The Story of The Violin, by Paul Stoeving PDF

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The Mask Story Series
Edited by
FREDERICK J. CROWEST.
The
Story of the Violin
Cbe "d&ustc Storg" Series.
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THE STORY OF ORATORIO. A. Patterson, B.A.,

Mus. Doc. With Illustrations. -
„ STORY OF NOTATION. C. F. Abdv

Williams, M.A., Mus. Bac. With Illustrations.
„ STORY OF THE ORGAN. C. F. Abby

„ STORY OF CHAMBER MUSIC. N. Kilburn,

Mus. Bac. With Illustrations.
„ STORY OF THE VIOLIN. Paul Stoeving.

With Illustrations.
,, STORY OF THE HARP. W. H. Geattan

Flood, Mus. Doc. With Illustrations.
,, .STORY OF ORGAN MUSIC. C. F. Abdy

„ STORY OF ENGLISH MUSIC (7604-1904)—

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,, STORY OF MUSICAL FORM. Clarence

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„ STORY OF OPERA. E. Markham Lee, M.A.,

Mus. Doc. With Illustrations.
,, STORY OF THE CAROL. Edmondstoune

Duncan. With Illustrations.
,, STORY OF THE BAGPIPE. W. H. Grattan

Flood, Mus. Doc. With Illustrations.
,, STORY OF THE FLUTE. H. Macaulay

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WILLIAM H. CUMMINGS, Esq.,
MUS. DOC. DUB., F.S.A., HON. R.A.M.,
AS A MARK 01'
ESTEEM.
A
Contents
PAGE
Prologue xxiii
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OF THE VIOLIN.
Origin of the Violinstill a puzzle —

Gradual development —
European growth or an Eastern importation Greeks and —
Romans— An insight into a highly ingenious system of
music — Egyptian and Chaldean records —A vain search a for
prehistoric fiddle—The Old Testament — A misleading trans-
lation
CHAPTER II.
TRADITION AND THE SCHOLAR (AN INTERLUDE).
Tradition repeats a story and adds further variations — The ravan-

astron
vii
—
Story of the Violin
CHAPTER III.
A FAMILY LIKENESS.
PAGE
Possibly a lowly grandsire of the king of instruments —The
bow — Claims more closely examined — Some historians' ob-
jections —
Tradition and conservatism in Eastern countries
—
Other bowed instruments in India Much speculation Have —
no other nations known bowed instruments ? . . . 10
CHAPTER IV.
THE OLD NATIONS.

Reason —
for absence of historical proof Assyrian bas-reliefs
Idiosyncrasies of some nations .....

Instruments sanctioned by religious tradition in Egypt
-17
CHAPTER V.
WANDERING.
A
The tone of the ravanastron — Hindoo's love for — Indebted to it

Persians and Arabs — Music with the sword — Improvements
threads ....,.,.
and spreading of music — Tradition spinning her eternal
.21
CHAPTER VI.
MUSIC IN GENERAL IN THE FIRST CENTURIES A.D.
The first fair flower of the spirit —

Primitive beginnings — The
—
early Christians sang The third and fourth centuries — The
first singing-school —Apoor Cinderella Gladiators,— his-
trions, jongleurs, etc. 25
viii
—
Contents
CHAPTER VII.
FIRST BOWED INSTRUMENTS IN EUROPE.

'
PAGE
— —
Arabian and European rebabs Rebab enters Spain The family
likeness
crvvth—
—
Claims discussed ....... —
The oldest European representative The Welsh
30
CHAPTER VIII.
A MEETING.
Dark period of two centuries —

A new kind of bowed instrument
— —
appears
—
previous record Introduced to the bow ....
Possibly a descendant of the ravanastron No
38
CHAPTER IX.
THE MINSTREL AND MUSICIAN IN THE ROMANTIC AGE.
—
Strong rule had brought safety Nightmare of preceding centuries
— Troubadours, Minnesinger, and poor minstrels Playing —
—
before the castle— A keen distinction The Meister song is
—
born and reared The fiddler draws into the towns Asso- —
ciations formed . .
-44
CHAPTER X.
A RETROS PECT.
More than six hundred years — —
A poor despised drudge A poor
—
compensation How would music have fared? A mummy —
A thing of life and beauty — —
Harmonic crimes Demand for
—
instruments Father to ultimate creation of the violin
Choral singing in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries . 52
—
Story of the Violin
CHAPTER XI.
COMPETITORS.
PAGE
The —
primitive rebec An unmistakable ancestor of the viol The —
—
constant faithful companion Jean Charmillon, king of
—
—
ribouds Fellow-traveller and competitor Fra Angelico's
— —
sweet-faced angel The tone of the rebec Changes of the
fiedel The bowed instrument by preference ... 56
CHAPTER XII.
THE INSTRUMENT OF RESPECTABILITY.
The clever cabinet-maker spurred to extra efforts Improve- —

ment of the viol form —
Stimulus through the genius of Dufay,
Dunstable, etc. —
Instrumentalists now employed in the
— —
churches Further stimulus Construction of different-sired
'
viols— Corner blocks inserted —
Special favourite designs
popular in different countries 62
CHAPTER XIII.
THE VIOLIN (PRELUDE).

Were the times really ready ? —The Renaissance ... 67
CHAPTER XIV.
TWO GASPAROS.
Question still —
not satisfactorily answered To many a strange and
new name —
Who was Gaspar Duiffoprugcar ? Six violins —
— —
Other facts Contradictious reasons reconcilable Liber- —
ties taken with labels —
Modification of his name Internal —
—
evidence for his claims Through the bright river of genius
—
Contents
PAGE
—Know no more of Da Salo's youth and apprenticeship than
of Duiffoprugcar's— His claim irrefutable — Questions — Are
there any traces of development his work? — Two
in little
French violins — General characteristics of his violins . . 70
CHAPTER XV.
MAGGINI AND OTHER BRESCIAN MAKERS.
Maggini's work —Demand for violins — Other Brescian makers . 84
CHAPTER XVI.
THE AMATIS.
Cremona — Andrea Amati —The belief that he was a pupil of Da
— —
Salo Amati's original style The Amati violin tone
—
Amati's two sons, Antonio and Hieronymus Artistic co-
— — —
operation Separation Distinct progress of both Jerome's
— —
son Nicolaus His masterpieces Larger model— The Grand
Amatis — The acme of perfection in the Amati style — Nicolo's
two sons —Jerome painstaking — Mediocrity — The
less last
Amati .86
CHAPTER XVII.
A bird's-eye view.
Amati's individuality —
Reason for to-day's decline in prestige
Fierce battle between a modern orchestral accompaniment
—
and a solo fiddle Time of Rococo 93
CHAPTER XVIII
AMATI SCHOOL.
Spread of fame —Workers in Italy, France, Germany, and Holland 96

—
Story of the Violin
CHAPTER XIX.
THE GUARNERI FAMILY.
TAGE
True heirs of Amati with Stradivarius —
A parallel Andrea —
—
Guarneri and his work His two sons, Petrus and Joseph
—
Friendly rivalry Joseph's work Petrus's violins A son of
— —
—
Petrus A third Pietro— Guiseppe of another constellation . 98
CHAPTER XX.
JACOBUS STAINER.
—
Through long corridors of time Tradition Some — facts —Sadness
—
and misery His achievements Value of — his violins
Spurious labels . . . 102
CHAPTER XXI.
THE GREATEST OF THEM ALL.
—
Stradivari —
Began early Scrupulously copied his master First —
—
instruments with his own name Three periods and an inter-
lude — —
Change in work Creates master-works A com- —
parison —Profound knowledge of wood —
Most striking
— —
characteristic— Tone Varnish Autumn of life His two —
sons, Francesco and Omoboni —A
scene for Rembrandt
..........
— — —
His last work Stradivari's "home life His influence His
pupils
CHAPTER XXII.
GIUSEPPE GUARNERI DEL GESU.
— — —
Strongest possible light and shade Question signs His early life
— First attempts — Fact and fancy Bad wood and careless
—
Contents
FACE
workmanship — Gems of different form and colour — Fourth
period — In prison — The end — Greatest master Stradivari
after
— The first-rank master period ends 128
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE ART OF VIOLIN-MAKING IN FRANCE, ENGLAND,

AND GERMANY.
France.— —
No luthiers of renown till later The best known
—
Contribution small Clever imitators.
—
England. English workers of the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, and later — Some instances showing originality
Faithful imitators.
Germany. —A difference — A founder— Imitators — Dabbling of
cranks — Sound makers — Wholesale production . . . 136
CHAPTER XXIV.
IS IT A SECRET?
—
Only three conditions possible About wood About age — — About
—
varnish About workmanship or art— Conclusion . . 145
PART II.
VIOLIN-PLAYING AND VIOLIN-PLAYERS.
CHAPTER I.
PRjELUDIUM.
Father and founder of —A style of com-

artistic violin-playing
position for the new instrument —A sure and broad founda-
xiii
. —
Story of the Violin

PAGE
tion — Poor
Charmillon and many others No records of —
—
worldly instrumental music of the time Contrapuntal grop-
ings no safe criterion —
Nor illustrations of instruments
—
Music of the primitive kind Fiddle (viol)-playing in the
—
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Symbol in the frets 157
CHAPTER II.
VIOLIN ART IN ITALY.
Sixteenth century— First half of seventeenth century Second —

— —
half Corelli The Roman school of violin-playing Artistic —
— — —
activities
pupils .....
His playing Corelli the teacher
....
Corelli's
166
CHAPTER III.
violin art in italy {continued).
school— "—The
Other centres churches — Tartini — Founder of the Paduan
Trillo del Diavolo" — Productivity — Tartini as
II
author— His playing—As teacher —Tartini's pupils — Only
names —Violinists of Piedmontese school — Pupils of Somis
Pupils of Pugnani .
174
CHAPTER IV.
VIOTTI.
—
Reformer in two directions Creator of modern violin art in its
best sense — —
Childhood and youth A surprise to the world
—
Anti-climax Chased fortune on precarious byways A dealer —
in wine —
His personality —
Last great representative of
classical Italian violin art 187
xiv
— : —A
Contents
CHAPTER V.
SOME MORE NAMES AND ONE FAMOUS ONE

THE OLD-TIME VIRTUOSO.
PAGE
Some names — —
Antonio Lolli The glorification of virtuosity
— —
Treading in his tracks Lolli's two pupils Has done more
—
good than he gets credit for A factor for progress Rapidly —
and effectually carried into distant parts of the world —
regular tour deforce — —
Not the same diet for all Has fulfilled
his mission 197
CHAPTER VI,
PAGANINI (A STUDY).
The world unprepared — —

Only part of the show Was Paganini's
influence one for good ? —
La casa di Paganini Paganini in
— —
the making Full fledged The Paganini fever Paganini's —
only pupil 205
CHAPTER VII.
VIOLIN ART IN GERMANY.

Italian art carried into the heart of Germany —
German violin-
—
playing in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries The
Dresden Court —The Berlin Court —The Mannheim Court . 216
CHAPTER VIII.
VIOLIN ART IN GERMANY (continued).
Ludwig Spohr — His youth — On the high road of success— Spohr

the — —
man — The composer The player His pupils^-Ferdi-
nand David
—A light-giving fixed star .......
— His pupils— School of Vienna — Ernst—Joachim
XV
224
—A
Story of the Violin
CHAPTER IX.
VIOLIN ART IN FRANCE.

PAGE
Time of Louis XIV. — Thecream of the profession Corelli's —
failure —The use of music for instruments— The
vocal
names
Gavinies
of first
.
—
......
French violinists Jean Marie Leclair Pierre —
235
CHAPTER X.
violin art in France (continued).
Viotti and French violin art —

Illustrious period Best-known —
pupils of Viotti — —
Rode Rode's playing Rudolph Kreutzer —
— Kreutzer's playing —
His famous forty studies Baillot — —
new phase in French violin art— A lively tug-of-war —The
—
Belgian school Belgian influence in Paris Characteristics —
of the Belgian school — —
Poland Bohemia, Norway, and
Spain . 241
CHAPTER XI.
VIOLIN ART IN ENGLAND.
—
Receptive rather than productive Prejudices Foreign artists —
—
English violinists Seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth
centuries — Unknown prompter 251
CHAPTER XII.
THE LADY VIOLINIST.

In her charms— In her glory ..,,.., 258
—
Contents
PART III.
AN OUTLINE OF THE EVOLUTION OF VIOLIN

COMPOSITION.
CHAPTER I.
IN ITS INFANCY.
PAGE
Beginning of seventeenth century —Carlo Farina and his capriccio
stravagante — Crude tone picturing — Imitators in Germany
— In Italy 261
CHAPTER II.
THE REIGN OF THE SONATA.
—
Sonata da camera and sonata di chiesa Corelli and the sonata
— —
Tartini Tartini's influence Joh. Seb. Bach . . . 265
CHAPTER III.
THE SONATA DI CHIESA YIELDS THE SCEPTRE TO

THE CONCERTO . 271
CHAPTER IV.
THE REIGN OF THE CONCERTO.
Torelli —Vivaldi —Viotti —The passage—Rode and Kreutzer

Spohr — Molique— Mozart — Bach 273
xvii 2
—
Story of the Violin
CHAPTER V.
A NEW PHASE OF THE CONCERTO.

PAGE
The modern virtuoso-concerto — —
Paganini Lipinski and Ernst
— De Beriot — Vieuxtemps —
Wieniawski — David and
others 279
CHAPTER VI.
LATEST PHASES OF THE CONCERTO.
Beethoven —Mendelssohn — Max Bruch — Saint-Saens— Lalo and

Benj. Godard — Raff— Rubinstein and Goldmark — Brahms
and Tschai'kowsky 283
CHAPTER VII.
DIDACTIC VIOLIN LITERATURE.
A long way —A shorter cut 286
CHAPTER VIII.
A PRODIGAL.
The oldest of them —Very accommodating—The

all air vane
The — —
small piece The present-day small piece Why this
sterility?— —
A very uninteresting age The last word not yet
spoken-'-The Chopin of the violin 288
Postscript 293
xviii
Contents
APPENDIX A.
Some remarks on the name "Fiedel" as applied to the early ances-

tor of the viol kind — Martin Agricola— Prsetorius and Ganassi
del Fontego
violin ..........
— —
Of the evolution of the bow Parts of a
299
APPENDIX B.
Chronological table showing the descent of violin-playing from

masters to pupils since the founding of the Roman school;
also some small independent groups of players . . . 305
APPENDIX C.
—
Makers of the Brescian school Pupils and imitators of the Amati
—
school Pupils and imitators of Stradivari— Various other
Italian makers —
French, English, and German makers . 305
APPENDIX D.
Books of Reference to Parts I. and II 312
Index 3:5
List of Illustrations
" Saint Cecilia," by Domenichino, from the picture in

the Louvre Collection - - - Frontispiece
FIG. FAGS
1. Indian Sarinda - -
13
2. Omerti 22
3 and 4. Arabian Rebab and Kemangeh 31
5. Rebab esh-Sha'er (Poet-Fiddle) - 33
Earliest representation of a European Fiddle
6.
7. Anglo-Saxon Fiddler ... .

33
35
8. Three-stringed Crwth 36
9. Mediaeval Orchestra, Eleventh Century 40-41
10. Performer on the Marine Trumpet; Type of Dress 46
11. Reinmer the Minnesanger 49
12. Rebek, from an Italian painting of the Thirteenth
Century 58
13. Vielle of the Thirteenth Century 59
14.
15. Organistrum
Viola di Bordone
....
Player of the Fourteenth Century
...
60
61
65
16.
17. Gaspar Duiffoprugcar 72

18.
19.
Viola da
Amati Crest
Gamba
.......
of Duiffoprugcar (made 1547 A.D.)
xxi
76
87
"
Story of the Violin

PIG.
20. Facsimile Label of Jerome Amati ... PAGE

91
21. Guarneri Crest - 99
22. Facsimile Label of Pietro Guarneri - - - 101
23. Stainer's House at Absam - - 105
24. Stradivari Crest - - in
25. Stradivari's House and Shop - 119
26. Facsimile Label of Antonius Stradivarius 121
26 Famous
Meister Heinrich Wrowenlob (Frauenlob),
Minnesanger, Thirteenth Century - - - 160
27. Portrait of Corelli - 166
28. Title-page of Corelli's Op. 1, published in Rome, 1685
(from a photograph) 168
29. Violin
graph) ...
part of Corelli's Seventh Sonata (from a photo-
-170
30. Portrait of Tartini - 175
3° Facsimile of a Letter by Tartini - - - 176
31. Facsimile of a Manuscript by Tartini - - - 180
32. Portrait of Viotti . - - - - 189
33. Facsimile of a Manuscript by Viotti - 191
34. Portrait of Paganini, after I sola 206

35. Paganini's House at Genoa - - - 210
36. Facsimile of a Manuscript by Paganini - 213
37. Paganini's Violin
38. Portrait of Spohr
-
... - - 214
225
3° Joachim Quartet - 230
39. Facsimile of a Manuscript by Ernst - - 232
40. One of the " Vingt-quatre du Roi - 236
41. Therese and Marie Milanollo . 244
42. Pierre Marie Francois Baillot de Sales - - - 244
xxii
— !
Prologue
—
The Violin what a wonderful thing a violin is
—
Muse over it its tone, its form, its and its
history,
position in the world of art to-day — and you stand
facing a miracle. Something miraculous, mysterious
— call it what you will, divine purpose, divine power
seems to lie behind this frail little handiwork of man.
Once, in its crude primeval form, in the dim ages
of antiquity, it was perhaps the most despised and
neglected of instruments ; then, after cen-
turies of slow development, which seemed
like the groping through darkness towards light, it
burst upon the world two or three hundred years ago
in a perfection which human wit has never since been
able to improve upon.
It was the robin's song in March, ushering in the
new spring; the lovely first-fruit of a new age, a new
dispensation, a
..... F
new spirit
.
on the earth
Its Advent
. .
— T . .
not only the spirit of modern musical art,

but the' spirit of a more enlightened, spiritualised
.
humanity, of greater charity and general brotherhood.

With gospel-truth rapidity the little miracle of form
and sound has penetrated since to all quarters of the
xxiii
!
Story of the Violin
globe, carrying its

—
sweet influence joy, comfort, new
hope, new faith, and new strength, and all the lovely
. __, , —
flowers of the soul alike to rich and poor,
into the palace and the hut. What would
this world of ours be to-day without its violin ?
Both king and lowly servant of the art, what is it not,
dear, blessed little instrument! The master-minds of
composition drew inspiration from it, sovereign soul
of our orchestra it holds us spellbound, thrills and
;
moves us in the artist's hands; it forms part of the

scanty luggage of the emigrant to keep him company
on his lonely farm out west when winter evenings are
long and thoughts will wander back to the old hom&-
stead far across the sea. How eminently fitted, too,
it is for its high mission among men
Who will describe it, tone of a Stradivari violin,
when the true artist draws it from its hiding-place?
_ That indescribably sweet voice voice of an—
angel and yet ringing with the dear familiar
sound of earth, with earthly passions, joys and woes
and ecstasies intensely human and yet so superhuman
;
that the soul is seized with hopeless longing to follow

it, through realms unknown and infinite)
to float with it
charged, we know not how, with music or with love. 1
Yes, indescribably sweet voice, where thou endest the

music of the spheres begins. (Or, is it that perhaps
which rises from the petals of flowers in wondrous ex-
halations, half-perfume and half-melody, and, trembling
in the sunlight, draws the bee to the honey?)
Was ever form more perfect symbol of the tone, the
— —
Prologue
body of the soul within ? Look at this fine creation of
a famous master here before me on the table: what
a delicious play of curves and colours;
the noble sphinx-like head from which it rolls
ts orm
down or unfolds itself (just as you look at it), in grace-
ful and continuous arabesques; —the tender swell and
—
modelling of the chest and back; that amber colour
deepening to a rich, an almost reddish brown towards
the centre where the sound-life pulsates strongest,
quickest! A corner of a Titian canvas, is it? Yes,
or Rembrandt's. And behold the fine fibre of the
wood shining through the varnish like the delicate
roses through my lady's finger-nails What can be
!
finer? No wonder people love a violin like that, and

yearn and starve themselves for it, and many a fair
maiden, pretending only to inspect the wood, has ere
long (no one seeing) pressed a furtive kiss on such a
lovely form as this.
The enthusiast has had his say. But is that all?
—
Look at this frail thing made of wood only wood; it
has withstood the stress of two whole cen-
turies. I say the stress, for it has not been
bititv
stored away in a glass case like a relic or a
picture only to be looked at. No, it has been used
used almost daily and how used
! ! With every touch
of the friendly bow every fibre of its delicate body has
quivered and trembled like the heart of a maiden under
the first kiss of her lover. In agony have been born
those thousand million tones which in two hundred
years have issued from this body to delight man. And
xxv
Story of the Violin
this is not all: imagine this frail and shaken body

which weighs no more than about 8£ oz. avoirdupois,
—
supporting by a marvellous adjustment of its parts
(by which resistance and elasticity of structure are held
in perfect equilibrium) — supporting, I say, a. tension,
longitudinally, of about 88 and a pressure, vertically,
lb. ,
of 26 lb., or altogether a weight of over 100 lb. on its

chest. A herculean task Where, under such hard
!
usage, would be the strongest engine ever devised by

man ? Worn out, disabled in a few years, the mighty
steel bars would be tottering in their sockets.
Consider now what seems almost the crowning
glory of' this little miracle. The stamp of greatness
is simplicity: we have it here. Some one
* has said you can construct a violin with a
penknife as your only tool. That may be
possible, be it little satisfactory. At all
events demonstrates the great simplicity of construc-
it
tion of an organism, the perfection of which has ever

filled the thoughtful mind with awe and admiration.
Wood and again wood, and fish-glue to hold the boards

and blocks together, and the strings, besides this the
varnish, that is all.
What be simpler?
can Yet simplicity of fabric
is here the outcome of the grandest complex labour
of invention. Alter one item and you. mar, if not de-
stroy the whole. Change the position of the ff holes
or the form of bridge, leave out the sound-post, and you
take away the tone. As in the human body every part
has respect to the whole and the whole to the parts, so
—
Prologue
in this wondrous, sounding; organism. We get in the
tone the sum of all the conditions and activities which
have their origin and raison d'&tre in this simplicity
besides fulfilling the demand for that enormous strength
and durability.
It is this simplicity of construction, together with the
—
convenient shape viz., portability, which has helped
to secure for the violin its phenomenal
popularity. It made cheapness possible,
has made it the instrument for the poor as
well as the rich, as once the ideal pattern given, in-
ferior wood and workmanship could not annihilate
the elementary virtues of the organism.
Yes, what a wonderful thing is a violin While in
!
every branch of human knowledge and activity every

year marks new discoveries, and the apparent miracle
to-day becomes the common thing to-morrow, the
violin stands where it stood three hundred years ago,
and every attempt at altering its form or any smallest
part of it has been a dismal failure. Is it not as if for
once human wit had reached its goal, as if the ideal
hid in the heart of God had for once been grasped by
man?
xxvu
Story of the Violin.
PART I.
CHAPTER I.
ORIGIN OF THE VIOLIN.
The origin of the violin, it seems, is still a puzzle to

our musical historians and archaeologists. True, they
know that the first real violin made its appearance >
on the musical horizon about the middle of the

sixteenth century. They know, too, it did not spring
into existence —
to use a familiar phrase like Minerva, —
armour-clad and beautiful, out of the head of Jupiter.
Its gradual development from inferior forms of bow-
instruments is proved beyond doubt, and
^***awal
has been traced, more or less clearly, for
centuries back, with the help of representa- p"
tions of such instruments on monuments,
bas-reliefs, wood carvings, miniatures, etc., and
occasional allusions to them in contemporary
literature — all collected by the untiring zeal of
the antiquarian on the highways and byways of
i B
,
Story of the Violin
mediaeval Europe. But here — that is, about the ninth

century of our era — all evidence, documentary and
otherwise, for the existence of bow-instruments ceases,
and we are left to drift on a sea of con-
Are they a ec ture as to their earlier whereabouts.
j
European Are they a European growth at all, or
ro or
_ are Aey an Eastern importation? Is the
an Eastern r . .,
, . ,
time of their wanderings on earth to be
j
tion' measured by centuries only, or by thousands

of years ? Such are the questions which
musical historians are still endeavouring to answer
satisfactorily.
The two great nations of antiquity to whom we are
indebted, directly and indirectly, for so many of our most
treasured possessions in philosophy, poetry,
ree an
^^ w jlom we would naturally
ar ^ an£j tQ
turn information on the subject the
first for —
—
Greeks and Romans give us no clue. gain an We
insight into a highly ingenious system of music; we
find descriptions of their popular instruments,
An Insight representations on bas-reliefs and terra-cotta
into a
vases of harps, lyres, citharas, flutes, etc.
^ J but no sign of an instrument which
~ . even the most determined and imaginative
&
System .
enthusiast could conscientiously construe
of Music
into one likely to have been played with
a bow, much less a sign of such a contrivance as
the bow itself. Equally unfruitful hitherto have ,
been researches Egyptian and Chaldean records of

in
antiquities. While carrying us back thousands of
—
Origin of the Violin
years, to the very morning, one might say, of creation,

they reveal a state of civilisation in those most
ancient nations simply astonishing, and this
fact alone would permit us to draw signifi- Egyptian
a
cant conclusions as to the cultivation of ,.
,, ~,, ,, Chaldean
. .
music among: them. there is also the „ ,

, , .
,
. . Records
. , ,
unmistakable proof for it in the shape
of representations of their musical instruments. We
find them in considerable numbers and variety-
played by men and women (whole musical parties and
processions) ; single and in groups crude and ;
developed; and recognising among them plainly the

ancestors of many of our own modern instruments,
we might not unreasonably look in their company
also for some sort of prehistoric fiddle —but in vain.
The nearest approach to the form of a violin is an
instrument, somewhat resembling a lute, provided with
a finger-board and one or two strings. Burney 1 dis-
covered such a one on an obelisk in Rome, and
representations of similar ones have since been found
in Egypt, dating back to 1500-2000 B.C.; also on
Assyrian monuments, where they appear
under conditions which make it probable Vain
aearcn
that they were a foreign importation
perhaps from Egypt. But these instruments, _ ,.
though suggestive of the bowed kind, will Fiddle
hardly be taken seriously as belonging to
them. Doubtless their strings were twanged like
those of the harp, lyre, cithara, etc. If the old Egyptians
1
Burney, History of Music, vol. i. p. 204.
3
Story of the Violin
and Assyrians had intended to represent a bow instru-

ment they would hardly have left out its most essential
characteristic the bow. —
Turning- last to the Old Testament, it would appear
from certain passages in Daniel, where the designation
"viol" occurs in connection with other
— ...
_ instruments, that the Hebrews at those
Testament . ... r, .
times during and alter the Baby-
viz.,
Ionian captivity — were familiar with some kind

of resembling the viol of our fore-
instrument
fathers immediate predecessor of the violin, as
(the
we shall see). But although this is by no means
impossible, there is nothing in the original text to
warrant the belief that the inspired scribes meant
really an instrument played with a bow. It is more
probable that the name of "viol" was applied by the

translators to an instrument shaped somewhat like those
mentioned above, the strings of which were twanged.
A curious instance in this connection is
__. ,. Luther's version of the passage in

f
_. ,Genesis iv. 21: "Tubal:
..
J he was the father
Translation "
of all such as handle the harp and organ
(probably pandean pipes) he translated the Hebrew
;
text into German as " Jubal von dem sind hergekommen

:
die Geiger meaning literally in English:

and Pfeifer,"
"Jubal, have
from whom
come the fiddlers
and pipers." Taken unconditionally and verbally,
this passage should have long satisfied the German
musical historians as to the origin of the violin.
Doubtless the great Reformer himself an enthusiastic —
Origin of the Violin
—
and accomplished musical amateur by adopting the
names of the two prototypes of the musical profession
in the Middle Ages, fiddlers and pipers, wished simply
to convey the idea which is also expressed in the
—
English version viz., that Jubal was the father of
musicians generally, or of players on string and
wind instruments as typifying the highest forms of
instrumental music. Nevertheless, would it really be
so impossible for this or some other prehistoric Jubal
to have also been the inventor of bow-instruments— the
"father of fiddlers"?
CHAPTER II.
TRADITION AND THE SCHOLAR (AN INTERLUDE).
A certain scholar, 1 when he had pleaded long enough

with Dame Evidence to reveal to him the origin of bow-
instruments without being able to make her agreeable to
his wishes, cast his eyes about for that other daughter
of old King Time, that fairer one, with the eyes half
sphinx's and half child's, and the voice like distant
waters: Tradition.
There are few countries in the world now where she
may be found. Ages ago she left the once sacred valley
of the Nile, from which the shades even of the gods,
her former friends, had flown, and where only the
pyramids rise now into a blue and cloudless sky like
death's eternal exclamation signs. She also left long,
long ago the desolated plains and hills which bury
Babylon and Nineveh and Ur and China she avoids for
;
reasons of her own. But there is one land where she

abides yet; and there our scholar found her in her bower
of roses and immortelles.
India! Thousand-and-one-night-land of the world;
1
I believe F. J. F&is was the first who drew attention to India as the
probable cradle of bow instruments, although Sonnerat's Voyage aux
Jndes may have given him the initiative.
6
—
Tradition and the Scholar
land of fairies, land of wonders, lying in the deep, dark

ocean of time like a green sunlit island where the very
;
air is charged with perfume and with poetry, where the

trees sing, they say, and where
" Die Lotosblume angstigt
Sich vor der Sonne Pracht." Heine.
Should India be the cradle of the violin? What did

Tradition tell our scholar?
Of course she is getting so old that she sometimes
forgets or mixes up things. Who would not in repeating
the same stories a million times, trying each time to
make them new and interesting? One must also not
expect her to be too particular about details ; some in-
accuracies in matters of place and time, a mistake of a
thousand years or so, must be taken gracefully into the
bargain. She likes it best if you forget over her lovely
eyes and more lovely voice aught else.
still
Our scholar, knowing that, tried not to think too

deeply while he sat listening at her feet.
So she told him: "Seven thousand years or so ago
[he winced a little here, he couldn't help it] there lived
in the island of Ceylon, the ancientLeuka, a
king. His name was Ravana. He was a Tradition
repeats
great king, but he was also as great a singer
and musician, for with the charm and power ,
.J
of his music he was even able to move the further
great and fearful god Siva, who loves the Variations
darkness as much as Brahma the light.
This king and musician, Ravana, invented an instrument
7
'
Story of the Violin
played with a bow which after him was called the

ravanastron. " Here our scholar showed surprise and
wanted to interrupt, but Tradition tapped him lightly
with her fan, and, smiling triumphantly though sweetly,
she drew from the folds of her mantle a strange-looking
object and said: "This, oh scholar, is the ravanastron,
behold it well you may hear it played by many of my
;
humble servants in the land; seek out the

e
„ beggars and pandarons 1 and now, good-bye, j
tron
''"'"
—begfone.
b " Our scholar would have liked to
ask another question or two about that king
Ravana, but he knew it was of no avail. Tradition never
tells what you ask, but what she chooses. So he bowed
silently and went.
In the ethnographical department at the British
Museum, among the exhibits from the hill tribes of
Eastern Assam, you may see an instrument which tallies
exactly with the description of the ravanastron given by
F^tis in his work Stradivarius? A small hollow cylin-
der of sycamore wood, open on one side, on the other
covered with a piece of boa skin (the latter forming the
sound-board), is traversed by a long rod of deal flat —
on top and rounded underneath which serves as neck—
and finger-board, and is slightly bent towards the end
where the pegs are inserted. Two strings are fastened
at the lower end and stretched over a tiny bridge, which
rests on the sound-board, and is cut sloping on top. A
1
A kind of wandering hermit.
2
Notice of Stradivarius, by F. J. Fetis ; translated by John Bishop.
London, 1864.
8
—
Tradition and the Scholar
bow made —
of bamboo the hair roughly attached on
one end with a knot, on the other with rush string
completes the outfit.
It is a ravanastron there can be no doubt, although
among the exhibits it figures simply under the name of
" fiddle and bow."
CHAPTER III.
A FAMILY LIKENESS.
In India then is found to the present day a something
in the shape of a bow instrument which might possibly

be the lowly grandsire of the king of instru-
Possifaly ments. It would not be the first time that
a Lowly t j,e mos t humble attained eventually to the
"a n
„
„* e most exalted position,
v though
& in this case it
of the King .'
, .
. .
° requires some credulity — . ,
or, let us say, some

ready fancy to discover even a faint relation
ments
between a modern violin and this extremely
primitive and miserable-looking affair, the ravanastron. y
Yet both share the one feature which distinguishes them
from all other instruments of the ancients, as far as we
—
can judge of them viz., the bow. That wonderful
contrivance, that right hand of the fiddle,
The Bow without which even a "Strad." is all but use-
less, for which we have vainly looked on ;
Grecian, Egyptian, and Chaldean bas-reliefs, here, in ;/
India, we find it. It is the unmistakable family likeness

which links together the old and the new, the crude and
the perfect, the ravanastron and the sovereign Strad.
Let us now look a little more closely into the claim of
this supposed ancestor of bow instruments.
10
Family Likeness
Same musical historians have rejected it on the
ground that the instrument In question was not
proved to be of ancient origin that is, primitive in the —
true sense — nor is the existence of primitive
Some
instruments of the bowed kind confined
to-day to India. Many Asiatic and East
Qb'ecttofs
European tribes use similar musical con-
trivances, and might perhaps with equal right claim for
them originality and antiquity.
Tradition in Eastern countries is a factor to be -
reckoned with to an extent of which Western people have

hardly any conception. In the West, change,
constant, relentless, uncompromising change, Tradition
a <-.on-
is the watchword; change which destroys
to-day what men
_
East
.
it
.
is stability
....
kept holy yesterday
, . , . ...
which cherishes the old
: in the
, ,
. „
in Eastern
c ount f ies
more than the new. In many instances
tradition is the one only link which binds the past to
the present, taking the place of all other records. In
India it is, were, the sap which runs through the
as it
whole tree of national life, from the roots deeply bedded

in the soil of antiquity, up into every branch of the
broad and lofty crown; a living thing therefore, and
not, as with us, a dead weight which one or two
generations shoulder patiently and a third throws off
never to pick up again.
In a country, then, where not only the ground
is tilled and corn is thrashed and bread baked in
exactly the same fashion as 2000 or 3000 years ago,

but where also a tale, a poem, a prayer, a melody will
11
Story of the Violin
live orally among the people for untold generations

without losing much of its original characteristics in —
such a country an instrument like the ravanastron,
which, tradition says, was invented very long ago,
would, under certain conditions, stand the same chance
of retaining its original primitive identity to the present
day. At the same time, other instruments of the same
kind may have been developed out of the original one
and taken their place beside it in the affections of the
people, or have driven it gradually into an inferior

position.
There are many instruments of the bowed kind in
India to-day which show a great ad-
er
vance on the ravanastron. Some of these,
^ no
1
doubt, are importations, but others
T
'
Instruments
are not an " mav
r
nave
'
existed for ages

...
in India »
side by side with their more primitive

ancestor or elder brother (see Fig. i).
Granted, then, that this ravanastron of the Indian
beggar and pandarons of to-day may be the ravanas-
tron of long ago, the next question would be, how
1
The influence of Arabia and Mohammedanism generally, which is so
evident everywhere in India, has been urged as a proof in support of
the theory that India received all or most of her bow instruments from
West Asiatic and North-East African nations on the occasions of the
Mussulman conquests in India in the seventh century of our era ; but
that such is not the case can be demonstrated by the structural
peculiarities of some of the Hindoo instruments. Besides, tradition
receives here the corroborating testimony of certain Sanscrit allusions to
the fiddle-bow, dating from-a time long prior to the conquest of India
by Mohammedans.
Family Likeness
long ago, or who could have been this Ravana, King of
Leuka?
Tradition says, five thousand years before our era
he invented his instrument. This is a startlingly long
time. Even if we were disposed to discount a liberal
portion as compound interest on a small initial mistake
made in the counting by the descendants of this
Ceylonian king, it would launch us into the dimmest
—
dim of prehistoric times as regards India at least.
Unlike her two great sister nations in antiquity, Egypt
FIG. I. —INDIAN SAE1NDA.
and Chaldea (which had then already raised and buried

several civilisations), India has no documentary record
of herself as a nation prior to about 2000 B.C., when
the hymns of the Rig Veda, the oldest of
"c
the four sacred books of the Brahmins, are „ .
supposed to have been composed. To specu-

late,therefore, on a king who lived, say, some three
,
thousand years before Christ, not to mention such

a period as five thousand years, would seem useless
labour.
It appears to me significant, however, that tradition
13
Story of the Violin
should have made,this Ravana a King of Ceylon. 1 Now,

it is well known that the Hindoo nation came ages ago
from the country lying between Persia and the Indus,

south of the province of Bactria, and occupied for an
indefinitely long time the region south of the Himalayas,
which to this day is called the Punjab. When grown
in size too large to be accommodated there, they spread
farther east and south to the Ganges and beyond,
pressing on and conquering the aboriginal tribes which
opposed their onward march.
From these facts it would appear that this King
Ravana was not of Hindoo origin at all, but be-
longed to some aboriginal people, the history and
even memory of which is buried in antediluvian
mystery. Perhaps he was of Sumerian or Accadian
descent, hailing from that supposed first cradle of the
human race, the fertile valley of the Euphrates; or
from the Asiatic high plains which lie north-east of it. 2
Or why not go still a step farther with the hand of
fancy, and see in him (Ravana) the very Jubal of the
Bible, the father of musicians, the inventor of string
and wind instruments, whom tradition in the course
—
of ages has transformed name and all first into a —
mythical personage, a demi-god, and then into a king? 3
1
So many ancient myths and traditions point to an insular origin Oi
heroes, gods, lawgivers, etc.
2 The Persian Gulf and Arabian Sea surely served at an early period
as a medium of immigration.
3
It is well known how many Eastern myths attribute the origin of
music and musical instruments to superhuman agencies. The stories of
14
Family Likeness
Nay —who knows?—perhaps the mean-looking ravanas-
tron is but the degenerate descendant from instruments
too far from us removed in time to even think out a ;
piece of antediluvian wreckage which slipped out of

the arms of oblivion ; a fragment of earliest civilisa-
tions a lost ray from the
; dawn of the world when man
yet walked with God.
Enough, when the Hindoos occupied India and
brought with them the vina, their national favourite
instrument (which tradition also says they received
from Nared, the son of Saraswinta, Brahma's wife),
it would not be unreasonable to suppose that the
ravanastron and its brothers of the bowed kind (if
there were any then) had to take a second place as a
legacy of a conquered and despised people. Eventu-
ally it sunk still further in the esteem of a victorious
race until it became relegated to the hut of the lowly
and poor in the land, who alone kept up its use
and kingly memories. So much of speculation on
this supposed inventor of the ravanastron. Be its
story and age now what it may, it is certainly a very
primitive invention, and as a musical instrument would
hardly deserve the attention it gets from the musical
the Chinese Emperor Fuhi, of the Egyptian god Thoth, and the Apollo
of the Greeks, etc., what are they but variations of the same thought?
— music leaving its eternal abode in heaven, and descending to earth
through the instrumentality of gods and super-men. A strange co-
incidence, by the way, this mythical high birth of our art, with the
biblical testimony to the high birth of man —
which our materialists are
trying their best to gainsay.
15
—
;
Story of the Violin
historian but for that one feature of it, the, bow. It is

the bow and the bow last, as every violinist knows
first
—
and yet the bow even that magic wand in the hand
of a Paganini which opens wondrous worlds of sound
how easy an invention it really seems here, in its first
crude form: the simple principle of producing sounds
from strings by friction, that is all. What could be
more natural than that the same bow, which men
learned almost from the first to employ as a means
of subsistence and as a weapon, nay, from which he
probably derived the design for his first
Have no
other
—
harp should have by accident or reflection
revealed to him the possibility of sounding
, strings otherwise than by picking with the
Bowed In- fi n & ers or a plectrum. 1 But that brings us

struments? to the interesting question: Have really no
nations of antiquity, other than the Hindoos,
known bowed instruments? This seems hardly pos-.
sible.
1
A small piece of horn or bone with which to pick the strings.
16
,
CHAPTER IV.
THE OLD NATIONS.
Consider other nations — the Egyptians, who built up

their marvellous civilisation seemingly independent of
outside influence ; or the Greeks, who to a large extent
focussed the achievements of older civilisations, and
reflected them through the bright mirror of their own
—
national individuality does it seem credible that they
should not have found out even the principle of friction
of the string for themselves, or that it should not have
been transmitted to them somehow or other, at some
time or other, from the country where it was known ?
India, after she had once, against her will, entered
the ring of historical nations, was involved in many wars.
Assyrians (already 1200 B.C.), Persians, Greeks con-
quered her and enriched themselves with her treasures.
She entertained commercial relations with
other parts — Phoenicia, Arabia — and was Reason for
still more sought by them as a kind fthe Absence
a
earthly paradise and wonderland. Should „, °
not also the knowledge of the bow, or bowed
p f
instruments, have found its way across her
borders ? Surely. Here, in our opinion, seems to
lie the real reason for the absence of all historical
17
Story of the Violin
proof of their existence. Did such instruments, when

invented by or imported to other nations, find a sym-
pathetic echo in the musical soul of those nations were
:
they popular and a success ?

