formerly played in England even by ladies. Pepys, in his Diary (March 1st, 1666), records:――“Being returned home, I find Greeting, the flageolet-master, come, and teaching my wife; and I do think my wife will take pleasure in it, and it will be easy for her, and pleasant.”

The flageolet was made of various sizes. Pepys (Diary, January 20th, 1667) records:――“To Drumbleby’s, the pipemaker, there to advise about the making of a flageolet to go low and soft; and he do show me a way which do, and also a fashion of having two pipes of the same note fastened together, so as I can play on one and then echo it upon the other, which is mighty pretty.”

The _double flageolet_ was invented by Bainbridge about the year 1800. The _triple flageolet_ (Fig. 69) is less common but equally useless for musical performances of the present day. The “Harmonicon,” London, 1830, records:――“Within these few years Mr. Bainbridge has added a bass joint to his double flageolet and the tone resembles the lower notes on a German flute. The effect produced by the combination of three notes is very good and mellifluous. The bass joint is fixed at the back of the double flageolet, and the breath is conveyed by means of a tube; and by the introduction of what are termed stop-keys, a solo, duet, or trio may be instantaneously performed. The bass notes are produced by keys pressed with the thumb of the left hand.” The writer remarks that “this instrument being purely English, I consider it deserving of being recorded as a very ingenious invention.”

The _hautboy_ or _oboe_ (Fig. 72) came into more general use about the year 1720.

The most noteworthy kinds of the hautboy of the time of Handel and Sebastian Bach are,――the _oboe da caccia_, which is identical with the _corno inglese_ (_English horn_, _cor anglais_), a large hautboy still occasionally employed in the orchestra, and the _oboe d’amore_, or _oboe lungo_, whch has fallen into oblivion. The pitch of the _oboe d’amore_ was a minor third lower than that of the common hautboy, or _oboe piccolo_; and its sound, owing to the narrowness of the bore at its further end, was rather weak, but particularly sweet.

The precursor of the hautboy was evidently the _bombardino_, or _chalumeau_. The _bombardino_, also called in Italian _bombardo piccolo_, was a small _bombardo_, an instrument of the hautboy kind, about three centuries ago much in use on the Continent.

The Germans called the _bombardo_ “Pommer,” which appears to be a corruption of the Italian name. The _bombardo_ was made of various sizes, and with a greater or smaller number of finger-holes and keys. That which produced the bass tones was sometimes of an enormous length, and was blown through a bent tube, like the bassoon, the invention of which it is said to have suggested.

The smallest instrument, called _chalumeau_ (from _calamus_, “a reed”) is still occasionally to be found among the peasantry in the Tyrol and some other parts of the Continent. The Germans call it _Schalmei_, and the Italians _piffero pastorale_. In England it was formerly called _shawm_ or _shalm_.

The _clarinet_, likewise an instrument of this class, is said to have been invented by Denner, in Nürnberg, about the year 1700. The clarinet has only a single vibrating reed in the mouth-piece; the hautboy has a double one.

The invention of the _bassoon_ (Italian, _fagotto_; French _basson_; German, _Fagott_) is ascribed to Afranio, a canon of Ferrara, who constructed the first in the year 1539. The instrument was, however, an improved _bombardo_ rather than a new invention. As early as the year 1550, the celebrated wind-instrument maker Schnitzer, in Nürnberg, manufactured bassoons which were considered as very complete. Fig. 73 illustrates a species of bassoon bound with brass with brass keys, and complete with mouth-piece and reed.

Various bassoons of small dimensions in use about two centuries ago, and earlier (the _dolciano_, _Quartfagott_, _Quintfagott_, _tenor-bassoon_, _corthol_, etc.), are now antiquated.

In the list of musical instruments of Sir Thomas Kytson, of Hengrave Hall, about the year 1600, recorded in the “History and Antiquities of Hengrave, Suffolk,” by John Gage, London, 1822, is mentioned “A Curtall,” which was probably the _corthol_ or French _courtaut_, an early kind of bassoon, a specimen of which, dating from the fifteenth century, is preserved in the Conservatoire de Musique at Paris. According to Prætorius (anno 1619) the _fagotto piccolo_, a small species of bassoon, was called in England _single corthol_.

The invention of the _serpent_ (Fig. 74) is attributed to Edme Guillaume, a canon of Auxerre in France, anno 1590. It was, however, no new invention, properly speaking, but merely an improvement upon the old _Basszinken_, the management of which was rendered more convenient by giving a serpentine winding to the tube. This instrument subsequently became rather popular. It was used in military bands and in processions until about the middle of the last century. The French made use of it also in church to support the voices. Towards the end of the eighteenth century it appears to have still been a common substitute for the organ in France. Dr. Burney, in his “Journal,” London, 1773, states that he frequently met with it in the churches of that country, and he expresses a more favourable opinion of its suitableness for promoting edification than might have been expected from a refined musician:――“It gives the tone in chanting, and plays the bass when they sing in parts. It is often ill-played, but if judiciously used would have a good effect. It is, however, in general overblown, and too powerful for the voices it accompanies; otherwise, it mixes with them better than the organ, as it can augment or diminish a sound with more delicacy, and is less likely to overpower or destroy, by a bad temperament, that perfect one of which the voice only is capable.”