If we look about among the nations of that ancient
world, what do we find ? Take the old Assyrians and
Chaldeans. From what our scientists tell us about
them, they must have been in general a practical,
industrious, and ambitious people. And their music ?
Doubtless music was held in great esteem, but it
appears to have been largely in the hands of the upper
classes. It was the aristocrats of Babylon some 5000
years ago who, with much ceremony and display, went,
to the rhythm and tune of musical instruments, to the
temples of their national gods to worship. They played
themselves ; no hired bands then. We see
ssynan
Qn Assyrian bas-reliefs men and women
£j«is— relict s
carrying harps, lyres, psalteries; and from
the cut of their clothes and the embroidery, etc., dis-
played on them, our learned Assyriologists have drawn
the above ingenious conclusions as to the social rank
of these musicians. Imagine such an Assyrian gentle-
man making a public spectacle of himself with a
sort of ravanastron and bow in his hands, trying to
play it while he walked in a solemn procession. Why,
the idea would have been preposterous. As for the
populace, if we may draw conclusions from their
national characteristics, they would have preferred
the shrill tones of a clarionet or flute, a drum, a
tambourine, or some twanged instruments, to the
18
Old Nations
thin and unexciting-, plaintive sounds of' a bowed
instrument.
In Egypt, again, music lay mostly in the hands of
women of the upper classes, and this fact almost speaks
Considering what in our own days even old
for itself.
Spohr thought of women playing the violin, there was no
room in Egyptian parlours for a ravanastron or omerti.
A harp or a lyre was a different thing. Not
only was its use sanctioned by religious Instruments
tradition from time immemorial, but the sanct » on ed
way of handling it was natural, graceful, _, f ,
y
,
inviting to the Egyptian maiden. It could

Tradition
be played in walking, standing, or lounging, in Egypt
and pretty hands and rings and rounded
arms could be displayed (and when did woman ever
despise such means of attraction ?). Lastly and above
all, the bright, tinkling tones of their twanged instru-
ments suited admirably the ears and musical tastes of

these bright, light-hearted Southerners, just as they do
yet in most Oriental countries.
It is first and last the idiosyncrasies of a people,
nurtured by custom and tradition, which will give the
direction to its musical activities. How much had
religious sanction to do with the employment of musical
instruments in those ancient days ? Music and religion
were inseparable. We find the proof of that in the
records of all ancient nations. Every instrument which
was not conformable, assimilable to the cult, not sanc-
tioned by tradition, had to be rejected, cast out sooner
or later. What place could a primitive bowed instru-
*9
Story of the Violin
ment have found in the Egyptian or Assyrian temples,

in the divine, symbolic services of the Hebrews or the
Greek Hellenic and Corinthian plays ?
If, then, bowed instruments were altogether hetero-
geneous to the idiosyncrasies of some nations, were not

to be infused into their national, social, and
R
Instruments ^
re
sion,
ous
can
^
we expect
^m
e > ^ ut ^ e
that
contem Pt or aver-
their sculptors and
Hetero-
geneous to artists should have wished to perpetuate
the Idiosyn- their memory and use in works of art? The
crasies of answer is obvious. Turning to India with
some îs idea before us, it may become clear why
Nations
bowed instruments should have found here
an abiding home at least, if not an exalted position like
the vina.
20
CHAPTER V.
A WANDERING.
In India it seems music was never confined to one class

or caste in particular it permeated the whole social body,
;
from the priests, who claimed to have received it from

the gods, down to the miserable, half-naked outcast of
society. Add to this condition, which must have been
conducive to the spreading of the divine art in every
conceivable form, a highly sensitive and naturally
poetical disposition of the people, an inclination also to
immaterialise, or spiritualise life, and a profound rever-
ence for the old, the traditional, and the necessary
elements for the existence of the ravanastron and its like
in earliest times was given. It was, as it is yet, the
instrument of the dreamer, the mystic, the poet, the

wandering hermit, and the Buddhist monk; the dejected
beggar, who to its soft, unpretentious tones, could pour
out his supplications and prayers.
Speaking from personal knowledge, I may add that
the tone of this ravanastron is by_no means
1 on of the
so bad as the miserable outward appearance <*
-
of the instrument would lead one to sup-

fistron
pose. It is soft, thin (a little muffled, as if
muted), ethereal, suggestive, if you will, of thought

21 4
Story of the Violin
rather than emotion; or be it purified emotion, such as

the pious Hindoo might feel when he sees the sun rise
over the sacred waters of the Ganges ? It is not a tone
which, with voluptuous ring, will hold back the thought
in its flight to Nirvana, 1 back to this lovely, wicked earth,
but rather one which gives it wings to get away. You
cannot play Paganini's "Witches' Dance" on it, or even
"Home, Sweet Home"; but you can
sing within your soul to its accompani-
ment, and your lips can mutter prayers
while you draw the artless bow over
its two or three low-tuned strings.
Therefore also your Hindoo beggar

(and philosopher) loves it, and he will
love it in spite of your Cre-
Hindoos'
monas, which since have
Love for it
found their way out to him
and challenged comparison with it. He
will love his ravanastron, his sarinda,
his omerti (see Fig. 2), when our own
admired violin may be forgotten. 2
Although to India may justly be-
FIG. 2. — OMERTI. long the distinction of having given
birth to bowed instruments, and to have sheltered and
cherished them in their prehistoric childhood when other
greater nations^ closed their doors against them, or de-
1
See Sir William Jones, On the Music of the Hindoos.
2
For particulars on Indian and other Oriental bowed instruments,
their construction, etc., see Carl Engel's Researches into the Early
History of the Violin Family.
22
A Wandering
spised and suppressed them, we are hardly so much in-
debted to her for their manifold improvements and their
ultimate appearance in Western Europe as
Indebted
to two other ancient nations: the Persians
and the Arabs. The Persians, it seems, were _,
\ Persians
a brother race of the old Aryans or Hindoos, .
Arabs
both living- amicably together west of the
Indus, until for some reason or other (probably over-
—
population) they separated one nation, the Hindoos,
going east and south the other, the Persians and
; —
probably most of the present European nations going —
west or staying (Persians) where they were. The
Persians, then, related to the Hindoos by blood and
language, features and white skin, although they
subsequently conquered and oppressed their old allies,
must have loved music with a similar great fondness.
While India was like a shy, beautiful maiden, who
liked to hide her beauty and her blushes before
—
strangers and stay at home and her music with her,
Persia was a strong young eagle, a warrior __
who
t, u
went* abroad a anda got? into c
•
U4-
4-
fights vu Music
with « ,,
with
,
other nations, and was as often beaten as

he emerged conqueror. But he carried music along
with the sword, and music benefited in the change
and turmoil of the camp. It is to Persia,
improve-
therefore, that most of jtheimprovements
and the spreading of music in ancient „ ,.
Spreading
times are due, and some little share of £ 2VT«sic
this Persian care for music and musical
instruments fell doubtless also to bowed instruments,
33
Story of the Violin
Now, when our ugly old friends the ravanastrons and
sarindas, etc., and their crude companion, the bow,
began wanderings, and how they after many
their —
vicissitudes —
and much altered found their weary way
along the winding path of time, through Persia to
Arabia, until the musical historian sights them through
his telescope and pilots them safely farther, we cannot
tell; but there is little doubt that a certain bowed
instrument, the rebab, ultimately migrated from Persia
and Arabia into South-western Europe on its way to
kingship and to glory.
To sum up once more in whatever light we try to

:
view the subject of the origin and early history of the

violin family, we cannot see clearly. It is
tradition
jj^ s t ancjing on a high mount trying to
, „ - distinguish objects in the valleys and plains
Threads below over which evening has already rolled

the thick white feather-beds for the night.
Here and there a glimpse through the fog a lighted —
window far, far away, where Tradition sits spinning
her eternal threads, and that is all.
24
CHAPTER VI.
MUSIC IN GENERAL IN THE FIRST CENTURIES A.D.
Music had shared in the general quickening' of life

which followed the establishment of Christ's kingdom
on earth. It was, shall we say. the first fair
flower of the spirit pushing its way through " ,
yet wintry darkness to proclaim to the world _. ,
the new spring the primula verts blooming t ^ e Spirit

;
by the open grave of a doomed and dying

pagan civilisation. Kiesewetter, in his History of
European Music, tells how this new Christian music (if
so it may be called even in its primitive beginnings)
was born unnoticed in huts and out-of-the- _ .
, . , , , Primitive
way places, in caves and catacombs where Beginnings
_, ,
i r-i. I
early Christians u, a
were assembled. tu were
They
but poor and simple folk for the most part, who knew
nothing of a Greek music system, enharmonic and
chromatic. Their hearts were full of hope and joy,
and when a heart is so full that it cannot contain its
fulness any longer, it flows over in tears or in melodies,
this is the beginning of all true music.
The early Christians sang. May be it was at first
only a simple la la of the soul, joined to a psalm, a
prayer, or an Alleluia, Amen; extemporaneous, with*
*5
Story of the Violin
out time, and without form and rule; a rising and

falling of the voices rhythm of the
(unison) to the
syllables, as the bird swings on his branch
The Early tQ the rhythm of the breeze. But gradually
_ " certain accents, certain turns and cadences
were retained, and through frequent re-
petitions these primitive melodies became fixed in .
the Christian communities, and were handed down to

succeeding generations.
In the third and fourth centuries, when the spread-
ing of the Christian faith had made mere oral trans-
mission of the melodies more and more im-
t, possible,and yet the necessity of uniformity
j-, . in the singing only more urgent in propor-
tion, some learned and able bishops like
Ambrosius (333-397) began to collect and sift the
scattered material and, with some knowledge of the
ancient Greek systems, commit it to writing. Still
later, Gregory the Great gave it its final shape in the

modes and chants which ever since have been identified
with his name and church music generally, and which
lie at the root of our modern musical art.
glorious
The same great Pope also established in
e Thirst
TTfip
* Rome the first singing school, 1 where
,
_
inging
talented boys were instructed by an acknow-
ledged master. From it eventually sprang
similar institutions in other Christian lands, able
teachers having been sent there from Rome to pro-
1
Some writers put the foundation of the first singing school in Rome
at an earlier date.
26
—
Music in the First Centuries a.d.
pagate under Rome's auspices the only true and perfect

art of Christian singing. At the same time, in the
seclusion of the newly-founded cloisters, men began
to wrestle with the theoretical problems of the new
art — viz., to laythe foundations of polyphpnic writing,
that pearl of great price for which they had vainly
searched in the musical legacy of the Greeks.
But while thus it fared comparatively well with sing-
—
ing and musical theory both lying at the warm bosom
of a Church which, in times, convulsed with changes,
stood firm and grew ever more powerful
instrumental music —
poor Cinderella !
r .
— °° r
.
was not so fortunate. The very fact that

almost nothing is known about her in the early centuries
of the Christian era, and very little in succeeding ones,
is proof of her miserable condition compared to that
of her two sisters of the art. Did instruments exist ?

Of course, Greek and Roman instruments endured well
into the later Middle Ages. The new Christian art,
however, being essentially vocal in its nature and im-
—
port while we may presume that this or that Biblical
instrument like the harp, the psalter, etc., continued
an honourable existence, if not in connection with
religious ceremonies, at least in the better Christian
—
homes 1 the majority of instruments, those former com-
panions at pagan feasts and revelries, were very likely
shunned at first by the Christians, and then gradually
1
We must also mention the organ, which from the ninth century
was employed in the churches to accompany the singing, and the
monochord, which served for teaching purposes,
27
Story of the Violin
by the irresistible centrifugal force of prejudicial

Church influence driven, together with the instrument-
alists, to the periphery of social life. Here lived, and
indeed was very much alive, the large community of
gladiators, histrions, jongleurs, buffoons,
Gladiators, and all
sh wmen, rope-walkers, dancers,
. such as catered to man's worldly lusts and
'
appetites, and fed on the rough lawlessness

Toneleurs
of the times. They were a remnant of
ancient Roman corporations, swelled by new promis-
cuous elements: a motley, homeless, wretched crowd
of semi-vagabonds, who had preserved their identity
through centuries of barbarian invasions and devasta-
tions, and carried it from their former haunts of the
devil, Rome, into the Roman provinces and among
barbarian tribes. and Spain, they
First in Gaul
gradually spread north and east and west, beyond
the Danube and the Rhine, and many a little band
may have, on Norman vessels, reached the British
Isles long before King Alfred went as minstrel x to -
the Danes. Cursed by the Church, despised and

loathed and feared, and yet the not unwelcome guests
at many a pagan and Christian court or camp,
with the great and small, with good and bad, they
roamed about the land in large and in small bands, with
women, children, dogs, and carts, in search of a hard-
earned livelihood. There was nothing in the way of
cheap amusement that these Barnums of the road
1
The designation minstrel in this connection is to be understood as
singer or bard, a class quite distinct from the one here referred to.
28
Music in the First Centuries a.d.
had not among their stock-in-trade, from a punch-and-

judy show, a monkey, trained dogs, bears, and pigs,
to a pretty woman from the East who knew how to
paint her face and roll her eyes and throw her limbs
about to the wild rhythm of a Roman bacchanal. To
attract attention, to amuse at any price was the first
consideration; music, such as it was, was only an
accessory. In this worst of company we shall next meet
the ancestor of our violin.
29
CHAPTER VII.
FIRST BOWED INSTRUMENTS IN EUROPE.
We left the'rebab and its bow (presumably) in keeping"

of the Persian and the Arab.
It is a matter of general history how, in the year 622
a.d., the Arab turned Mohammedan and conqueror of
the faith how he carried his victorious arms from Syria
;
to India; and how presently (711 a.d.) a mighty cloud

of dark-skinned fanatics rolled over Egypt into Spain,
threatening to bury Western Europe and a young
Christianity. The danger was averted by the timely
victory of Carl Martell, 1 and only in Spain the Moors
retained a hold for several centuries more. But it is
interesting in connection with our subject that very
soon after this historical event, the Mussulman conquest
of Spain (or rather, after Ahderrahmany driven from
Persia, founded, in 756, the Caliphate of Cordova in
Spain), bow instruments appear for the first
Kebab time in Spain and Southern Europe, and
n er
.
musical historians have from this fact drawn
the not illogical conclusion that that modest
escutcheon of peace, the fiddle-bow, came to us from
its Eastern home on the wings of war
1
Baltic of Tours and Poitiers, 732 A.Di
—
First Bowed Instruments in Europe

J
What was the first Europeah rebab like? We do not
know exactly; but the Arabs to this day use an instru-
ment played with a bow which they call rebab 1
(see
Figs. 3, 4). It is pear-shaped, has two and
sometimes three strings
and
- 'tuned in fourths,
and is often elaborately
European
Rebafas
carved and ornamented
with two half-
moon shaped sound-
holes in the belly. A
similar instrument prob-
ably served as the pat-
tern for the instrument
or instruments which
all through the Middle
Ages figured in Europe

under the names of
rubebe, rabel, rebec,
FtG. 3. Flu. 4.
and gigue in French;
REBAB AND KEMANGEH (ALSO SOMETIMES
robel, robis, and arrabis CALLED A REBAB).
in Portuguese; rubeba, From the descriptive catalogue, South

Kensington Museum.
rebeba, rebecca in
1 A name probably derived from the Persian revahva —that is, emit-
ting melancholy sounds; see Carl Engel's Researches into the Early
History of the Violin Family. This author is of the opinion that
the Arabs received the instrument from the Persians at the time 01
the conquest of Persia, because music there was then in higher -a.
state of cultivation than with the Arabs ; but this fact alone would
hardly warrant the assumption that the rebab became only then known
to the Arabs.
31
Story of the Violin
Italian; rebec, rebelani, and Geige ohne Biinde 1 (with-

out frets) in German; and rubible, rebec, and also
crowd in English. The latter designation suggests
rather forcibly the Welsh crwth, an instrument of
which I shall speak presently.
The oldest representation of such a transplanted re-
bab was extracted by the Abbot Martin Gerbert 2 from a
manuscript dating from
the beginning of the
ninth , cen-
tury. Com- The oldest
European
paring it
Repre-
(Fig. 6) with
I sentative
the Arabian
prototype (Fig. 3) the
family likeness (apart
fr0*1 the
bow) is un- The
Family
mistakable,
Likeness
FIG. 5. — REBABKSH-SHA'eR (pOET-FIDDLE).
although it
Used in the coffee-houses of Cairo to accom- is called by Gerbert
pany recitations ; after each verse the poet-
musician plays a little interlude, (See Engel's " lira."
.
At the same
descriptive catalogue.)
time, its form resembles
somewhat the ancient chelis (a small variety of the
lute), a fact which is not surprising when it is re-
1
Geige and gigue mean evidently the same instrument, both words
being probably derived from the French gigot= leg of mutton (on
account of the similarity of the form). See Ruehlmann: Ceschichte der
Bogen-instrumcnte ; Brunswick, 1882.
2
De Cantu et Musica Sacra ; pub. 1774.
32
membered that some little time must have elapsed
between the presumed first introduction of the rebab
and the above-mentioned representation given by-
Martin Gerbert in his De Cantu et Musica. New
Sjurroundings, circumstances (other pre-
existing forms of instruments), and the de-
sire for greater practicability, for a handier,
more graceful form, must needs have
wrought changes from the original
that eventually led to the final shape in
which we mostly find the rebec depicted in
succeeding centuries. 1 From the first
that we have any record of the ru-
bebe or rebec and all
through the Middle Ages
the bow appears as part
and parcel of the instru-
1 As one
to the string on
Gerbert's rubebe compared to
the two on the ordinary Arabian
rebab, it is explainable one way
or another. Branzoli in his
Manuale Storico del Violimsta
speaks of a species of Oriental
FIG. 6.— EARLIEST REPRESENTATION OF
rebab which has only one string; A EUROPEAN FIDDLE,
moreover, there is another bowed
instrument known
Egypt as Rebab esh-Sha'er (Fig. 5) which has
in
only one string, and used like a 'cello, with an iron foot stuck in the
is
ground. It is possible that the European cousin-ancestor began with
one string, and more were added as circumstances called for them.
On representations of rebecs in later centuries we invariably find two,
and often three strings.
33
Story of the Violin
ment. It is and this is of some

never absent ;
significance, as we
have occasion to observe.
shall
Although this Eastern importation is the one oldest
European representative of the violin family of which
we possess documentary proof, it is by no
&
J~ means certain that it really and absolutely
_, . , was the oldest. Not a few historians, indeed,
are inclined to bestow this honour (of
ancieniti) on an instrument nearer home viz., the —
Welsh crwth. Some readers will no doubt know from
illustrations or descriptions this quaint instrument, now
fallen into disuse and found only here and there in
collections of curios, but stilluse among Welsh bards
in
as late as 1776, when — according to unimpeachable testi-
mony 1
—a certain bard, John Morgan, on the Isle of
Anglesey, was able to evoke from it its now forgotten
mysteries of sound. Its claim for being the oldest bow-
instrument in Europe rests chiefly on the
Its Claims
interpretation of two lines of an elegiac
Latin poem of one Venantius Fortunatus,
Bishop of Poitiers, who
lived between 560 and 609 a.d.,
thus more than a century prior to the alleged introduction
of the Arabian rebab. The verse reads:
" Romanusque lyra plaudat, tibi Barbaras harpa,
Grascns achilliaca, chrotta Brittanna canat." 2
1 Miscellaneous Tracts relating

Archaologia ; or, to Antiquity,,
vol. iii., with a description by Daines Barrington.
2
Translated : Let the Romans applaud thee with the lyre, the
Barbarian with the harp, the Greek with the cithara; let the British
crwth sing.
34
The crotta here referred to is supposed to be the ances-
tral Welsh crwth, and the word " canat" to imply that
it was an instrument capable of producing a singing '
'
tone," or, in other words,

an instrument played with
a bow. In opposition
stand the opinions of Carl
Engel, the late eminent
musical antiquarian and
scholar, and others, who
see in the original Welsh
crwth not a bowed instru-
ment at all, but simply
one closely resembling the
small Greek lyre, the
strings of which were
twanged, and to which in
course of time,, when
foreigners had acquainted
the Welsh players with
the fiddle-bow, the latter
was applied. In conse-
quence, the instrument
assumed some features d
agreeable to the use of
FIG. 7.— ANGLO-SAXON PIDDLES.
the new contrivance while
still on the whole the earlier form was retained.
Thus, on the crwth of the .eighteenth century of —
which alone we possess illustrations representing the
instrument in its last improved stage — are yet found
35
—
Story of the Violin
four strings played with the bow, while two others,

lying lower beside the bridge, were twanged with
the thumb of the left hand. For details of Carl
Engel's argument in support of his opinion, we refer
the reader to that author's admirable treatise on
the crwth. 1 The perusal hardly leaves room for any
other than the author's convic-
tion, and seems almost the last
word that can possibly be said
on the subject — be this in relation
to the structural peculiarities of
the instrument, which point un-
mistakably to the lyre; or the
origin of the word crwth; 2 or the
established fact that the Anglo-
Saxons (Fig. 7) were acquainted
with and left records of the fiddle
(rebec or crowd) long before
the Welsh bards. Nevertheless,
there is this verse by Fortunate.
Its significance cannot be denied.'
And there is also that well-known
FIG. 8. —THREE-STRINGED illustration of a three - stringed
CR&TH.
instrument evidently a crwth —
taken from a manuscript which formerly belonged to
the Abbey St. Martial de Limoge (now in the Paris
National Library), and dating from the eleventh century
1
Carl Engel : Researches into the Early History of the Violin Family,
chap. ii.
2 Interesting is Fftis's opinion see this author's Stradivari.

;
36
(see Fig. 8). There is further a quaint allusion to the

crwth (dating from the beginning of the tenth century)
quoted by Vidal, 1 which points directly to an instru-
ment original with the bards and different from harp
and pibroch, though not necessarily one of the bowed
kind. In short, since the key to unlock the dark
chambers of the prehistoric past of these British Isles
and Northern Europe is once for all lost, and we can
only form more or less conjectural ideas by peeps
through the keyhole, as it were, these upholders of
the crwth theory have no particular reason to give up
their opinion.
1
Vidal: Les Instruments i Archtt (vol. i.; Paris, 1876-77); under
" Deuxieme p^riode du vi.-xvie. siecle."
37
—
CHAPTER VIII.
A MEETING.
Thus the rebab and its bow had been brought to

Europe. As we said it fell on evil times as regards
instrumental music generally, there was nothing left
for it but t© make its home with the homeless, among
the outcasts of society, with the " fahrende Leute," as
they were called in Germany the clown, the punch-
:
and-judy man, the wandering minstrel and musician.

How did it find its way to him ?
It would be surprising a novelty, an object of

if
curiosity, like this Eastern emigrant which perhaps a —

bronze-faced Moor had first displayed before a chance
audience at a street corner in Valladolid or Cordova
should not have attracted sooner or later the attention
of the wayfaring man who went everywhere. With
an eye for business he took possession of it at once.
In its primitive, native form it cannot, have required
any particular skill or practice. It was just the thing
he needed, a capital addition to his amusement reper-
toire. How the Goth and Frank would open their
eyes wide at its strange weird tones how very good !
also for training dogs and sustaining the rhythm for the
heavy legs of dancing Master Bruin From hence- !
38
A Meeting
forth the future of the Eastern guest in Europe was
assured —be it that it began at the very bottom of the
social ladder.
—
For two whole centuries that is, from the beginning
of the ninth to well into the middle of the eleventh
—
century it must have been identified with
the darkest period in the career of the -o j
wandering minstrel if indeed we may
; , _
already call the poor wretch so who, for q . .
mere dear life's sake, had to be half-a-

dozen things in one fiddler as well as clown, dancer,
:
singer, actor,and Heaven knows what else.

After the middle and towards the end of the eleventh
century, when Western Europe was nearing the great
romantic movement associated with the troubadours
.and minnesanger, we meet first on monuments and in
the annals of the times another kind of bow
instrument. It is not, like the rebab, pear- "; New
shaped with bulging back; it resembles i °!
the form of the guitar. It has a sonorous T
- - r i ..t
Instrument
. . ,
chest, consisting of a back and a belly and
aooears
sides or ribs connecting them, it has (more
or less accentuated) curvatures or embouchures at the
sides such as were noticeable on the illustration of the
crwth of the eleventh century. In short, adding to
these features the bow, there is no mistaking this
new instrument for anything else than a predecessor
of the viol. With the rebab it shares sometimes the
Oriental shape of the sound-holes (a C or half-moon),
which suggest a possible Eastern origin, or at least a
39
Story of the Violin
FIG. 0. —MEDIEVAL ORCHESTRA, ELEVENTH CENTURY.

Bas-relief, Abbey of St. Georges de Boscherville, Normandy.
sojourn in Oriental countries. When and how it came

to Europe, whether before or after the introduction of
the rebab, we do not know. Some features point to a
relation to the Indian saranguy, a supposed
Possibly a CO usin of the omerti and sarinda, and de-
Descendant scenci an t of the ravanastron; and it is just
° e
possible that two branches of the same
family of Indian bowed instruments existed
astron
and developed simultaneously and yet apart
from each other in the course of ages, until they
met in the camp of the wandering minstrel. It is
also possible that its history and relation lay in

quite —
another direction viz., that it was originally
some Asiatic, Persian, Hebrew, Arabic (or Greek, if
you will) twanged instrument which found its way into
Western Europe during the great migration of the
people, for all we know, in the track of the Huns
40
The Fiddle-bow
FIG. 9.— MEDIEVAL ORCHESTRA, ELEVENTH CENTURY.

Bas-relief, Abbey of St. Georges de Boscherville, Normandy. (Descriptive
Catalogue, South Kensington Museum.)
who invaded Europe in a.d. 375, and for nearly a

century occupied quarters in Hungary under King
Attila, the Etzel of the Nibelungenlied. That we have
no illustrated record of it prior to the eleventh century
(see Fig. 9) is no proof that it did not exist
in Europe long before that time. 1 Perhaps on _ .
its way about as twanged nondescript it had

R ,
met the Greek lyre and taken some points

from it for the improvement of its form or exchanged ;
courtesies with the monochord, with the result of

securing for itself a bridge and a real finger-
—
board until, one fine day, somewhere,
n *° " ce
somehow, it was introduced by the notorious

" spielman " to the fiddle-bow, and its fate was sealed.
1
The Benedictine monk, Otfried (780-875), mentions the Fidula in
his Liber Evangcliorum as one of two bowed instruments then in
existence,
41
"
Story of the Violin
This new instrument, when we get sight of it on monu-

ments, went in Germany under the name of Fiedel or
Vedel. 1
From a reference in the famous " Nibelungenlied
to Volker, the spielman who is called " spanhen
videlaer," 2 it would almost appear as if this fiedel or
predecessor of the viol was first known in parts of
Middle and Eastern Europe before it became popular in
the South. For, although this great national Teutonic
poem was composed, or rather compiled, in the twelfth
century, and is largely a product of fiction, its main
contents, wondrously woven of history and myth, had
probably been simmering in the minds of the people
and been narrated and sung by the bards and minstrels
for centuries before. 3 Moreover, the striking resem-
blance which the earliest representations of the fiedel
show with the gaudock of the Russian peasantry and a
sort of fiddle yet in use in parts of Norway and Iceland
(where it is called "fidla") lend additional strength to
made its way from the East
the conjecture that the fiedel
and North to the South, while the rebab (or rather the
rebec, gigue, geige' spread from the South and South-
—
west to the North both through the instrumentality of
1
See Appendix.
2
The fine fiedel or fiddle-player " who wielded a fiddle-bow —broad
and long like a sword."
3
It is known that Charlemagne collected much of the old folk-lore
which was scattered among conquered heathen nations. Unfortunately,
his bigoted son ordered these treasures to be burned, and it is not
'
impossible that an early version of the Nibelungenlied," or saga,
'
shared the same fate.
42
Fiedel or Vedel
those great cosmopolitan tramps, the Spielleute. At

all events, from the end of the eleventh century on
both kinds of bowed instruments, the fiedel or early

viol varieties (with sides and embouchures), and the
rebec or gigue kind (without either), appear in com-
pany of the wandering musician, who therefore next
claims our attention.
43
CHAPTER IX.
THE MINSTREL AND MUSICIAN IN THE ROMANTIC AGE.
Times had improved. Aside from the general mis-

sionary work of the Church, the successive reigns of
Charlemagne, the Carlovingians (843-911),
1
r f ? a an ^ Salic kings (919-1024) had left theirmarks
« . on the political face of continental Europe.
Safety
Strong rule had brought greater safety to
the ruled; safety had brought stability, and
stability order ;and with order came those other
gentler forces or influences better manners, better
:
tastes, etc., working on and slowly transforming the

minds of the people. Instrumental music, such as
it was apart from the Church, surely profited too in
a modest way. It is probable that the better class

of wandering musicians had then already begun to
separate from the worst, lowest, and roughest elements
of the wayfaring people with which they had been hitherto
indissolubly associated. While in a former age of
violence, insecurity, and barbaric taste, they would
have jeopardised their existence if cast adrift from their
viler companions on the road, they could afford now,
in some cases at least, to strike out for themselves.
At any rate instrumentalists of all kinds, and fiddlers
44
Romantic Age
in particular, must have become quite numerous about
the eleventh century, for soon after we find in Germany
the designation of fidaeler (fiddler) and piper applied
to wandering instrumentalists, minstrels, and musician
tramps generally, and not infrequently also to the whole
community of the Spielleute collectively.
That great wave of religious and chivalrous en-

thusiasm which at the end of the eleventh century
swept over South-western Europe, and on its crest bore
—
the Crusader to the Holy Sepulchre which irresistibly
touched high and low, the beggar and king also beat —
against the wandering minstrel's tent. A Christian
world had come of age, and troubadour and knight
joined hands to celebrate the day with
JNl lltmar £
poetry and song and splendid tournaments, f>
and our minstrel shook the nightmare of _ ..

"receding
.
preceding centuries from him and tuned his Centuries

fiddle and drew near. Yes, poetry and
music had become the fashion, we would say; the
—
pastime, pleasure of the great nay more, it was the
precious jewel in their diadem of knightly
virtues, for even kings esteemed it honour Trouba-
UrS
to be reckoned kings of song; 1
and naturally Jf?
'
people of the craft benefited from

the little r
Sanger,
this change of things. The golden age of and Poor
troubadour and knight was also the poor Minstrels
minstrel's harvest time.
1 Richard Lion-heart, Charles of Anjou, Thibaut de Navarre; and in
Germany, the Hobenstaufen Emperor Frederick II.
45
;
Story of the Violin
We see them presently tramping through the land,

mostly in little bands, as fiddlers, pipers, trumpeters,
and tambours, halting wherever their services were in
demand, or seeking (the best of them) the protection
and employment of the great who needed them. We
see the fiddler — fiddle swung across
his back, in striking apparel(if he
could afford it, silk and velvet),

with peacock or rooster feather in
his cap, short frock, and tightly-
fitting breeches, as in Fig. 10.
There was not a tourna-
ment or pageant any-
where that our fiddling,
piping friends did not
attend in numbers vary-
ing with the occasion
no wedding, big or
small, but they were
there to promote fes-
tivity and mirth. Not
seldom they went away
FIG. 10. — PERFORMERON THE MARINE rewarded, next
richly
TRUMPET. TYPE OF DRESS.
on a village
to halt
common, where young and old gathered around them
for a dance. Again they would pass a
Playing
castle on the way, and, when a kind and
before the
open-handed knight granted permission, per-
Castle
form in the court with its mossy well and
shady bass-wood tree, while perhaps the sweet-faced
46
;
Romantic Age
children of the knight, half curious and half anxious, at
safe distance watched, open-mouthed, the queer antics
of the fiddle-bow, andmy fair lady from the windows of
her bower smiled upon the picturesque scene, and then
gave orders to feed the poor fellows well. Or they
would be admitted (if not too many) into the immediate
presence of the master to entertain him when he sat at
meals. Sometimes a noble knight kept in his pay a little
band to follow him on marches and to tournaments. 1
By the world in general these wandering minstrels,
or, more properly, musicians, were still held in very
low esteem. Only one step separated them
from the wayside tramp and miscreant. _ ?"j
The old law-books of Germany declared Position
them as " ehr und rechtlos " (without honour
and right) their children were considered illegitimate
;
they were not allowed to take up a trade, and when

they died the holy Sacraments were as often as not
refused them by the Church, and whatever property
they left was confiscated by the magistrate. 2 Yet
the charm of an apparently free and independent life,
in days when the spirit of adventure ran high among
all classes, attracted many elements which otherwise
would have kept aloof. Nor were they all poor and
1
From Ulrich von Lichtenstein's Frauendienst (Lachman Ed., 1665)
we learn that this noble, in 1227, had in his suite two trombone-
:
players, two fiddlers and one flutist, on horseback, to charm away with
their gay music the fatigues of the journey.
2
See the so-called Sachsenspiegel, the law-book for Northern Ger-
many in the early Middle Ages (1215-35).
47
Story of the Violin
of low descent. That singular, grotesque mediaeval

product, the wayfaring scholar, had long been partial
to the company of the minstrel.
Now it was a friar who got tired of the seclusion,
perhaps too the high living of his cloister, and joined the
" forces " and the meagre fare, or went about by himself
making a livelihood as best he could with the scant
musical he happened to possess or it was a
abilities ;
realnobleman who, from love of art and adventure, or

through straitened circumstances, shattered hopes,
or disappointed love, chose the life of a wandering
minstrel. To the latter class belonged the troubadours
and minnesanger.
A keen distinction was made between these and the
common wandering singer and musician. The trou-
badour, who flourished principally in sunny
een
p.. .. . Provence or in France and Flanders
generally, was always of noble birth not
;
seldom he was a knight, who knew as well how to

handle the sword in tournament and battle as to
make verses in honour of the fair ladies in the land.
He was the honoured guest at kings' and princes' courts.
To him my lady threw the rose from her bosom. He
—
only invented the chanson the poetry and melody he —
did not sing himself; he left that to his minstrel or
jongleur. When the latter also supplied the music to the
poetry of his noble lord, as it often happened, the
minstrel was called trouveur bastard.
Sometimes a troubadour had a number of musicians,
vocal and instrumental, in his service men whom he
;
48
—
Romantic Age
had possibly picked out for their superior abilities and
gentlemanly manner from among the common lot of
wandering musicians. The social position of these
jongleurs and trouveurs bastard was then, if not exactly
a high one (on account of their
low birth), at least far superior
to that of their brothers
on the road, and above
all, compara-
tively secure
that is, with-
out the care
for daily bread
and shelter
which were insepar-
able from a life on
the road. 1 This un-
1
More democratic ideas
prevailed in Germany
among the minnesinger
about a century later,
when the second Crusade FIG. IX. —REINMER THE MINNESANCER.
and the splendour of the After having accompanied the Duke Frederick
Hohenstaufen emperors to the second Crusade, he died at Vienna about
1215 a.d.
.
had drawn the high flood

of romance and chivalry from France into a new and wider bed. Some
of the minnesingers, it is true, employed also musicians to help them
in the interpretation of their poetic creations, but on the whole they
did not think it beneath them to sing and play themselves (see Fig. 1 1),
and had no need of fiddlers and pipers. Moreover, high birth was not
an absolute, essential qualification for the minnesanger ; we find among
them some illustrious names of low descent.
49
Story of the Violin
deniable advantage accorded to the few compared to

the great majority, led probably to the founding of the
first privileged limited company of musicians, La Con-
frerie des Mdn&riers, 1 in Paris, a step that not only
called forth similar organisations 2 in other countries,
but, one may say, foreshadowed a great change which
was soon to come over the life of the mediaeval fiddler
and piper.
The swan-song of the Minnesanger had scarcely died

away, slowly over castles, rivers, hills and dales, when
there came a rude' awakening from the pleasant dream
of romance, love, and chivalry. We next find Germany
a reign of terror a kingless time,— the
in the throes of —
interregnum, as it is called. And next, again her
people draw behind the walls of strong cities, where
they feel more secure against the unlawful inroads of
degenerate knights and highwaymen who infest the
roads and river-sides. Then in consequence
l"f of this centralisation of life in the cities,
eis
„ . thesegrow in size, power, wealth, and influ-
ence All manner of trade and handicraft is
Born and -
Reared stimulated, even poetry and art begin to

sprout among the solid burgers. The
Meister song is born and reared. Bakers, shoemakers,
tailors, and carpenters form worshipful companies under
1 Founded 1330, patented 1331, under the patron Genest
saints St.
and St. Julien, and a king, Roi des Minetriers, See Vidal Les :
Instruments H Archet, vol. i.
2 In Vienna the Oberspiel-grafen-amt ; also in England at Beverley,

in Yorkshire. See Busby : History of Music.
5°
Romantic Age
the strong arm of the magistrate and night-watchman.
And our fiddling friends of the road ? They also have
drawn closer together for mutual protection, because the
laws of the land withheld it from them. They have like-
wise formed associations with laws and
regulations of their own. Musicians from T e
er
all over the land meet at certain intervals in .
'
.
certain places, and settle difficulties among .« -r.
themselves under a high court of their own.

That is not enough. Some indeed continue a roam-
ing, dissolute existence in the showman's camp (and
have continued to this day); but the better among them
find a precarious life on the insecure roads less and less
to their taste, and for the most plausible of reasons seek
the towns and down. Thus the wandering
settle
minstrel and musician became a thing of the past. The
old times had gone never to return, and a century or
two later the fiddling tramp d'autrefois sat a respectable
citizen with his friend Thomas, the comfortable town
piper, and his friend Schmidt, master saddler, or baker,
or tailor, over the mug of ale, talking of the good old
—
times of his great grandfather or the bad old times ?
Ah, old times are always good !
Si
CHAPTER X.
RETROSPECT.
More than six hundred years of history, of human

progress, of an astounding musical development in
European countries lie between us and the men to whose
hands was once principally entrusted the existence of
instrumental music. It was a babe then, which might
have died from the inclemency of the times, or of
starvation by the road-side; but it grew in spite of
all, and now fills the world with its glory. Poor
minstrel, poor fiddler, piper and tambour who had the
care of it ! Somehow I have to think of
°T
t 'ie P oor des pi se d earth-worm preparing in
n espi e j >
S p r n g the hard frozen ground in our gardens

i
and fields to receive the seed which is to trans-

form the barren land into beds of flowers and shrubs.
What else was he but such a poor, despised drudge ?
Some of the roseate light which romance has shed
around the noble troubadour and minnesanger has also
fallen on the memory of their humble brother as a
ray of the sun falls charitably on the tombstone under
which some long-forgotten hero sleeps. Yet, what a
—
poor compensation even in memoriam— for the neglect,
the contempt, the hardships, persecutions he had to
52
Retrospect
suffer; and what still poorer compensation for his in-

estimable service to our glorious art. He
did it unconsciously, no doubt. He was no A Poor
hero, no martyr who lives and dies for a \_.
. sation
great cause, as geniuses and other men
have done before and after him. He never pretended
to be more than he was, and he was more often than
not an incorrigible tramp and a nuisance, particularly
to beadles and ministers of the law. Though it must
have required no small degree of call it devotion or —
dog-like faithfulness to his calling, to remain a hunted-
down, ill-paid, ill-treated musician, when it would have
been easier and more lucrative perhaps to become
something else worse a knave. —
As to his service to music there cannot be two
opinions. How would music have fared if its progress
had been left entirely in the hands of those
learned men who laboured behind gloomy fl ,^°
ow
cloister walls in the tracks of Hucbald and , „ ,-,
Fared ?
Guido of Arezzo? Perhaps it would have
come down to us like Chinese music, dried up, a
mummy instead of a thing of life and beauty.
p A Mummy
" Grau ist alle Theorie, , .,, °
Griin ist des Lebens junger Baum." _
Beauty
—Goethe's Faust.
If the soul of music is the folk-song, if out of it

sprang in course of time that wealth of melody,
without which it is impossible to imagine our modern
musical art and its greatest exponents those poor —
53 6
Story of the Violin
dejected fellows are before all to be thanked. It was

their lot invent and spread about those treasures
to
which sprang up like lovely flowers from untilled
ground, planted by the hand of God seemingly, with-
—
out beginning from the golden heart of the people.
They picked them up and carried them hither and
thither, sang and played them, and gave them back
to the people, only made dearer by their wanderings.
Again, it was the wayfaring musician who made
absolute music a thing to be loved and desired by
the lowly and the high, who made it truly cosmopolitan
as he himself was.
The wonders of polyphony even to-day appeal only
to the few chosen ones. In those illiterate times what
would have been the fate of music if its popularity
had depended on the unsingable, unplayable, and indi-
gestible harmonic essays of the declared, uncompromis-
ing theorists? Would it not have been almost as
hopeless as trying to convince children of the beauty
of literature by means of spelling lessons in Greek or
Latin? Even in his own self-created, unapproachable
sphere of theoretical discoveries, did the plodding
scholar, who looked down contemptuously on the
incorrigible musician-tramp, never deign to take a hint
from him? Long before the scholar had made up his
mind to the use of thirds and sixths, the stupid, un-
educated fellow of a fiddler had bombarded his ears
with these forbidden intervals, providing, of course,
he honoured with his presence fairs and public places
of amusements where our fiddler reigned supreme.
54
Retrospect
Did contempt for the perpetrator of these harmonic

crimes always act like cotton-wool in the ear
of the scholar, shutting it to the sensibility Ha "nonic
of the crime, nay, to its beauty ?
it was the minstrel and musician who
Lastly, created
the demand for instruments and, following it, the
demand for improvements on them. Thus
e
the fiddler of the eleventh and twelfth cen- _
turies was directly father to the ultimate t .
while in the develop-

creation of the violin ;
ment of the clavier and organ, the favourite instru-

ments of the learned musician, he had no
share. But in singing the praises of our Father to
humble servant of the art the mediaeval — „. ,
instrumentalist, the fiddler and piper— let ~ -
us not think little of the noble stock t jj e Violin

from which sprang Dunstable, Dufay,
Josquin, Orlando di Lasso, and the whole galaxy
of later musical giants. It was the scholar, after he
had mastered the art of polyphony and had learned
to infuse into formerly dead creations the spark of
life, of melody, feeling, etc., who inspired the lowly
instrumentalist with loftier art-conceptions,
t-noral
stimulated his industry, his technical efforts,
and widened his sphere of usefulness, poly- *. ,
phonic choral singing in the fourteenth and j.^

fifteenth centuries being, as we shall see, Centuries
largely responsible for the various improved
forms of the viol. The predecessors of Palestrina, Bach,
and Beethoven paved also the way for Corelli and Tartini.
55
—
CHAPTER XI.
COMPETITORS.
We leave now the fiddler of the early Middle Ages to

consider shortly the progress which bow-instruments
made under the auspices of the times.
runi ive
yy e found the primitive rebec or gigue
the South-west of Europe from the
in
beginning of the ninth century, and about two
centuries later an unmistakable ancestor of the viol
the fiedel.
Of these two the first underwent few changes. It
livedthrough the vicissitudes of the fleeting centuries

with something of true Eastern imperturbability as the
constant, companion of its first friend, the
faithful
minstrel. After it had come to the height
Jean Char- of its
p0 p U l ar ity in the hands of Jean Char-
™! IIon ' millon, whom Philip the Fair of France
created (1235) king of ribouds, on account
Rifaouds
of his cleverness on the rebec (see Fig. 12),
its star slowly declined again, and it ended a long and
eventful career in rather straitened circumstances:

some 1 say in France as the companion of the com-
1 Vidal: Les Instruments h Archet, vol. i.
56
Competitors
monest street fiddler as late as the end of the eighteenth

century. It gave up its life — like the worm
for the chrysalis —for the sake of the violin,
Fellow-
as did also its life-long cousin and fellow- «
traveller and competitor, the viol. Its

Comv&titot
form has been immortalised in many pic-
tures, the finest perhaps being that of Fra Angelico
in the gallery degli Uffizi at Florence. Who has
not admired that sweet-faced angel holding
ra
with the most perfect grace her rebecca? ,
—
Of a truth, dying so in the arms of an s ,'
C °!
—
angel should have been sweet. Though Aneel
its voice has been silenced, its memory will
be kept green as long as admiring eyes fall on that

lovely guardian of its form.
Wehad opportunity, through the courtesy of Signor
Rome, to play on
G. Branzoli, librarian of St. Cecilia in
a rebec. It looked old and crude enough to pass for
a contemporary of Colin Musset, though it may only
have been a later-date copy constructed after an original
design. If we remember rightly, was worked— body,
it
neck, scroll, and all —from one hollowed-out piece of hard

wood, presumably cherry, the finger-board being glued
to the neck so as to leave a little aperture, through
which one could perceive that the neck was hollow;
in addition to this strange third sound-hole, there were
two rather large and crudely-cut / holes in the belly.
Three strings, a low bridge, and a crude attempt at a
scroll completed the instrument. The tone was agree-
able and sufficiently loud to admit of the belief that
57
—
Story of the Violin
Jean Charmillon, king of ribouds, as far as his instru-

ment went, was not so very badly off after all. Branzoli
also speaks of the tone of the primitive rebec
as having been sweet and " insinuante " and
R,
resembling the human voice. 1 This is rather
in striking contrast to an opinion we find quoted by
Vidal 2 from French
sources. But in a
like this it is
tainly safe to
e a middle
rse, making
due allowance for
prejudices against
an instrument
which then had
already been
relegated to
the lowest
rank.
If the tone of the
rebec had really
been so disagree-
FIG. 12. — REBEK. able, so " sec et
From an Italian painting of the thirteenth century.
criant" in compari-
son with the viol of the times, Fra Angelico (1387-1455)
would hardly have associated his angel, the exponent
1
Branzoli :
" La voce era graziosa ed insinuante a somiglianza della
voce umana. " Manuale Storico del Violinista, p. II.
s Archel, vol.
Vidal Les Instruments
: it i.
58
Competitors
of heavenly music, with an instrument proverbially
" criant " and objectionable.
There seem to have been rebecs of various sizes and
varying pitch. According to Fdtis, 1 Jerome of Moravia,
Story of the Violin
it is not surprising that the place of the bass in a

quartet 1 of rebecs was usually filled by an instrument
called the marine trumpet 2 (see Fig. 10).
More varied were the changes which the viol, or
rather the fiedel or oldest predecessor of the viol, had
to suffer before it found its last rest in the
a
, „Pf f form of the violin. very littleWe know
beginning or
of its whereabouts until the
middle of the thirteenth century, when it must have
been in considerable vogue in Southern Europe.
According to Branzoli, 3
thereis in the archives
of Bologna a decree of
the year 1261 forbidding
—at the risk of a of fine
one hundred soldi for the
firstoffence — the going
about and playing the
viol by night in the
streets of that city. A
similar law existed also
in England several cen-
turies later.
FIG. 14.' -PLAYER OF THE FOURTEENTH
CENTURY.
From the thirteenth
century we find the viol
mentioned in many poetical productions, particularly
of Provence, and also in many illustrations represent-
ing the instrument in various modifications sometimes :
1 2
and Stradivari, pp. 31, 32.
8
G. Branzoli: Manuale Storico del Violinisla, 1894.
60
Competitors
employed like the Spanish guitar, sometimes played
with a bow (see Figs. 13 and 14), and lastly also played
by means of a wheel which was inside the sounding-box
and consisted of resined horse-hair. In this latter form
it went in France under the name of vielle (evidently a
modification of the word viole), in Germany as Bettler

leyer, in England as hurdy-gurdy (see Fig. 15).
FIG. 15. — OHGANISTRUM.

A large kind of hurdy-gurdy, which was played by two persons (see Fig. 9) ; in
use as early as the tenth century.
Generally speaking, from the more frequent repre-

sentations of the gigue or rebec in the hands of the
minstrels and wandering fiddlers at those
e owe
times (nth- 1 3th centuries), one might infer
that as a bow
instrument the early viol did , _ ,
not appeal them as strongly as the
to
ence
smaller, more easily handled gigue. Then
in succeeding centuries this changed, and the viol in
its many — —
nay, almost countless varieties and modi-
and number of strings, became
fications in size, pitch,
the bowed instrument in preference to any other.
Gi
—"
CHAPTER XII.
THE INSTRUMENT OF RESPECTABILITY.
The minstrel and fiddler of the tenth and thirteenth

centuries had, we have seen, in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries abandoned his wayfaring methods
and life. He had— with some exceptions, of course
settled down in the towns and citiesand become a
respectable, law-abiding citizen. That, doubtless, was
a step in the right direction, though it may have cost
him many a pang when the birds in spring called to
him, or when he saw the clouds sailing yonder high
above the church steeple on paths of azure-blue like
big white ships, bidding him follow into the wide, wide
world which once had been his, and he had instead
to stay in the low, evil-smelling " Giebel-stiibehen
(garret) with wife and children and be respectable.
Yet in winter he appreciated the warmth of the fireside
and the groschen 1 that came in regularly, and not, as
once, at the point of the fiddle-bow or worse, not —
at with the result that he had to starve and
all,
sleep under a haystack, and be hunted down the next
1
A small coin.
62
Instrument of Respectability
morning by the peasant's maledictions and dog. He

too, because the time hung heavy on him, Spurred
practised more diligently, and he had a the clever
clearer head for work (the old night- Cabinet-
watchman took care of that). His maker to
technique, consequence improved, and
in extra'
as it improved, the desire for better Efforts
instruments made itself felt, and this spurred the

clever cabinetmaker to extra efforts.
—
These efforts were directed as the gigue ImPr°ve-
did not offer the same —
scope towards . „, .
the improvement of the viol form. The Form

viol, in short, together with the lute,
became the instrument of respectability.
As already mentioned, towards the end of the
fourteenth century polyphonic writing and choral
singing received a great stimulus through
the musical genius of Dufay and Dunstable Stimulus
through
and the early Netherland contrapuntists,
and this again reacted naturally on the , ,-. ,
? ,. . .. of Dufay
instrumental music and the instrumentalists ,
ana
.
of the day. Thus far the latter had had no Dunstable

part in art-music. A
great many of them
probably did not know till then one note from another,
though they might have played on the fiddle Instrument-
so as to make a maiden's heart flutter and alists now
bring life into the stiff legs of a septua- Employed
genarian. Now they were employed by the in the
city fathers among others, not only to Churches

furnish the instrumental music on festive occasions,
6a
Story of the Violin
pageants, corporation banquets, funeral and wedding

processions, dances, etc., etc., but they were drawn
into the music-making at the churches. Next, they
learned the notes — if they had not done so before —to
double the voice parts in choral singing. An inde-
pendent orchestral (instrumental) accom-
„ .j paniment did not yet exist. This practice
gave birth to the construction of different-
sized viols : the larger ones naturally corresponding to
and supporting the bass; the middle-sized ones the
tenor, and so forth. In this way, to
n" satisfy a want, whole groups of the same
(
struct ion of
species ofc instruments were called into ex-
• '
. .
,, , , ,
_.,.
sized Viols
* stence There were bass viols, tenor and
-
treble viols, etc., with varying numbers of

strings. 1 Moreover, the construction of the large-
sized instruments led to the introduction of corner
blocks, which mark another important step
Corner
m acj vance m instrument - making. They
•
t j permitted an increase of tension of the re-
sonant box formerly impossible, and there-
by a freer transmission of the vibrations of the
strings.
Besides these several groups of instruments in use until
well into the sixteenth century, and all going under the
name of viol and specified in the works of Agricola 8
and Michael Prastorius, 3 there were others of special
design which in this or that country, for a time at
least, enjoyed popularity. In Italy it was the "viola
1 J 3
See Appendix. See Appendix. See Appendix.
64
—
Instrument of Respectability
di spalla," which we see depicted on
Raphael's picture, "Apollo in Parnassus,"
in the hands of Apollo. The
Special great painter, it is said, took
Favourite
for his model of the Greek god
Designs in
the then celebrated viol-player,
Different
Countries
Sansecondo. Further, there
existed the "viola bastarde,"
a viol with six strings of the bass-viol
kind, a little larger (broader) than the
viola da gamba, and held like the latter
— —
that is, like our 'cello between
knees. Also, the "viola di lira," a
little smaller than the 'cello; and the
"viola di bordone" (Fig. 16),

a formidable-looking affair with
six strings, underneath which
were twenty-two metal strings 1
that served as sympathetic
strings; and last, the "viola
d'amour," which is yet occasion-
ally heard in concerts.
Fancy a large viola: seven
strings, partly gut, partly covered
with silver wire, tuned as fol-
lows •
1
PPt
^
See Catalogue of Musical Instruments,
South Kensington Museum, by Carl Engel.
VIOLA DI BORDONE.
Descriptive Catalogue, South
Kensington Museum.
6S
Story of the Violin
are strung over a bridge, while another set of seven

very thin metal strings, tuned in unison with the above,
lie in the hollow between the feet of the bridge and
vibrate in sympathy 1 when the bow is drawn across

the top strings. The tone of the viola d'amour is rich,
—
mellow, and sympathetic be it a little nasal (a feature
common to all the old violas).
It is interesting to note that Prastorius has ascribed
the invention of the viola d'amour to the English. At
all English must have been particularly
events the
enamoured of the charms of the viol kind of
instrument, for England was the last country which
yielded its viols to the irresistible claims of the
instruments of the violin family.
Till well into the middle of the eighteenth century
viols were yet to be found in use, the viola da gamba
or bass viol being the last to make room for the 'cello.
Only the double-bass has been left to this day to tell in
its own inimitable way of the past glories of its kind.
1
The principle of sympathetic strings is of very ancient origin.
According to Carl Enge}, the Hindoos and Persians employ them on
several of their bowed instruments.
66
CHAPTER XIII.
THE VIOLIN.
So thetime had drawn near when our violin was

to appear and usurp the sceptre in instrumental music,
— —
driving before it king- that it is all the manifold
instruments which represented string music in past
ages. It was simplicity once more which conquered
complexity. In connection with the viola di bordone
and the viola d'amour we see this strikingly illustrated.
There were other reasons for the coming and the
easy conquest of the violin. In conformity with alter-
ing art conditions, an instrument was needed of a more
pleasing, practical, and easier-handled form than the
old violas da braccio (arm viols) offered; next, an in-
strument which in its tone corresponded perfectly to the
soprano voice, which the old treble viols and violettas
did not, wherefore a cornet had often to be employed in
their stead and finally an answer was needed
;
to the prophetic knock of time, which knew

Were the
,mej" e * f
the world was ready to receive its musical
art ideal. The unborn souls of Bach and
Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, clamoured at the
throne of God to be born into this earth.
67
Story of the Violin
But were the times really ready? Let us glance

around a little. We stand at the threshold of a new
age, there can be no mistake. The surplus animal
energy of European nations had partly spent itself in
more than a thousand years of incessant, cruel wars.
For a time at least Europe draws up the vizor to breathe
and look about. Away in the dim distance across the
sea looms up America, which is to shift existing laws of
gravity, and India beckons the mariner with golden
finger. In Germany the art of printing is invented
(1450) and England sees the last of the Wars of the
5
1
Roses, and dreams of Shakespeare and an Elizabethan

age. What of Italy ?
That remarkable new birth of intellectual and artistic
Europe, the Renaissance, had just been ushered in.
It was blooming
Everywhere a in Italy.
e
''
,
:
veritable spring. The magic brush of Fra

Angelico had drawn to earth the heavenly
host of messengers, angelic robins, nightingales, and
thrushes to call it forth. Now Raphael was about to
empty his horn of plenty, and Michael Angelo to lay his
best at the altar of architecture and sculpture. The air
was filled with mystery and rhyme and thought where
Dante, Ariosto, and Boccaccio tread. And the divinest
of the arts, music, was following that glorious pageant
of great men and things; as the red roses the —
precious blood of spring come only late in June to —
crown all that went before. Palestrina, Carissimi,
1
The art of printing music by means of movable types was invented
by Ottavianola Petrucci (born 1466).
68
Violin
Gabrieli, Scarlatti came to live and leave their

records on the pages of musical history. Lastly, there
came also the remarkable men who will for ever be
associated with the violin —to whose genius we owe
its existence.
69
CHAPTER XIV.
TWO GASPAROS.
Who was the first lute, viol, or cabinet maker (it
matters not) to introduce theform of the modern

violin ? This question has not yet been
Question satisfactorily answered, though it is often
not yet
dismissed with the reply that it was Gasparo
~
>t
da Salo, and on his head, therefore, the
Answered v '°l m world has heaped sole honours of
authorship.
Although there can be no doubt that Da Salo's violins
are among the first of which we have absolute evidence,
the possibility of his not being the first maker has long
been felt. Indeed, an opinion is now widely prevalent
that the real invention of our kingly instrument must be
ascribed to another Gasparo; or, at least, that this
other Gasparo shares with him the honours.
1o any a
jj g wag a certain Gaspar Duiffoprugcar.
N fr To many of our readers perhaps a new and

strange name in such illustrious company,
but it will be found that its bearer's claims stand close
inspection indeed. Who was this Gaspar Duiffoprugcar?
He was a maker of lutes and viols of the most marvel-
Two Gasparos
lous workmanship — some bass viols of his, exquisitely
—
wrought, being still extant a man famous in his time,
when Gasparo da.Salo was only just born. Little more
was known of him until a certain French-
man, Jean Baptiste Bonaventure Rochefort who was
(1777- 1 833) startled one day the violin world
a sr *
by new information regarding him. Accord- e
ing to Rochefort, Duiffoprugcar was born
in the Italian Tyrol about 1469, established himself
at Bologna as luthier with a brother, Uldrich, and
was taken by Frangois I. in 1515, in company of no
less a genius than Leonardo da Vinci, to Paris as
instrument-maker to the royal chapel. Ill-health
obliged him, however, to move to Lyons, where he
died. A beautiful engraving by Pierre Wceiriot, now
at the National Library in Paris, shows the artist in
his best years (about forty-eight) surrounded by musical
instruments (see Fig. 17). But this was not all. He
was also said to be the creator of the modern violin
form. And lo and behold! as if by magic, like wit-
nesses unto the truth came forth one by one, from
their long hiding-places,
s v six in all, the „, ,,. ,.
... * .
'
.. Six Violins
'.
ff
violins of Uuiftoprugcar. I hey were violins
and no mistake; not viols of the fifteenth and six-

teenth century kind, but violins pure and simple
(be it somewhat heavy and clumsy in their propor-
tions), with most of the well-known characteristics
— the square shoulders (in opposition to the slanting
ones of the pld viols), the well-defined curves
and corners in the sides, the scroll and ff holes,
7i
Story of the Violin
etc.— besides being marvels of workmanship
after the
manner of his famous bass viol. The backs are
FIG. 17.— GASPAK DUIFFOPEOGCAR.
72
Two Gasparos
laboriously adorned with oil paintings 1 of
inlaid,
madonnas and saints and coats of arms in colours
and gold, the sides bearing verses the purfling is often
;
double and terminating in arabesques. All are labelled

— one dated 1510; another, now at Aix-la-Chapelle,
1511; a third, now at Bologna, 1515; a fourth, 1517;
and a fifth one, belonging to the Prince Nicolaus Yous-
soupoff 2 in St. Petersburg, has a head (Duiffoprugcar's)
carved instead of a scroll, and on the label, "Gaspar
Duiffoprugcar Buononiensis, anno 1515."
Stronger proof for Rochefort's claims than these six
instruments could hardly have been found, and although
certain experts shook their heads and would not believe
in the joyous truth that at last the right man, the real
inventor of the violin, had been found, Duiffoprugcar's
fame rose. Various other writers, like Niederheitmann, 3
presently discovered other facts about him. His name
had been really Tieffenbrucker, and .evidently
being difficult for Italian tongues to pro- _, •
nounce, the master had changed it into

Duiffoprugcar, and adopted the name for his labels.
Others being half-suspicious of the very early date of
his birth and yet not in the position to refute the evi-
dence, sought solace in hunting for his birthplace, and
found it not in the Italian Tyrol but in Bavaria, thus
making him a genuine German.
1
One was formerly supposed to be by Leonardo da Vinci.
2 Author of "Observations on the Origin of the Violin," Journal
Encyclop.
3
Niederheitmann: Cremona.
73
Story of the Violin
So matters stood when quite recently (1893) a

Frenchman, Henri Coutagne, 1 sent another thunder-
bolt into the happy, peaceful camp of the avowed
Duiffoprugcarites. It was nothing less than a complete
refutation of the hitherto accepted facts and dates as to
Duiffoprugcar's life. Careful research in the archives
at Lyons and among the documents bearing on Francois
I.'s private expenses, etc., had convinced this latest
authority that Duiffoprugcar was born about 15 14,
instead of in 1469, never lived in Paris or was connected
in any way with Francois I., but came to Lyons about
1553, took out his naturalisation papers in 1558, and died

in Lyons in 1570 or 1571. He was there a prosperous
maker of lutes and viols until misfortune overtook
him. He died in misery and debt, leaving a wife and
four children.
Coutagne further
us that Duiffoprugcar was born
tells
in and prob-
Freising, thirty kilometres from Munich,
ably learned the art of lutherie at one of the South
German centres, and that without ever having been in
Italy, he emigrated to Lyons, where lute-making seems
to have flourished at the time.
He also gives conclusive proof that the portrait in
question, which shows Duiffoprugcar at the age of 48,
was made in 1562 by Wceiriot (born 1531 or
°
. *)7 x
.
53 2 )> tnen living in Lyons. Thus we are
confronted on the one hand by positive docu-
mentary facts, and on the other hand by the certainly
not less positive evidence in workmanship and wood,
1
Caspar Duiffoprugcar et Its lulkiers Lyonais du 16'. sihle ; 1893.
74
Two GasparoS
besides the probability that the vioHn was invented

before the early Brescian and Cremonese makers. The
solution of the mystery seems at present almost hope-
less, unlesscan be proved that the labelled violins
it
attributed DuifFoprugcar were not his make. At

to
present they are believed to be genuine. M. Coutagne
does not pretend to have seen any of the six labelled
violins, but he gives the description of one attributed to
DuifFoprugcar without label which now belongs to the
museum of the Conservatoire of Paris. He says:
" II forme assez lourde dont le patron primitive-

est d'une
ment grand a recoup^ par Chanot mais dont les ouis sont
etc"
dessinees en ff tres pure et dont la tete est sculptee en volute

classique. Les deux faces sont garnies de marqueteries
figurant des fleurs reliees par des filets et un coq au centre de la
table de fond. Les ornements contrastent par leur grossierite,
avec ceux des trois basses de viole precedentes."
While I leave to my readers to acquaint themselves

with the particulars of the argument on this interesting
subject at the hand of the above-mentioned works of
Niederheitmann, YoussoupofF, Charles Read, Cou-
tagne, and others, the question suggests itself: Is it
really possible that DuifFoprugcar should
have invented the modern form of the violin ? Contradic-
I0 ° s
I do not see any reason why the facts _
established by Coutagne as to his time and «."
place of birth, etc., should not be recon-

cilable with the claims of Niederheitmann and others
as to the genuineness of the violins attributed to
75
;
Story of the Violin
him. In the first place, they are of

a workmanship worthy of the master
everything seems to point to this
assumption. The same poetical mind
which (in sympathy with the spirit
of the times) was not content with
creating in his exquisite bass viol 1
(see Fig. 18) a thing with a lovely
voice only, but wished to make it a
thing of beauty as well, shows itself
also in these gems of violins. It is
the labels that present the difficulty.
Now supposing the labels are for-
geries and the instruments quite
genuine, is such a thing
—
not possible nay, feasible ?
Supposing that, when the
fame of Duiffoprugcar (which
had paled before the fame of
the later Italian makers) was
first launched into the world
by Rochefort, some men, pro-

fiting by the tide and little
dreaming of the difficulties
to which their unscrupulous
eagerness would lead, stamp-
ed these gems with what they
thought the proper dates of
their creation ? Or supposing
also that this mild fraud was
—
FIG. 18. VIOLA DA GAMBA OF
1
Now in the museum of the Con-
DU1FFOFRUGCAR, MADE 1547 A.D. servatoire at Brussels.
76
'
Two Gasparos
perpetrated with the best intention some time after the

master's death, when repairs or the wish to
e
reduce the original thickness of the neck, ,
'
f^
etc., necessitated the opening up of the « -
L
instruments? Labels certainly helped to
preserve their identity. And what liberty was taken
with labels a century or two ago !
As regards the assumption of Coutagne, that Duiffo-

prugcar learned the art of luth&rie in Germany, and
migrated to Lyons without having been in Italy, it is
only a surmise. If his name was originally Tieffen-
brucker, the alteration into Duiffoprugcar
lodi
or Duiffopruggar is Italian on the face of it— ^ ff^
scarcely French. Only a soft-tongued son .,
of Italy has such strong objections to hard-
sounding consonants at the beginning of a word, and
does not rest content till he has, softened it down to his
own idea of euphony. Besides, if in the first records of
Duiffoprugcar in Lyons he appears under this and not
under his original name Tieffenbrucker, it is more likely
that he had adopted that name before and brought it
with him. Furthermore, certain details in the form of
some of the instruments surrounding the artist on
Wceiriot's picture invite significant conclusions.
But let us now look at this man Duiffoprugcar from
—
another point of view at, I will call it, the Internal
internal evidence for his claims. Let us Evidence
imagine him in early youth in a little for his
Bavarian town. Perhaps returning pilgrims Claims
or soldiers had carried the first fairy tales of Italy
77
Story of the Violin
and the wonders of her early renaissance to our little

boy while he was helping his father in the carpenter's
shop, and kindled in his heart the wish which emperors
could not resist. Perhaps the youth felt genius throb-
bing in his breast like growing-pains by day and night,
or destiny held out a crown to him beyond the snow-clad
mountains yonder, where the swallows went in autumn.
The art of viol and lute making had already flourished
in the genial South, when instruments of war and
torture, sword-blades, pikes and halberds were yet more
or less the order of the day. As early as the thirteenth
century^ we find Brescia mentioned as a famous centre of
lutherie. About 1450 there lived in the old city a
celebrated maker of lutes and viols, Kerlino. His name
rather indicates German extraction, being probably an
Italianisation of Kerl, a name not unfrequent in some
parts of Germany. Kerlino's reputation would have as
easily as not attracted the influx of foreign young work-
men to Brescia. At all events, is it improbable that
young Gasparo, though Kerlino was at that time dead,
found his way to some other Brescian maker's shop as
apprentice or workman, stayed there (in Brescia), or
moved to Bologna, and later was induced to change his
domicile for France ? In Lyons he was prosperous,
probably a man in easy circumstances, as appears from
the portrait engraved by a well-known artist. Is it
difficult to imagine him turning out lutes and bass viols,
admirable works, getting good pay for them, and being
honoured by the best in the land, and yet turning with
inexpressible longing to the pursuance of labours of
73
—
Two Gasparos
which none but he could understand the why and where-

fore ? or trying to follow the trace of a living voice in
him —the voice of the yet unborn violin, as the half-
blind the rays of the sun which penetrate
follows
through his heavy eyelids, groping his way towards the
window? What- patience, what toil, what trying and
rejecting and trying again were necessary before, step by
step, the new could replace the old; before here the
proper curve was found, there the neck ended in a noble
scroll ; before each detail of the modelling that
intuition or reflection held out to him to be the right
one brought the form nearer the familiar shape which
other masters after him developed further and further
until, with Stradivarius, the ideal was reached.
It has been said that the innovations on the old viol
form were not the work of one single mind, but of
many in other words, that the final form of the violin
;
was the product of the successive efforts of many suc-

cessive makers unknown to fame. I don't believe it.
Great innovations on existing forms, laws, and things
great discoveries are not made by the many, but the few.
Not through the slow, muddy channels of
mediocrity, but through the bright, quick Through
river of genius flows the gold of knowledge _ .
'
into the world. The initiative to a great pj c

change and t'he first steps are always taken Genius
by this or that one, and others then exer-
cise their skill on improvements, and sometimes they,
too, get the credit for what they did not do.
So, unless it was one of those unknown prompters of
79
;
Story of the Violin
history —of those nameless, shadowy heroes who behind

the stage pull the strings which make the puppets dance
in who, because the world knows them not,
front;
become unreal, immersed in myth and romance then ;
there is no difficulty in believing that Duiffoprugcar,

on the existing lines of the Italian viol, created the
modern violin form. His birth fell into the spring
of the renaissance. The genial, productive breath
which permeated all artistic from archi-
activity
tecture down to the lowly art of the wood-carver
and cabinet-maker, fanned him also. It needed only
a fine mind and a hand to match to utilise this new
triumphant force for the art of instrument-making.
Consider but the general forms of the bass viols, etc.,
of that time. Are they not distinctly Gothic in feeling
and design, matching the painted windows of our
—
Gothic cathedrals the high slender towers on which
the ardent faith of the Middle Ages climbed nearer
heaven? And now compare the outlines, the soft,
graceful, classic curves of the violin; the scroll, the
square shoulders, the delicate moderation in everything.
Should the spirit of the early renaissance have had no
share in forming these ?
Take, then, this man Duiffoprugcar, head and
shoulders above all the instrument-makers of his time
in mere cleverness; a thinker, a revolutionary besides
a bit of a painter and poet, a philosopher if you will a ;
man of the world, too, perhaps a friend of the big minds

of his time —and you have the picture of a man who,
not unlikely, should have been the fit instrument in the
So
Two Gasparos
hands of Providence or destiny to give to the world the
violin. —
He did not invent it no, of course not; but
under his hands, as it were, the scattered legacy of former
—
centuries nay, of thousands of years— crystallised into
the form which has been one of the glories of our age.
And now of Gasparo da Salo, who is generally con-

sidered to have been the first maker of violins. His
name was Gasparo Bertolotti, and he was
as P ar ° a
born in 1542, in a little place situated on the
picturesque Lago di Garda, after which he
was called Da We know no more of his youth
Salo.
and apprenticeship than of Duiffoprugcar's.
Perhaps he learned the art of viol and lute- Know no
1" ore
making from some Brescian maker unknown ° hl
^
to us. When we hear of him he is estab- Apprentice-
.
lished in the famous old place (Brescia) as «.

viol and violin-maker. Doubtless his claim
for having made excellent violins earlier than any other
maker (except Duiffoprugcar) is irrefutable; but, even
admitted that he went yet one step farther
than that other Gasparo, is it proved nay, . . — -
f
is it —
probable that he did so without having
had cognisance of his celebrated predecessor's work?
Was he a man likely to find out for himself everything
which makes his instruments so remarkable for us ?
Is it proved that he went the long road which lay
between these instruments and the viols of preceding
—
centuries alone and unassisted? Coming from a small
Italian village, he was surely only a humble, illiterate,
81
—
Story of the Violin
be it a very clever, wideawake youth"; and there is no

proof that he ever went beyond the precincts of his
littlekingdom, his workshop in Brescia. Of course, as
Goethe says, " Es bildet ein Talent sich in der Stille."
But this is not exactly a way to broaden and strengthen
the mind for grappling with difficulties- such as the
realisation of a new acoustic ideal in a new form
presented.
Was Gasparo da Salo a man who could afford to
squander his time on perhaps futile, at any rate unpro-
fitable attempts, while his viols fetched him
a good income? 1 Or is it more likely that
he made violins because they were already invented,
and he found a ready market for them ?
Are thee Furthermore, are there any traces of a
/ . '
t
development in his work from a first feeling
^' s wav *° * ne & oa^ °^ attainment, or do we
ment in his
Work ? S e ^ a once the realised ideal ?
*-
Perhaps others are prepared to answer

these questions satisfactorily. I only add yet one more
point in favour of the elder Gasparo, and that is a

documentary remark which also F6tis mentions. 2 In a
list of instruments used by Monteverde for
1 wo little
French
^ performance
v of his opera
v J ' at
Orfeo,
. , '
, . .,
v ,
,,
Mantua in 1607, the composer names
besides ten viole da brazzo (arm viols),
three bassi da gamba (leg basses), and two cbntra-
According to Fetis,' he was particularly renowned for his

1 viols
(bass viols and double-bass viols).
2 Stradivari.
82
Two Gasparos
bassi di viola (double-bass viols) — duoi vjolini piccoli

alia Francese (two little violins of the French kind).
This is one of the first historical records 1 of the word
violin, and here it is called French. No French luthier
worthy of being thought of as the creator of the violin
can be found at that or any preceding period, but the
solution lies near when we consider that Duiffoprugcar
lived for years in France, and died and was buried
there. And had he no pupils ?
Whatever be the pretensions of the less-known elder
Gasparo, our gratefulness to the well-known younger
one is thereby not diminished. Who knows whether,
but for the art of the younger one sympathetically
carrying out the message of the elder, that message
might not have been lost to the world ?
Unfortunately, Da Salo's violins have become exceed-
ingly rare, but those still extant, and undoubtedly
genuine, are a striking testimony to his noble art.
Among them perhaps the finest, at any rate best known,
is the violin on which Ole Bull, the famous Norwegian
virtuoso, played for many years. His widow

recently bequeathed it to her dead husband's General
birthplace, Bergen. The general character- Character-
1S ICS ° *
istics of Da Salo's violins are a large pattern, .
s
large ff holes, protruding corners, and a dark / m
brown varnish the tone is large and even.
;
It seems he worked from about 1560 to 1609 or 1610,

the time of his death.
1 uncertain whether tenor viols are meant or
Prior records leave it
really our small violin.
83
CHAPTER XV.
MAGGINI AND OTHER BRESCIAN MAKERS.
Gasparo's mantle fell on his pupil, Giovanni Paolo

Maggini, who was born in Brescia, 1581, and worked
H ._ , there till about 1632. Maggini's instruments
,
resemble those of his master in their large

proportions, but show a great advance in point of view
of appearance as well as tone. He also unlike Da Salo, —
who made more viols, etc. — confined himself chiefly to
the making of violins, which seems to indicate that by
the end of the sixteenth century the demand
. T ,.
for Violins
,, for violins, as compared
r to viols,' had — at
, . T
least in Italy
,
— become .
quite general. 1
, _,
Ex-
perts accord to him a very distinguished place indeed
in the history of lutherie; all the more, it is to be
regretted that his violins have become so scarce. Their
tone is large and noble, slightly veiled; the varnish
light brown of remarkable delicacy and transparency;
the ribs or sides are narrow; the arching starts almost
directly from the edges the back is often richly orna-
;
1
Another proof that the movement in favour of the new form must
have begun prior to Gasparo da Salo, as the few violins made by the
latter could hardly have created a larger market so soon.
84
Maggini and other Brescian Makers
mented and the purfling double. 1 A very fine specimen
of a Maggini violin belonged formerly to Charles de
Beriot, and another to Hubert Leonard.
Other Brescian makers, who were either contem-
poraries of Da Salo and Paolo Maggini, or followed
them closely, imitating their (particularly
Maggini's) work without ever attaining to Other
its excellence, are mentioned in the Appen-
m ,
dix. But there are two men, Antonio
Maria Lausa (1530-50) and Peregrino Zanetto
(1530-40), who arrest attention by reason of the early
date of their activity. Both are said to have been
makers of violins, and Lausa a close follower of
Gasparo da Salo and Maggini. If so, how are we to
account for this fact unless we go back to an influence
antecedent to Da Salo ?
1
For further details, see Gio. Paolo Maggini: His Life and Work;
W. E. Hill & Sons, London.
85
CHAPTER XVI.
THE AMATIS.
By what —
dice-throw of the muses if one dare couple
those immortals with man's low symbol of mere
—
accident that little, unimportant town of
Lombardy, Cremona, was chosen to be- ,
come the centre of fiddle-making, who can tell?

Probably it had no more to recommend it three huo,dred
—
years ago than it has now viz., that it lay in the
fertileand protected valley of the Po, where trade and
commerce had flourished for centuries among an in-
dustrious and sober people, and where you may see
the snow-clad mountains from afar, like eternal portals,
closing off this blessed land from northern blasts, and
—
withal pointing the way to heaven and, perhaps, good
fiddle-wood. But why not Bologna, that ancient seat
of learning, or Brescia, known to fame, or Venice,
Florence, Milan, Rome? Did the lost art of fiddle-
making impose its own peculiar conditions ? Was the
slow, drowsy, uneventful, hum-drum air of thfe small
commercial and provincial town the most conducive
—
atmosphere for creating forms nay, habitations for
shapeless fleeting tone-ideals ? Could fiddle-making
only truly thrive where poetry and painting might have
86
The Amatis
starved ? At all events it was Cremona, because a man
was born there whose name was Andrew Amati.
This Andrew Amati (see Fig. 19) a de-
Andrew
—
scendant from an old decurional family of
—
Cremona was the founder of the world
Amati
fame of his little native town, .being- the senior of

that remarkable family of viofin-makers which for
nearly one hundred and fifty /years upheld the best
The year
traditions of their art.
of Andrew's birth not known, is
but from an instrument of his

—
making strange to say, a three-
1
stringed rebec 1 —
bearing the date
1546, ithas been inferred that he
was born about 1520 that is, —
twenty two years
-
The Belief
before Gasparo da
that he was
Salo. It is therefore
a Pupil of
Da Salo surprising that some
writers still entertain
the belief that Andrew was a
FIG. 19. —AMATI CREST.
pupil of Gasparo da Salo, on account of certain minor

similarities in their productions. He may have been in
Brescia before he established himself in his native town.
He may.also have known Gasparo in riper years, and
profited from the younger master but pupil no. — —
More likely is it that— unless we assume that Andrew
was entirely autodidact and discovered the violin form
simultaneously with Gasparo — he learned by observation
1
Fetis, Stradivari.
87
— a
Story of the Violin
from then already existing violins in other words, that ;
he took Duiffoprugcar's violins as pattern, and arrived

through them sooner or later at his own original style. 1
Original (that is, different from the patterns
Amati s Q £ t jj e ear v Brescian masters) his creations
]
<, j deserve to be called, if for no other reason

than that they were of diminished size.
But the adoption of a small or medium form, with its
relative, decreased proportions in the thickness of the
wood and a higher arching of belly and back towards
the centre, brought with it —quite independent of other
details of workmanship, a different varnish, etc. —
different, a new tone-phenomenon which one
,
, r ,, -,
. might not incorrectly call the "Amati violin
Violin Tone „ T ,.
. r , , .
tone. It is a tone (generally speaking, of

course) sweet, delicate, round, and mellow to a degree,
but lacking in sonority, brilliancy, and carrying power.
Andrew Amati's violins are now as good as extinct,
though he is said to have made many. A number of
his best productions : viz., twenty-four violins, six
altos, and eight basses, 2 were in Versailles until shortly.
1
At the same conclusion one arrives in the case of a fellow-towns-
man and contemporary of Andrew —Johann Marcus del Busetto
(1540-80), who is believed by some to have been the teacher of Andrew
and at the same time pupil of Gasparo, although the discrepancy in
the age of these oldest Cremonese masters and the founder of the
Brescian school should, I think, convince any one of the improbability
of such a relation. It will be remembered that Gasparo da Salo's
activity dates from about 1560 to 1610.

2 Hermann Starke: Die Geige und die Meistet det Ceigen- mid
Lauten-baukunst ; Dresden, 1884.
88
The Amatis
before the first French 1789. He had
Revolution,
furnished them for Chapel Royal by order of
the
Charles IX. What became of them no one knows.
Andrew Amati died about 1580, thus long before
Gasparo da Salo. At his death his two sons,
Anthony (Antonio) andjerome (Hieronymus),
carried on their father's work conjointly.
Andrew
Some particularly fine instruments bearing _. <,
thenames of the two brothers testify to this

happy period of partnership and artistic co-operation.
After a time, however, Jerome, the younger of the
two, married, and the brothers separated Anthony ;
working after the exact pattern of Andrew,

and by preference small-sized instruments;
while Jerome, perhaps the more talented of the two,
chose a larger and bolder form be it that — distinct
his work was somewhat less finished in
detail than his brother's. The instruments n *«.
of both mark a distinct progress on those
—
of their father Andrew in point of view of outer form
as well as beauty of tone.
Anthony Amati is supposed to have died in 1635,
as that is the last date to be found on any instrument

of his. Jerome died 1638, six years before the birth of
Stradivarius.
With Jerome's son Nicolaus, or Nicolo Amati (born
September 3rd, 1596, died August 12th, Jerome's
1684), the name of Amati received its Son
greatest lustre. Some of his instruments Nicolaus
are veritable masterpieces of the art of violin-
"
89
Story of the Violin
making, and place their maker by the side of Stradi-

varius and Joseph Guarnerius as the third
IS
11 brightest luminary in the fiddle-making
At first Nicolaus followed closely
realm.
pieces . ,
. , ...
, , ,. ,
the model of his father and his uncle in the
. ,
adoption of a small form; but about 1625, by what

process of thinking or experience or outside
T
influence we know not, he created a larger
m f ,
model and adhered to it to the end of his

life. The violins of that period are known in profes-
sional circles under the name of grand or
.. large Amatis, and it is among these that are
A
found the above-mentioned gems. Probably
the master had worked on these with particular par-
tiality. A workmanship finished to the
The Acme m ; nu test detail, the choice of wood, the
o er ec-
enera i noblesse of design and elegance of
g-
. .. curves and scroll, a varnish (yellowish) fiery

§ ty j e and elastic, etc., the proportions of arching
and thickness of the wood, all combine here
to an exquisite total of form
and tone which has hardly
been surpassed by any other maker, and may rightly be
called the acme of perfection in the Amati style.
Nicolaus had two sons. The younger, John Baptist,
went to a cloister and eventually became a priest; the
elder, Jerome, born 1649, worked in his
t
_ „ father's shop, and after the latter's death

Two Sons ... ... . ,
succeeded him. He is the last representative

,
of the name Amati in the annals of lutherie.

If the old master, as one should suppose, was proud
90
The Amatis
of aname which at his time had no equal in instrument-
making, and if, as one might also suppose, he had
fondly hoped to see his two sons continue his life's
work as did the two sons of old Andrew, one hundred
years before, he (Nicolaus) must have been sorely dis-
appointed in this (his eldest son and heir),
etoa less
not to speak of the younger one, who was > £
entirely lost to the art. Jerome was not ,,
only inferior in every way to the father, but
also much less painstaking and industrious than any of
the earlier members of the family. He left only a few
instruments, and they do not rise above „ ,,
mediocrity. Who knows but that an occa-

sional tear of a sad father dropped into poor Nicolaus's
varnish-pot, and helped to give those admired gems of
his their wonderful gloss and hue, that they seem to

look at you as with humid eyes and many a sigh was
;
closed up in those shapely forms which touch us now

when the bow of the artist awakes them from their
slumber. It is only fancy, of course, but after Nico-
laus's death the prestige of the name quickly and

irretrievably declines, and only twelve years later,
91
Story of the Violin
Jerome, the "last Amati," died too 1 (see Fig. 20).

Fortunately, the art of violin - making did not die
_, _ with him. A number of excellent pupils
a . of Nicolaus took care that it lived yet for
—
another century nay, reached its real goal
with one, the most illustrious among them, Antonio
Stradivarius.
1 According to some writers, but according to Hill Brothers he died

much later.
92
CHAPTER XVII.
- a bird's-eye view.
Before proceeding, let us once more take, as it were,

a bird's-eye view of the life and work of the Amatis.
Much more strongly than the Brescian
masters have the Amatis, from Andrew to Amatis
Nicolaus, set the stamp of their individuality
n m"~
on the art of violin-making in their own and

succeeding times indeed, it is impossible to say what
;
the fate of the art would have been without them.