The _serinette_, or bird organ (Fig. 75), was formerly used in France by ladies to teach airs to little singing birds, especially to a kind of siskin or canary, called in French _serin_; hence the name of the instrument.

The _organ positive_ (Fig. 76) is distinguished from the _organ portative_ in so far that the former was a larger instrument, generally placed on a table and blown by an attendant, while the latter was carried about by the performer in religious processions and on such-like occasions.

In England some rude species of organ is said to have been used in public worship as early as about the middle of the seventh century. It was, however, on the Continent, principally in Germany, that almost all the important improvements originated which gradually brought the organ to its present high degree of perfection. Many old organs of fine workmanship are still extant in the churches of Germany. During the 18th century especially several large organs of deserved celebrity were built in that country; suffice it to instance those of the brothers Andreas and Gottfried Silbermann. In England the important inventions of the continental builders were not readily adopted. Recently, however, several huge organs of very fine workmanship have been constructed in England, chiefly for use in concert rooms, or public halls.

The _regal_, often mentioned in English literature of the time of Shakespeare, and earlier (_see also_ p. 96), was a small _organ portative_. There was till about the end of the 18th century a “Tuner of the Regals,” in the Chapel Royal St. James’s, with a salary of 56_l._ The name _regal_ is supposed to have been derived from _rigabello_, a musical instrument of which scarcely more is known than that it was played in the churches of Italy before the introduction of the organ.

The expression “a payre of regalls,” used by writers some centuries ago, evidently implies only a single instrument. Thus also the virginal is not unfrequently mentioned as “a payre of virginalls.” Moreover, it appears that the regal was occasionally made with two sets of pipes, so as to constitute a double organ of its kind.

In the following lines from Sir W. Leighton’s “Teares or Lamentations of a Sorrowful Soule,” London, 1613, this little organ is mentioned in combination with other curious instruments now antiquated, most of which will be found in the present collection:――

“Praise him upon the claricoales, The lute and simfonie: With the dulsemers and the regalls, Sweete sittrons melody.”

The _bagpipe_ (Fig. 77) appears to have been from time immemorial a special favourite instrument with the Celtic races; but it was perhaps quite as much admired by the Slavonic nations. In Poland, and in the Ukraine, it used to be made of the whole skin of the goat in which the shape of the animal, whenever the bagpipe was expanded with air, appeared fully retained exhibiting even the head with the horns; hence the bagpipe was called _kosà_, which signifies a goat.

The bagpipe is of high antiquity in Ireland, and is alluded to in Irish poetry and prose said to date from the tenth century. A pig gravely engaged in playing the bagpipe is represented in an illuminated Irish manuscript, of the year 1300.

The _bell_ has always been so much in popular favour in England that some account of it must not be omitted. Paul Hentzner, a German, who visited England in the year 1598, records in his journal: “The people are vastly fond of great noises that fill the ear, such as firing of cannon, drums, and the ringing of bells; so that in London it is common for a number of them that have got a glass in their heads to go up into some belfry, and ring the bells for hours together for the sake of exercise.” This may be exaggeration,――not unusual with travellers. It is, however, a fact that bell-ringing has been a favourite amusement with Englishmen for centuries.

The way in which church bells are suspended and fastened, so as to permit of their being made to vibrate in the most effective manner without damaging by their vibration the building in which they are placed, is in some countries very peculiar. The Italian _campanile_, or bell tower, is not unfrequently separated from the church itself. In Servia the church bells are often hung in a frame-work of timber built near the west end of the church. In Zante and other islands of Greece the belfry is usually separate from the church. The reason assigned by the Greeks for having adopted this plan is that in case of an earthquake the bells are likely to fall and, were they placed in a tower, would destroy the roof of the church and might cause the destruction of the whole building. Also in Russia a special edifice for the bells is generally separate from the church. In the Russian villages the bells are not unfrequently hung in the branches of an oak-tree near the church. In Iceland the bell is usually placed in the lych-gate leading to the graveyard.

The idea of forming of a number of bells a musical instrument such as the _carillon_ is said by some to have suggested itself first to the English and Dutch; but what we have seen in Asiatic countries sufficiently refutes this. Moreover, not only the Romans employed variously arranged and attuned bells, but also among the Etruscan antiquities an instrument has been discovered which is constructed of a number of bronze vessels placed in a row on a metal rod. Numerous bells, varying in size and tone, have also been found in Etruscan tombs. Among the later contrivances of this kind in European countries the sets of bells suspended in a wooden frame, which we find in mediæval illuminations, deserve notice. In the British Museum is a manuscript of the fourteenth century in which King David is depicted holding in each hand a hammer with which he strikes upon bells of different dimensions, suspended on a wooden stand.