Though a pioneer no less than Da Salo and Paolo
Maggini, unlike those two, Andrew found in his sons
and grandson imitators or followers greater than him-
self, who carried on his work to ever greater perfec-
tion. Da Salo's and Maggini's art practically died with

them, like a fine stream running dry; while the other,
of the same source, and running parallel with it at first,
grows as it flows.
If, in our days, the Amati violins, with a few
exceptions, have lost a good deal of their Reasons
former prestige, if many have descended for To-day's
to the second and even inglorious third Decline in
rank of instruments, unfit for professional Prestige
solo-playing, we~ must not lay the blame at the door
93
Story of the Violin
of their makers, but rather blame our ever-increasing

demand for strong-toned instruments.
In this fierce battle which is being waged now
between a modern full accompaniment and.
orchestral
Fierce
a P oor sm gl e little solo-fiddle, where only
Battle be- t îe ^> es ^ °f Strads. can hope to emerge
tween a. victors, a weak, sweet-toned Amati has
Modern had to step modestly aside and hide under
Orchestral the safe and sympathetic wings of the lady
Accom- amateur.
paniment g ut ;t mus t be remembered that the tone
vrAji"
which Andrea and his immediate
ideal for
followers sought expression in their produc-
tions was different from ours. In pure form and for
easy handling they doubtless marked a progress from
the large, inclined-to-be-clumsy model of the Brescian
makers. After the large viol types current in the
fifteenth century they must have appeared the very
essence of grace and perfection. And the tone matched
these qualities. It was sweet, soft, and mellow, and
to ears accustomed to guitars, theorbos, bass viols,

etc., what could have been finer and more desirable
than that, to come from any musical instrument ? No
wonder from the first the Amati violin stood a better
chance than its competitors the "Da Salo and Mag-
gini." The true comparative merits of the latter were
discovered much later.
Even yet one hundred and fifty years ago, these
sweet, mellow-toned Andrew and Antonio
weak,
Amatis held their powerful sway over the hearts of men
94
Bird's-eye View
and women. That was the time of our great-grand-
fathers and mothers ; the time of the dainty spinet ; the
time when men went about
powdered wigs, and knee-
in
breeches, and wore lace collars, and lace shirt-fronts,
and high-heeled shoes with buckles, and white stock-
ings, and the pretty ladies adorned their faces with
round and square beauty spots. Music, too, was
dainty then. The thunderer from Olympus was not
yet born. Dittersdorf and Haydn were writing their
string quartetts and symphonies, and took care that
these were not too loud and obtrusive, lest Monseigneur
wished to carry on a conversation to an accompaniment
or doze into dreamland. It was the time
e
of the Rococo, and was not such a sweet- *
"f
toned Amati the loveliest Rococo imagin- D
Kococo
able, —translated into sound? All this has
passed like our childhood, and with it also part of the
prestige that once attached to the name
of Amati. But
the time willnever come when musicians cease to
admire and be grateful to those veterans of fiddle-
—
making Andrew, Antonio, and Jerome Amati.
95
CHAPTER XVIII.
AMATI SCHOOL.
Many were of the Amati

the pupils 1 and imitators
school, asmight be expected from the fame of these
masters and the supremacy they exercised
„ during four generations, and also consider-
'
ing how popular the violin was already by

the middle and end of the seventeenth century, not
alone in Italy, but in Germany, France, and the
Netherlands. Four or five of even the
Workers most industrious workers could never have
in Italy,
supplied the ever-increasing demand for
ranee,
instruments.So we find, at first gravitating
y '
towards Cremona and presently radiating,
.
Holland chiefly from Nicolaus's workshop and

spreading in all directions, the best fiddle-
making talent. Soon there is hardly a larger-sized
town in North and Middle Italy which cannot boast
some violin-maker, who directly or indirectly bene-
fited from the Cremonese master, and in his turn
perpetuated the received traditions to the best of his
1
For the names of the imitators and pupils of the Amati school, see
Appendix.
96
Amati School
abilities. And not Italy alone, but beyond, in the
Netherlands and Germany, we find traces of that in-
fluence, although any noteworthy activity in these
countries, as well as in England and France, begins
rather later.
CHAPTER XIX.
THE GUARNERI FAMILY.
But far above and beyond all the names of makers

who were indebted to the Amatis for their skill and
knowledge figures that of another Cremonese family,
the Guarnerius or Guarneri (see Fig. 21). If we except
that solitary great luminary, Stradivarius (also grafted
on that noble Amati stock), the Guarneri may be called
, the true heirs and successors to the Amati
. « . work and fame following the latter iust
;
'
1
of Amati , i , ,
..« about a century later, so that the first
Stradivarius Guarneri is yet a contemporary of Nicolaus,
the last approaches the end of the art in
Italy after the middle of the eighteenth century.
Like the Amati, the Guarneri are represented by five
or more illustrious names. The talent of the father
goes down to the sons through several
u
generations, and at an increased ratio of
excellence. Indeed, the analogies may be
carried still further. The name of the first Amati was
Andrea, as was that of the head of the Guarnerius
, „ „ . family; and like that first Andrea, the latter
had two sons who improved on his work.
Here, of course, the parallel ends, inasmuch as the last
98
Guarneri Family
and most illustrious representative of the Guarneri
name, Giuseppe, springs by some freak of nature from
a side-line formerly not connected with the art.
So much of this remarkable family in general. Its
head and founder, the above-mentioned Andrea Guar-
—
neri born early in the seventeenth century,
and one of the first pupils of Nicolaus Amati „
. vjruarneri
(as he worked by himself already from 1650
to about 1695) —
stands yet under the powerful spell
of his master. He cannot get away from it except in
some minor details, such as the
shape of the scroll, sound-holes,
and the orange colour of his
varnish, by which his work is
recognised by the connoisseur.

The tone of his instruments is
agreeable, if lacking, like the
feebler Amati products, in in-
tensity and brilliancy.

Superior to Andrew in many
ways was his younger son,
Joseph, who worked from 1680 FIG. 21. —GUARNERI CREST.
to 1730. One should think
Joseph learned the technique of the art From his father,
but as he copies in the beginning of his
His two
career Nicolaus Amati, it has been surmised
Sons,
that he, too, studied with that veteran.
Petrus and
It is, indeed, easy enough to imagine that Joseph
old Andrew, who imitated his own master
so reverentially, took his young son Joseph (Giuseppe)
99
—
Story of the Violin
after he had just begun to learn the use of the

tools, to fatherNicolaus over the way, for finishing
lessons and a good start in life, and to become there a
greater master than he, the modest Andrew, felt the
boy could become at home. Subsequently young Joseph
„ „ . may have sat with Antonio Stradivari, his
rriendly
R . - senior, at the same work-bench, both in
friendly rivalry for the acclamation of a
mutually admired master.
F^tis, among others, will see in the later works of
Joseph a certain leaning towards that great fellow*
townsman. That may be so or not enough, ;
^. *! Joseph Guarneri's violins are greatly

esteemed. They are, as a rule, small
smaller than those of Nicolo Amati, and of Andrea his
father. The workmanship is very fine the varnish, ;
reddish, of striking fire and brilliancy.

An member of the family was
equally 'distinguished
Joseph's elder brother Petrus, who, it seems,
„ established himself in riper years at Mantua,
.
(jruarnerius . .
for most of his productions from the year

1690 bear the name of that town (see Fig. 22).
Petrus made excellent violins of a large pattern.
Particularly happy, nay, almost unique he was in his
t
varnish, which is the most beautiful red gold
melting into amber a sonnet transcribed
v ,
j. :
from it, and the equally

into colours. If
careful choice of the wood, which in some cases seems
to have been especially selected with the view of
enhancing the beauty of the colouring, one may draw
, 100
;
Guarrieri Family
conclusions as to this master's ch racter, he must

have been an exquisitely sensitive
and refined artist. The tone of some
of his instruments matches the lovely
garment of golden tints. It is of
virgin purity, mellow, round, even,
and also full but, owing to the
;
rather high arching of the belly, un-

fortunately not as intense and bril-
liant asone could wish, and as the
superb outward appearance of the
instrument would lead one to ex-
pect. \
A
son of this Petrus, also a Pietro
Guarnerius, and working in Mantua
from 1720 to 1750, is
esteemed as an excellent
A Son of vxii Si /
Petrus >->''
imitator of his father.
There is also a third master of the
same name, Peter, a son of Joseph
and grandson of Andrew, whose pro-
ductions resemble those
without,
A Third
of his father,
Pietro
however, reaching their
perfection. Last in this galaxy ot
names appears on the scene that of
Giuseppe Antonio, cousin of Joseph,
the most famous of all the Guarneri
but of him I shall speak later, as
belonging to a different constellation.
101
,
CHAPTER XX.
'JACOBUS STAINEK.
We leave for a while this charmed circle of Cremonese

masters on which the genius of Stradivari is just about
to dawn, and retracing our steps to the early part of
the seventeenth century, we wander through those
snowy high portals, glittering in the sun, north to the
Austrian Tyrol. About two miles from its ancient
capital, Innsbruck, if we follow the bed of the Inn,
we reach a small town of the name of Hall, and near
there lies a little village. This is Absam, and here was
born (in the year 1621), lived and died, Jacob Stainer.
" Nennt man die besten Namen

Wird auch der seine genannt."
Stainer's name stands, indeed, among the very best

in the art of violin-making. And it has yet a sound
quite its own ; a sound — how shall I say? —which seems
to come through long corridors of past
Through centuries like the distant tolling of a funeral
_° , bell, muffled and heavy with loneliness and
sadness or, should I rather say, a sound
f T'me ;
—not
like that of the Amatis, on
floating
wings laden with the scent of orange blossoms from
102
—
Jacobus Stainer
a blessed, sunny, peaceful, Southern shore; but a sound

rilled with mountain poetry, grand and sad like the
flight of the eagle through immeasurable solitudes, or

the roaring of the mountain stream as it flings itself
down the fearful Alpine precipices.
There is a touch of simplicity, originality, genius, and
mysticism, and, withal, an inexpressible sadness about
this man Jacob Stainer which we do not associate with
any other famous maker of his time. Like no other, he
has engaged the romantic fancy of poets, _ .
writers, and dreamers. His memory still
haunts the wilds of the Tyrol, and forms the subject of

gruesome "village" tales, and myth has strewn his
grave with nightshade and with roses.
What is the truth about this unique master, this
Jacobus Stainer? Until recently it was generally
believed that he learned the art of lutherie at
Cremona, in Nicolaus Amati's workshop, for his early
productions showed a decided similarity to those of the
Cremonese masters, Nicolaus's in particular. More-
over, there seems to be still in existence an instrument
(or instruments?) bearing the label: "Jacob Stiner
fecite Cremonia, 1642," which, if connoisseurs had not
long recognised it as a spurious imitation of a Stainer
violin, reads indeed like a foreigner's bad Latin and
Italian stew, and would fit in admirably as a proof that
the maker was at Cremona when twenty-one years of
age. Careful research, 1 however, in the town archives of
Hall has revealed new facts and dates about Stainer's
1
See S. Ruf.
103
Story of the Violin
life which make it most problematic, if not impossible,

that the master set foot in Italy. Who taught him
the secrets of the art which had up to that time been
handed down and jealously guarded by the Italian
masters? Where did he acquire the wonderful skill
for which he became noted in his life-time, and which
placed him on the very pinnacle of fame after his
death ? To these questions the new discoveries fail
to give an answer. Mountain streams and the song
of the skylark as it from the dew-strewn Alpine
rises
meadows like a rocket of joy may have first awakened
the creative instincts in his soul ; but they did not give
his hands their skill, him the composition of
or teach
his marvellous varnish. Nor is it any good to argue,
as his biographer does, that he had opportunity
of seeing and hearing Cremonese instruments at
Innsbruck, where the Archduke Leopold and his
— —
wife an Italian princess drew to their Court and
festivities many Italian musicians. Not even a
Stainer by merely looking hearing a violin,
at or
or by opening and destroying one, will succeed in
making another of such superiority as his earliest produc-
tions exhibit. No wonder then, that popular opinion
invented the old version which sent young Stainer
to Cremona to Nicolaus Amati; and that it also has
not scrupled at investing his further life with a veil of
mystery.
Some mystery, or let us say some dark page or
passage, there is about that life, deny it who can.
Popular opinion, though it may be much wrong,
104
Jacobus Stainer
seldom is altogether wrong; and distorted truth is
yet derived from truth.
appears as historically certain that Stainer stayed
It
in Absam
all his life, except for one visit he paid to
Salzburg in 1643, to deliver in person a
viola bastarta and receive
Some Facts
for it thirty
florins,and occasional journeys to Hall and Innsbruck,
where he sold his violins to strangers attracted by his
reputation, or went to have a child christened or to
pay his taxes. He mar-
ried when he was twenty-
four, bought a house (see
Fig. 23) —which, it is said,
stood by the road-
j Stainer 's
side
•
and was sur-

.
„
rounded by large
linden trees— and had many
children. With the child-
ren (nine of them) came
the cares, in spite of the
fact that in 1658 he was
appointed Court violin-
maker to his Highness the
Archduke Leopold, with
the honoured and
title
'
'
noble sir,'' and was famous

in the land and beyond for
his violins. Probably they
fetched but a small profit, incommensurate to the time
it cost the fastidious and scrupulous master to make
105
—
Story of the Violin
them. Moreover, the times were bad. Germany and

Austria were only just recovering from the social and
financial bankruptcy in which the Thirty Years' War
had landed them.
Stainer got into debt. To further weigh down his
spirits, he was accused of the crime of heresy or witch-
craft and thrown into prison. Although acquitted and
let he was a ruined man. An appeal to
free again,
the Emperor Leopold I. (the former Archduke) to
acquit him of a debt of four hundred florins, which
he could not gather together, failed. He became
melancholy, inactive, a recluse, mentally unbalanced,
and finally a raving maniac, who had to be tied to a
stone bench (yet shown in Absam) in his paroxysms of
violence. And so he died in the year 1683, aged 62. 1
roor man There is enough romance one can hardly
! —
call it —
certainly enough care and unspeak-
, „. able sadness and misery crowded into his
life to fill the lives of half-a-dozen men
more fit to bear it than he was — for he was a very
great artist.
—
The story formerly went and Fetis in his Stradivari repeats it
1
.
that Stainer retired to a Benedictine convent after the death of his wife,
and there passed the remainder of his days. Here also he resolved
to crown his life's work with the creation of twelve master violins
which he sent to the twelve Electors of the Empire. Perhaps this was
the poetical version of the poor man's desperate attempts at raising
money to pay his debt, before or after his appeal to the Emperor. If
true, and his failing to move the hearts of the twelve Electors by this
delicate supplication be true too, it makes Stainer's lot only more
pathetic, and the times to appear more cruel.
106
!
Jacobus Stainer
Yes, poor Stainer, but for the hard-heartedness or
miserly stupidity, who knows, some imbecile official
of
(for it is hardly credible that the Emperor himself, his
former lord and patron, should have known and not
granted so pitiful a request) might have lived to a
good old age and enriched the world with many more
gems.
If we accept as true the theory that Stainer never
saw Italy, his achievements are simply marvellous.
Fancy a man from childhood up, without
s
proper instruction, in such surroundings (a
little Austrian village with bigoted, stupid
peasants), and then, in the face of cares and

adversities, to create instruments which rank with the
finest productions of lutherie
Stainer's violins are nothing if not original. It is
said that he who has once seen one can never mistake
the best imitations for genuine. Remarkable about
them is the arching; it is so high at the centre of the
belly that if the violin is held horizontally one can see
through both holes. Yet the tone is rich and full,

and of a remarkable silvery purity of sweetness. As
for workmanship and varnish (of a beautiful gilded
hue), few, if any, Cremonese makers have surpassed
Stainer in these particulars. How highly esteemed his
instruments were, even in his life-time, is well known.
Connoisseurs called him even then " Celeberrimus
testudium musicarum fabricator."
After his death the value of his violins, etc., doubled
and tripled. It was perhaps this unparalleled popularity
107
Story of the Violin
of the Stainer violins, particularly in Germany, Austria,

v Holland, and England —before many of the
makers were appreciated at their
his V V
Italian
full value —
which accounts for the excessive
rarity of a genuine "Jacobus Stainer" in our day.
While these Italian gems remained in, comparatively
speaking, safe obscurity, stored away here and there and
everywhere in Italy, in castles and convents, etc., for
more than a century awaiting their release by an eager
public, the Stainer violins were being constantly used
and knocked about. The master must have made
many in his laborious, troubled life. What has become
of them ? It is marvellous that any should have sur-
vived at all. Fancy all the enemies that lie in wait
to destroy so delicate an organism as a violin in two
hundred and fifty years of wars, persecutions, etc.:
water, fire, accident,ignorance, superstition, quack-
repairers —who can enumerate them ? And in propor-
tion to the scarcity, and consequent value of the real
Stainer violins, they have suffered the bane of imita-
tion. Perhaps no other maker has been imitated more,
and more recklessly, than Stainer.
At first, his own pupils did not think it a crime to the
memory of their master to bring their own productions
(good though they were) on the market
with his label, and their bad example has
T ti I
since then been followed by many more
unscrupulous makers. In consequence, as hardly one
player or collector in a thousand has ever seen or
heard a genuine Stainer instrument, the spurious pro-
108
Jacobus Stainer
ductions that still are in the market have tended to
obscure the reputation of that inimitable master. But
even when the last Jacobus Stainer violin will have
disappeared from this earth to bear testimony to his
art, the maker's name and fame will be written in the
annals of music as that of a poor martyr who helped
to make this world better and brighter for a time by
making matchless fiddles. The Tyrolean mountain
fastnesses will guard his memory, and the eagle will
tell it to young, and pine to pine, and the winds
its
in dark recesses will mourn the memory of Jacobus
Stainer.
109
CHAPTER XXI.
THE GREATEST OF THEM ALL.
We come now to the master whose name, like no

other, spells magic to the fiddle enthusiast. Even the
unmusical man in the street has at some time or other
heard or read of a thing called a " Strad." (to use a rather
barbarous English mutilation of a noble name), and
when occasion arises makes desperate attempts at re-
calling the name of the man who made the thing called a
"Strad." He usually gets as far as Stradi, or some-
thing ending with an i, expecting you, the musician,
to help him out at the critical moment. Of course
you do.
Stradivari, then —-or, as he is also called after his
Latin label-inscriptions,Straduarius or Stradivarius,
„ ,,
Stradivari
, with the Christian name Antonio Antonio
,.
— .
Stradivari was born at Cremona in the
year 1644, the descendant of an old patrician family of
that town, members of which occupied high positions
in public service as early as 1127 1 (see Fig. 24). At the
1
For the genealogical table of the family of Stradivari from 1602 down
to 1893 see Antonio Stradivari : his Life and Work, by W. Henry
Hill, Arthur F. Hill, F.S.A., and Alfred Hill.

Stradivari
age of thirteen,
it is claimed, Antonio made his first violin
in Nicolo Amati's workshop. If this is true, his appren-

ticeship must have begun already when the boy's legs
were yet dangling down the side of the
work-bench, and his little hands barely Began
strong enough to handle the tools. What EarIy
an interesting side-light this throws on the method by

which future masters were
then made ! It was, possibly,
fiddles before breakfast,
fiddles for dinner and supper,
fiddles between meals and
fiddles yet in the dreams,
for I do not doubt but that
old Nicolo was an exacting
teacher.
Stradivari's general educa-
tion under these conditions
may, of course, have been but
slight, unless the man made FIG. 24. —STRADIVARI CREST.
up what the boy missed, or
the boy was as precocious in other things of learn-
ing as he was clever in those appertaining to
his calling. And in this workshop of Nicolaus,
which he entered perhaps a lad of ten or eleven,
Anthony remained until he was a man of twenty-
three or four, working under the eyes and supervision
of another whom in all probability he had already
reached in dexterity of hand, though perhaps not in
experience, knowledge, and perception. Until then
Ill
Story of the Violin
he also scrupulously his master, with the

copied
'
productions of that period

result that his
upu "
went out into the world with Nicolaus
Co id h' Amati's label, and have only in course of
Master time been partly identified as Stradivari's
work and accordingly re-labelled.
From about 1668 the master signed his instruments
with his own name. It is possible that he had then left
Nicolaus and worked for himself, for he was
st
married in 1667. Nevertheless for nearly
s r « me ° s
twenty years after he adhered more or less
with his , ,
... , . /. . , .
own Name c l° se ' v to the Nicolo Amati style (viz., at

first to this master's small patterns), show-
ing individuality only in certain minor details; for
instance, the freer .shape of the scroll. 1 It was this
wise moderation, this distrusting of himself unguided
on new roads, hand-in-hand with patience that knoweth
how to await its time, which allowed the flower of Stradi-
vari's genius to grow to its full capacity. But that end
attained, there was no more uncertainty as to which path
to follow, no more feeling his way with him. This, how-
ever, was not until he had reached the ripe age of fifty-six.
It is customary to divide the life and activity of
Stradivari into three periods. On the whole,
Three such a division may be right; but as the
erio s
brothers Hill remark: 2 "It is to a great extent
misleading, for no man of Stradivari's genius
Inte lude
could be tied down to act on strict lines.
1 Stradivari's productions before 1690 have therefore been termed
2
Amatise. Antonio Stradivari,
112
;
Stradivari
Broadly speaking, he profited by experience, and avoided

as he advanced in age the shortcomings noticeable in
earlier productions; but, notwithstanding, he made at
all times throughout his life various specimens which
stand out prominently above others of the same date."
I should rather say four periods: a long spring, full of
promise; a summer full of hope; a rich, abundant autumn;

a winter mild and short. However, three periods and
an interlude between the first and second will do.
The first was the period of youth and early manhood
of learning, of fitting himself thoroughly for his calling
of acquiring, not only a wonderful skill of hand and eye,
but also an unerring judgment and insight in all matters
appertaining to his art. Then follows (till about 1684)
an interval of restrained activity. Few instruments
appear, and these are in the traditional style. are We
left in the dark as to what went on in the master's life
or in the still laboratory of his mind.

Fifteen years or so are a good slice out of a man's
life, and Stradivari, of all men, would not have squan-
dered them. What did he do ? Did he continue to

work, at least partially, in the pay of Nicolaus until the
latter's death ? Did family cares for a time suspend his
labours ? Was he busy experimenting while he kept
the wolf from the door by work in the accustomed
groove? 1 Or was it also at the same time an interlude
1
The brothers Hill mention a set of instruments which he executed
in 1682 by the order of the Venetian banker Monzi for James II., a
fact which shows that he did work for himself, and that his reputation
was growing.
"3
Story of the Violin
of travelling and looking about in the world, of broad-

ening his views and ideas, of forming connections,
commercial and otherwise, in order to obtain the desired
best possible material for his future work ? Did his
eyes perchance feast for the first time on the wonders of
Venice and Florence ? Did he hear in Rome for the
time Corelli draw the hidden soul out of a violin,
first
or did the contemplation of Raphael's and Michael

Angelo's master works, of the loggias of St. Peter's
throw a firebrand into his soul that, modest man
though he was, he exclaimed after Correggio, "Anchor'
Io son artiste "P 1
We don't know. Perhaps the mere suggestion of
thoughts as these sounds like wild exaggerations to
those who see in this incomparable master of lutherie
—
only a simple-minded, illiterate man an artisan at best,
be it the most clever one that ever lived. At all events
about 1690 a change in Stradivari's work
ge
^ ?v!^ begins to manifest itself. 2 Some of the
in work .,. ....
, .„
Amati traditions are still preserved, but the
form broadens out, the arching improves, it becomes
flatter, the degrees of thickness in the wood are carefully
determined, the ff holes appear straighter and nobler in
design, the varnish is more highly coloured and fiery;
in short, the whole instrument is approaching the stage
of perfection which it reaches with the next decade.
1 "Anchor' Io son pittore."

2 The same authorities are of the opinion that the master was influ-
enced in the conception of the long pattern now appearing by the
violins of Maggini.
114
Stradivari
Second Period. Stradivari creates master works, one

following the other, one seemingly more perfect than
the other, yet all nearly alike perfect, and
ea es
that for more than twenty-five years : 1700- JJ
1725. It is impossible to touch here on the
-m- t
details of Stradivari's incomparable art as
shown in the productions of this second period. Able
minds and pens have treated this subject in a manner
which leaves almost no room for further comment. 1
Comparing these gems with the instruments
°m "
of his predecessors, we see that no item,
however apparently insignificant or hidden,
has escaped the master's observation and failed to
become the subject of study and subsequent improve-
ment. We see this exemplified, for instance, in his
design of the bridge, which, after numberless essays
in this direction by previous makers, has to this day
remained the unimprovable pattern.
How important a factor bearing on the quality of the tone the

bridge is (this, at best, extraneous part to the violin organism) «
becomes clear when we form ever so slightly. If the

alter its
familiar pattern is replaced by a plain, square piece of wood,
the tone ceases almost entirely. Indeed, every incision, every
curve, every detail in this little marvel is not, as many think, a
thing of accident, caprice, or mere ornamentation, but the result
of endless, most delicate experiments. The primary object of
the bridge is to transmit the vibrations of the strings to the
sounding-board.
1
Hills' already-quoted work, the finest monument yet erected to
the memory of the great master ; also Fetis, Hart, etc.
"5
.
Story of the Violin
The same care is given by the master to the selection

of the wood for his instruments. When one notices
how other contemporary makers have been
Profound j
ess p art ; cu i ar on t î s po i nt ( t o the detri-
. ,Tr - ment of the tone of their instruments), one

of Wood , , . . _ '
conies to the conclusion that Stradivari

possessed not only the most profound knowledge of the
acoustical properties of wood, but very likely spared no
trouble in securing just what he wanted.
Delicate experiments 1 as to the sonority of wood used by the

master at various periods of his life have revealed the interest-
ing fact that a rod of n maple obtained from a fragment
of a Stradivari violin 'JCZS^p of the date 1717, produced (under
certain experimental ^r —
conditions) the tone sharp; a A
rod taken from another violin made in 1708 produced the same
tone; and three rods of deal obtained n a from three dif-
ferent instruments bearing the dates /K 1690, 1724, and
1730 respectively, all produced the »Jr same tone F.
Nothing can be more perfect than the master's

purfling. Seen through the magnifying-glass it looks
as if laid in by the finest machinery invented for the
purpose. The scroll, too, is a masterpiece of easy
/
grace and strength, worthy of a Benvenuto Cellini.
/ So are the ff holes, which perhaps as much as any of
the many details in the shaping of the violin body
reveal the superiority or inferiority of a maker's work-
manship, besides their form and position being of
considerable influence on the tone of the instrument.
l
. See F&is's Stradivari, pp. 78, 79.
116
Stradivari
The most striking characteristic, however, of the

Stradivari violins of this period is their general shape.
We get for the first time the so-called flat
model. The experimental efforts of the Most
preceding decade (1690-1700) had gradually _,
n ,ni"
but surely led to it. The master has given ...

his instruments a broader waist, increased
the thickness of the wood (particularly of the belly), an^
diminished the swelling or arching so that in the centre,
under the bridge, it amounts to only about half-an-
inch, while in the Stainer and Amati productions it
reached nearly double this height. ^
The result of this alteration in the general form to
which all the varying degrees of thickness in the
wood are most carefully adjusted is that wonderful
increase in the tone which makes the Stradivari
violins of the second period such unrivalled organs
of sound.
There is practically in these instruments no bottom
and no end to the tone— providing the tone-production
of the player is what it should be. At the
lightest touch of the bow this tone seems to
emerge from mysterious depths like Aphrodite out of
the deep still sea, and like her veil and beauty, to
expand, floating and trembling on the soft waves of
the air. Add to this sweetness, this mellowness,
this voluptuous, earth-born, heaven-seeking beauty a
triumphant strength, brilliancy, intensity and carrying
power, and we have indeed the non plus ultra of a
violin-tone, attained not before or ever after Stradivarius.
117 10
;
Story of the Violin
In keeping with this tone is the varnish which the

master gave to his violins. It is usually of a deep auburn-
red, replete with colour, to which is lent,
e
as its relieving concomitant, a rare trans-
parency. It is not the pure, chaste, golden
halo of morning which we see poured out over Petrus

Guarneri's instruments ; it is rather the rich deep red of
the setting sun which has received into itself the count-
less joys and sorrows of a day in the world, and bidding
it farewell, leaves a long train of purple behind on the
sky. It is further interesting and instructive that
Stradivarins, even in this period, varies his patterns in
general and in detail, with the result that seldom two
instruments of his are exactly alike. It may have been
the quality of the wood which dictated a different treat-

ment, or the special wish of a customer more often, ;
though, I believe it was the true artist spirit in him

which, absolutely sure of his powers and weary of mere
repetition, loved to play with difficulties. Yet though
he altered the mode of expressing himself, the noble
message is always the same.
The Third Period in Stradivari's life and work, to
which we now come, is, obedient to the laws of all flesh,
a period of decline. It is the late autumn
,,
'
in an artist's life, when the impetuous pro-

r
ductive force of earlier years has spent itself
when work is flowing along in the broad quiet bed of
habit and routine like a laden ship bearing down stream
towards its destiny. Stradivarius had created his master
works. But when other men have generally reached
uS
—
Stradivari
their crown of snow

at three-score years or so and give
up work, he laboured on. Much of his manhood
their
strength seemed yet in him, and he had still much to
do, though in his eighty-first year. How marvellous
such a life of usefulness And for thirteen years more
!
he was spared to enjoy the

fruits of his labour : not in
feebleness and enforced
idleness, but by adding to
—
them and particularly by
being permitted to impart
to others what had been the
glory and happiness of his own
life.
With special interest, akin to

reverence and half-envious ad-
miration, one turns to the third
and last period which also is
the closing scene of the master's
career. A venerable old man
a thin, stooping figure, in cap
and leather apron, 1 with a face FIG. 25.— STRADIVARI S HOUSE
AND SHOP.
furrowed by thought, in his little (By kind permission of W. E. Hill
kingdom (surely some small & Sons.)
workshop 2 ) surrounded by talented pupils watching,
following, and helping the master. Behold among
1 F£tis, Stradivari.
2 It is said that the loft seen in Fig. 25 on the top of the house
served as the master's workshop.
Ir 9
Story of the Violin
them his two sons, Francesco and Omoboni Carlo ;
Bergonzi, —
who like the disciple who leaned on Jesus'
His two
—
breast seemed to have understood and imi-
tated the master best the talented Guad-
.
ons, r n-
o- nm ;. an(j perhaps also, for a short time
a° ^ r
cesco and ,
least, the man who was almost to reach

, , ,
Omoboni
him in fame, the before-mentioned Giuseppe
Guarnerius. It is a charming scene one can thus conjure
up, an idyl worthy of the brush of a Rem-
A bcene brandt. This snow-haired man moving
amon & n ' s little flock, dropping advice into
R h dt
their ears as he passes them and inspects
their work, and turning again with faltering steps and
contented little grunts to his own bench of many years'
toil, to some half-finished work.
Stradivari left making
violins one year before
off
his death, which occurred at the age of ninety-three,
„, T in 1737. Already from 1730 his work
™. , shows more and more the effects of old age.
It becomes timid the workmanship loses—
its former absolute finish, and with it the tone of the
instruments in elasticity and brilliancy there is also in ;
some a touching half return to the long abandoned'

form which he cultivated in the days of his youth, and
numerically there is a rapid decrease. Some of his
last instruments he probably only prepared for his
pupils to finish, and these found later their way into the
market under the master's name. While he lived he
was most particular that no instrument except made by
his own hand from start to finish should bear his label,
120
Stradivari
usually as below (Fig. 26). The label of those made

by his pupils (mostly Bergonzi) read either— " Sub
disciplina di Ant. Stradivarius ; " or, " Sotte la dis-
ciplina di Ant. Stradivarius."
FIG. 26.
Altogether, it has been estimated that about one

thousand violins are attributable to Stradivari, and
about three hundred altos, 'celli, and other instruments,
among them different kinds of viols, some bass viols
(which at his time were yet in use in orchestras), and
also some lutes, guitars, and mandoras, very exquisitely
wrought. How many of his violins have endured to
this day I am not in the position to say, but it seems
still a goodly number. 1
My readers will be familiar with the extraordinary

prices which the best of Stradivari instruments com-
mand at the present day. 2 The master, it is said, sold
his violins at the uniform price of ^4 which would be
commensurate to about six times that amount in our
1
Hill Brothers give in their work an exhaustive list of those which
have come under their notice, with names of their present owners.
* The Violin and its Makers, Hart.
121
Story of the Violin
own time. In those days this may have been con-

sidered by him, no less than his customers, a good
price, and have secured for him a
his industry should
nice competency. Already at the beginning of the
nineteenth century prices went up in leaps and bounds,
and they have gone on increasing, and will, no doubt,
continue to do so until, as now for old masterpieces in
painting and sculpture, only millionaires will be able to
bid for them and at last they will find a resting-place,
;
one by one, storm and weather-beaten Tdmeraires, in

the haven of national museums and collections.
I should like in this connection to vindicate the rich amateur

and violin collector, who is commonly chidden because of his
withholding such priceless treasures from the hands of the pro-
fessional, —
who can put them to better viz., their proper use.
Save for such a temporary confinement, consider how few of
these old instruments would have stood the continual, merciless
strain and strife of professional life to which they are now sub-
jected. I do not know whether it is a real fact, but it is affirmed
that some of the best Stradivari violins have already been

played out, worked to death, left a mere wreck of their former
self as far as tone is concerned. I can almost believe it, for
I know from experience that a violin, when played on for hours
at a stretch, will get tired, and the voice husky like an over-
worked singer; only rest will restore the tone to its usual bright-
ness and responsiveness. In the plush-lined, scented box, under
lock and key at the rich collector's house, these old gems take
their holidays. Let us be glad for the sake of future generations,
and thankful to the rich man for his selfish propensity.
The history of the master's best violins is naturally

122
Stradivari
some of the most famous

associated with the history of
and would, no doubt, make interesting
violin-artists, 1
reading. How many triumphs some of them (the
violins, I mean) witnessed, how many thrills and
raptures of pride and enthusiasm,— yes, and how
many failures, too; how many heavy sighs of dis-
appointment, disenchantment, tremors of wounded
vanity and pride, parting with them
or regrets at
echoed through their delicate, sympathetic frames, and
tear-dimmed eyes rested inconsolably on their luminous
varnish.
Of home life we know very little.
the great master's
He was married twice, and had three sons and two
daughters by the first wife, and several
One can hardly îmagine s tradiv*r s
«'
by the second.
him otherwise than a kind husband and
father, and a good, upright man in all his dealings
with the world. His work is almost a guarantee for
those qualities. As the gardener who spends his
days in Nature's company unconsciously imbibes from
her some of her gentleness, purity, and patience, so
this man in the constant society of his wooden friends,
I could fancy, had a conscience as transparent as the
varnish of his violins, and a humour as fresh, serene,

and healthy as the smell of fresh pine and maple. At
least some of that happy symmetry, ease, and perfec-
tion which characterised his work must also have
1
Already Corelli, it is reported, used a Stradivari violin ; likewise
Viotli, Paganini, Ernst, Alard, and many others; and among modern
artists, Joachim, Sarasate, Ysaye, Lady Halle.
123
Story of the Violin
permeated and regulated his whole life. Or perhaps,

lest there should be all light and no shade in that life,
let us say, by way of conjecture, that the good master
—
was just a trifle too laborious, too exacting, too what-
—
ever you wish to call it and his wife and children, pupils,
helpmates, and patrons had not always an easy time of it.
I know a clever German violin-maker whom I have
visited occasionally in his workshop, and found in blue

working-blouse, bent over the skeleton of a future
fiddle, and somehow always pictured within myself that
noble scion of Cremona two centuries ago. This man's
hands are strong and varnish-stained, almost too strong
and muscular, it seems, to handle a thing so delicate as
a violin, to trace the slender arabesque of the purfling and
—
lay in the threads of black wood but watch him. It
is like a mother handling her little three-months'-old
baby with a firm, but ah so tender a hand. You feel

!
that not a move is wrong; there is no hurry, no flurry;

all is so sure, so steady, so delicate withal, and quick.
So this man shapes violins and cures sick ones which

—
are brought to him, while his wife good, devoted, and
—
clever little woman and a pretty daughter look after
the business and the customers. I wonder if Signpra
and Sigorina Stradivari did likewise? They say the

master was always working; surely, some one had to
see to other things for him.
What noble, soul-satisfying work though, this shap-
ing of violins must have been more satisfying, I could
;
fancy, than the kneading of the sculptor in his yielding,

ignoble clay. It had all the healthy naturalness of the
124
Stradivari
artisan's craft, without lacking the breath —ennobling,

stimulating —which blows from those loftier heights
where dwelleth the ideal. How delightful to work in
wood on which hung yet the silent mystery of forests
and the mountain-side, the echoes of distant avalanches,
and the cry of chamois and eagle And so he sat, the
!
—
master day after day, year after year, toiling from
early morn when the sun first kissed the glossy boards
hung up to dry by the open workshop window till the
"Angelus" from the near cathedral of St. Dominicus
—
rang over the quiet little town making violins, violins,
violins. Making violins until his own soul, like the
tone of one of them, tuned to the heavenly pitch at
the gentle touch of death, floated off to swell the great
orchestra of souls. Antonio Stradivari died on the 19th
of December, 1737.
The influence of this extraordinary man on the art of
violin-making, and on musical art in general, can be
readily imagined. It was an influence,
firstly,through his numerous pupils and .
followers, who carried the precept and

example of the master directly into their own
established workshops and thus enriched the world
with valuable productions; secondly, through the imita-
tion of his patterns, which form the bulk of the whole-
sale production of violins in all countries to-day;
and thirdly and but not least, through the stimu-
last,
lant which his unrivalled instruments have given to
executive and creative musical art from Corelli down to
the present time.
125
Story of the Violin
Among his pupils I have already mentioned his two
sons, Francesco and Omoboni, with whom the illustrious

„, p .. —
name seems to have died out at least, as far
as the art of lutherie is concerned. Of these
Francesco was the more prominent. Besides finishing'
a number of his father's instruments after his death, he
made some very excellent violins bearing' his own label.
Strange to say, and rather unfortunate for him, he
created a model of his own which proved inferior to
that of his master. He died but six years after his
father, preceded by one year by his brother Omoboni.
The three are buried in the same tomb.
To greater eminence attained Carlo Bergonzi (1712-
50), one of Stradivari's best pupils and imitators, who
rented the master's house and workshop, and estab-
lished himself and his two sons, Nicolaus (1730-50)
and Michelangelo, after him, at Cremona. Bergonzi's
violins are distinguished for their large and noble tone
and fine workmanship, and are consequently (since the
genuine Stradivari's have reached prohibitive figures)
much sought after by professional artists. Nicolaus
and Michelangelo Bergonzi's instruments fell below
their father's work.
Equal, if not in some respects superior, to Bergonzi's
violins are those of Lorenzo Guadagnini (1695-1740),
another of Stradivari's pupils, who established himself
at Cremona, and helped to preserve its fame for yet a
few more decades. His violins, as well as those of his
son, Joannes Baptista Guadagnini, who worked at
Parma (1750-85), are among the most highly-prized of
126
Stradivari
Cremonese instruments of the second rank. Tone and

exterior are here of equally striking perfection.
With the well-known name of Alexander Gagliano
(or Galiano), who subsequently became the founder of
a distinguished family of luthiers of the same name in
Naples, and Francisco Gobetti of Venice, the number
of Stradivari's pupils is not exhausted, and still less that
of his imitators J but I hurry on to the most eminent of
;
all as it is believed: Giuseppe Guarneri, also called
Joseph Guarneri del Gesu.

1
See Appendix.
CHAPTER XXII.
GIUSEPPE GUARNERI DEL GESU.
Among the great representatives in all the arts there

have been men who stood out from the rest like some
fantastically-shaped peak or cone in the fine clear out-
line of a mountain chain men conspicuous as much by
;
their personality as by the originality and force of their

genius; men whom we cannot altogether love and revere
(because of their faults, which are as great as their
powers), but from whom we cannot get away; who
fascinate and haunt us, whom we admire while we pity
their infirmities, and to whose greatness we surrender
because we have no measurement for it. Such a man
was Paganini Turner, I think, another. Such a man
;
was also Giuseppe Guarneri, or, as he is more often

called, Joseph Guarnerius del Gesu. Corn-
Strongest p arm g n s genius with that of Antonio
;
possi e
Stradivari's, it appears in its own strongest
Light and ...
possible
j
and
,.
'
shade.
light
, ,
There, genius
™ s:
Sh d
harmoniously filled the whole personality,
was one with it here it runs riot, is in turn the master
;
and the slave. The story of Giuseppe is short and sad.