It may be supposed that the device of playing tunes by means of bells merely swung by the hand is also of ancient date. In Lancashire each of the ringers manages two bells, holding one in either hand. Thus, an assemblage of seven ringers insures fourteen different tones; and as each ringer may change his two notes by substituting two other Dells if required, even compositions with various modulations, and of a somewhat intricate character, may be executed,――provided the ringers are good timeists; for each has, of course, to take care to fall in with his note, just as a member of the Russian horn band contributes his single note whenever it occurs.

Peal-ringing is another pastime of the kind which may be regarded as pre-eminently national to England. The bells constituting a peal are frequently of the number of eight, attuned to the diatonic scale. Also peals of ten bells, and even of twelve, are occasionally formed. A peculiar feature of peal-ringing is that the bells, which are provided with clappers, are generally swung so forcibly as to raise the mouth completely upwards. The largest peal, and one of the finest, is at Exeter Cathedral: another celebrated one is that of St. Margaret’s, Leicester, which consists of ten bells. Peal-ringing is of an early date in England; Egelric, abbot of Croyland, is recorded to have cast about the year 960 a set of six bells.

The _carillon_ is especially popular in the Netherlands and Belgium, but is also found in Germany, Italy, and some other European countries. It is generally placed in the church tower, and also sometimes in other public edifices. The statement repeated by several writers that the first carillon was invented in the year 1481 in the town of Alost is not to be trusted, for the town of Bruges claims to have possessed similar chimes in the year 1300. There are two kinds of carillons in use on the Continent, viz.: clock chimes, which are moved by machinery, like a self-acting barrel-organ; and such as are provided with a set of keys, by means of which the tunes are played by a musician. The carillon in the “Parochial-Kirche” at Berlin, which is one of the finest in Germany, contains thirty-seven bells; and is provided with a key-board for the hands and with a pedal, which together place at the disposal of the performer a compass of rather more than three octaves. The keys of the manual are metal rods somewhat above a foot in length, and are pressed down with the palms of the hand. The keys of the pedal are of wood; the instrument requires not only great dexterity, but also a considerable physical power. It is astonishing how rapidly passages can be executed upon it by the player, who is generally the organist of the church in which he acts as _carillonneur_. When engaged in the last-named capacity he usually wears leathern gloves to protect his fingers, as they are otherwise apt to become ill fit for the more delicate treatment of the organ.

The want of a contrivance in the _carillon_ for stopping the vibration has the effect of making rapid passages, if heard near, sound as a confused noise; only at some distance are they tolerable. It must be remembered that the _carillon_ is intended especially to be heard from a distance. Successions of tones which form a consonant chord, and which have some duration, are evidently the most suitable for this instrument.

Indeed, every musical instrument possesses certain characteristics which render it especially suitable for the production of some particular effects. The invention of a new instrument of music has, therefore, not unfrequently led to the adoption of new effects in compositions. Take the pianoforte, which was invented in the beginning of the eighteenth century, and which has now obtained so great a popularity; its characteristics inspired our great composers to the invention of effects, or expressions, which cannot be properly rendered on any other instrument, however superior in some respects it may be to the pianoforte. Thus also the improvements which have been made during the present century in the construction of our brass instruments, and the invention of several new brass instruments, have evidently been not without influence upon the conceptions displayed in our modern orchestral works.

Imperfect though this essay may be it will probably have convinced the reader that a reference to the history of the music of different nations elucidates many facts illustrative of our own musical instruments, which to the unprepared observer must appear misty and impenetrable. In truth, it is with this study as with any other scientific pursuit. The unassisted eye sees only faint nebulæ, where with the aid of the telescope bright stars are revealed.

APPENDIX.

HANDEL’S HARPSICHORD.

The following documentary evidence of this instrument’s authenticity as Handel’s harpsichord (Fig. 78) has been transmitted by Messrs. Broadwood:――

33, Great Pulteney Street, London, _November 18th, 1868_.

Handel’s harpsichord was bought by us of Mr. Hooper, a pianoforte tuner at Winchester, in 1852. He had obtained it from Dr. Chard, the Cathedral organist of that city, who had taken pains to prove it to be the same instrument which Handel had left by will to his friend and amanuensis, Christopher Smith. In Handel’s will, dated June, 1750, was the bequest:――‘I give and bequeath to Christopher Smith my large harpsichord, my little house-organ, my music books, and 500_l._ sterling;’ and in a codicil, dated 6th of August, 1756: ‘I give to Christopher Smith 1,500_l._ additional to the legacy already given to him in my will.’ Dr. Chard wrote to the Rev. George Coxe, of Twyford (Rector of St. Michael’s, Winchester), to obtain his testimony to the identity of this harpsichord with the ‘_Large Harpsichord_’ of the will. Mr. Coxe was nearly related to Smith, and had frequently heard him play upon it. On the 13th of May, 1842, and in the presence of witnesses, Mr. Coxe confirmed this. Dr. Chard states in the document signed by Mr. Coxe, that this harpsichord was left with a large collection of Handel’s MSS. by Christopher Smith to his step-daughter, the Dowager Lady Rivers, who parted with it to Mr. Wickham, a surgeon, who, in his turn, parted with it to the Rev. Mr. Hawtrey, Prebendary of Winchester, after whose death it came into the possession of Dr. Chard.