128
Giuseppe Guarneri
—
There are question signs everywhere from the mysteri-
ous appendage to the name 1 by which the fiddle world is
wont to call him, to the mysterious sources
Q^stion
of his powers. For the rest, the details
of his chequered life, traditional reports
alone supply the much desired information, besides
what the and connoisseur have been able to
historian
read in the problematic symbolism of his works.
Joseph, then (this much we know for sure 2 ), was born
at Cremona on the 8th of June 1683— one year before
the death of Nicolo Amati— as the son of Maria
Locadella and Joannes Baptista Guarneri, brother of
old Andrew of Guarneri fame. Fiddle-maker's blood
may therefore have been running in Joseph's veins
(perchance from some unknown grandsire lute-maker),
although it is not likely that his father followed the
profession of his relatives, as no instruments with his
label are extant. For some reason or other
IS **,7
young Giuseppe also was not apprenticed
with either of his elder cousins, Joseph and
Peter, the sons of Andrew, but, if we may rely on F^tis
and other musical historians, with Antonio Stradivari,
who then, at the end of the seventeenth century, was
nearing his best creative period. How long he worked
in Antonio's workshop and with what influence on his
budding talent, historians do not tell us.
1
<f Only from the year 1725 instruments appear
jT with his labels, and he was then a man of
UJ{3 forty-two. Was he established by himself
8
Fetis.
129
—
Story of the Violin
then or before? A man of forty-two in Italy at that

time usually was. Surely he had made violins before
the age of forty-two ? What has become of them ? or
how were they labelled ? One might here press ques-
tion after question —
it is all vain. Oblivion has drawn
the veil across that part of Giuseppe's history.
What, then, is the story expressed in the language of
curves and forms, of wood and workmanship and varnish
in his works? According to F6tis, the "first
A attempts (sic) — at 42— of Joseph," "were not

marked byanycharacteristicsign of originality,
except a certain indifference in the choice of his material,
in the forms, which are variable, and in the varnish."
If fancy may be allowed to interpret fact, that part
of Joseph's life reads —to me at least — as follows:
Giuseppe learned the art of fiddle-making
„ from some other master, be this who it
may, but not from Stradivarius, who could
hardly have helped influencing a young apprentice,
no matter how talented, just as he influenced his
other pupils —
Bergonzi, Guadagnini, and Gagliano
particularly at a period when Stradivari's genius
had already attained to its fulness. This granted
(unless, perchance, Giuseppe did come to Antonio as
apprentice and ran away from the too punctilious master,
after a short time on the work-bench), it is my belief
that Joseph learned from some other inferior master. 1
1
Since writing the above I find this corroborated by Mr. Horace
Petherick, who states that it was one Andrea Gisalberti, who had con-
nections with the older Brescian makers.
130
Giuseppe Guarneri
Genius in him presently feels its way, but character
is weak. Thus Giuseppe does not get on, while others
with less talent do. His cousin Joseph helps and takes
him in, and gives him work to do (the small pattern
which Giuseppe cultivates at first seems to
point to such a relation). So the years go by.
wood
Then Giuseppe tries to stand alone, for he is _, ,
now forty-two years of age but bad habits w ortr m , n .

;
and his poverty are in the way, and the ^{p

outcome is the nature of his work described
by F^tis bad wood and careless workmanship.
:
Then comes a time, some years later, when, to quote

F£tis again :
'
' We find his instruments made with care.
The wood used for the sides and the back is of excellent
quality and cut on the quarter; 1 the deal of the belly
has been well chosen ; the varnish, of fine complexion
and elastic quality, is of the loveliest tint, and rivals
that of Stradivarius. The instruments of this period
are of small pattern, their outlines are happily designed,
the arching, slightly elevated, subsides by a gentle
curve to the purfling, the inner parts are formed of
good deal." Then F6tis goes on to speak of the
degrees of thickness in these instruments, particularly
in the middle of the back, which, in his opinion, are too
great, and '
a radical defect, impairing the elasticity,
'
the freedom of their vibration, the brilliancy of their

sound, etc." And he finishes by saying: "The stamp
of originality is apparent in them [the instruments], not-
1
On the two different ways of cutting wood for the use of violin-
making, see Fetis Stradivari, p. 49.
:
I3 1
Story of the Violin
withstanding the variable forms in which the artist still

indulges." I may add here that this, according to
Fetis, the second period is followed by a third, the

happiest and greatest in Giuseppe's life, when his genius
throws out gfems of different form and
uems 01 colours as a crystal throws out rays. The
- violins are small and large, workmanship is
p
perfect, the varnish beautiful in lustre, brilli-
Colour
ancy, and suppleness the tone rivals that of
;
Stradivari's best productions, and over all his works lies

full the charm of an originality as powerful as it is varied.
And what does all this tell ? What was the secret
lever to this most felicitous state in our artist's work ?
Was it success ? Yes but perhaps it was first some-
;
—
thing else perhaps it was first the pure, ennobling,
strengthening influence of a woman's love a loving —
wife, 1 who helped him, and urged him on, who kept him
out of wine-shops and pleasure resorts, who drudged for
him and saved to see him succeed. He did succeed
Fourth
until —
and here comes the fourth period in
Giuseppe's life— " all at once," says Fetis,
"immediately after this glorious period in
his career, Guarnerius became so inferior to himself in
the instruments which left his hands that it would be
impossible to recognise his productions if the stamp of
originality, which h'e preserved to the last in certain
details, did not assure us of their being his. Poorness in
1
According to a report which Fetis mentions, he was married to a
Tyrolese maiden, who helped him in his work.
132
Giuseppe Guarneri
the wood, in the workmanship, and in the varnish all
strike the eye of a connoisseur in a certain number of

his violins as the degenerate fruit of a great talent
decayed." I said before, he did succeed —succeeded
gloriously, — until the devil in some form or shape
enticed him away from his sweet haven of love and
peace, work and success, and he sank quicker than he
had risen,deeper and deeper, crushing in his fall a
wife already made unhappy, until he landed where as
a rule only bad or very unfortunate men land in gaol. —
Joseph Guarnerius in prison One can well
!
Joseph
picture to oneself that man awaking from
his
..
sad dream of a dissolute, irrevocably
, ..- ,
m _Prison ,
, .
spoiled hie ; tortured by remorse, and

tortured still more by the claims of the immortal
genius in him which cried for work, work ; work to
—
earn its crown not of glory any more, but of rest.
What must it have been to see the days crawl by as
if on crutches, through dim, barred prison-windows to ;
hear, perhaps, the old familiar tolling of the bells

which once had called him at eventide away from the
good work-bench into the arms of love.
Poor Joseph Guarnerius Providence sent him an
!
angel in the form of woman the gaoler's daughter,

:
who takes pity on a wretched man. Enough ! A

touching tradition says that she procured wood for him
— —
and tools good or bad and varnish where she could
get it cheap from any maker who had of it to spare.
Then Joseph Guarnerius, with feverish, badly nourished
body, set to work and made violins ah, any kind of —
J
33 ii
Story of the Violin
violins, if only they brought peace to his mind and

some little money buy more wood and varnish for
to
his eagerness to His good angel went and sold
work.
them in the street for what she could get for them,
—
and bought the desired and yes, with womanly tender-
ness, little comforts, too, besides the varnish and the
woc"^- Thus Giuseppe worked in gaol
Th V A
until one day his patron Jesus, whom he had
disgraced, took tools and wood and varnish from his tired,
trembling hands, and changed the prison into Paradise.
Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesu was the greatest master
of violin-making after Stradivari. His best instruments
are the admiration of the connoisseur, the
*"£
Greatest
amateur, and the artist alike —treasures of
their kind, made still more priceless because
. there are so few. It is interesting that even
at beginning of the last century their
*^ e
Stradivari
true value should have been hidden from the
professional world, and that, compared to Stradivari's
masterpieces, they commanded but a moderate price
a Joseph del Gesu violin,
until Pag'anini's partiality for
which he called his " cannon," drew wider attention to
their wonderful merits.
With Joseph Guarnerius's death the first-rank master-
period in the art of lutherie ends. There was yet, it
is true, a good, large after-growth of second,
The First-
and fourth rate makers in various
third,
rank Master _
towns an ac tivity almost feverish,
Italian
as if these men, possessed of the full in-
heritance of their masters and predecessors, had a
J
34
Giuseppe Guarneri
presentiment that with them the art would die, and
that they had to leave the world provided for in time
to come. Towards the latter part of the same
century, beginning at Cremona (where the art had first
flowered), and spreading farther, silence slowly de-
scended on the once busy workshops, and now the
grass grows on the doorsteps and deserted streets.
One by one the toilers went to their well-earned rest,
and with them, piece by piece, the priceless jewels of
the art — viz., workman-
the secrets of the varnish, of
ship and wood, two centuries. Or is
collected through
it not so ? Before trying to answer this question (to
the best of an enthusiast's abilities) let us shortly con-
sider the countries outside Italy. What were their
contributions to the art of lutherie?
'35
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE ART OF VIOLIN-MAKING IN FRANCE, ENGLAND,

AND GERMANY.
Duiffoprugcar died in France, and was buried

there. He may have left some Lyons,
pupils in
but his great spirit did not linger there with them.
Post-haste it made for Italy to haunt the lovely valley
of the Po, and visit young Da Salo and
No French Andrew Amati in their dreams. find no We
t> luthier of renown in France until much later,
when in Italy the art had already reached its
climax or begun to decline. Indeed, if we except
Nicolaus Lupot (born in Stuttgart in 1758, died in
Paris in 1824), who made some much-valued violins and
'celli after Stradivari's models and rules,
'
. and a few other makers like Nicolas and
Francois Mddard 1 (1680-1720), Ambroise de
Comble (1730-60), and John Vuillaume of Mirecouct
(1700-40), whom F^tis mentions as direct pupils of
Stradivarius ; and further, Jacques Bocquay (1700-30),
1
Henri Medard was the founder of the large violin manufactory at
Mirecourt.
136
—
Violin-making in France
Claude Pierray (1725), Louis Guersan (1760); and, in

more recent times, Chanot, Gand, and J. B. Vuillaume.
France's contribution to the list of celebrated
0n n "
makers very small, and, then, her best
is o .
TU- t,on Small

ones are u 1
• -j.
but imitators. 1
Ihis seems strange
considering how artistic and emotional her people are,
and how just that art should have appealed to them
in its simple charm, not to mention that France was
the nursery of the rebec and viol, and the home of the
troubadour. Was it perhaps the centralisation of all
artistic life in Paris which denuded the provinces of just
those elements best suited for following this particular
art?
But although France cannot boast of Victor Hugos,
Alfred de Mussets, and Francois Millets in fiddle-making,
and whatever the reason of this barrenness, she has
produced a line of men who understood the art of
— —
imitation an art, too no doubt a very useful one
albeit fraught with danger to him who gives himself up
to it exclusively at the sacrifice of originality. In this
particular line French luthiers have remained almost un-
excelled. It may be that it was this very cleverness at
imitation which taught the French violin-
eve
makers from M^dard and De Comble down to . .
desist from all attempts at original work,

that more likely than not would prove futile in the
end. To this day the amateur, eager to procure an old
violin, and yet not in the position to pay for a better
Italian production, will most safely seek it among the
1
See Appendix.
'37
Story of the Violin
large number of instruments left by the various third

and fourth-rate French makers. 1 The wood is usually
selected with knowledge and care, the workmanship is
good, the varnish durable and very attractive in colour
and tints and, above all, the pattern in most cases is
;
that of Stradivarius and Guarnerius.

Turning to England, we find here too some praise-
worthy efforts in violin-making. We need not go back
to a father and son Ross who worked in
Violin-
London between 1562 and 1600, and were
j* simply viol and lute-makers; nor to one
p t
Aldred (1560), or Richard Hume of Edin-
burgh, also sixteenth-century viol and lute-maker. Even
from a time as remote as 1578 the name of J. Pemberton
has come down as the probable creator of the violin
now on exhibition at the South Kensington Museum
(lent by the Earl of Warwick), which Queen Elizabeth
is said to have presented to her favourite, the Earl
of Leicester. The arms of both these personages
are engraved in silver on the finger-board, and the
date, 1578, with the initials "J. P." on the tailpiece.
The instrument is mentioned by Hawkins and Dr.
Burney in their histories of music, but is interesting
more as a curiosity than as possessing intrinsic musical
value.
Of later date than this somewhat legendary maker
(at least as far as violins are concerned) is a certain
"Jacob Rayman," a Tyrolese by birth, who first
1
See Appendix.
138
Violin-making in England
introduced the Stainer models into England. He lived

in London about the middle of the seventeenth century.
Other makers of the second half of the
seventeenth and beginning- of the eighteenth English
century are: Edward Pamphilon; Barak Nor- workers:
mann (1688-1740), the best old English viol I?th * n
jj
and violin-maker, imitator of Maggini Cuth- j-. ; . ,
bert Urquhart, William Addison (1670), and an(j L ater

Thomas Cole (1690), a celebrated old master.
In the course of the eighteenth century we meet with
several distinguished names, chief among them that of
Richard Duke (Holborn, London, 1768), who imitated
the best Stradivari patterns, and also those of Amati
and Stainer in a most meritorious style and Benjamin;
Banks (Salisbury, 1727-95), one of the best English

makers, whose instruments are justly appreciated.
In still more modern times, reaching to our day, per-
haps best known are the names of: John Thomas Hart
(1805-74), noted for his valuable collection of old violins
and as a sound student and connoisseur of the Italian
masters; William Ebsworth Hill and Sons, descendants of
William Joseph Hill (see Appendix); and Thomas Dodd,
justly famous for his bows, which rank with the best.
To these names, besides others given in the Appen-
dix, representing English activity in violin-making,
could doubtless be added many more, 1 but
0W'°S
it would be misplaced patriotism to assert
n .
that on the whole these makers — distin-

1
See also the recent publication, English Violin-makers, by Meredith
Morrison ; 1904.
J
39
Story of the Violin
guished though they be, and insome instances showing

originality in certain details —were more than faithful
and clever imitators of the Italian and
j . Tyrolese masters. Indeed, from a pure
imitation point of view, it must be conceded
that they were, generally speaking, inferior to their
French neighbours. Probably the climate had some-
thing to do in the case of wood and varnish, just as it
has in the manufacture of gut-strings, which deteriorate
in proportion as they are made farther away from the
genial climate of the Gaglianos. 1
Germany's (including Austria's) contribution to the
fiddle-making art is also on the whole of an imitatory
nature, but with this difference, which places

violin-
jjer at an advantage over other countries out-
s side Italy, that she can trace the origin of the
c
back to one of her own sons,
art directly
Jacobus Stainer. This Tyrolese master is truly and
indisputably the founder of German lutherie, for,
although it may be urged that even Stainer primarily
reflected only Italian art (viz., Nicolaus Amati), he is
sufficiently original to deserve that distinction. The
influence of the Cremonese schools began somewhat
later to assert itself in Germany as elsewhere. In
Stainer's modest Absam workshop lay the sources of
activities one of which has since grown into a stately
river of national income and national pride. One
1
Most prominent manufacturers of strings in Italy, descendants of
the famous violin-maker of the same name, Alexander Gagliano. See
Stradivari's pupils.
140
Violin-making in Germany
might perhaps divide these activities in the father-
—
land into three classes: First: The legitimate artistic
imitation by sound -makers who
good T
,
were satisfied to copy their Stainer and

the Cremonese masters with as much fidelity as
possible, even to the degree of occasional slight de-
ceptions by way of making their productions look like
genuine, and in rare cases, and less to their credit, by
selling them, too, as such. Second: The dabbling of
cranks who could not resist the temptation
of wanting to improve on the Stainer and . ,-,
f
Italian patterns,and by inoculating their
own individuality produced not only deformities,
acoustic impossibilities, but helped also to impair the
slow-growing reputation at home and abroad of the
legitimate maker. 1 Third: The wholesale imitation and
production of instruments as it is carried on to-day in
several fiddle-making centres of Germany with great
benefit to the producers as well as the world at large.
Poor Stainer Did he dream that such would be his
!
influence ? Of course it was not his alone, but it was

to a large degree. Of the first class, the
sound-makers, we need not speak at length. ,
Though their names 2 were and are legion,

one or several to be found in every good-sized German
or Austrian town, their reputation, with few excep-
1
A few exceptions are also here to be found. H. Starcke mentions
one Rauch (Breslau), who built violins after his own model, and is
counted among the cleverest German makers.

2 See Appendix.
141
Story of the Violin
tions, till now

has been more or less local. With the
second we can likewise dispense.
class, the dabblers,
It only remains now to speak of the third activity.
Jacobus Stainer had two pupils of the name of Klotz

— viz., Egidius Klotz, the father (1660-75), 1 an d Matthias
Klotz, the son (1660-1720), both equally clever men,
and perfect imitators of their master, as their instru-
ments prove. Egidius died, but Matthias, when he
had learned enough (he also studied in Cremona and
Florence), soon after Stainer's death settled in his
native town, Mittenwalde, a small place at the foot of
the Tyrolese (Bavarian) mountains, where good material
for his instruments was
and easily to be got,
plentiful
and founded there a second "miniature" Cremona.
Miniature is hardly the right word except in its artistic
sense, for viojin-making in Mittenwalde became the
cradle of the wholesale fabrication of stringed instru-
ments in Germany.
Ason of Matthias, Sebastian Klotz, almost as clever
as his father, and after him Matthias Hornstainer
(Sebastian's pupil), carried on what soon became a
large, well-paying business.
To fill a fast-increasing want for instruments yet
cheaper than the Mittenwalde products, similar in-
dustries sprang up in two small places,
v
p , . villages at first, on the Saxon and Bohemian

frontier— Klingenthal and Markneukirchen,
which to-day together produce the largest number of
cheap fiddles in the world. 2
1 a
Dates of productivity. Not excepting Mirecourt, in France.
142
— —
Violin-making in Germany
As already introduced by Hornstainer in Mittenwalde,
the manufacture of violins here carried on, on the
is
principle of divided labour. The whole population

practically shares in the work, from the little mite in
blonde locks, who holds the mother's or elder sister's
varnish-pot (for women mostly do the varnishing) to
the veteran master or foreman maker and his Gesellen,
who cut by hand or machinery the boards for belly,
back, and sides, and glue them together.
It is a great, fiddle kingdom which the stranger
enters in Markneukirchen. The kings there for there —
are —
more than one are not great fiddlers or great
makers of fiddles, but men who do the selling and ex-
porting, the men of books and bank accounts. Their
armies are the workers, generals, captains, recruits,
and volunteers :
Every house and hut is busy; smell of glue where'er you

venture,
Arid the hissing of machinery mixing with the hum of
voices.
Instruments are made to order from three shillings for
the dozen
To three hundred for one fiddle; plain and inlaid, of all
patterns,
Stainer, Strad, and Guarneri, and Amati, Guadagnini;
That's Markneukirchen on the frontier of Saxonia and
Bohemia.
The export figures startle the imagination. I quote
from a report which appeared in the Allgemeine

Mustkalische Zeitung of the year 1800 (No. 1) :
143
—
Story of the Violin

"At Markneukirchen, worked year in year out:
78 masters (with hands and apprentices) at violins, altos and
basses.
26 „ „ „ „ violin bows.
30 „ „ „ „ gut strings.
At Klingenthal:
85 masters (with hands and apprentices) at violins.
The minimum of violins produced in both places is 36,000."
What may be the minimum now, a hundred

years
later ? And what be a hundred years from now ?
will it
Oh! ye shades of Duiffoprugcar, Da Salo, Andrew

Amati, and Jacobus Stainer And these many hundreds
!
of thousands of fiddles have gone to make as many

hundred thousands happy (and some unhappy, too)
human beings in all parts of the globe, in all conditions
of in the hills and in the plains, in the woods and
life,
in the Pampas, human beings on the outskirts of civili-

sation, in clean, bright suburban houses, and in the
back alleys of our big cities Yes, blessed be the
!
violin and praised Neukirchen, Klingenthal, and Mire-

court 1
144
CHAPTER XXIV.
IS IT A SECRET?
What making fiddles as these old Cremonese masters

!
1
did? "There is no secret about it," says your modern

maker of violins and 'cellos; "it is all a silly fable,"
and he tries to smile, to lessen what he thinks a blow
to tender feelings —
that amiable, grim, contemptuous
smile such superior knowledge gives when
which —
dealing with an ignoramus like yourself.
" But the tone?" you put in feebly.
"Will be," says he with emphasis, "as good a
hundred years hence as any of those gems by Guarneri
and Amati."
And the varnish ? " you falter and picking up
'
'
cpurage when you see him somewhat dazed "This,"

;
—
you point to one of his creations, " looks so dreadfully
—hm— so cruelly—hm— red—hm—ugly."
Then quickly he is up in arms, and crushes you with
expert weapons. "Wait," he says; " when that fiddle
is played on and handled for a while, it will shine like
wax. The best of oil varnish this ; take my word for
it, — — — —
that hm ugly hm new look will rub off in
time;" and so he goes on to convince you that his
violins are made exactly like the Cremonese ones, and
that his violins will sound less than fifty years hence
145
Story of the Violin
exactly like your Cremonas, and that, in short, you are

a poor fool for ever having thought otherwise. But, of
course, you don't now
you don't buy his violin just
(only
yet). You begin to believe that he must be right until —
you are outside the shop, and then you murmur with
Galilean obstinacy (or isjt conviction?), "And yet it is
—
a secret it must be after all." —
Yes, what is it? The instruments of these Italian
masters have been copied so that one can hardly dis-
tinguish them from the originals. Through -the magni-
fying-glass the wood has been dissected. Splinters of
it have been dried, roasted, made into a powder,
steamed, soaked in water, vinegar, and preserved in
alcohol; the measurements, the proportions of thickness
of belly and back have been taken with the minutest
care, with the latest improved instruments to the one-
hundredth part of an inch the breadth of a hair. The —
least detail, in short, has been made the subject of pro-
found study, but no one could reasonably
OUr
. .
affirm that the copies equal the originals,
on ions
^ n( t jjere can possibly be only four con-
1 .
j
J „'..
Possible ... 5. , . , , .
ditions on which this secret, if it is one,

hangs — viz., on wood, age, workmanship or art, and
the varnish.
What was in wood of the great Cremonese
the
masters? I fear was, as that certain oft-quoted
it
painter said of his colours, "mixed with

bo " t
brains." Mr. Hart in his work on the
^ violin refers to the peculiarity "which the
old masters had of piecing — that is, of using under
146
Is it a Secret ?
certain circumstances small bits of wood, piecing

them together (thus going to no end of trouble) rather
than use a possibly inferior or less suitable material
of which there was abundance. That certainly is a
significant proof of how careful these men were, and
how much they knew about wood as to its acoustical
possibilities. How far this knowledge, was self-acquired
by the master, or handed down from former genera-
—
tions like the wonderful efficacy of certain herbs
which was the secret of our great-grandmothers we —
cannot tell.
It is told of Stainer that he used to go into the wild
mountain fastnesses of the Tyrol and pick out the
trees, the wood of which he wished to use for his
violins —
usually such as had already begun to die off
at the top ;that further, before felling a tree (with his
own hand) he would knock with a hammer against the
—
trunk and listen to its sound its musical soul, as it
were. What did he hear ? He only knew. He also,
it is said, would sit at the foot of a steep incline from
which felled trees were being hurled down into the

valley,and listen to the tone they emitted in falling
from boulder to boulder. The grand poetry of it!
Like blind Homer listening to the heart-beat of the
ancient world. Ah, Jacob Stainer!
It is one of the marvels in the construction of the
violin that its essential parts must be composed of two
—
kinds of wood; usually pine and maple the former for
belly (the sound-board), the latter for the back and
sides. Savart, the eminent French savant, has by
147
Story of the Violin
ingenious experiments found out that pine, as the

better conductor of sound, stands to maple in the
proportion of 12 to 8. 1 Should these old masters,
with something akin to the instinct of the mediaeval
alchemist and astrologer, have understood more than
our twentieth-century makers about this perfect mating
of wood to produce the perfect marriage of sound ?
We are told the Cremonese makers procured their
maple wood from as far as Turkey and Galicia, where
it was shipped to Venice for the purpose of serving
for the production of rudders for the galleys. At any

rate they got the pine or deal for the belly of their
instruments (which is usually considered the most
important part) from the Tyrolese and Swiss mountain
slopes, where the dryness of the soil and the compara-
tive stability of climatic conditions favoured a slow
growth of the tree and with it its acoustic properties
which are almost nil in wood of soft and spongy
fibre. This seems very plausible, but who will
pretend that the supply of similar material from those
or other parts of the world, that great storehouse of
nature's liberality, has ceased, say that where
or
Stainer found his wood two hundred and fifty years
—
ago he would not find it still were he to live again ?
How do our makers procure their wood ? I do not
presume to know for sure, but I suppose in most
cases from the merchant who buys it wholesale and
retails it to them. At all events, I do not think they go
into the mountains like Stainer to pick out the trees,
1
See Fetis : Stradivari.
148
—
Is it a Secret?
even if they knew one from another (as to the greater

or less suitability of their wood for the purpose of
lutherie), which is doubtful. Is the secret then in the
wood ? Most assuredly but it is only part of it.
;
As the farmer sowing his seed in the autumn hopes

—nay,
for is sure of
tu
— his crops in the follow-
I a if ..
About Age
jng spring, so present-day
the maker ot
violins expects from the future the crown which his own
generation withholds from him.
It seems reasonable enough to suppose that age will
improve a fiddle as it does wine ; but absolutely sure
no, we are not. Nor are we sure even that merely
playing on a violin will so very materially (as it is
usually taken for granted) change for the better its
inherent qualities. 1 The best proof for doubt on this
score is furnished by spme of these very gems of the
Italian masters which are held up as examples.
F£tis 2 relates one case of a Stradivari violin having
practically never been touched since it left the master's
hand, and when played upon showed every quality which
we admire in his other instruments. This has been
the experience of more than one professional player.
On the other hand, how is it that instruments quite as
old as or older than the Bergonzis and Guadagninis, etc.
(leaving Stradivari and Joseph Guarneri out entirely),
excellent copies by German, French, and English
makers — —
nay, Italian ones too do not exhibit the same
or similar qualities, were age the great sole factor
behind the Italian master-works?
1 2
See below. Stradivari.
149 12
—
Story of the Violin
But there is (I would not like to call it

one thing
fact) interesting in connection with playing on a violin.
It is that a good player's playing will do what a bad
player's playing cannot do; in other words, an instru-
ment may and may not improve under certain condi-
tions with age — viz., playing. We
of know nothing
the secret workings in the wood, of the tumultuous
life among the molecules when the bow calls them
"awake"; but it has been my experience (and I have

heard it corroborated) that a tolerably good instrument
will deteriorate in a comparatively short time under
the clumsy, harsh, unsympathetic treatment (tone-
production) of a pupil, and from this one may infer
that the opposite is the case under opposite circum-
stances. Is it with these molecules of the wood when
the bow moves over the string as with a sleeping
camp surprised by the enemy, the millions of them
scrambling hither and thither to get in line? Does a
bad tone-production act on them like a bad com-
mander, and when this is repeated and repeated does
the whole molecular army become demoralised, and
improve again only when there is a complete change
at headquarters? At all events one thing is fairly
certain a bad instrument to begin with
: —
bad in wood,
deficient in workmanship, of an unfavourable pattern
will never materially improve with age, and just in
proportion as all these conditions are fulfilled, and
atmospheric and other influences are favourable, just
so an instrument will stand a better chance with
aee.
—
Is it a Secret ?
The firmness, suppleness, and durability of the

varnish of the best Italian instruments are indeed
marvellous. Take the back of such an
old Cremonese fiddle where this, the precious ,, ?"
,, Varnish ,
covering, is apparently worn away by use,
and hold it There it sparkles and
against the light.
glitters like half-hidden diamonds. Varnish is there
nay, fire, gold, and all; they seem to have soaked
into every fibre of the wood, loving it, craving it,
being one with it. Then take the violin of an inferior
German or English maker in the same condition.
Where varnish was, varnish is no more, and lasciate
—
ogni speranza to find any. Mr. Hart, in his book
already quoted, is inclined to let the varnish of those
Italians pass as a lost secret. He says, by way of
conjecture, it may have been quite a common com-
modity in Italy in the great day of Cremona, and with
the cessation of the demand for it the recipe may
have been lost. Hermann Starcke 1 remarks that it
contained the resin of a certain specie of pine which,
since then, seems to have died out in Italy. The
resin was called dragon's-blood. I am inclined to
believe that the climate and the method of applying
it to the wood had also something to do with its
remarkable staying power, etc., just as the colouring
was most certainly an art characteristic of each maker
to a more or less marked degree. 2 These men, from
1
Die Geige: Hermann Starcke; also corroborated by Niederheitmann.
2
On the singularly great influence of varnish on the tone; etc. , see
Hill Brothers' Life and Work of Antonio Stradivari.
'5 1
Story of the Violin
old Andrea Amati and his sons down to Stradivari and

his pupils, livedand breathed fiddle-making air Just
fancy half-a-dpzen or more such excellent men all
huddled together in a little town, at one time no less
than three of the most eminent in the same street,
almost side by side. Jealousy does not seem to have
existed; at least it was made obedient to the desire
common to all: to create the best possible instruments,
best sounding, and best looking.
TJiere was healthy competition. When they met
of an evening in the osteria, what did they talk but
fiddles, varnish, colouring — shop, in other words; and
every discovery would sooner or later become the
little
property of all, however jealously guarded at first

by this or that master. Hence the comparative uniform
excellence of the varnish of the Italian instruments.
Perhaps also centuries back, even in the mediaeval
times of the first lute-makers, 2 it may have been dis-
covered that a certain addition of some transparent
substance, a few drpps in the varnish-pot of this or
that, who knows? —
a secret then, yes, perhaps some-
—
thing of that sort a trick of the trade, a small, lost
—
item gave the varnish its superior qualities.
As regards the way of applying the varnish, that
surely, like all else, was a knowledge handed down,
and in all cases conformable to the climate, the wood,
1
According to Branzoli (Manuale Storico del Violinista), real varnish
was applied to musical instruments from about 1400 in Italy, but
became general half a century later one of the first lute-makers noted
;
for his superior varnish was Mailer, or Maler, born in Venice, 1460.
1*2
,
Is it a Secret?
seasons, and so forth. Doubtless our instrument-

makers have tried every conceivable method 2 of apply-
ing varnish, but a child may hit on the truth which the
wise pass by unheeding. A small insignificant item,
observed or omitted, may make all the difference.
Not fiddle "making" but "creating" lay in the air
which Stradivari and his pupils breathed. The young
disciple caught the spirit as soon as he had
come within the magic circle of that town About
~
Cremona. As our future Wagners and , .
_ , . , , , . ship in Art
. ,
.
1 schaikowskys learn their counterpoint and

composition, with a higher aim in front of them, so
they acquired all that could be taught with the ultimate
object of launching out for themselves; not alone to
establish a trade for themselves or to make money, but,
in the better cases at least, to produce, to create,
compose violins of their own individuality. And who
will deny the great difference which lies between this
conception of the violin-making art and that mostly
prevailing in these days ? Of course, like our young
composers, not all of them had something new to
say not all were Amatis and Guarneris, or even
;
Gaglianos and Gobettis. There were the talented and

the dull ones, and the dull ones remained dull and
became mere copyists and imitators. But it seems that
the talented ones, while they were yet working with
their master, were permitted to issue works with their
own name. What a life-giving stimulus for work True !
1
See Hermann Sfarcke Die Geige, "A Otto: Uber der Bau und
:
die Erhaltung der Geige"; Branzoli Storico del Violinists

:
'S3
— ;
Story of the Violin
art-spirit this was, such as the clever artisan these days

knows not. All other conditions being favourable, it
was bound good fruit. Take even the pro-

to bring
ductions of the second and third-rate Italian maker.
They may be modelled after Stradivari or Giuseppe
Guarneri, but they have their own certain characteristic
qualities, their individuality; may lie where it will, in
it
the design of the scroll or in the tints, the colour of the

varnish, it is there like a trade-mark, and by it the
maker is recognised. It is the mark which original,

creative thought has left. Some men, like Stradivari,
were all thought, giants in their line ; others were less
blessed, but they seldom failed to show something of
theirown.
Yet this is not all. We admire the marvellous work-
manship, outside and inside, of Stradivari's instruments
but where do we find the maker to-day, who, like that
great master, is prepared to sacrifice years of his life to
study only; who with one purpose straight before him,
does not count the cost? Alas, men have no time now
to squander on attempts. Life is too short, too dear.
The hoar-frost of commercialism likes to lay its cruel
hand on tender shoots, which pierce the surface of the
soul to get a glimpse of heaven.
So silence reigns where once the buzz of voices;
where joy and sorrow went in and out, there sits
oblivion at the doorstep and mourns
r (
,
or clattering indifference, which is worse.

Cremona, once the Mecca of a glorious art, is but a
dreary little country town in which only a few people
154
Conclusion
have ever heard or read of Stradivari and Amati.

Similar, though not so striking, it is in other, towns of
violin-making fame. There are, of course, some clever,
earnest workers here and there, who can make a fiddle,
cut a bridge, and insert a new sounding-bar; but on
the whole, Italy has fallen far behind other countries.
It seems almost as if, once the crown gone, everything
was gone. A king cannot go begging. Even the
master-works of Stradivari and Joseph del Gesu have
turned their backs on their fair native land. They are
more numerous everywhere than in Italy. Dealers,
amateurs, and artists go to London to buy old Italian
instruments. But then, violins like mortals will go
where money is, and that commodity is said to be still
scarce in the land where sun, macaroni, and good
cheer are plentiful. Only the manufacture of unrivalled
gut-strings remains of a glory which has passed from
—
her fair Italy. For ever ? No who can tell but that
;
new life will flow back once more into now stagnant
arteries that again Italy will lead in the track of her
:
great children of the past. Already the last twenty

years have witnessed a change for the better. It pul-
sates fresher through her veins of commerce, trade,

and handicraft. National unity and the results of
better education, better government, are being felt
everywhere. And art is lifting her head like the flower
that feels theglow of the sun. So, perhaps, also the
long-departed spirit of true fiddle-making will once
more return and dwell in its own native land. It will not
be in the North. It will be where the joy of living is
155
Story of the Violin
the people's breath of life. Not in proud, philosophical

Germany, nor in smart, superficial France, nor in cold,
commercial England, nor in money-mad America but —
in the land of the muses: Italy, where the sun is so
bright, and the air is so sweet, and the sky is so blue,
and the people are so poor and contented there, some
;
day the old root may set on new shoots and grow as
before into a glorious tree.
1.56
PART II.
VIOLIN-PLAYING AND VIOLIN-PLAYERS.
CHAPTER I.
PR.ELUDIUM.
Corelli is commonly called the father and founder of

artistic violin-playing. Essentially this is true, for
although Gasparo da Salo and Andrea Amati
had lived and died, and violin-playing in con- Father and
sequence had been carried on long before ounaer °*
Corelli was born, there is no predecessor or
v ., ,
contemporary of the Italian master who could . .
reasonably lay claim to the same distinction.

It was Corelli who raised "fiddling" to the dignity
of an art by the side of other reproductive arts; who
first (in his own land at least) freed it from mediaeval
tavern and trampdom reminiscences, and the fiddler

from the unsavoury reputation of quackery and trickery
and smelling of strong drinks which hitherto had
clung around him like wet clothes around a swimmer;
and who made a place for him on one of the back
benches in Olympus. It was Corelli who, by the
157
Story of the Violin
purity and modest grandeur of his style, unlocked the

door of the church to a young art, and gained for it
a powerful and generous friend and patroness. It was
Corelli, before all, who created a style of
A Style of composition for the new instrument at once
Composi- appropriate to its nature and full of future
-j T
possibilities —a style which, nurtured and
. impregnated with the best art traditions
of a Palestrina and Gabrielli, formed a sure
and broad foundation for the lofty structure which it
was the privilege of future masters of the violin to erect
on it.
But artistic violin-playing, of which Corelli is indeed
the radiating point for all future development, is after
all only the child of something else, whatever it be,
preceding it as the leaf and bud precedes the flower;

—
and if we would trace that something call it what you
will, fiddling, viol or rebec playing, street-fiddling, any-
thing at all —
to its beginning, we have to take another
long journey back through mediaeval times. There,
like a landmark, I see a hand raised out of
"
a long-forgotten grave It is poor Char-
!
>tt
millon's, king of ribouds. "And I?" it
says; " I am Jean Charmillon's, king of ribouds: has
an ungrateful world forgotten me ? I played the fiddle
too." "And I!" "And I!" I see hands starting up
all over France and Germany and England, Hungary
and Spain North, East, and West, beyond the Danube

;
and the Vistula, thousands of them. Poor fellows, who

all played the fiddle well, they thought, and cannot sleep
158
Prseludium
in peace, it seems, because of Corelli's fame. Or is it
because of the musical historian ?
I fear that honest searcher after truth, the musical
historian, has not a very high opinion of poor Jean and

his fiddling,wandering brethren of the craft. A musical
historian, you see, my dear Jean, wants proofs, evid-
ence, etc. What a noble King of France thought and
said and made of you in 1 235 is of no account to him.
Evidence of your abilities is wanted, and evidence, most
unfortunately, is missing.
While many specimens of the poetry of the times
exist —
chansons in the soft euphonious French of
Provence, charming in form, feeling, and grace of lan-
guage, and veritable gems of the minnesangers, Walter
von der Vogelweide, Heinrich von Ofterdingen, Wol-
—
fram von Eschenbach, and others there is not one
small item, not one little scrap of a musical
Instru-
manuscript, a dozen notes or so bearing
testimony to the worldly music of the times. __ . ,
Nor had they press-reporters, critics, inter- t ^ •j-£ me

viewers in those days. The monks, who
mostly did the writing, and faithfully chronicled prayers,
parish gossip, and historical events, did not think it
worth their while to record the half-mad doings of those
incorrigibles, the minstrels and jongleurs.
Now, absence of all other evidence, the musical
in the
historian has seen fit to draw his inferences as to the
abilities of those fiddlers a la Charmillon: on the one
hand, from the standard of theoretical music at the
times ; on the other, from the nature of their instruments
159
Story of the Violin
so far as we can judge of them by means of illustra-

tions, etc. But are such conclusions really fair, and
above all, are they infallible ? Would they be con-
sidered so to-day? Can the contrapuntal
Contra- gropings and meanderings of the early
puntal
(who seem to have had any amount
theorists
, of brains but no ears) possibly be taken as
a cr i ter i° n f° r the merry music-making of
'
Criterion
the wayfaring man, —
blessed perhaps with
somewhat muddled brains, but ears sharp and open,
to be sure, for that which pleased their fellow-men and
brought coppers into their cap ? What conclusions
as to the possibilities of the violin can the uninitiated
draw by seeing the little, curious-looking object in the
shop window ? Can he possibly imagine from its form
the wondrous beauty of its voice, or do four
r mus "
strings suggest the uncanny dexterity of a
. Paganini? Nor can we judge by the illus-
'
. trations (mostly bad ones too) of a rebec or

geige what feats a king of rebecca-players
might have been able to perform on it.
This Jean Charmillon, like others of his class, very
likely was engaged as jongleur in the suite of some
fine troubadour at first, his duty to accompany his
master's song, and in odd intervals give extra proofs
of his dexterity. Does any one seriously think he
stood before his king, before the lords and ladies of
the court, and held out notes or played unsingable
contrapuntal balderdash, and was he for that created
king of ribouds ? No, not he. To charm his king,
1 60
ravww.y&a
FIG. 26a. — ME1STERHEINRICH WROWENLOB (FRAUENLOE),

FAMOUS MINNESANGF.R, 13TH CENTURY.
Praeludium
Jean Charmillon played dances, pretty tunes, tricky

little runs, and other things, while he used his bow
and fingers well. So we — although, of course, it
must remain a matter of conjecture believe

entirely —
that in many instances the wandering man's attain-
ments were not of so low an order as is commonly
accepted.
The general standard of music, even in the romantic
age of song (of which I now speak), may have been
low ; even the then much-praised singing of the
troubadours and minnesanger may have had little to
recommend it to modern ears and as for church
;
music, we know that two more centuries had to

elapse before Dunstable and Dufay, and the Netherland
composers, appeared on the scene but what of that ?
:
Have we not examples of a musical irresponsibility

such as these wayfaring men represented in the
gipsies of to-day? What daring, what bewildering
talent in some of these nature's musicians Surely
!
many of Jean Charmillon's fiddling brethren, like the

gipsies, had music running in their veins like blood;
they could not help it, no more than the bird can help
singing. Give such a born musician the most wretched
of fiddles and he will yet make it sing. Give him a
rebec or an antediluvian viol and he will not be long
discovering and bringing to light its hidden resources.
What possibly could have been these resources? It
has been pointed out by the historian that on nearly
all representations of mediaeval fiddles, rebecs, and
viols the bridge appears (if it does at all appear)

161
—
Story of the Violin
perfectly flat. But look at the representations of

men and women's faces and figures at about the
same period, the almost laughable inaccuracies in the
drawing: here, a head which stands almost horizontally
to the neck; there, fingers as long as the face and feet.
Can we then expect miniature, etc., illustrations of
instruments with which monks adorned their manu-
scripts, etc. —
of instruments which require some
technical knowledge to be understood to be more —
accurate in the drawing ? I don't believe that
musicians could have used flat bridges for centuries
when it was just as easy for them to cut a bridge
round, and a rounded bridge gave them an opportunity
of sounding each string separately —for centuries, I
say, in the light of reason is such a thing possible?

Yet supposing it had been, I know of few more
charming effects on the violin than those produced
musette-fashion one open string (muted if you will)
:
held out while the melody is simultaneously sustained

on the string above or below.
We find these effects largely in music of the primitive
kind. Doubtless they were among the first discovered
on bowed instruments, on which alone they
Music of are p 0SS ; D i e) if we except the bagpipe and,
* , of course, the organ. They are suggestive
,
K> , of. the inner life of Nature — suggestive of the

buzzing of her countless insect life, her
brooding and falling asleep amid contented murmur-
ings, like a tired child on a hot July afternoon
primeval sounds of the big soul of Nature which the
162
Praeludium
inner (and outer) ear of the musician caught and never

let go again. They are yet largely used as bass
continuo, or lying bass effects, etc., in modern
compositions, and formed the many
the basis of
unmistakable attempts at legitimate tone-painting or
colouring by the early Italian violin-masters.
So, again, although on the whole fiddle-playing in
the earlier Middle Ages was possibly primitive to a
degree not much exceeding the rendering of a dance
tune, slow or lively, and some feeble attempts at
descant after the manner of the faux bourdon of the
church singers. 1 Possibly in some cases it attained to
— for the times —
a startling technical development.
It is often cited that the use of the positions dates
from a very much later time. If that were true, which
is by no means proved in the case of rebec-players,
what a variety of effects with bow and fingers can

be produced even under such limitations. The voice
seldom soars beyond B and C above the staff, and the
world of song is practically unlimited.
So much about the possible abilities of Corelli's earliest
fiddling predecessors. I may add yet that, as we see
depicted on Fra Angelico's picture of the angel with

the rebec, the rebec, in some cases at least, was
held much —
our violin that is, above the breast,
like
near the neck. Such a position indicates the compara-
tive ease with which the instrument must have been
handled, thus encouraging daring technical feats, and
1
"Faux bourdon was first introduced in France by French minstrels."
— Dr. Heinrich Kostlin in Ceschichte der Music.
1 6-5
Story of the Violin
quite different from the method required for the heavy,

clumsy viols of a later time, which were held either
against the breast or between the legs like the violon-
cello, or also played like our double-bass. It also
seems to point to the important part the rebec played
in the invention of the right, present, graceful size of
the violin.
Probably more accurate is the estimate of the musical

historian as to the abilities of the violist of the four-
teenth and fifteenth centuries. The very
Fiddle number and character of the instruments,
, '
.
an d the uses to which they were put sheds
.
y light on this subject. And of particular
f,
significance seems to me the almost uniform
and 15th
Centuries appearance of frets on instruments of the
viol kind —
a proof, if one is wanted, of
their respectability. Want of daring, sticking to rule,
jealous suppression of any sign of originality,
•
J °
m m solidity formed the chief characteristics of
the Frets
the art and craft achievements in the Meister-
—
singer period we find their symbol in the frets.
The " Eselsbriicke," as a later writer calls them,
must have limited the technical output on the viols, if
I may say so, to its minimum. It was altogether too

sure going to admit of originality, of striking out on
new discoveries technically, such as the rebec had
permitted.
So to sum up, while the irresponsible minstrel of the
romantic age —
that wild, thorny briar-rose by the way-
164
Praeludium
side —
was on the whole perhaps an inferior musician
compared to the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth
century town treble and bass violist who knew his
notes, and on Sundays accompanied the singing in the
churches, and did other laudable and respectable
—
services he of the Jean Charmillon kind was superior
to him in invention, daring, and all-round fiddle
genius and no wonder, for he drew his inspiration
;
" From the birds in the trees and the clouds in the skies,
And the tears and the smiles in my fair lady's eyes."
165 13
CHAPTER II.
VIOLIN ART IN ITALY.
Thus, along many a circuitous path through barren —

stretches, sandy wastes, past lovely fields and meadows,
villages, and towns —
went fiddle-playing through the
centuries, until it reached the foot-hills where Corelli
stood and showed the way to greater and sublimer
heights, mounting into the clear sky of the last ideal.
The violin had been invented, and soon after, from its
native land, some early birds of passage, minstrel-like
again, carried its message- into Germany and France.
Only a few names of violinists belonging to the
sixteenth century, contemporaries of Duiffbprugcar,
Andrew Amati, Gaspar da Salo, etc., have
aix een
CO me down to us. Gerber 1 mentions one
Albert as among the most celebrated violin-
ists 2 in Italy, whom Francois I. took with him to France
in the first half of the sixteenth century and Alessandro
;
Romano, a monk with the designation " della Viola."

In the second half of the century, according to Branzoli,
we find Giuliano Tiburtino and Luigi Lasagnino both
hailing from Florence and famous in their day; and
particularly Baltazerini, called " Le Beau Joyeux" (born
1550), the best violinist of his time, who, in 1577, was
2
1
Ton Kiinst-lexicon. Probably violists.
1 66
FIG. 27. — CORELLI.
(Imperial Library, Berlin.)
Violin Art in Italy-
presented to Catherine de Medici, and subsequently

appointed, first, as her premier valet-de-chambre, and
then primo cavaliero and superintendent of music in
Paris. He is considered the founder of the heroic ballet
in France.
By the time Biagio Marini (born at Brescia, second
half of sixteenth century, died 1660, at Padua) and,
still better known, Carlo Farina (in 1626,
violinist to the Elector of , Saxony) appear *

1
in the annals of musical history the fame of 7
the violin had surely been carried far and
Centurv
wide. Musicians in Italy and elsewhere
who hitherto perhaps had cultivated the treble viol,
took up instead the new instrument, which offered a
much greater scope, and amply repaid the greater
labour involved in learning it. Representations of the
violin in its perfect Amati and Brescian form in many
pictures of the great Dutch painters 1 go far to-
wards proving how widely known and popular the
lovely instrument was long before Corelli appeared.
Towards and after the middle of the seventeenth
century, therefore partly contemporaries of Corelli,
we find in Italy among other violinists of less

renown: Giuseppe Torelli (died 1708), who „ ,
is said be the inventor of the con-

to
certo ; Antonio Veracini, uncle of the celebrated rival of
Tartini, and presumably his teacher; Farinelli, uncle of

the great singer of the same name, concert-master
1 Among others, Gerard Dou's (1613-75) celebrated picture in
Dresden, "Der Geigenspieler."

167
Story of the Violin
at the Court of Hanover, and knighted by the

King of Denmark; Bartholomeo G. Laurenti (1644 in
Bologna); and Battista Fontana (born 1641 in Brescia).
Further: Tommaso Vitali, of Bologna (born 1650), an
artist whose achievements as violinist and composer for
his instrument must have been, for the time, quite
extraordinary, if his "Ciaconna" may be regarded as a
criterion; and Giov. Batt. Lully(born 1633 in Florence),
who came to Paris early in life, and worked himself up
from a position in the kitchen of Mme. de Montpensier
to that of a favourite at the Court of Louis XIV., an
interesting figure in French musical history.
With Arcangelo Corelli (1653-1713) we come at
last to the man in whose art appear focussed all the
violinistic achievements of preceding ages
and his own time. Violin-playing leaves
the stages of irresponsible childhood; it starts life in
earnest — it comes of age.

Corelli was born
in Fusignano, a little town in the
district ofBologna. The elements of music were taught
him by the papal singer, Matteo Simonetti. His teacher
on the violin is said to have been Bassani, 1 then capell-
meister at Bologna. In the year 1672 we find the
master in Paris on his first concert tour, but Lully's
jealousy or the great Louis' indifference to any other
but his favourite's music soon drove him away again.
He subsequently entered the services of the Elector of
Bavaria, and remained in Germany until 1681, when he
1
As Corelli was four years the senior of Bassani, it is not clear how
he could have been the latter's pupil.
168
,
'
Bafioper rOrgano
"
, .
*• c o n -*:;s--'c/ r & .,t,» -•

, t: * ,-
; •
-• •
«
! ALLA^SACRA REAL MAEST A- »' «
CRIST1NA ALESSANDRA-
i t
RE GIN A D I &^£ ia.
ÂRCANGfiLO CORELLI DA FVSIGNANO
'.'<-'
^ I
"''
*
'
"'
<
De«oi!BoIogaef& »
v^'-„
* ....
IN ROMA, Per il MafeU«K. l« j. fcwlia,^ i'lS^W. ,

- ,
FIG. z8. — TITLE-PAGE OF CORELLl'S Or. I.
{Published in Rome, 1685J

,
Violin Art in Italy
returned to his native land and settled in Rome for the

rest of his life. In Rome he died, idolised by his
—
countrymen, and is buried not far from the ashes of the
divine Raphael —in the Pantheon, that ancient temple
dedicated to the pagan deities and transformed into a
Christian church. A marble tablet marks the place.
It appears like a coincidence of poetical significance,
or a proof of the eternal fitness of things, that Rome
should have been the cradle of modern violin art; in
other words, that both the spirit of the classic past and
the spirit of a living Christian faith should have stood as
godfather to Corelli's genius. Considering what inti-
mate connection exists between a man's work and
his surroundings, who knows whether Corelli in Naples
or Florence would have been the Corelli he became in
Rome? At all events, from Rome that is, —
from the Roman school of violin-playing *he
of which Corelli was the founder— issued °man
the influences which were subsequently felt ,.,,,
, , . . Violm-
as powers all over the world, and it is no playing
exaggeration to say that there is hardly a
violinist of note to-day who in some way or other may
not trace his violinistic genealogy back to the great,
gentle, and modest master. 1
Corelli's artistic activities may be equally divided
into playing, teaching, and composing , ,
music. It is difficult to " say

J in which . . ..,
„ , , „
. . , Activities
of these his influence was strongest and
of most lasting benefit to his own and future violin-
See Appendix.
169
Story of the Violin
..flragru"..
AAA AA A
"
,
•
ONATA Sh'i'TIMA
SlpslllpsSfelliliJ!*
igigfpzffif: |:f:rrdfrr:i;r:f %mM

mb? l» -14^4444-1.. ill Jiff Iff Wftagj
FIG, fig, — VIOLIN PART OF CORELLI S SEVENTH SONATA.

Imperial Library, Berlin.
Violin Art in Italy
playing generations. Of his work as composer I hope

to speak more at length in the third part of this work.
If time is the touchstone of merit, if two centuries of
rubbing has still left enough gold in his compositions
for our age to enjoy and profit from, to Corelli the
composer belongs the palm but a more immediate
;
force for good was perhaps his playing and teaching.

The admiration which his playing elicited strikes' us
now as almost fantastic. Expressions like: " Princeps
musicorum," "Maestro di maestri," "Virtu-
osissimo di violirio," and " Vero Orfeo di „, ,
... ... Playing

.
nostn tempi, etc., which were current in

his life-time, speak with sufficient eloquence, and they
found their consummation in the monument erected to
his memory. To a large degree his compositions may
be said to reflect the characteristics of his executive art.
It was distinguished by beauty and purity of tone, and
tenderness and sympathy of expression
rather than display of technique. In this _ «
respect some of his contemporaries (Vitali,

for instance) were probably superior to him ; but it is
to Corelli the teacher we turn with particular interest.

A master's pupils are the children to whom he leaves
a legacy. They share in it, great or small, though
not of even parts. The lucky ones get much, those
favoured less get less, but all will carry with them into
life a little of the master's soul and goods. Corelli's re-
putation could not help attracting youths who had been
fascinated by the charms of the new instrument or by
the hope —so fond of youth —to glitter brightly in this
171
Story of the Violin
world. Youth, to be sure, soon flocked to Rome from

far and near to profit from the master's art; even
from Germany and France they came with fiddle and
with travelling bag.
Not all these aspirants to fame's hand reached that
most evasive goddess. Many a youth most likely
stayed in Rome, and after a time went home again,
there to nurture fond and sad memories. Perhaps also
many a one did later unsung pioneer work somewhere
in distant parts, carrying the sweet voice of the violin
where it had not yetbeen heard, thus uncon-
sciously swelling the mysterious chord of Q n \ which
still sweeps the world undissolved. ((1) "^j But
even fame is too often a flame which ^,- flick-
ers brightly for a time and then dies out. So of
„. p ,. Corelli's many pupils, only a few have left
not only names but also a trace behind.
They are Somis, Geminiani, and Locatelli, and less
known, Baptiste Anet (see Violin-playing in France),
and Pietro Castrucci, interesting on account of his
connection with the Italian Opera in London in Handel's
time.
Giovanni Battista Somis (1676- 1763), the first, oldest,
and most conspicuous of Corelli's pupils, studied later
also with Antonio Vivaldi at Venice. The characteristic
art-traits ofboth his masters he tried to embody in his
work. As founder of the Piedmontese School of Violin-
playing at Turin, he played a very important part in the
further development of the art, his best pupil being
Pugnani, who in his turn became the master of Viotti.
172
—
Francesco Geminiani (born in 1680 at Lucca, died

in 1762 at Dublin), a violinist with great talents and
attainments, is particularly well known to English music
lovers, as for a considerable time he stamped London
musical life with his artistic individuality, and greatly
stimulated violin-playing in England. Besides a number
of compositions for his instrument, over the merits of
which the opinions of musical critics differ, he left a
substantial and lasting claim to the gratitude of pos-
terity in his Method for Violin-playing, 1 the first one
of its kind, published in London in 1740. Through
Geminiani was thus perpetuated Corelli's teaching and
a theoretical basis given for the art of violin-playing.
Bergamo in 1693, died
In Pietro Locatelli (born at
in 1764) we meet with an interesting and
Amsterdam
conspicuous figure in the annals of the art by reason
of the influence he had on the development of violin-
technique. 2 He may be said to have sown the seed
from which sprang in time, under the sunshine of
public favour, that singular growth of executive art:
virtuosity.
1 " The Art ofplaying the Violin containing rules necessary to attain
perfection on that instrument."
2 To appreciate Locatelli's unique —I had almost said, grotesque
position in the art of violin-playing, I refer the reader to his VArte del
Violino, consisting of twelve concerti and twenty-four capricci ad
libitum.
173
—
CHAPTER III.
violin art in italy [continued).
Besides the Roman and Piedmontese schools of violin-

pjaying —
each more or less distinguished from the other
.by the art-characteristics of their founders
'„ other smaller centres sprang up here and
there in Italy.
Already before and during Corelli's life-time, Bologna;
Florence, Bergamo, etc., had -distinguished' themselves
by giving birth to violinists of talent and by fostering
the young art. From Bologna, we have seen, hailed
Laurentt (1644-I726), Bassani (1657-1716), and Vitali;
from Florence, the older Veracini from Bergamo,
;
Carlo Antonio jyiarini, etc. Corelli's influence had

further stimulated the keen interest and activity in violin-
playing all Men and women learned the-
over Italy.
lovely instrument. Amateurs rivalled professionals
in* playing and composing for it, and the Church,
like a good mother (be it with an eye not oblivious of
her own glorification), lent everywhere a helping hand
to spread its use and joy.
Some of the larger churches were genuine nurseries of
instrumental music; St. Anthony at Padua in Tartini's
time, for instance, employed no less than sixteen
174
—
Violin Art in Ita^y
singers v arid twenty-four instrumentalists. Also, as a

was employed in connection
solo instrument the violin
with the Mass ceremonies, and 4his gave _
eminent soloists not only an opportunity c >
, ,,
of displaying their talents under most

favourable conditions and nobly stimulated their efforts,
but many of them" found honourable, congenial, and
"•fairly lucrative posi-
tions. No wonder, then,
new centres, as I said,
sprang up, and old ones
added to their laurels.
We find in Venice An-
tonio Vivaldi (1660-
1743), priest, violinist,
and famous composer;
and in Florence, besides
Giuseppe Valentini and
Martinello Bitti, Fran-
cesco Maria Veracini
(1685- 1 750), one of the
most eminent of 'the
eighteenth century
FIG. 30.;— TARTINI.
Italian violinists, who
Imperial Library* Berlin.
also played an important
part in the life of the man to whom we come next
Giuseppe Tartini, the founder of the Paduan^ school ot
violin-playing ~(Fig. 30). 1
There' isno artist in the earlier stages of violin art

who has so firmly and deeply carved his name in the
I7S
;
Story of the Violin
slippery metal of man's memory. Born at Pirano, a

little place in Istria, on April 12th, 1692, he received
'
a splendid education, and by way of recrea-

~ , . tion was taught the elements of music and
the violin. By whom the latter is not known
presumably it was a priest, one of the Padri dalle Scuole
Pie at Capo
d'Istria, where Giuseppe went to school;
one of those modest, patient mediocrities, sowers of
small seed, who by the grace of God sow greatness
once in a while. At the age of eighteen Tartini was
sent to Padua to study law, but fortunately the current
of his life was turned into another direction. After an
adventurous and stormy youth of melodramatic flavour
(a secret marriage, flight, hiding in a cloister, discovery,
etc.), became eventually the greatest violinist
Tartini
and composer of his time. Essentially he was
violin
his own teacher. Of great influence on his development,
however, was Veracini, whom he heard in Venice on the
occasion of a contest 1 which had been arranged between
the two artists. Tartini was so impressed by the
superiority of his rival's playing that, without so much
as crossing swords, he quitted the field and retired (then
a man of twenty-four) to Aucona for further study.
The outcome of this was the wonderful command of the
bow and the technique of the left hand for which he
became noted.
1
Public contests — artistic —
tournaments, in other words between
violinists were quite a common occurrence in those times; not seldom
the very sacred precincts of the church were chosen as the arena for the
combatants.
176
'*#*J>|il!
te,>- li
totmtnn
UiAfrfc-
gut? J UMytkfliitki' /faAte-y.^'j^Mrf'> :

t--'<J
,
FIG. 3 0rt.— FACSIMILE

OF A LETTER BY TARTINI.
Violin Art in Italy
Tartini's life henceforth ran smoothly. Except for

one prolonged visit to Prague (1723-26), he stayed in
Padua, where he was engaged at the beautiful church
of St. Anthony. In Padua he died, full of years
—
and honours " II maestro della nazione," as his com-
patriots significantly called him —
on February 26th,
1770, and was buried in the Church Santa Catarina.
His memory has been not less honoured by his country-
men than Corelli's, in an abiding way by a statue erected
to —
him among the statues of other noted men con-
nected with Padua's famous old university in the little —
park lying outside the town, the Prato della Valle.
In dealing with Tartini's life-work and its importance
for the art of violin-playing, I have again to defer the
subject of his compositions, which here
stands out pre-eminently, to the third sec- Tnllo
tion of this work. A few remarks, however, _, f e„
I can hardly refrain from making now, as
they throw additional light on the master's personality.

Who among music-lovers has not heard of the " Trillo
del Diavolo," or devil's trill? The very name is coupled
with Tartini's fame, and helped to its perpetuation.
Like a self-feeding monster, feeding the piaster's fame
as well, and giving food for countless stories in the
nurseries of fiddle-land, so this name "Trillo del Dia-
volo" has lived for more than one hundred and fifty
years, and is as fresh as ever. It raises yet the future

Paganini's hair ; the little tot of ten or twelve, he smells
the sulphur (no mistake) and sees the bluish flames rise
from some imaginary "Strad" (his own three-quarter
177
—
Story of the Violin
fiddle being yet, he knows, too small for mine host

Mephistopheles).
And the story of this shake of the devil? I give a
translation of it as it is claimed to have come from the

master's own lips: x
"One night (it was

year 1713) 2 I dreamed I had sold
in the
my Everything was at my command, my new
soul to the devil.
servant anticipated every one of my wishes. Among other
ideas, it struck me also to give him my violin to see if he would
be able to play something nice on it. But how great was my
surprise when I heard a sonata, so wonderful and beautiful, and
rendered with so much art and intelligence that not the highest
flight of fantasy could have hoped to reach it. I was so en-
tranced, delighted, and enchanted that the breath failed me and

I awoke. Immediately I seized my violin in order to retain
at least a portion of the tones heard in my dreams. In vain.
Although the music which I composed then is the best I ever
made in my life, and I call it yet the devil's sonata, the differ-
ence between it and the other which so moved me is so
great that I would have broken my instrument and renounced
music for ever if I had been able to deprive myself of the
pleasure it afforded me."
The strange part about this story is that Tartini

seems to have been perfectly convinced of the reality of
his dream. It is told by Gerber that he had the manu-
script of the devil's sonata hanging over the door of his
1
Lalande, Voyage d'un Pranfais en Italy, i?6j-66, vol. viii.
2
1713 can hardly have been meant by Tartini, as he attained to the
mastership necessary for the composition and execution of this sonata
only years later.
178
Violin Art in Italy
study like a protection against (or was it an invitation

for?) future visitations of the unholy one.
Whatever we may wish to think of the master's
—
dream whether the effect of reading or of indigestion,
of occult powers or the mere creations of a feverish
—
brain it may be regarded as the key-note to one side of
Tartini's character; the side, that is, from which his
creative genius largely drew: a blend of mysticism and
devotion, mediaevalism and modernity, of church and
world, of childhood and maturity. Before composing,
we are told, he liked to read one of Petrarca's sonnets
or some other poem to give fancy a distinct direction,
and often he succeeds in holding fast the mental mood
or picture thus evoked, and portraying it in tones.
He also had the habit of putting mottoes in self-
invented hieroglyphics over his manuscripts (see Fig.
31), and frequently under his violin parts verses of his
pet poets. Perhaps they served as guide for the rendi-
tion of the music, or possibly also as a remembrance of
the circumstances accompanying its birth.
Tartini's productivity as composer was astonishing.
Only a small number of his sonatasand concertos for
violin solo with quartett accompaniment
seem to have been published in his lifetime ,°"
,
and since his death, while a Still smaller y
number, are available to-day. The published works,

according to Fetis, 1 consist of fifty sonatas and eighteen
concertos.
Not of anything like the importance as Tartini the
1
Biographie Universelh des MuHciens, Paris.
179
Story of the Violin
composer, but still interesting- is Tartini the author.

It is indeed surprising that the master, considering
. . his musical fecundity and his duties as

soloist and teacher, should yet have found
time and pleasure in the pursuit of scientific and
theoretical subjects. He embodied his observations
FIG. 31. —A COPY OF A TARTINI MANUSCRIPT.

and researches in several voluminous treatises, upon

which Fetis, in his Biography Universelle, under
"Tartini," gives a detailed argument: "It appears —
that the master, during his voluntary confinement at
Ancona, discovered the so-called ' differential tone,' a
1 80
tone produced by sounding double-stops on the violin

(providing- they are absolutely in tune),and he sub-
sequently tried to explain to himself and others this
phenomenon in the above-mentioned treatise published
at Padua, 1754. It was left for the great scholar of
acoustics, Professor Helmholz, more than a century
later, to shed light on the question which agitated
our master in his leisure hours."
Old Quanz, the well-known historical figure, con-
temporary of Tartini, violinist, flutist, critic and crank,
and teacher of Frederick the Great, in
* r '"' s
describing the impression of Tartini's play-
ing, when he heard the master in Prague,
1723, says: " He [Tartini] is indeed one of the greatest
violinists. He produced a fine tone from his instru-
ment. Finger and bow are equally under his control.
He executed the greatest difficulties without apparent
effort and in perfect tune. His trills, and even double
trills, are done equally well with all fingers. He inter-
sperses many double stops in slow as well as fast
movements, and likes to play in the highest positions
(tones)."
The advance of Tartini's executive art on that of his
great predecessor Corelli, from a bowing point of view
alone, is plainly shown in his compositions. Unless
we assume that within a few years (1713-23) that
particular part of had made such great
technique
strides generally, the Paduan master must have been
reformatory, nay, epoch-making in this respect as he
was in others. It is well known that he improved also
181 14
" —
Story of the Violin
the form of the bow, giving it, compared to Corelli's,

greater length and a slightly different curve. 1
His extraordinary command of the bow was prin-
mentioned above, the result of his studies
cipally, as
at Ancona, to which Veracini had given him the
initiative.
In a small treatise by Fayolle, Paganini and Beriot,
we find some interesting information as to the manner
in which the master had conducted these studies:
(Translation.)
"Tartini had two bows, one divided and the stick marked
according to common (f), the other according to % time. In
these divisions he obtained all subdivisions down to the in-
finitelysmall ones; and, as he had found that the vertical
up-stroke was shorter than the perpendicular down-stroke, he
had the same piece played, beginning with the down as well as
up-stroke, and with the same inflections. He also had written
in large letters on his music-stand the following rule: 'Strength
without hardness, flexibility without too great softness.'
In addition, for the benefit of his pupils, he embodied

the results of his bowing studies in a work entitled
Arte dell' arco. It consists of fifty variations on a
gavotte by Corelli.
But brings us to the subject of Tartini as a
this
teacher. His fame as a player and composer alone
_ , would have been sufficient to draw pupils in
numbers to Padua, but it appears, and one
can partially see from the above remarks, that Tartini
1
See Appendix.
182
—
Violin Art in Italy
was as great in the class-room as he was on the plat-

form and in his private study. At times the master's
house must have resembled a veritable small conserva-
tory, so large was the number of students who enjoyed
his instruction. His was not yet an age of cheap and
good instruction books. Tartini's pupils depended on
their master for almost everything, and he was heart
and soul in his work and how almost paternal in his
;
solicitude for his young proteges appears from a lesson

given by correspondence to a pupil of his, Signora
Maddalena Lombardini Sirmen, which has been pre-
served for us. It is a most instructive and interesting
document, divided into three sections, and treating in a
masterly way of the elements in the management of the
bow, the trill, and the positions. 1
The most interesting and best-known of Tartini's
pupils are:
Pietro Nardini (born 1722 at Fibiani, in Tuscany;
died in Florence, 1793), Tartini's favourite pupil, who
nursed the master in his last illness. " Ein _ ,, , ,
Geiger der Liebe im Schosse der Grazien p ..

geboren," says Schubarth, the ill-fated Ger-
man poet and writer, of him. He is also distinguished
as a composer; his D Major Sonata 2 is one of the
loveliest creations in early Italian violin literature.
Domenico Ferrari (died 1780). To him is ascribed, if
not the invention, at least the first more extensive use

of harmonics on the violin.
1
Wasielewski :Die Violine und Hire Meister; Leipzig, 1869.
2 Davids : Hohe Schule ; Breitkopf und Hartel.
183
Story of the Violin
Giulio Meneghini (17 — ) succeeded his master at the

church of St. Anthony.
Pasqualini Bini (born 1720) studied three or four years
with Tartini. He went to Rome, where he became a
serious rival to Francesco Montanari, a celebrity in his
day, and successor to Corelli at St. Peter's from 1717
to 1730. A pupil of Bini was Barbella, known by a
sonata (published by Schott).
Filipo Manfredi (c. 1738-80), a friend of Bocherini,
whose trios and quartetts he introduced first in Paris, in
1771, with great success.
Johann Gottlieb Graun, 1 Pagin, and Pierre Lahous-
saye. 2
Tartini's other pupils cannot claim our interest in the
same degree. Some, no doubt, were clever and es-
teemed artists in their day, but on the whole
" ^ their names tell or nothing; we read
us little
them to forget them

as quickly as read.
Their talents, their lives, like those of so many artists
whom fate has not put in the front rank, were stepping-
stones on which the genius of the violin trod on his
—
way to greater heights flowers by the wayside which
he kissed or crushed. I therefore only mention names
as one would read off inscriptions, crumbling and faded,
on the tombstones of a village churchyard, the heart
apologising for the hand which writes them only —
—
names: Alberghi, Carminati, Don Paolo Guastarobba,
Petit, Pagni, Nazari, Angiolo Morigi, Giuseppe Sig-
1 2
See Chapter VII. See Chapter IX.
184
—
Violin Art in Italy
noretti, Count Thurn and Taxis and Obermayer of

Prague (amateurs), Holzbogen of Munich, Kammel
from Bohemia, Lorenz Schmitt of Wiirzburg.
In addition, the following are the best-known violin-
ists of the Piedmontese school:
Francesco Chiabran (born 1723). A great favourite
for a time in Paris, and known yet as The Pied-
the composer of a once popular piece, montese
"LaChasse." School:
Felice Giardini (born in Turin, 1716; died Pupils of
in Moscow, as opera impressario, 1796). A Somis
talented artist with a chequered life, passed largely
in London.
Marie Leclair. 1
Gaetano Pugnani (1726-1803), the greatest of Somis's
pupils, studied also for a time with Tartini, and was
highly esteemed by his contemporaries as violinist and
composer. His importance, however, lay in his work
as teacher. Being the master of Viotti, he was the
direct link between our modern (French and Franco-
Belgian) schools and the great old ones of Rome,
Turin, and Padua.
Pupils of Pugnani (according to their comparative
merits, in ascending order) :
—
Gioachimo Traversa,
Romani, Ludovico Borghi (1770 in London),
" pl s °,
Borra (Turin), Antonio Conforti, Ludovico
,_._.,(succeeded _
'
, . „ Pugnani
, .
Mohno Pugnani at the Royal

Theatre in Turin), Felice Radicati (1778-1823), A.
Olivieri, Antonio Bartolomeo Bruni (lived in Paris;
1
See Chapter IX.
185
Story of the Violin
fertile composer and author of a violin method some

;
pretty duets for two violins are still in use), Anton

Janitch, Giambattista Polledro (1781-1853; greatly ad-
mired by his contemporaries, and even occasionally
compared to Viotti), Giovanni Battista Viotti.
186
—
CHAPTER IV.
VIOTTI.
With this incomparable master of the violin we reach

a new epoch in the development of the art. Equally
great as executant and composer, and re-
Kerormer
former in both directions, Viotti occupies in
his own art world a position somewhat _, ^.
. ., , , „
, „. , ,
Directions
similar to that accorded to Corelli, only that
the younger master had the indubitable advantage of
finding the ground well tilled and prepared for his
appearance, not only in his own particular sphere, but
in the whole wide field of music generally.
If Corelli's —
work speaking of composition now
may be likened to the broad foundation of an edifice,
Viotti represents the noble, large-proportioned super-
structure. What follows after him was more or less
the building out, the outer and inner decorations, the
turrets, gables, sculptures, and ornaments. The roof
and steeple, I fear, are yet to be built; the edifice is
open yet on top, and lets the light of heaven in, and
also the rain sometimes.
Viotti created modern violin art in its best sense.
From being orthodox it became cosmopolitan. If
187
Story of the Violin
Corelli and Tartini spoke yet in their works the

language, however beautiful, of their time,
Creator of
land) and c hurch) Viotti's is the language
v .
y . of the world, the Volapiik in which Haydn,
in its Best
Mozart, and Beethoven uttered their im-
Sense mortal thoughts. Giovanni Battista Viotti
(Fig. 32) was born on the 23rd of May
1753 (strangely enough, just one hundred years after
Corelli), at a tiny place, Fontanetto, in
Childhood
the Count of pi edmont North Italy. His
and Youth , Jt •,, , ,
father, a smith and amateur on the
horn, was endowed with musical instincts keen
enough to discover and encourage his little boy's
musical proclivities, which showed themselves at a
very early age. Nay, more, this remarkable smith
undertook to instruct the lad in the elements of music,
and it is just possible that Giovanni Battista had
already declared his childish love to some toy fiddle
which he had somehow got into his possession before
a certain Giovanni, an itinerant lute-player, came to
the village and gave him some lessons on it.
Strange are the ways of genius Under the most
!
unfavourable conditions the tender plant will grow as if

it drew its strength directly from the source of all
strength by channels unknown to other mortals.
Soon Giovanni and his lute had gone again, and the
boy was left for further progress to himself. Fancy
him, little man, in some meanly-furnished attic or room
—
over his father's shop in the sole company of saints
—
looking out of cheap, gilded frames trying to find a
1 88
Viotti
way unaided through the intricate maze ot violin

technics, while —
from below like a rhythmical back-
ground — sounded through the summer air the smith's
clear, sharp hammer strokes. And yet a way he found
somehow ; and the kind spirit which watches over
such blessed little
fiddle prodigies as
he was, guided him
safely further. At
the age of thirteen
he found a patron in
the son of the Mar-
chesa di Borghera,
in Turin, who, en-
chanted with the
boy's exceptional
talents, provided for
his further education*
(Pugnani).
In the spring of
1780 Viotti under-
took his first concert FIG. 32.— VIOTTI.
(From the Imperial Library, Berlin.)
tour in the company
of his master, and now follows a succession of triumphs
— first in Germany, then in Poland, Russia,
and later in London and Paris such as — Surprise
very few violinists after him and hardly any ™

..
one before him had had to record. The
originality of his compositions no less than the superb
qualities of his executive art, combining absolute
189
Story of the Violin
beauty of tone and marvellous dexterity with fire and

feeling, grandeur, elegance, and withal charming
simplicity, came to the musical world as a surprise.
One could not place him, compare him he was ;
" hors de comparaison." Critics ceased to be critics,

and only exhausted their vocabulary of superlatives
trying to express adequately the impression he made
on them, and his professional brethren rivalled with
each other in doing him homage.
When Baillot in later years recalled Viotti's appear-
ance in Paris in the words: "Je le croyais Achille
mais c'est Agamemnon," he only voiced in the hysterical
phraseology of the time the complete surrender of the
violinistic profession to the incomparable genius of
Viotti.
In order to understand such enthusiasm, which may
strike some as being just a little exaggerated, particu-
larly when they consider the pieces with which Viotti
worked his miracles on the public and profession (viz.,
works given to-day to our pupils in the intermediate
stage to practice), it must be remembered that nothing
like the Viotti concerts had ever been heard before.
The old Italian masters wrote sonatas and concertos
for violin solo with the thin accompaniment of a string
quartette or only a second violin and bass. Now came
this new charmer with the full equipment of the Haydn
orchestra.
The many voices of the symphony — flutes, oboes,
clarinettes, bassoons, and horns, joined in the song of
triumph of the solo violin ; even the stately trumpet did,
i go
Viotti
in the "tuttis," homage to its king. The passages, too,

new and daring, full and
of splendour, force, and fire ;
after them the cantilene, like the moonlight falling on a

storrny sea and calming it. Can we wonder that the
world stood breathless ? Then, with it all, the rendering
wiauaAa
-
^î#^5iS5p^îi
FIG. 33. —FACSIMILE OF A MANUSCRIPT BY VIOTTI.

(At the Imperial Library in Berlin.)
itself, of which we can now hardly have a clear con-

ception !
We give these concertos to our pupils for fingering,

bowing, and phrasing exercises. To many, they may
seem only dwelling-places for the ghosts of an antiquated
191
—
Story of the Violin
technique, but there is the possibility that it takes the

interpreting genius, the great musical soul of Viotti to
fill with new life the chambers of its former noble
palaces.
So much at present on the subject of Viotti's com-
positions. His muse gave us twenty-nine concertos,
besides many charming duets for two violins, quartetts,
and string trios.
It is weary to record triumphs which are always the
same in essence though they may vary in form. Mortal
man cannot go on breathing an atmosphere of incense
without feelingthe effects in some way. Viotti
suddenly retired from his public post as
,° tI_ first :
violinist of the century. Why?
* J
climax
Because at one time (1784), in Paris, a
concert in which he played had not been patronised
quite as well as usual, and on top of this annoyance,
his performance had not created the usual enthusiasm.
To add insult to injury, another, greatly inferior violinist,
who gave a concert the next day, pleased immensely,
and furnished the topic of conversation in musical
circles for several days. So Viotti vowed he would
not play in public again, and like Achilles in his tent,
he scorned the public, leaving to others of the craft the
fighting and the spoils. He kept his vow for many
years. Only in exclusive friendly circles could he
occasionally be heard. During these years of seclusion
he devoted himself to teaching and composing.
Unfortunately, the great artist, like others before and
after him, would chase fortune on precarious by-ways
192
;
Viotti
at least, not on the high road plainly marked out for

him by the generous giver of gifts. The following
chapters in Viotti's life are the sad story
v-nased
of a great man, a becoming the
giant
play of circumstances, like a dry leaf the _
toy of the wind. He had already in 1787 Bv-wavs
applied for the post of director to the
Paris Grand Opera without being successful. In
1788, however, he was offered the position, which he
took eagerly, and set to work to engage the best
available singers for the institute, when the outbreak of
the Revolution brought the enterprise to a sudden and
disastrous end. It was doubly disastrous for him,
because he lost his whole hard-earned fortune.

In 1792 he came to London poor, and vow or not, he
had to play again. For a short time it seemed as if his
old star shone once more, be it through English fogs
but soon storm-clouds rolled over it again. Viotti was
—
suspected of political intrigues probably in conse-
quence of his connections with French emigrants and —
advised to leave England. At a friend's country-house
near Hamburg he was offered a refuge, and here he
subsequently lived (until 1795) in complete seclusion,
devoting his time to composition. Many of his charm-
ing duets for two violins originated here. One of the
volumes contains the touching preface Cet ouvrage
:
'
'
est le du loisir que

fruit le malheur me procure.
Quelques morceaux ont 6t6 dieted par la peine, d'autres
par l'^spoir." (This work is the fruit of leisure which
misfortune procures for me. Some pieces have been
193
Story of the Violin
dictated by pain, by hope.)

others But pain must
have been greater Viotti than hope.
with When
the suspicion of political intrigue resting on him
had been found to be without foundation, and he
once more returned to London, he com-
pletely surprised his friends and admirers
,
w .
by becoming a wine merchant. The former

high priest of Apollo a dealer in wines It seems a !
tantalising irony of fate. But when an artist as great

as Viotti finds himself in his declining years still
requiring to earn his living, and yet is unwilling to

step back into the whirlpool of concert life, which has
completely lost its charm for him, is it so strange that
he should turn his back on Apollo and follow Mercury
whom chance perhaps did send in his way ?
Better to become a wine merchant than sit moping
over fate; better to live (since to live he must) in an
office busy with account-books and let past glories
shine through latticed windows, than go searching for
new ones not worth the trouble Viotti a wine
!
merchant There isâ touch of genius even here it is

! —
the eagle in the cage, but yet the eagle still.
In London henceforth he lived. Only once, in 1818,
he allowed himself to be drawn away again to Paris to
undertake the direction of the terribly mismanaged
opera, that former cause of his misfortune. If hope
—
had allured him once more alas it proved a cruel !
hope. It only offered him one flower of welcome in his
beloved France, a great ovation at the Conservatoire, in

which students and teachers joined to do homage to their
194
—a;
Viotti
revered master, and where he played in public for the

last time. After desperate efforts to bring order into
was reproached with having
that operatic institution, he
caused its decadence, and forced to resign in 1822.
And now, an old man, he came to England's hospitable
shores to die. Although fate, sorry for her former
darling, would not let him die in poverty and want —
pension of six thousand francs having been granted
him on his resignation, he departed this life two years
later, on the 10th of May 1824, a disappointed, sad, and
lonely man.
I cannot close these remarks on this wonderful
master of the violin without referring to his personality
as we know it through the sympathetic
pens of Arthur Pougin, F6tis, Fayolle, _ ..
and others. Seldom genius selected a

worthier dwelling-place. His figure and bearing were
distinguished, his manners refined, his face open, ex-
pressive, and almost always smiling his heart kind and
;
generous, his mind in sympathy with and open to

everything that is true, noble, and beautiful in art and
in nature an admirer of poetry, a lover of the country
;
well read, intelligent, witty, and yet as naive as a child

such was Viotti, favourite of the muses. Says Pougin
of him: " Chez lui les impressions de la nature 6taient
ineffacable. Tour les jours de sa vie aux approches du
coucher du soleil il se sentait un accablement ou plut&t
un acces de tristesse qu'il ne jamais pu vaincre."
Was it genius longing to go home ? Viotti was the
last great representative of classical Italian violin art,
*95
Story of the Violin
—
a worthy third in the triumvirate Corelli, Tartini,
Viotti. Of his importance for the development of
violin-playing as teacher I shall speak in connection
with violin art in France, under which head the subject
properly falls.
196
—
CHAPTER V.
SOME MORE NAMES AND ONE FAMOUS ONE:

THE OLD-TIME VIRTUOSO.
There are yet, independent of the classical schools

of Corelli, Somis, Vivaldi, and Pugnani, a
Tartini,
number of Italian violinists who shone for
a time with greater or less brilliancy but I _. ;
shall have to content myself again with only

quoting their names, leaving the reader to acquaint
himself, if he so chooses, with the particulars of their
lives (as far as they are known), in the pages of the oft-
mentioned exhaustive work by Wasielewski. 1 This
author I also follow in the chronological arrangement
of the names. They are :
Francesco Mori (born in London 1793, died 1842).

For a short time pupil of Viotti conductor of the Phil-
;
harmonic Concerts.
Gian Pietro Guignon (born 1702 at Turin, died 1774
or 1775, in Paris). The last "king of violinists" of
minstrel fame.
1
Die Violine und ihre Meister ; and also Fetis, in Biografhie
Universelle des Musiciens.
197 15
—
Story of the Violin
Giuseppe Canavasso. Lived between 1735 and 1753 in

Paris.
Carlo Giuseppe Toeschi (1724-88).
Francesco Galeazzi (1738-1819).
Giuseppe Demachi (1740).
Giovanni Giuseppe Cambini (b. 1746, d. about 1825).
Guerini (1740-60). At the Hague, afterthatin London.
Francesco Falco ; Giovanni Battista Noferi ; Sebas-
tiani BodiniEligio Celestino (1739-1812).
;
Nicolo Mestrino (born 1748 in Milan, died 1790 in

Paris), Giuseppo Puppo (born 1749 at Lucca, died 1827);
both of these are among the best in this connection.
Bartolomeo Campagnoli (1751-1827). Known by
his violin method and e'tudes.
Federigo Fiorillo,born 1753 in Brunswick, Ger-
many, was in 1788 in London, and in 1794 employed
as alto player in the Salomon Quartett. He went from
London to Amsterdam, where he probably died. He is
celebrated for his thirty-six Caprices for violin solo — one

of the finest contributions to didactic violin literature.
Alessandro Rolla (1757- 1804) ; Bernardo Ferrara
(born 1810).
GaetanoVai and Giuseppe Giorgis (born 1777 in Turin).
But there is yet the figure of a man looking at us
across the gulf of time and altered art conditions with
I —
admit it strangely fascinating and ap-
Xhe Old- pealing eyes. It is a handsome man, with
'™ e
amiable manners and a modest smile; a
gentleman, immaculately dressed, adorned,
with jewellery, fine lace, and sparkling buttons on the
198
:
Old-time Virtuoso
waistcoat; he looks like a courtier, and indeed he

was one—they say he was a favourite of Catherine of
Russia— and his name? — Antonio Lolli. To
. Antonio
many now perhaps a strange, unmeaning _ „.
name, and yet it once thrilled hearts, old and
young, and its magic echoed through the capitals of
Europe. And who was he? The first sketch nature
made of Paganini — the father of all fiddle-virtuosi ! A
bad musician, he was he admitted it himself. He
called ;
could not play the second fiddle in the orchestra without

his technique, like an untamed creature, running wild in
runs and trills unsuited to the music and the modest
post; he could not play a Haydn string quartet in
time, and to escape the sore ordeal would make the fun-
niest excuses. His compositions were a farce. He
lived at loggerheads with four-part harmony, and rules
of counterpoint were unknown quantities to him. He
turned, with as much cleverness as modesty, his own
art and himself to ridicule. But he could play the
violin ! Says Schubart, after calling him the Shake-
speare of the violin
"He [Lolli] in his playing not only united the per-
fections of the Tartini and Ferrari schools, but found
yet an entirely new way. His bowing is inimitable
(ewig unnachahmlich). One thought hitherto quick
passages could only be expressed by a short kind of
stroke; he, however, draws the whole bow, as long as
it is, over the strings, and by the time he gets to the
point the hearer has already been treated to a perfect

hailstorm of tones. Besides that, he has the art of
199
Story of the Violin
drawing from his violin tones never heard before. He

imitates everything to perfection — whatevergives a
sound animal creation.
in His velocity borders on
witchery. Not only does he execute octaves, but
also tenths with the greatest finesse, and trills in
thirds as well as sixths, and sails in the dizziest
heights of tones so that he often finishes his piece
with a tone which seems to be the non plus ultra
of tones."
, This gives us an idea of Antonio Lolli the violinist;
and when I add that he was born at Bergamo between
1728 and 1733, and was for a time engaged with Nar-
dini, his artistic antipodes, at the
Stuttgart Court; that
he travelled through the length and breadth of Europe,
appearing now in St. Petersburg, now in London,
Palermo, Paris; that he received from Catherine II.
marks of her favour and admiration; was given to dis-
sipation, gambling, and other vices, and died, after a
most brilliant, meteor-like career, in obscurity in Sicily
in 1802, — the picture of Antonio Lolli is about com-
plete. But not so the story of his influence.
, ,
down to our days. It may be
"~ This lasted
_ . termed the glorification of technique for its
,
—
own sake the autocracy of virtuosity.
The seed which Locatelli sowed had grown up,
sure enough, and Lolli was the first fruit of the
tree, which soon lustily spread its branches in all
directions.
We find after Lolli an indefinite number of men who
tread in his tracks, and bring in turn credit and dis-
200
—
Old-time Virtuoso
credit ,his name and style:

on —
Woldemar, arch-
charlatan,who, to redeem himself, writes a violin-
method without a method, and Jean Mane
T* A'
J-reaotng
Jarnowick, or Giornovichi (born 1745, at
*n s
Palermo), talented, violent, vicious, who '
died (1802) in St. Petersburg, with the

billiard cue in his hand (Lolli's two pupils); further,
Jacob Scheller (born 1759, in Bohemia), who is not
above amusing his audiences by placing a snuff-box
on his violin to imitate the song of old nuns
(N.B., after he has performed some marvellous feats
of legitimate technique) and Alexandre Boucher
;
(born in Paris, 1770; died 1861), king of the art

of advertising, who looks like Napoleon, and can
play like an Alexander, and professes to be a -Soc-
rates on the fiddle, but prefers to play the harlequin
besides, and splashes before the public like a prize
swimmer until his death at ninety-one. From these
four worst specimens of their kind down to the big
virtuosi of the nineteenth century and our own days
much has been said and written, and much praise and
more abuse been heaped on the head of the virtuoso.
Of course, no sane musician will take the
part of the Boucher kind, Has Done
Scheller and
°°
abnormalities such as the second half of the """'
eighteenth century bred in numbers, together - «,
with the social and political Cagllostras and " »
De la Mottes and other worthies. Nor will

it do to place mere technique on the throne to worship
where true art and its companion, the ideal, should sit
201
——
Story of the Violin
and reign. But on the whole, I think, even the old-time

virtuoso has done more good to violin art than he
gets credit for, particularly at the hand of his brother,
the bona-fide musician. Has he not explored the length
and breadth, the height and depth of the realm of
fiddle-and-bow, as the old Phoenicians the seas, and
discovered many things, many a trick worth having,
which the serious artist was glad to take from him and
use for better ends ? The remark of Schubart on
Lolli " Playing a whole hailstorm of notes in one bow,"
etc., is significant enough. And to become a Lolli
self-taught in —
addition what infinite patience, what
toil, what untiring enthusiasm, yea, what devoted
love for the instrument was necessary, and does that go
tor nothing?
—
But he has done more the old-time virtuoso. He
has put the better artist on his metal, and exacted from
him the best that was in him. He infused
ac or
t k e acj m ra tion and love for the violin into
;
tor
thousands of souls which probably would
p
not have been reached in any other Way, for
we all know that with many the way to the soul — nay,
to the ear —goes
through the eye, and the old-time
virtuoso usually took care that that way was made
attractive. How could violin art have been so rapidly
and effectually carried into distant parts of the world
but for the virtuoso ? When we think that sober
Corelli died in 1713, and already —
forty years later
Lolli created a sensation in St. Petersburg with his mad
sixths and tenths and runs and trills, we get an idea
Old-time Virtuoso
how effectually indeed the virtuoso worked ; and in later,

better days, Ionly mention Miska Hauser, R^menyi,
Vieuxtemps, and others who first carried the banner of
the violin to our cousins across the seas.
As to travelling in the olden days?It took (1674) Lord
Shrewsbury and from one Thursday afternoon
his tutor
to the second following' Friday night to get from London
to Paris under favourable conditions.
It became a regular tour de force to go from London
or Paris (where the virtuoso usually earned his spurs
at a concert spirituel) to Moscow and St.
Petersburg, either vi& the cities of the
A eguI *r
^
Rhine, South Germany, Austria, and Poland, _,
or by a northerly course, touching Leipzig,

Berlin, Dantzic, Konigsberg, Riga, etc. What dis-
tances by stage-coach, with winter in Russia, through
awful solitudes of snow How much pluck on the
!
one hand, and what ceaseless energy on the other was

necessary for the continuous life of the old-time
virtuoso.
— —
And last let us be fair the violin, most versatile of
instruments, affects different people differently. To say
that only the classical styles of Tartini,
Viotti, or Spohr, etc., should be cultivated,
Not the
and aught combated and suppressed as
else .
)(
injurious to the higher development of art
instincts in the public, would be like insisting on the
same diet for all manner of individuals, robust and
weak. The great majority, we know, have only weak
musical digestive organs. Musical art will take care of
203
.
Story of the Violin i
itself;the unworthy, the shallow, the trivial will fall

off intime like shells and husks in the autumn. Airs
varies of the old style are even now looked down upon
s
by our generation of students the age has —
outgrown them ; and so this process goes on.
f ulfiHed his ™, , , . , .
M . ,
The , ,
old-time virtuoso has passed away, and

,
the later virtuoso followed after him. Both

have fulfilled their mission, and who will say it was not
an important one ?
204
CHAPTER VI,
PAGANINI : A STUDY.
Just about one hundred years after Corelli had established

the first school of violin-playing, in that same Italy, the
genius of the violin (whatever force that be) was prepar-

ing his greatest surprise for the fiddle-loving world a :
—
mammoth an Eiffel Tower appearance, and nothing
less, in the gentle art of Corelli and Tartini. I mean, of
course, Paganini (Fig. 34). To think that this extra-
ordinary man died only sixty-four years ago, and his
name seems to have the ring of mythland about it
already, and its every syllable to have gathered around
it the moss of centuries ! Is it not almost as if this
certain entity Paganini had lived always like
a sort of
wandering ghost of the fiddle, hovering around the
mediaeval minstrel and guiding his bow and fingers, so
that the superstitious peasant fled from him as from one
possessed by the devil or as if, as long as there existed
;
a fiddle in the world, this man Paganini had been

'
forming to become at last incarnate in that weird

familiar figure which goes by his name?
In proportion as the great classical masters of the
violin from Corelli to Viotti had led the violin-loving
world along certain grooves, that world was unprepared
—
Story of the Violin
for an appearance like Paganini, and startled by it. It

lay quite outside all known and accepted traditions.
Indeed, for its sources we must look to the
TT
or
. the Lolli and the
directly opposite direction —
Boucher quarter of the art. Paganini was a
sort of monster-fungus on that shall I say obnoxious? —
soil of virtuosodom. The Lollis and the Bouchers were
the sketches, he, the full portrait, the culmination, con-
summation, the X Y Z of virtuosity. But even that
alone would not have given Paganini his unique position
in violin art. A variety of factors combined to produce
a phenomenon such as he. The extraordinary impres-
sion he made on his time was not due only to the
—
exhibition till then undreamed — of finger and bowing
gymnastics, 1 and by the nobler accents of his repro-
—
ductive art fire, pathos, warmth, and tenderness ; it
was due in no small degree to his personality,
IS
„ a mixture of the genius and the advertisine:-
„
loving quack, being yet made more effective
Technique by
a weird-looking, fantastic, tragi-comic
figure, unlike anything ever witnessed before
on the stage of the world. Nature had given him that
personality, that figure, but he accentuated its corners.
Never man fitted himself more thoroughly for his
mission than Paganini. It is said that he practised for
1
Paganini's contributions to violin technique were chiefly: an
extensive use of the staccato a ricochet (thrown staccato), double
harmonics, pizzicato for the left hand intermingled with arco, etc., as
well as feats on one single (G) string, unusual stretches, novel effective
passages in thirds, sixths, and tenths.
206
FIG. 34. — PAGAXIM
Photo by A. Noack, Genoa. |

)
Paganini
years ten hours a day, until he sank down exhausted.

" Le g£nie c'est la patience" was his maxim, and he
lived up to it. Either intellect or body had to succumb
in this uneven struggle. The will, the mind, here being
the stronger of the two, the body was left a wreck, and
the natural reaction of a stilted youth extravagance, —
dissipation, vice, and self-indulgence in every form com-
pleted the ruin. And this face and body, this wrecked
and ruined castle of an iron master-will, assailed by
relentless foes, illness, despondency, misanthropy, and
physical pains, he carried through the world from town
to town as a living spectacle, a sort of bogey, a haunt-
ing spectre and the public seized eagerly on it, invested
;
it, trimmed it up further according to its fancy. His

extraordinary artistic powers were only part
Unl V **"
of the show which people went to see and
hear. The knife with which this pale demon „,
on the stage was said to have once killed his
love 1 could be distinctly seen hanging over his long black
locks. The prison had written on that face with an awful
hand its starvation bill of fare and for that the public —
paid (and Paganini had an eye for box-office receipts).
So this man moved over the European stage^for the
i One of the many stories, according to which he had murdered his
wife (or love), and was doing penance for his crime in prison. The
gaoler allowed him the solace of his violin, but no duplicate set of
strings, so when one by one the E, A, and D were broken, he performec]
those marvellous feats on the G, the last remaining. The story is, of
course, an invention. The true version of how he acquired his astound-
ing dexterity in playing on one string is given by Fetis and others. (See
below.
207
Story of the Violin
space of ten or twenty years, upsetting all preconceived

notions of violin technique. He came amid storms of
applause and scenes of unbounded enthusiasm, and dis-
appeared again with something like Mephistophelian
laughter, leaving the public dazed and the poor fiddle
drudge in suicidal despondency. A comet drawing
in its train irresistibly all that comes into its way,
but following a law of its own, revolving around an
axis of its own, impersonating the very life of the
fiddle —that was Paganini. Nor will there ever be
another like him. It is absurd to talk of a Paganini
redevivus, a second Paganini, every time a great
technician comes along and plays that one and only
long-dead Paganini's compositions. It is as absurd as
it would be to say that another Columbus will discover
another new world, or another Galileo protest that the

earth moves around the sun.
Paganini was a law unto himself (whether a good
or bad one does not matter here). He created his
technique, his style, on the basis of prior achievements.
The others only imitate it: with him it was a revela-
tion, with the others it is every-day language, and
smacks of the studio, the class-room, the rote.
We Would not miss this greatest of fiddlers in
Was tne annals of violin-playing — no,

not for a
Paganini's Spohr or any other great modern master;
Influence but his influence can hardly be called bene-
one for ficial. It forced violin-playing into a Pro-
Good ? crustean-bed unsuited to its true nature and
mission. Paganini had temporarily transformed the
208
—
Paganini
angel into a devil, and the angel did not escape un-
—
scathed Lucifer burned his wings.
Violin-playing will never be quite what it was before
Paganini. He helped to hurry the growing-old process
— brought out the lines, the spots, and the wrinkles on
the once fair face. He, before all others, established the
iron rule of technique, with its train of other evils, in
1
the place of the gentler reign of charming naivete of

the elder master.
It may be urged against this assumption that we
have long outlived that influence, that it is an insult
to men like Joachim and Ysaye to mention Paganini's
art in connection with their name. So it may appear.
In reality a violin-playing and violin-loving world
will continue to carry the burden of his influence. It
is like a curse that has attached itself to the young
student when he starts out on a career. " There was

once a man, his name was Paganini. He could play like
—
no other why can't I become like him ? Let me try
at least." He does try, in spite of the still, small
voice within him and better examples around him. He
tries until the best years of his life have been fiddled
away. in vain attempts. And the large public? Only
too often, when it has once tasted Paganini, the
ordinary fare will not quite satisfy. Not that the
people are to blame. Who will deny the fascination
that technical display on the violin carries with it?
the instrument so small and such a perplexing world
—
of sound from it but the craving of the public has
reacted on the artist, who has to supply it or bear the
209
Story of the Violin
consequences. And he does supply it at the sacrifice

of countless hours of drudgery, which too often leave
the mind unfit for higher flights of aspiration.
In a narrow little street in Genoa, not far from the

harbour, stands an unprepossessing-looking house,
painted pale pink, with green Venetian/
a asa^ i
snut ers Every loiterer in the neighbour-
(-
_
hood will direct you to it, but there is no

mistaking "La Casa di Paganini " (Fig. 35), with its
shrine to the Madonna handsomely executed in stone,

and the marble tablet bearing the inscription:
" II Giorno XXVII. di Ottobre dell'
Anno MDCCLXXXII.,
Nacque
A decoro di Genoa a
Delizio del Mondo
Nicol& Paganini,
Nella Divina Arte dei Suoni
Insuperatoif Maestro."
In this house on the third floor, consisting of three

small rooms, the great virtuoso was born on the 18th
of February, 1784. 1 There Nicolo grew up,
raganini
a delicate, sensitive child, with a marvellous
ln e
,, musical precocity. His father, it is said
(though Conestabile tries to defend him),
was very harsh in his treatment of the boy, and we
may pretty safely assume that the little fellow's years
1
Vita di Nicolb Paganini da Genova, by Giancarlo Conestabile,
Perugia, 1851 ; the date on the tablet will be seen to be October 27th,
1782.
2IO
1
FIG. 35. — PAGANINI S HOUSE AT GENOA.
Photo by A. Noack, Genoa.

Paganini
of early childhood were not bedded on roses. For no

matter how talented a child may be, no matter how
much Nicolo may have loved his little violin, a child is
a child with childish desires, and the shouts of the boys
of his age in the street must have caused pangs of
regret in the young heart.
Thus early musical genius begins often its life-long
sacrifice. Poor little boy, shut up in that room in
company with and arpeggios, and a heart as full
scales
of wishes as that blue sea yonder full of gay white
sails. Pity all prodigies. A whole life of success,
seas of adulation cannot atone for the absence of that
small streamlet by which the child-mind plays in sweet
unconscious peace. As it was, the imaginative, im-
prisoned child poured his fancy into his technical
studies. Playing at marbles and blocks became with
him playing with thirds, sixths, and octaves; picking
flowers on the wayside, or shells and pebbles by the
mysterious' sea, became wrenching the mysteries of
technique from his little violin. Although his father
and a certain Servetto are said to have been his
teachers until he was eleven, he probably owed most
to himself. How effectually the child had possessed
—
himself of these fleeting ghosts of the fiddle the trills,
staccatos, etc., etc., became evident when the father
took his talented boy to Rolla (a reputed violinist) at
Parma. Rolla was ill in bed at the time and rather
disinclined to see his visitors, who were waiting in the
adjoining room. There and then young Nicolo, on
discovering on the music-stand the latest concerto of
211
Story of the Violin
Rolla, to shorten the time of waiting played it off at sight,

so that Rolla sprang up in blank astonishment and
declared he could teach the boy nothing. Nevertheless,
according to Regli, Paganini had lessons from him
for about six months, while at the same time he
enjoyed instruction in composition from Ghiretti.
After that Nicolo returned to Genoa, and for several
years gave himself up to the studies nay, titanic—
struggles, rather —which brought him to the realisa-
tion of the ideals he had set for himself.
Existing compositions did .not offer what he sought;
so he composed for himself. Another Columbus, he
sailed the seas of technique fornew discoveries, and
he found his America, treasures never dreamed of
before, and seized them with an eager and
unquestioning hand (Fig. 36).
That was Paganini in the making. When he
appeared a few years later (1801) before the big
\
world, his command over bow and finger-board was

such that he was able to play publicly at
" "
« sight any composition put before him.
first
"-•""
His success was instantaneous, and with
the impetuosity of youth, drinking at the deep well
of freedom and pleasure for the first time, he indulged
too much, and his body, already weakened by excessive
study, became the physical wreck described above.
He subsequently appeared and disappeared from public
view, and his disappearances (which also gave rise
to the stories about him) meant only too often a retire-
ment forced upon him by physical sufferings.
Manuscript by Paganini
213 16
Story of the Violin
But to follow his career in chronological order: in

1805-8 we find Paganini engaged at the Court at
Lucca, where he wrote his famous sonata (Napoleone)
on the G string; and for the next twenty years he
travelled and lived exclusively in his native land. In
1828, at the invitation of Count Metternich, he appeared
for the first time in Vienna, and from there began really
his unparalleled tour of triumphs. People presently
became Paganini-mad. Young and old,
*
musical and unmusical, were seized by this
F raging fever of hero-worship, and the same
symptoms followed his appearance in Leip-
zig, Berlin, Frankfort, etc., wherever he went. And
so he reached Paris and London, where the English
next fell victims to the Paganini fever. Enough, in
the year 1834 Paganini returned to his country. He
had amassed a large fortune, but was physically com-
pletely exhausted. Bad investments and financial
losses into which he had been led by some swindlers,
and the resulting worry rather hurried the process of
dissolution which already set in. Vainly he sought
relief in Nice and elsewhere, and on May 27th, 1840,
he died at the villa of a friend, where he had been
nursed in this, his last illness. His fortune fell to his
only and illegitimate son Achilles, as also his collection
of violins. His favourite fiddle (Fig. 37), however, a
superb Joseph Guarneri del Gesii, he bequeathed to his
native city Genoa. The precious keepsake is pre-
served in the upper floor of the Municipio. You are
led through the council-chamber, where the official who
214
VIOLIN IN GENOA MUSEUM.
FIG _
37 ._PAGANINI'S
;;
Paganini
is entrusted with guiding the stranger points out to

you with pride the portrait-figure of Columbus done in
mosaic. In the adjoining room, near the window so —
that the sun can watch his opportunity to get a peep
—
at his old friend with you a door, indistinguishable
from the white and gold embossed wall-paper, opens
upon a small, blue satin-lined recess in the wall, and lo
and behold! in a cylindrical glass case hangs suspended
that silent miracle, the fiddle of Paganini. 1
To be the one and only pupil of such a man, while an
exceptional honour, is also a crushing responsibility.
Camille Sivori (1815-94), a little man with

a a lni
a prodigious technique and a kind and _ ^ S ,? >
generous heart, lived his difficult part very

well. Like a living memory of his master, he wandered
through the world (and he wandered much), and at the
last managed to squeeze his violin (a Stradivari) into the
satin-lined recess at the Genoa Municipio that it might
keep the lonely "Cannon" company. It lies there at
the foot of the glass cylinder, but outside the sanctum
— still adoring. With Antonio Bazzini (1818-97), whose
name to this day has a good ring in fiddlers' ears, we
say adieu to Italy, leaving her to rest on her richly-
deserved laurels, and turn our attention to Germany.
1
For a minute description of it the reader is referred to Heron
Allen's Fidicula Opuseula. The contributions to the Paganini litera-
ture are numerous. See Vita di Nicolb Paganini, by G. Conestabile
Fe"tis, Paganini; Fayolle
; G. Dubourg (anecdotes chiefly); Wasie-
lewski, Violine und ihre Meister ; Lahe; Ehrlich, Beruhmte Geiger
Guhr, Paganini's Method of Playing the Violin, etc.
2*5
CHAPTER VII.
VIOLIN ART IN GERMANY.
The Thirty Years' War had left Germany in a bad

condition: her people poor, her crops destroyed, her
land hacked up into a hundred and one principalities,
ruled (nay, in some cases bled) by men, dukes, princes,
counts, and kings, who, with very few exceptions, aped
the King of France, Louis XIV., in wanton dissipation
and extravagance. Versailles and Paris were the pat-
terns which every princeling tried to imitate at home,
too often at a cost quite out of keeping with his means.
Yet these sore conditions proved a boon in one direc-
tion. The same courts, small and large, too often hot-
beds of intrigue, scandal, and extravagance, became
the nurseries of music and of violin-art in Germany.
As early as 1626 we found Carlo Farina at the
Dresden Court. And soon after, with Farinelli at
Italian
Hanover, Torelli at Anspach, and Corelli
Violin Art at tne Bavarian Court, heading a long list,

carried we see the great Italian maestri flocking
into the into Germany, engaged at this or that court
Heart of long or short time, as soloists, con-
for a
Germany ductors, leaders, organisers, as court-com-
posers and court -musicians. Their art, new and
216
Violin Art in Germany
astonishing, gave additional splendour to the court.
Italian fiddling, like Italian singing, was the fashion,
though the cases were also not rare where reigning
princes really loved music and played themselves.
This preponderance of Italian violin-art in Germany,
speaking now of the seventeenth and the early part
of the eighteenth centuries, is not surprising. The
country had little to offer in the way of competition
with these clever foreigners. Her sons were only then
learning from them the art, and it took long before
they left the foreigners' apron-strings. Besides, the
social conditions in Germany were anything but favour-
able to a free and lofty development of native artistic
violin-playing, such as Italy could boast at the time.
It was hindered everywhere by the barriers which a
surviving mediaeval feudalism had erected for the
still
home musician. No splendour-loving, rich, and

generous Church openly fostered the art, or by
offering honourable and lucrative positions to the
"
spurred him on or gave him a social standing

soloist,
worthy of the dignity of his art.
The German violinist was before all an orchestra-
playing machine, at the will, good or bad, of some
terrorising potentate with undisguised predilections for
the foreigners in his employ, who were more inde-
pendent, and therefore more respected. In many cases
he was little more (and often less) than the chief lackey
of his Highness. His education also, if we except the
isolated cases where a generous patron furnished him
with the means to study in Italy, was either one within
217
,
Story of the Violin
the narrow circle of his home court orchestra, or in the

lower regions of the " Stadt pfeiferei," 1 that sordid
relic of the master-singer period. In other words,
the development of violin-art was not, as in Italy
during the time of Corelli, Somis, and Tartini, a free
and happy radiation from some great artistic indi-
viduality; it was an anxious crystallising in the ante-
chambers, as it were, of a potentate.
What stronger proof of the different regard in which
the musician was held in Italy and in Germany at the
time can be adduced than that Corelli was buried in the
Pantheon in Rome, while Haydn fifty years later ate
in the servants' room at Count Esterhazy's country seat;
or that the amiable Archbishop of Salzburg ordered his
cook to throw young Mozart down the backstairs
of the palace when that young Master Impudent in-
convenienced his lordship by asking for a situation ?
German ^ to °k such a giant as Beethoven nay, it —
Violin- took the great French Revolution and its
playing —
consequences to make a breach in this
in the 17th Chinese wall of surviving terrorism,
and 1 8th Violin-playing in. Germany in the seven-
Centuries teenth and eighteenth centuries, therefore,
of whatever influence it may have been on the develop-
1
The so-called " (town-piper) had (and in many
Stadt-pfeifer "
instances has yet) the monopoly over the musical supplies in small
towns. He kept in pay and board, and a state of absolute dependence,
mere boys, who learned to keep time by being given the drum to beat
time at dances, and the experienced hand on half-a-dozen instruments.
The " Stadt pfeiferei " was therefore little less than a grinding slavery.
218
ment of instrumental music generally, fails to interest
same degree
the non-specific historical student in the
as the contemporary art in Italy. Comparatively few-
men stand out as prominent, and their work is only
more or less a reflection of that all-powerful Italian
influence.
Thomas Baltzer (born 1630 at Liibeck, died in London
1663) came to England in 1656, and was appointed
leader of the king's band. It is, said that he was a
remarkable player in his day. As German contem-
poraries of Corellimay be mentioned: Johann Furch- —
heim and Joh. Jacob Walther, both connected with
the Dresden Court in the second half of the seven-
teenth century; Franz Heinrich Biber (1638-98), capell-
meister at Salzburg. Nicolaus Adam Strungk (1640-
1700) is interesting, inasmuch as he was one of
the first German violinists who went to Italy to
study. Daniel Theophil Treu (born 1695 at Stutt-
gart) received likewise his education from Vivaldi in
Venice, where he had been sent by the Duke of
Wiirtemberg. Georg Philipp Teleman (168 1- 1767),
music director in Hamburg, is notorious for his
fabulous fertility as a composer. He turned out
compositions as a baker his loaves, though hardly
any have survived.
Still under Italian influence, violin-playing in Germany
became artistically somewhat more satisfactory after the
decades of the eighteenth century.
first
The first man here to attract our attention is Joh.
Georg Pisendel (1687-1755), who, as concert-master at

219
Story of the Violin
the Dresden Court, put his Italian training (with

Torelli, and later with Vivaldi and Montanari) to ex-
cellent use. He was largely responsible for
i_ , the enviable reputation which orchestra-
playing in the Saxon capital enjoyed all over
c
Germany. With Pisendel's pupil, Joh. Gott-
lieb Graun ( , died 177 1), whom we already found
among Tartini's Dresden in violin-
pupils, the prestige of
playing was transferred to Berlin, where Frederick the
Great, a devoted lover of music, had mean-
r while succeeded to the throne. Graun was

leader of the Berlin Court orchestra. Still
more important than Graun, and, indeed, one of the

best players of his time and most sympathetic figures
in the history of early German violin art, was Franz
Benda (1709-86), who succeeded Graun as concert-
master in Berlin. Born as the son of a poor Bohemian
weaver (by birth, therefore, of Slavic origin), and for
the most part self-taught on the violin, Benda had
to taste some life before he attained
of the bitterness of
to his high position. His playing was greatly admired
by his contemporaries, particularly in music of the
adagio style, which he rendered with beautiful tone and
most touching expression. Among his numerous pupils
was Wilhelm Rust (1739-96), music director at Dessau,
and known as the composer of the fine sonata published
in Peter's edition. Of interest to Londoners in par-
ticular in connection is Joh. Peter Salomon
this
(1745-1815), who was temporarily identified with the
Prussian capital before 1781. He became a central
220
figure in London musical life, and is said to have been
the first who attempted Bach's sonatas for violin solo
in public.
Next to the Courts of Dresden and Berlin, and of not
less consequence for the development of violin-playing
in Germany, appears the Court at Mannheim.
Here we meet first with Joh. Carl Stamitz
B
„
(born 1719 in Bohemia, died 1767) and his
Court
best pupil, Christian Cannabich (1731-97).
To Cannabich is attributed the introduction into German
orchestras of many of the orchestral effects which, since
then, have —
become common property viz., the uniform
—
use of staccato and legato effects sforzandos, cres-
cendos, and decrescendos. He probably brought these
novelties from Italy (Naples), where Jomelli reigned,
the greatest orchestral charmer of his time.
A pupil of Stamitz and also of Cannabich was
Wilhelm Cramer famous composer for
(father of the
the pianoforte). He was born in 1745 at -Mannheim,
and employed there until he came to London to become
a r^val of Giardini.
Further emanating from this centre of German violin
art, the Mannheim school, were:—Anton Stamitz
(born 1753), son of Johann Carl, and noteworthy as
the teacher of Rudolph Kreutzer. Ignaz Franzl (born
1736) deserves mention as the master of his son,
Ferdinand Franzl (1770-1853), a celebrity in his day,
with a leaning towards the virtuoso. Friedr. Wilhelm
Pixis (1786-1842), a pupil of the older Franzl and of
Viotti during the latter's exile at Schoenefeld, near
Story of the Violin
Hamburg, died much esteemed as professor at the

Conservatory of Prague, founded in 1811. Of the two
brothers Eck, the last of the scions of the Mannheim
school, Joh. Friedr. Eck (born in 1766 at Mannheim)
was the more distinguished artist, being considered by
some as one of the finest German violinists of the
eighteenth century; but his younger brother and pupil,
Franz Eck (1774-1809 or 1810), occupies an abiding
special place in the history of violin-playing as the
teacher of Spohr. Last to be mentioned here, because
standing in the traditions of the early Mannheim
.school, is Leopold Mozart (born in 1719 at Augsburg,
died at Salzburg in 1787), father and teacher of the

immortal Wolfgang Amadeus, and author of a once
famous violin method, the first published in Germany
sixteen years after Geminiani's work. He was until
his death concert-master and vice-conductor to the
Archbishop of Salzburg.
In addition to the hitherto-mentioned German violin-
ists of the eighteenth century, there remain yet a
number of artists who formed their individuality in-
dependent of the three principal cities, Dresden, Berlin,
and Mannheim, by this or that foreign or home in-
fluence. We have already made the superficial
acquaintance of the three Tartini pupils Joseph—
Holzbogen, Anton Kammel, and Lorenz Schmitt; like-
wise of Anton Janitch (i763-i8i2),-the pupil of Pugnani
and a well-known artist in his day. The brothers Croner
were connected with the Munich court orchestra.
Franz Lamotte (1757-81) was noted as much for his great
talentand prima vista playing as for his frivolity, which
was boundless. Jacob Scheller (born 1759), the incor-
rigible who followed in the train of Lolli, ended in
the slums of the profession. Michael Ritter von Esser
(born followed in the same rank, but was of a
1:759)
different stamp as artist and, man, and rose to wealth
and fame. Andreas Romberg (1767-1821), a sound
player and composer, died as court composer at Gotha.
Next we stand before a man who must be considered
Germany's greatest contribution to violin art.
22-?
CHAPTER VIII.
VIOLIN ART IN GERMANY [continued).
One of the big names in music — Ludwig Spohr (Fig.

38), a man who fell just short of being a creative
genius by the side of our great composers
u wig
—
o ^ t ^ e romant j c sc hool Schubert, Weber,
Mendelssohn, and Schumann! This, how-
ever, is not the place to speak of Spohr the composer
of big oratorios and symphonies, but simply of the
Spohr of the fiddle and Spohr the composer for his
chosen instrument.
Awe-inspiring, upright figure of sterling value as
man and as artist, towering over his German pre-
decessors and contemporaries of violin fame (as he did
in flesh and blood with his six feet in his stockings),
this Spohr, true Teuton of the fiddle, carried German
violin art on his broad back and shoulders across the
border into the nineteenth century.
Only two other violin-artists in his life-time rivalled
him in importance and far reaching influence viz., —
Viotti, thirty years his senior, and his great antithesis
inlife, and art principles, Paganini.
Spohr (born in 1784) was the son of a physician at

Brunswick, in North Germany. Young Spohr enjoyed
224
the inestimable advantage of a musical home, without
being-
— as is so often the case with children of profes-
sional musicians —
from the tenderest ag"e
His Youth
already trained for and driven into the pro-
fession. He was something of a prodigy, for even
at the age of six,with the help of a French emigrant

named Dufour, a clever amateur 'cellist, he was able to
take part in Kalkbrenner's trios. Dufour, recognising

Story of the Violin
the talent of the boy, urged hisbecoming a musician.

Spohr studied Brunswick, where in theory an
in
organist, Hartung (and Mozart's scores), and on the
violin first a certain Kumisch and subsequently the
concert-master of the court orchestra, Maucourt, be-
came his teachers. Later he became the pupil of Franz
Eck, with whom he spent a year's apprenticeship
travelling. At the end of that time he had the good
fortune to hear Pierre Rode, the greatest of Viotti's
pupils, whose playing gave him a new impetus for work
and progress.
We may quickly pass over our master's further
career. A second, or rather real first, concert tour,
undertaken soon after his apprenticeship,
",
P . through Prussia and Saxony, won for him
t S ss
golden opinions from the press, and from
then till his final appointment as Court
Capell-meister at Cassel he passed from milestone to
milestone of success, distinguishing himself as soloist
and composer as well as an orchestral leader and
conductor. I only mention his temporary engagements
at Gotha (1806-13), at Vienna (1813-15), and his tours

between times through North and South Germany
and Italy, where (at Venice) he met Paganini and
played a double concerto of his (Spohr's) composition
with this great artistic antagonist.
Spohr's extraordinary popularity in England is well
known. While in Paris he and his music found only a
cool reception, it was with the English public a mutual
attraction on both sides from the first (an appearance
226
at a Philharmonic concert in 1820), and to England the
master returned frequently and with particular fondness,
both to play and conduct his large orchestral and choral
works.
In 1822 Spohr entered on his duties in Cassel, and
in spite of many annoyances and indignities to which
he was subjected, he retained his post until 1857, when
he was pensioned off against his will. That same year
he had the misfortune to break his arm, an accident
which put an end to his violin-playing, and two years
later, on October 22nd, 1859, he died.
The years at Cassel proved Spohr's greatest period
of productivity, about two hundred works in all having
come from his pen, among them many for the violin,
besides his famous violin method.
In Cassel he also gathered around him numerous
pupils, the best known of whom are David, Ries, :
Bargheer, Kompel, Bott, St. Lubin, and the two

English violinists, Blagrove and Henry Holmes. His
personality was as fine and commanding as
was distinguished for integrity, p
his character __
straightforwardness in all his sayings and
doings, and a fine feeling for the right dignity of his
art and person. Numerous stories and anecdotes about
him demonstrate these character traits. 1
Spohr the artist, the composer, was a fitting
counterpart to Spohr the man. Possessed of the
highest art ideals, and in proportion averse to every-
1
For particulars of Spohr's life, his views on art and artists of his
time, the reader is referred to the master's interesting autobiography.
227
;
Story of the Violin
thing opposed to or not reconcilable with these ideals,

mere ear-pleasing and public-
the trivial, frivolous, the
catching, never for an instant could beguile
P° r e
n ; s muse awa from the path his strong
y
individuality (and a certain Teutonic uncom-
promising obstinacy) had clearly marked out for it.
Everything in his works, be it his violin concertos or
duets, his small pieces or large creations, is " gediegen,"
scholarly, noble, masterly in the form, melodious,
pleasing and, except for certain chromatic mannerisms,
interesting and original. But his strength was also his
failing.
Geniusnowhere gets the better of the artist
inspiration nowhere gallops away with his muse and
we after it in a mad rush, holding our breath and for-
getting aught else. Spohr is always en evidence in his
melodies or his passages He paints in mezzotints,
the fiery Turner red is ever absent his art lacks happy
;
contrasts, rhythmical variety; it is a low burning fire,

never a blaze which makes you feel aglow.
I can imagine that his playing had the same char-
acteristics. It is said to have been distinguished by
the marvellous command of the finger-board,

IS
pf ,
by the large, powerful hand, and by an
unfailing intonation, as well as a tone which
even in intricate, quick passages (in which his concertos
abound) preserved its breadth and beauty, and in slow
movements spoke with rare tenderness and refined
feeling. The fire of Viotti, however, was lacking, and
so was the infinite variety which comes with the
228
;

piquancies of the bow (which were antagonistic to him).
His was the solemn pace of the heavily-built knight
in his massive armour of high ideals.
This, his all too strongly marked, uncompromising
individuality, both as composer for his instrument and
as executant, was no doubt the reason why Spohr
never really formed an epoch-making school, or had
followers who further expanded on his style. Even
the greatest of his pupils, Ferdinand David, „, _ r ,
was anything but a true Spohrite ; his playing

being more French than Spohric. Then, as to com-
position, Spohr's style truly lived and died with him
—except, we ~ wish to say, that Bernhard Molique
gave something of a weak second edition to it. The
best representatives, it is said, of Spohr's style were
his two pupils, Jean Joseph Bott (born 1826 at Cassel
died in America, 1895) and August Kompel (born in
Bavaria, 1831 ; died at Weimar, 1891) ; but neither of
these artists played an important part in the further
development of violin art in Germany. That distinction
belongs chiefly to Ferdinand David.
Ferdinand David, born at Hamburg in 1810, early
became Spohr's pupil but he seems to have been pos-
;
sessed to a rare degree of the power of

assimilating other influences without losing _ ..
his own individuality. His style was a
happy blend of lightness, elegance, and solidity and in ;
his compositions he combined sound musicianship with

graceful melodic invention and rhythmical piquancy.
Distinguished equally as quartet player and soloist, at
329 17
Story of the Violin
home In the deep waters of Bach and Beethoven, and

in the surface rollers of the modern virtuosi, an un-
excelled orchestral leader and inspiring teacher, David
was indeed a very great power in his day. And if
we remember that, with Mendelssohn and Schumann
and the founding of the Leipzig Conservatorium in
1842, the centre of gravity in matters musical in North
Germany was shifted for a time to Leipzig, it is not
surprising that violin art under David's auspices drifted
in the same direction.
His pupils were as numerous as were Tartini's. We
find them to this day in leading positions everywhere in
Germany and elsewhere. The greatest of
them, August Wilhelmj (born 1845), lives
yet in our midst after a career of international triumphs,
devoting his declining years to showing a younger
generation how to become great fiddlers.
After David's death (1873), notwithstanding that his
post at the Leipzig Conservatorium has been ably filled
by such men as_ Henry Schradieck, Adolph Brodsky
(now at Manchester), and Arno Hilf the lead in —
German violin art gradually but irresistibly drifted to
Berlin, where Joseph Joachim reigned in absolute
supremacy. This great master brings us to a sphere
of influence of which I purposely speak last. It is the
School of Vienna. Certain national char-
°°
acteristics, blended with Hungarian tinges,
v1
have given this school a stamp of its own.
Its development was also different from that of the
other German centres of violin-playing. It was tardier,
230
«
H
OS
a
u
<
o
CO
in spite of the fact that Dittersdorf, Haydn, and Mozart
gave to instrumental music at the Austrian capital such
a wonderful impetus. Or was it because of this fact,
this popularity, as it drew the interest away from a
specific cultivation of the violin as a solo instrument into
the broader bed of concerted music ? At all events,
although Karl Dittersdorf (1739-99) and Anton Wran-
itzky (1760-1808) are commonly named as the early
founders of the Vienna School of violin-playing, it
became important only at the beginning of the nine-
teenth century with two men, eminent in their line,
Joseph Mayseder (1789-1863) and Joseph Bohm (1795-
1876). The former, a pupil of Ignaz Schuppanzigh
(of Beethoven fame), gave us among others Miska
Hauser (1822-87). Bohm, a Hungarian and presum-
ably a pupil of Rode, became the master of a whole
galaxy of violinists known to fame, viz. Georg :
—
Hellmesberger (1800-73), Jacob Dont (1815-88), Edmund
Singer (born 1831), Eduard Remenyi (1860-98), Eduard
Rappoldi (1839-1903), Jacob Griin (born 1837), Heinrich
Wilhelm Ernst (1814-65), and Joseph Joachim (born
1835 at Kitsin). The last two, both Hungarians, are
the jewels in Bohm's crown.
Wilhelm Ernst was one of the first who kindled his
flame at the fire of Paganini. As a youth of fourteen
he was studying with Bohm in Vienna when
that conjurer from Genoa appeared and
... , .
drew him into his magic circle.

*
Next,
XT
iTr tc , .
Wilnelm
Ernst
young Ernst followed like a shadow the
great magician on his tours and learned some tricks
231
Story of the Violin
from him, but fortunately his talent was sufficiently

strong and original not to go under, in the greater
individuality of his ideal. While in his "Carnival de
Venice," etc., he strikes the key-note of the Paganini
imitator, his Elegy and many other compositions speak
a language quite Ernst's own. Some of his melodies,
indeed, are like flowers set in daintiest china vases;
r/sy^f?r
^.^^^
FIG. 39. —FACSIMILE OF A MANUSCRIPT BY ERNST.
(At the Imperial Library in Berlin.)
flowers with the perfume and the colours of the Orient.

Ernst's art and playing was, if I may say so, Paganini's
art spiritualised, its echo with a ring of sadness.
A great artist and pathetic figure, H. W. Ernst will go
down to posterity (Fig. 39). He never held a position
or stayed anywhere long, but, like the gipsies of his
native land, went about, with his soul on fire, playing
232
hismagic fiddle until a long-threatening spinal affection
ended his life at Nice in 1865.
Bohm, the master of this ideal of the virtuoso (Ernst),
was also the master of that ideal of an interpreter of
the classics, Joseph Joachim. It shows that
— —
a teacher can nay, should only do so much
T
> os
fV
and not more. He may, like the sculptor
as it were, hew out of the raw block the general form
and outline of his statue inherited disposition, circum-
;
stances, etc., will then give it its feature, life, beauty,

and character. Joachim is, perhaps, the most remark-
able figure in modern do anything like
violin art; to
justice to his importance would exceed the space at
far
my command. Great as executant, great as teacher,
great as quartett player, every way one looks at him
artistically, and without blemish as a man, he deserves
a place beside the noblest artists of our noble instru-
ment. Not meteoric like Paganini or the lesser stars
which followed in his track and shed lustre on their
path for a season, Joachim came to stay
J-jgnt-
like a good light-giving fixed star, around
which to this day revolves a whole planetary „. S ^ ^
1 111
, , ,
Fixed Star
. .
system of students, past-students, imitators,

admirers, and reflectors of his style. As executant
he must rightly claim the distinction of having raised to
its highest possible level purely reproductive art. To
fully appreciate his merit in this direction we need only,
by way of comparison, recall the life-work of such men
as Viotti, Rode, Spohr, whom we style the classical
masters. All of these were before all else exponents of
2 33
Story of the Violin
their own individuality, their own music. They played

occasionally the works of others it was
(quartetts), but
the exception, not the rule. With Joachim, on the
contrary, although a composer of acknowledged merit
(Hungarian Concerto), his chosen path lay in inter-
preting in as objective a manner as possible all that
is best in violin literature.His interpretation of
Beethoven and Bach was once held to be \he un-
approachable ideal. If to-day sometimes the message
is lost, or obscured by the method, let the violin world
rejoice that it still calls Joachim her own —

him who once
enjoyed the friendship of Mendelssohn. Ah, it almost
takes one's breath away to think that he looked into
those large, luminous brown eyes, which shone into
this world like two stars out of the true wonderland
of melody.
2 34
CHAPTER IX.
VIOLIN-PLAYING IN FRANCE DURING THE SEVENTEENTH,

EIGHTEENTH, AND EARLY NINETEENTH CENTURIES.
Coming to France, we find the early stages in the de-

velopment of violin art still less promising- than in
Germany; moreover, violin-playing and „
... . , •
u Violin Art
composition remained longer in an embry-
,
* * tu' ,. • •'in _,,
France
onic state. This phenomenon is the more
t,
surprising, as the political and social conditions in

France in the second half of the seventeenth century
seem, on first thoughts, to have been so much more
favourable to a rapid progress of this charming art than
in Germany.
Louis XIV. had drawn around his Court a galaxy of
artists and literary men. His reign marked the great
classical period in French history. Racine,
1™ e
Corneille, Moliere, La Fontaine, Boileau, °
T ,
—
Poussin 'like so many bright candles
—
around a throne blended their fame with that of their
—
great king. Music, too, was in the eyes of the world,
—
at least worthily represented, and enjoyed the sun-
shine of the sovereign's favour. There was the so-
called" Grande Bande des 24 Violons du Roi," or " Les
Vingt-quatre Ordinaires de la Musique de la Chambre
235
Story of the Violin
Charles IX. (Fig. 40); and

Lully, with the permission
of the King-, organised in
addition " La petite Bande,"
same number of
players, whose
duty it was to
perform the
music for the
ballet and at
Court festivities.
The seeming outward splen-
dour of this musical life at
the Court of Louis very likely
induced many of Germany's
ambitious princelings to keep
orchestras of their own, just
as it inspired Charles II. with
the idea of his royal band of
twenty-four violins.
But these "vingt-
tjjjlL; quatre ordinaires du
—
§Hp" roi " though they
thought themselves
the very cream of
The Cream the profession,
of the w ith the conceit
FIG. 40. — ONE
OF THE " VINGT- Profession that is born of ex-
QUATRE VIOLONS" DU EOI.
clusiveness and self-indulg-
ence —seemed not to have been in a hurry to change
236
Violin Art in France
their music and standard of playing for the more

serious, higher one of the Italian masters.
°r
Corelli's failure in Paris shows significantly ?,
iu 4. something
iu- Failure
.that was wrong.
The monopoly which Lully and his band held over
Parisian musical (which meant the musical life of
life
France) was too sweet to be easily wrenched from

them. They went on in the same old rut as long as they
—
could that is, as long as the King and his Court were
satisfied. Thus it came to pass that, while Germany
could already pride herself on a line of excellent Italian
art-bred violinists by the beginning of the eighteenth
century, in France the art was still in an undeveloped
state of infancy. As a proof may serve the
The se oi
fact that, at the end of the seventeenth ^_
century vocal music was yet used for the „_ . ,
. .1 ,l. r ,, Music for

instrument by these excellent "twenty-four, Instruments
as in mediaeval times; and matters stood
little better during the first half of the following
century.
The first French violinists (not violists) we meet are
two "Rois des Menetriers": Constantin, a member
of Louis XIII. Court-orchestra (died 1657),
and his pupil, Guillaume Dumanoir, who The ^? es
<
followed in the dignity of kingship in 1659.
p re^2i
After Lully, who was made chief of the violinists
band (though he was not Roi des Mene-
triers 1 ) in 1652, and died in 1687, we come to Rebel,
1
The dignity of " Roi des Mene'triers " was quite independent of the
position in the King's band.
237
Story of the Violin
Francois Francour, and Baptiste Anet. The last-named

was the first who and failed in the attempt to
tried
introduce into Paris the art and art principles of Corelli,
whose pupil he was. The antagonism of the "twenty-
four" drove him to Poland, where he died, an exile for
his artistic convictions. Somewhat better fared his
(born 1687, died 1730), who
pupil, Baptiste Senaille 1
had become imbued with Italian traditions during a -
several years' engagement at Modena. The same was

the experience of the most important and greatest
^ ,of early French violinists, Jean Marie Leclair
i , ,
Leclair
—
at least as far as outward immediate
.
success is concerned. By his work and
example he succeeded nobly in planting the best Italian
art principles on French soil. Leclair was for two years
a pupil of Somis in Turin. On his return to France the
"twenty-four," as usual, objected to the introduction of'
unwelcome new ideas but charitably, by way of com-
;
pensation for his superior attainments, he was given an

inferior position in the grand chorus of the opera, with
a salary of four hundred and fifty francs, for which he
was supposed to play in the ballet and accompany the
chorus. After some years of drudgery in this position
— —
unworthy of his talents he resigned, and lived hence-
forth in retirement as teacher, and composer for his
instrument. This excellent artist was assassinated in
the streets of Paris on the evening of October 22nd,
1764. He was born in 1697, at Lyons. Many of
1
Also known by a charming little sonata published among Alard's
MaiCrts Classiques.
238
Leclair's compositions are counted among the best pro-

ductions of the pre-Viotti French violin art.
Passing here as of secondary importance the names
of Jacques Aubert (died 1753), Guillemain (1705-70),
Jean Joseph Cassanea de Mondonville (1715-73), and
Antoine Dauvergne (1711-97), as well as the three
Tartini pupils already mentioned —
Andrd
Noel Pagin (born 1721 in Paris), Pierre ,** e
Lahoussaye (1735-1818), and Joseph Touche-
moulin (1727-1801), we come to the best known
of French violinists of the eighteenth century, Pierre
Gavini^s. He is usually considered the founder of
the earlier (as compared to the post-Viotti) national
French school of violin-playing. To the fiddle world at
large his importance is centred chiefly in his twenty-four
Matinees or Caprices, which to this day have their
assured place in the educational diary of the violinist.
The composer, it is affirmed, wrote them in his seventy-
third year, and played them himself. In that case his
dexterity must indeed have been quite extraordinary, as
they are technical stumbling-blocks for the left hand of
many a younger player to this day.
Gavinids was born May nth, 1728, at Bordeaux.
Nothing is known of his youth. He may have been his
own teacher, and later profited from and formed his
style on hearing Italian masters; at all events, at the
age of thirteen he appeared at a concert spirituel in
Paris, and aroused general interest. Later he under-
took the direction of these concerts, and on the found-
ing of the Paris Conservatoire de Musique in 1794
239
Story of the Violin
he was made a professor of the violin. He died in

1800, full df honours, admired and revered. The best
known of his numerous pupils were L'Abb£ Robineau1
:
and Capron, the teacher of Marie Alexandre Guenin

(born 1744, died 1819).
French violinists of reputation in their day were,
further: Hippolite Barthelemon (1741-1808), also known
in England for his fine rendering of Corelli; Isidore
Berthaume (1752-1820), and his pupil, Jean Jacques
Grosset, who succeeded Gavinies at the Conservatoire;
Mathieu Frederic Blasius (died 1829), also professor at
the Conservatoire Alexandre Jean Boucher, a celebrity
;
with a flaw, already mentioned; Hubert Julien (born

1749) and Guillaume de Navoigille (born 1745),
Leblanc, and La Croix (1 756-181 2).
1 Alard's Maitres Classiques.
240
—
CHAPTER X.
violin art in France {continued).
Viotti once called Gavini^s the French Tartini. With

more right France might have applied the compliment
to Viotti himself. Although born in Italy,
aI
the master gave the benefit of his ripe talents "u, T
not to his native land, but to its neighbour,
v .. .
. .
France. With him, the bulk of the legacy

of Corelli, Tartini, and Pugnani slipped across the
Italian border. While barely known at home unlike—
Tartini, " il maestro della nazione," as he was called
Viotti became " le maitre de la grande nation." In
France his genius reached its glory in France he was
;
—
adored and spoiled yes and happy too, before mis-
fortune took a nip at his heart; in France also he
taught and left to a circle of gifted and devoted pupils
not only his own precepts safely guarded, but the best
tradition of the classical past.
With Viotti, therefore, begins the illustrious period
in French violin art, and the lustre has to this day
not passed away from it, although much
of it has since fallen on the younger sister .
p .
represented by the Belgian school of violin-

playing. The best-known pupils of Viotti were Jean
Baptist Cartier (1783-1841), August Frederic Durand
241
Story of the Violin
(born at Warsaw, about 1770), Andr£ Robberechts

(1797-1860), the teacher of Charles de Beriot; Philippe
Libon (born at Cadiz, in 1775 ; died in Paris,
Best-known jg^ .
also Lou ; S) j ulien) Castels de Labarre
upiso
(1771), Alday le jeune (born 1764), and the
lady violinist Parravicini (born 1769, al;
Turin), who
enjoyed a great reputation between 1797
and 1804; and above all Pierre Rode, born at Bordeaux
in 1774. After having from his eighth to
his fourteenth year received instruction on
the violin from a clever violinist, Joseph Fauvel, young
Rode came to Paris, where he became Viotti's pupil.
It is needless to comment on Rode's position as violinist
and composer. Every student knows him to be the
second in that bright cluster of stars Viotti, Rode, :
and Kreutzer. His finely sensitive nature, which shows

itself in his compositions,, is described by Baillot in the
t
few sympathetic words regarding Rode's
_r . playing: "It was full of charm, purity, and
elegance, and quite expressed the lovable
mind and heart." He died at Bordeaux
qualities of his
on November 25th, 1830, after a most brilliant career,
though not spared some bitter disappointments.
In Rudolph Kreutzer we meet not with a pupil, strictly
speaking, of Viotti, but an artist who no more than
Rode was able to resist the influence of the
° P
great Italian, which he blended with his own
K-" t
individuality. He was born on November
16th, 1766, at Versailles, as the son of a musician, who
also .gave him the first instruction on the violin; and
242
later, it is noteworthy, he became the pupil not of any

representative of the French violin school, but of Anton
Stamitz, a brother of the founder of the Mannheim
school, who had moved to Paris. Under Stamitz's
guidance young Kreutzer's talent for the violin as well
as his gifts for composition developed at a remarkable
pace. Taking Viotti as his model, he eventually rose
to the highest positions attainable to a violinist in Paris.
First, he was appointed second professor at the Con-
servatoire, and on Rode's resignation, took the latter's
place, at the same time occupying various other
honourable positions. In spite of this strenuous official
life, Kreutzer found time to compose and travel.
During one of these concert tours, he met Beethoven
in Vienna, who dedicated to him his famous violin
sonata, Opus 47. Contemporaries speak in
Ivrcutzcr s
the higrhest terms of Kreutzer as an exe- _,
, , .... . Playing
.
.
cutant, but what gave him his unique posi-

tion in the history of violin-playing was his work as a
composer. His forty studies are a household word
with violin students all over the world, a
standard work which no other one of the „ f, y
kind has ever been able to reach. Not quite
so popular but still of great pedagogic value are his
concertos, of which he wrote twenty-one. With this
respectable productive facit to his credit, his fertility as
a composer, however, was by no means ended. Be-
sides fifteen quartetts, fifteen trios for two
string
violins and 'cello,and duets, etc., he wrote no less than
thirty-six operas, among which were thirteen for the
'
2 43
:
of forming' his taste and studying the violin with a pupil

of Nardini —Pollani. He travels as secretary to his
benefactor, he meets Viotti personally, he works " au
ministere des finances" in Paris, he is enlisted in the
army, etc.; but wherever he is and whatever he does,
he pursues his violin studies and gathers knowledge,
and one day in the fulness of time he appears in
Paris as violinist, and pleases his public so well that he
is appointed a professor at the Conservatoire. Here at
last, in a position congenial to him and suited to his
talents, he can fulfil his mission in life —
viz., empty the
contents of that granary. He emptied them partly
into a work which has made him particularly famous
his Method de Violon. 1 This monumental work appeared
at the beginning of the new century, and was later
followed by a supplement. He also instituted the first
regular quartett soirees in Paris, found time to tour,
compose, and teach, and spent a long life of usefulness
— till his death in 1842, an artist truly worthy of the
gratitude of France.
One day Paris woke up to find herselt in Paganini's

grip, and Paganini's grip was firm. It a New
meant a new phase in French violin art. Phase in
Vainly Baillot and his pupil Habeneck 2 tried French
to stem the wave that would roll over old Violin Art
traditions. The national traits of brilliancy, emotion-
1
Written in collaboration with Rode and Kreutzer.
a Habeneck (1781-1849), as founder and conductor of the famous
Conservatoire concerts, introduced Beethoven's Symphonies to the
Parisians.
245 18
Story of the Violin
alism, of showiness and superficiality, which Baillot,

Rode, Kreutzer, had held long in check made a
younger fiddle-playing generation an easy victim to
the great usurper. We now see in France a lively
tug-of-war between the new art and the
A ive y o £j traditions. On one side pulling hard,
j
™- such clever men as Delphin Alard (1815-

88), Sainton (1813-90), Francois Prume,
D'Artot, Charles Dancla (born 1818), etc. on the ;
other, the more conservative French elements together

with an influence (partially at least) hitherto mentioned
only en passant, but since Paganini's time much in
evidence in France, the Belgian school of violin-
playing.
By a happy combination of national characteristics,
and the preponderating individuality of its founder,
Charles de Bdriot, as well as the exceptional
e gia n
l and by engrafting
talents of his successors,
new, strong elements from time to time,
this school has been, perhaps, the greatest power,
outside Joachim, in the latest stages of violin art.
It has,' at least, produced within a few decades, one
might say, greater violinists than any other since the
palmy days of Tartini and Pugnani. Space forbids
to go as much into detail on the subject as I should
like. Some of the names of representatives of the
Belgian school are violinistic household words. Who
does not know Charles de BeViot (1802-70), the
prototype of grace and elegance as player and
composer, and his greatest pupil, Henry Vieuxtemps
246
(1820-81), one of the giants since the time of Paganini?

To him 1 we are largely indebted for another modern
giant— Eugene Ysaye (born at Liege, 1858); and to
De Beriot for that great virtuoso and sterling artist,
Emil Sauret '(born 1852), besides Joh. Christian
Lauterbach in Dresden, and Teresa Milanollo (born
1827), who with her sister Maria, at one time floated
over European concert-stages like a lovely apparition.
The Belgian in Paris (Franco-Belgian
influence
school) is represented by Lambert Joseph
chiefly
Massart (born at Liege, 181 1 died in Paris, ;
Belgian
1892), a pupil of Kreutzer and master of
- Wieniawski, Lotto, Camilla Urso, Teresina , _ "
Tua, Joh. Wolff, Kreisler, Charles LoefHer,
and many others; while Hubert Leonard (born at
Bellaire, near Liege,
1819 died in Paris, 1890), a
;
pupil of Habeneck, taught C6sar Thompson, Marsick,

Ovide Musin, Dengremont (born 1867 at Rio Janeiro,
died 1893), Henri Marteau, etc. 1
From the first a wise moderation has on the whole

characterised the representatives of the Belgian school.
It was unavoidable that Paganini's art left
as on every school and character
-
its mark on it,
1 s °
almost every violin artist of his time. But , *£ ? ,
i. , . ,„ the Belgian
.
while the French extremist took greedily School
with both hands, as it were, of these new
treasures more than was good for him, and in
consequence suffered from technical indigestion and
its other symptoms, the cooler Belgian appropriated
1
And Wieniawski.
247
—
Story of the Violita.
only what he could well and easily amalgamate with

x
the safely-guarded and precious legacy of "his Viotti."
Even such matters as the technicalities of bowing
in
(I address myself here to the student), it is observable
how the best Belgian players have exercised moderation

and discretion. Note with nearly all of them the low
position of the elbow and the upper arm, 2 and the
admirable working of the wrist and forearm both —
kept at perfect equilibrium and obeying the laws of
aesthetics, as well as satisfying any demands made
upon them by bowing difficulties. These things have
come dowp from Viotti, who, it is said, was so
sensitive to the movements of the bow-arm presenting
also lines of beauty, graceful curves instead of ugly
corners, that he had a famous sculptor watch him
while playing and criticise the movements of his arm.
Paganini, self-taught, on the other hand is said to have
held the arm abnormally high, in order to better serve
his specialbowing pyrotechnics.
Through this Belgian influence possibly, or in
consequence of the levelling work of time, the tug-
of-war between the new and old has almost ceased
in France. The once new is new no more; the once
thought old grow almost young again. So now the
ultra-Frenchman sits with the Spohr-bred Teuton
1
1
It will be remembered that the teacher of De Beriot, Andre *
Robberechts, was a. pupil of Viotti.

2
"This is to be understood as relatively low, for the position of the
upper arm, elbow, and forearm naturally changes with every string."
The Art cf Violin Bowing, Paul Stoeving; London.
248
admiring at the feet of Beethoven and of Bach, and

both go arm-in-arm to Berlin occasionally to get yet a
point or two from that "grand old man " of the fiddle,
Joseph Joachim.
Yes, like a stream growing broader and broader,

and ever quicker and quicker, when once released
from its narrow bed, so has violin art flowed
through the nineteenth century. Outlying ° .
countries were drawn into the current, _T

'
JN orwftv
swelling it by new elements and energies. .
Soain
We found Hungary infusing some of the
fire of her tokay and the moonlit-meadow-poetry of
her gipsies into the Austrian mother-stock in Ernst.
Bohemia gave its share in Kalliwoda (1801-66),
Ferdinand Laub (1832-75), Leop. Jansa (the teacher
of Lady Hall£), and later Franz Ondricek, Halir, etc.
Poland, king and mazurka-haunted Chopin-land, had
already in Paganini's time contributed a violinist of the
big calibre, one who stalked in tenths over the fiddle,
Charles Lipinski (1 790-1 861) but now she sent (the
;
heart of fiddlers waxes warm at the mere mention

of his name) Henry Wieniawski (1832-80), the glorious
virtuoso ; and Isidor Lotto (1840) ; and later
Stanislaus Barcevicz (born 1858).
From Norway, with something like an aurora borealis
of northern poetry around his head, came, minstrel-like,
self-taught, that blue-eyed, blondeThaired Norseman of
the fiddle, Ole Bull (1810-80), swaying enraptured
audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.
249
Story of the Violin
Then Spain sent from her matchless sunny climes on

rhythms of Bolero, Malaguena Zapateado, that match-
less, sunny artist, Pablo de Sarasate.
And now once more I have to take my reader from
this bright and ever-broadening view of the nineteenth
century violin art on the European continent back two
centuries, to these isles.
2.W
CHAPTER XI.
VIOLIN ART IN ENGLAND.
Among the great European .nations, England, it must

be conceded, has had but a small share in the develop-
ment of violin-playing. Her attitude to-
wards this branch of musical art was in Receptive
r e t an
the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, * f ,
and is yet, to a certain degree, receptive

rather than productive. To London flocked these
eighteenth-century birds of passage —-Italian, German,
—
French their fame preceding them as the March wind
heralds the arrival of our feathered guests in spring.
They stayed for a season, feeding on the fat of the
land ; but few of them —very few indeed —made a
nest for themselves in the shadow of St. Paul's and
Westminster Abbey, or left an impression strong
and permanent enough to produce a greater national
activity with respect to violin-playing. Whether the
reason for this undeniably unproductive attitude to-
wards this most charming of arts lay in certain national
characteristics whichmake the Englishman to this day
a greater lover, generally speaking, of vocal than of
—
instrumental music, make him appreciate a Handel
and the Messiah more than Mozart or a Ninth
2 Si
Story of the Violin
Symphony (though should not like to commit myself

I
on this score) — or
whether the reason lay in another
,
direction, dating back to certain old-caste
prejudices, the remnant of a mediasval spirit
which found their fitting expression in the well-known
and oft-quoted advice of Lord Chesterfield to his
son 1 —
I do not venture to decide or even discuss here.
,
If this noble lord's opinion is to be taken as a fair

criterion of the general esteem in which professional
fiddle-playing in England was held in those times, it
is no wonder that under such existing conditions the
better middle-class elements, whose active devotion to

the young art would have been of incalculable benefit to
it, were withheld. This state of things as regards the
earliest stages of violin art in England is all the more
surprising, as with Henry (1656-95) national
Purcell
English music reached for the time its culmination.
But then it was chiefly vocal music with Purcell, and
after him, Handel's all-powerful influence lay in the
same direction.
That England produced, nevertheless, somewhat
later, a number of violinists, more or less distinguished,
goes without saying. The Geminiani, Giar-
oreign
dini, Veracini, Cramer, Viotti, etc., could
Artists
not have helped endearing that sweetest of
voices to the English; and gradually the prejudicial
cobwebs of earlier centuries were also swept away.
Great is now the number of its devotees of both sexes
1
Hart, The Violin — " If you love music, hear it; pay fiddlers to play
for you, but never fiddle yourself."
2?2
Violin Art in England
in all classes —
greater, probably, than in any other
country in the world.
The first English violinist is usually considered to be
John Banister (born 1630), in London. He received his
firstinstruction on the violin from his father,
one of the waits of the parish of St. Giles, and English
was sent by Charles II. to France for further Vlo" msts '
study. On his return he succeeded Baltzar, *' ' '
who died in 1663, as conductor of the King's r t

Band, but he fell into disgrace with his
monarch and lost his post, owing, it was said, to his
outspoken partiality for English compared to French
performers on the violin. He subsequently instituted
regular concerts at his house, later called the " Musick-
School, over against the George Tavern" in White-
friars, which continued until near his death in 1679.
Both he and Thomas Baltzar lie buried in the
cloister of Westminster Abbey. John Banister's son
also became a violinist of repute. He lived during
the reigns of James II., William and Mary, and Queen
Anne.
To these two well-known names representing the
earliest phases of violin art in England must be
added that of one other not contained hitherto in
most musical dictionaries. Sir Frederick Bridge, I
believe, first drew the attention of musicians to one

Nicola Matteis as possibly the man who first ac-
quainted English musicians with the Italian style of
violin-playing and composition, and influenced Purcell
in the creation of his violin sonatas. Neither Banister
253
Story of the Violin
nor Baltzar could have done so. At all events,

it appears from the autobiographical notes of Roger
North, a musical amateur, and contemporary of

Henry Purcell's father, that among the
p musicians frequenting the said Roger

North's house was a Signer Nicola
Matteis, a violinist of remarkable attainments, who for
a time made his influence felt in the London musical
circles in which Purcell, then a young man, moved.
Mattel's abilities on the violin were greatly admired, and
among other laudable things it is stated by Roger North
that the Italian violinist showed English players for the
first time how to hold the bow properly. That surely
was a great thing to do for any man whom history has
—
not hitherto marked out as a hero nay, fails even to
mention Who this mysterious Signor Matteis was,
!
whose pupil, or anything else about his antecedents,

Roger North's papers do not reveal. He stayed in
London for several years, playing and giving lessons in
some aristocratic musical families, and publishing some
compositions by subscription ; but perhaps the soil was
not quite prepared for a violinistic appearance like his.
He left London again, and
is said to have gone to Paris,
where he died reduced circumstances. Whatever he

in
was, this hitherto unknown prompter of English musical
history, there can be little doubt that young Purcell
met him at Roger North's house, and, with the inquisi-
tiveness of youth and the eagerness of genius, would
naturally have drawn from him the knowledge of the
main characteristics of the Italian sonata form into
254
which he eventually poured the fine, liquid gold of his

own inspired muse.
After Signor Matteis's departure, professional violin-
playing in London seems to have again taken a long and
undisturbed rest, or it was carried on behind closed
doors, so that the historian did not get a chance of re-
cording it. As late as 1713, John Playford, in his work
entitled " Introduction to the Skill of Musick, in three
books, containing: I. Ground and principles of music
according to the most easy method for young prac-
titioners. II. Instruction and lessons for the treble,
tenor, and bass viols, and also for the treble violin.
III.The art of descant or composing musick in parts,
made very plain and easy, by the late Mr. Henry Pur-
cell" —
mentions the violin, together with the various
kinds of viols.
The year after, 1714, Geminiani came to London,
and the further history of violin-playing in these isles
is inseparably connected with the foreign artists already
mentioned, from Geminiani down to Spohr and to our
own days.
Of English players of the eighteenth century, the
honour of anciennetd belongs to Matthieu Dubourg (born
1703, in London). He made his first debut as a boy
violinist (standing on a chair so as to be seen) in the
crowded historical music-room of John Britton in Clerk-
enwell. On Geminiani's arrival in the English capital,
Dubourg became his pupil, and was subsequently
engaged in Dublin and London. Here he died, 1768, as
Director of the Royal Music. He is said to have been a
255
Story of the Violin
distinguished artist, excelling, particularly, in slow,

pathetic music. Dubourg's pupil, John Clegg, accord-
ing to Gerber, excelled his teacher in dexterity, but
through over-work came to a premature and sad end in
1742 as an inmate of the Bedlam Asylum.
Further interesting is: John Abraham Fisher (born
in 1744, in London), who also made a name for himself
as a virtuoso abroad. I give a translation of Pohl's
description of him and his comical method of adver-

tising himself abroad: "A foreign valet in striking
livery, carrying a magnificent carmine-red violin-case,
richly ornamented with gold, was followed by the
celebrated virtuoso, who, walking on tiptoes, was
clad in a brown silk attire, with scarlet embroidery
and glittering buttons. So high was his powdered and
perfumed toupee that his small figure appeared divided
into halves. His breeches were held at the knees with
diamond buttons, and the scent of perfume filled the
atmosphere of the room."
Thomas Linley (born in 1756, at Bath; died in 1778)
was a pupil of Nardini. His promising career came to
a premature end through the overturning of a pleasure
boat.
Of some notoriety must have been General Ashley
(died in 1818), a pupil of Giardini. He had the honour
of performing Viotti's double concerto in public in
London with the master himself.
—
With the violinist Bridgetower for whom Beethoven
is said to have composed his sonata Op. 47, which he
eventually dedicated to Kreutzer — the list of note-

256
worthy English bow-performers on the violin in the

eighteenth century is nearly complete.
Of later date: Henry Blagrove (born at Nottingham,
in 1811), who began the study of the violin at four,
appeared in public at five, became the pupil of Spohr,
was from 1834 leader of the Philharmonic Society
concerts, and died in 1872 in London; further, Antonio
James Aury, who made a name for himself on a concert
tour lasting nine years; and John T. Carrodus, a pupil
of Molique, who died in 1869, and is the grandfather of
the family of clever violinists of that name.
^5?
CHAPTER XII.
THE LADY VIOLINIST.
Lovely flower in fiddle-land! She was born in the

South with the first Amatis, Ruggieris, and Seraphins
which left their makers' shops in new glossy
_, coats, burstinef as it were with melodious
Charms
life —waiting only for just such soft white
hands to be handled and fondled, for exactly such
little delicate, shell-shaped ears to pour their caress-
ing voices into, and to rest on just such soft bosoms.

She was quickly responsive. Yet observe: she was —
a child of the South, with an impulsive artistic
nature. It was just such an Amati, Ruggieri, and
Seraphin she had longed for; they were the realised

ideal of her bosom: so graceful, so light, as easy to
the touch as her own heart to the touch of Cupid.
Hence it came to pass that we got in all her charms
the lady violinist. She flourished in fair Italy 1 while
1
According to Lord Edgecumbe's reminiscences there existed in
Venice at the time of Vivaldi (1660-1743) four large musical conserva-
tories. They were orphanages, supported by rich Venetian citizens,
where orphan girls received a musical education. One of these, the
Ospitale della Pieta (of which Vivaldi was musical director), was par-
ticularly noted for its orchestra, which numbered at one time 140 girls
258
The Lady Violinist
her sister in the colder North, the golden-tressed

maiden, still went about with the bunch of keys hanging
from her girdle, in snow-white apron, busy mainly in
kitchen and cellar, and only of a Sunday playing the
lute and dreamily glancing up at the angel with the
fiddle on the bright painted church window. But
this changed. Like some flowers which wait for the late
summer to wed them, so the maiden of the North found
her Amati or her Klingenthal tardily but she found —
it. And now ? I will not startle you with cold figures
(they would be out of place here, methinks),
let numbers hide where charm reigns; but
r.
go to the next gala concert of our largest
music school. * Queen's Hall will be crowded, ablaze
with light. From where you sit (if you love, as I do, the
darker corners in the back), the distant stage, high
from among 1000 students, and assisted in the production in church

of oratorios, etc. One violinist of fame sprang from this remarkable
institution, Regina Strinasacchi or Sacchi (born 1764), for whom
Mozart wrote his charming B flat maj. sonata for violin and piano. Of
other lady violinists of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth
centuries mention has already been made of Maddalena Lombardini-
Sirmen, the recipient of Tartini's lessons by correspondence (dated
March 6th, 1760); also of Signora Gerbini (born after 1770), a pupil of
Pugnani, and Signora Parravacini (born in 1769), pupil of Viotti. But
only with the two sisters Teresa arid Maria Milanollo, in the forties of
the last century, the charm and poetry of violin-playing woman seems
to have fully dawned on the world at large. Since then the increase in
amateur and professional violinistes has been phenomenal. Madame
Norman Neruda (Lady Halle) set the ball rolling in England, Camilla
Urso in America, and around these two stars cluster to-day a very
large wreath of fair executants of all nationalities.
2 59
Story of the Violin
and above the large, dark, heavy-breathing mass, will

look like a moving, glittering sea of white. The
—
orchestra all budding dibutantes! As you listen to
the music gently rising, falling, rising,— through your
half-closed eyelids and a mist of heat and haze and
light— sound and movement melt together; childhood
pictures crowd on you; forgotten dreams gain shape
and life. You see the heavens open and descending
and ascending angels clothed in white with fiddles,
viols, 'cellis in their arms, radiant faces looking up in
rapture to the source of light and goodness, drawing
from it love and inspiration. And softly with them,
rising, falling, rising, float the alleluias, amens,
alleluias.
260
PART III.
AN OUTLINE OF THE EVOLUTION OF VIOLIN

COMPOSITION.
CHAPTER I.
IN ITS INFANCY.
What thestammerings on the newly-invented,

first
instrument were we cannot tell. Perhaps as the violin
began to supplant the treble violit took also from it its
repertoire, or it borrowed from the slender store of the

rebecca, here a romance, a canzona, there an old dance
tune, lively or slow. Only from the beginning of the
seventeenth century we get glimpses of the
musical tendencies to which the new instru- Be S lnmn &
ment inspired its devotees. On the one hand „ °
u
we see how Monteverde (1607) employed Cent
it on the other we have,
in his orchestra;
still a "Romance for Violin and Bass,"
extant,
published in 1620 in Venice, by Biagio Marini, 1 and
some compositions 2 by Carlo Farina, whom we met
1
Gerber, in his New Musical Dictionary, gives a list of additional
compositions attributed to Marini, but it seems they are hopelessly lost.
2
At the Royal Private Library in Dresden.
261 19
a
Story of the Violin
at the Dresden Court in 1626. Among these—

collection of old dance -tunes and arias, originally
set for four parts (although the solo violin
Carlo
Farina and
part alone has been preserved) particularly —
of mterest ; s the conc l u ding quodlibet,
,.„ , entitled Capriccio
.
r Stravagante.
* It must
Caprtccio
Strava- have been considered something extra-
gante" ordinary for the time, for the composer says
as much in his preface, and at the end of the
work gives explicit directions as to the rendition of hi-s
opus, including rules for going into the third posi-

tion (which is twice employed), for playing double
stops, the tremolo, the shake, etc., as well as for the
proper execution of such feats as the imitating of
caterwauling, dog-barking, the drum and fife and
-
the Spanish guitar, -all contained in his remarkable

work. Even if we were disposed (judging only from
this specimen of his muse) to suspect Carlo Farina
of having been something of a musical charlatan, a
Woldemar in embryo, this capriccio would stand as a
valuable document for the stage of violin technique at
the time but there is good reason to believe that the
;
composer was prompted by a perfect earnestness of

purpose, as it shows itself in the other pieces of the
Not having learned as yet to
collection.
ru e one_
n musical parables, he landed in the
S p ea j 5: ;
crudest forms of tone-picturing as soon as

he tried to depart from the stereotyped dance-tunes and
arias.
But it is significant that the violin should from
262
In its Infancy
the have invited a departure from the domain

first
hitherto accorded to the viol. The player and

composer instinctively felt the hidden possibilities of
his instrument and was groping his way towards their
realisation. Carlo Farina's example found evidently
ready imitators in Germany, for Joh. Jacob
Walther (b. 1650), in his Hortulus Cheltcus, ^^tow
published at Mayence, 1694, * strikes the
; '
r
same note in the imitation of the cuckoo,
the the rooster, and the cackling of
nightingale,
hens. Technically though, his productions mark an
appreciable advance on Farina's, the fifth position
being employed (with one excursion of the fourth
finger to the — ), besides showing a very great variety
of bowings. More scholarly than either Walther or

Farina was Franz Heinrich Biber. In his compositions
the desire for individual expression in clear, well-formed
musical language is unmistakable.
Italy's superiority in matters musical presently shows
itself. The feeling for form, symmetry, and beauty
must be inherent with her people whatever
reason we wish to give for it. At all events,
while in Germany under the very eyes of Buxtehude
1 "Hortulus Chelicus:
The literal title (translated) is that is,
well-planted violinistic pleasure garden, wherein all musical amateurs

way to perfection smoothened by
desirous of learning will find the
curious and a most agreeable variety ; and also the most
pieces
charming harmony by touching two, three, and four strings on the
violin. Through Joh. Jacob Walther, Italian Secretary to the Elector
of Mayeace," etc.
263
Story of the Violin
and the father of Joh. Seb. Bach violin-composition still

lay inits swaddling- clothes, kicking up its heels, as it
were, in vain struggles to get out of them, we already

have in Italy the well-defined Sonata da Camera and
Sonata di Chiesa, and the first attempts at the concerto.
264
— —
CHAPTER II.
THE REIGN OF THE SONATA.
Definitions as to the earliest character of either ot

these sonatas differ with different writers. 1 But it is
say that both had the general
fairly safe to
features of our suite
i.e., they consisted
So " aU da
of several more or less loosely connected
and e
,
. oonata
movements (usually three or four) all in j. Cniesa
the same key. In the Sonata da Camera,
—
as its name chamber sonata— implies, the movements
were of a worldly character — light old dance-tunes
(balleti), the giga, gavotte, Bourre' (minuet) ; or more
serious ones allemanda, pavane, corrente,
like the
ciacona, etc. or also arias, madrigali, canzone, etc.
;
In the Sonata di Chiesa (church sonata) they were:

adagios, largos, and allegros (fugues and fugatos)
that is, free contrapuntal inventions adapted for use in
connection with the musical services of the church. 2
1
Frsetorius
: Syntagma, vol. ii. p. 24 and Sebastian de Brossard
; :
Musical Dictionary, 1703.

2 That there
were, independent of these two principal musical forms
(to which must also be reckoned Torelli's concerto form, see below),
some further compositions of a mixed character, the theme and variation
kind, is shown in that remarkable Ciaccona by Thomaso Vitali. It
consists of a short characteristic theme and a number of very ingenious,
26^
Story of the Violin
Although cannot be said that Corelli invented the

it
violin sonata, 1 at leastit was his undying nierit to have
y. ... .
given it its general outline and character.
Corelli and „,. , ,. ,
...
, ,
, <, This he accomplished by appropriating
with the right instinct of genius the best
suitable elements at his disposal, moulding them into
a logically-connected whole. The working out of
the detail of the movements, the enlarging and
individualising of them was left to his successors.
language, whether in the traditional
Corelli's musical
dance rhythms of the sonata da camera, or in the
adagios and allegros of the sonata di chiesa, is
throughout adapted to the nature of the instrument;
noble, dignified, and of rare euphony. Some of his
slow movements rise to almost Olympian grandeur, or
are full of simple charm and naivete', while the con-
struction of the allegros is always clear and plastic,
be it that the passages (or figurations rather) flavour
a little of the etude. They seem like a concession
that the spirit of the musica sacra, which is upper-
most in the master, made to worldly conceptions of
variety. As if wishing to emphasise the weight and
importance of the slow movement as compared to the
rest (or perhaps as a proof of the usual mental attitude
finely-contrasting variations, a worthy precursor indeed to that wonder-

ful Ciaccona which forms the concluding movement of Bach's fourth
sonata for violin solo.
2
Giovanni Eattista Vitali (1644-92) is usually considered the first
master who cultivated the sonata da camera, under the title of Balleti,
Balli, Corrante, etc., da Camera.
266
Reign of the Sonata
of the composer when he followed the dictates of his
muse) he invariably begins his sonatas, even the sonata
da camera, with a grave. After this grave (prelude)
—
follows usually a livelier movement a corrente or
allegro; then again a slow one —
an adagio, largo,
or sarabande ; and another allegro, gavotte, or giga
concludes the work. In general Corelli adhered to
this plan for his sonatas of either kind, whether written
for two violins and bass, as in Op. 3 and 4, or for
violin solo with bass, as in Op. 5 (his most popular
work) ; but minor changes are met with at every
turn. As an interesting item it may be mentioned that
occasionally he writes the slow middle-movement in
the parallel key, a proof how finely sensitive the master
was to the demands of Besides the sonata
variety.
form, he cultivated the form of the concerto after the
style of Torelli, and in his famous "La Folia," also
that of theme and variations. But while the Corelli
sonata represents the first great landmark in the
evolution of violin composition, for the further and, in
a sense, final development of this form of composition
we are indebted chiefly to Tartini.
A glance at this master's works reveal the great
progress he effected. It is a progress in three
—
directions viz., in the form, the musical
',
... _
Tartini
, .
contents, and the technical apparatus em-

ployed. The stereotyped made place for the individual,
and the by drawing on increased means of
individual,
expression, expanded the form and in this process
;
every detaij of the product benefited in proportion:

267
Story of the Violin
the themes gained in breadth and importance, the

modulations became freer, and the passages more
varied, etc., etc.
Thus we find also that the Paduan master almost
discarded the sonata da camera, and instead cultivated
the sonata di chiesa and the church concerto, which
afforded him the required scope for free invention and
thematic elaboration impossible in the old sonata da
camera. Besides his muse would have naturally
turned to forms in harmony with the church in the
service of which he was employed, and to which he
was devoted. 1
Tartini loved these golden chains of the house of God.
They were to him not chains to hold him fast to the
cold stone-floor, but they drew him up to the lofty
dome, or often transformed themselves for him into
butterfly-wings of inspiration to soar still higher. Only
at times he peeps, as it were, through the high church-
windows into the world below, and then his heart is
moved with strange earthly passions or feelings. His
violin begins to speak another language the language —
—
of the world full of warmth and tenderness. It is
worldly, but not for long it is worldly without quite

;
daring to be so even with the devil the master prefers

;
wrestling in front of the altar (note the interludes in

the Devil's-Sonata). But how exquisitely tender he can
1
Fayolle tells that even as an old man Tartini would not let a week
pass without playing his customary solo at the church of St. Anthony,
and when illness in his last days prevented him from walking, he
insisted upon being carried there for that purpose.
268
Reign of the Sonata
be ! The last movement of his G minor Sonata (formerly
called " Dido Abbandonata ") is like the " freud voll, leid
voll " of a maiden's heart.
Tartini's influence on violin composition was farther
reaching than that of any other master of his" time.
In his track henceforth wandered all who
Inl s
yet cultivated the violin sonata form. His ff
form became the unalterable pattern for all
contemporary and succeeding Italian, German, and
French masters. For contents, of course, there is no
recipe, and in consequence hardly one of his imitators
reached, much less excelled, him. A few only show
individuality, like his own pupil Nardini, whose D major
Sonata may be likened to a child's face looking out
of the folds of a surplice with surprised, wide-open,
sweet-worldly eyes; and Leclair, the French master,
who succeeded in infusing into his creations some
of his national traits of lightness, elegance, and
piquancy. 1
By himself, towering in unapproachable grandeur,
stands alone John Sebastian Bach in his sonatas for
violin solo. Although he also bows to the
*
given outlines of the Corelli and Vivaldi
sonata di camera and di chiesa, and uses
Tartini's technique as a vehicle for his abstract thoughts
— the same forms, like everything this giant touched,
expand under his hands and appear almost new. In his
1
Handel, who gave us some charming blossoms of his muse in this
form, can scarcely be called an imitator or follower of the Paduan
master.
269
Story of the Violin
fugues he climbs in his ciaccona he soars as on the

;
wings of the eagle to heights from where Corelli looks

like a mite and Tartini not bigger
'&£>' than a child. 1
1
How the form of the old sonata changed into the modern sonata
form under the hands of Emanuel Bach, Haydn, etc., belongs pro-
perly to the story of chamber music, to which the reader is referred.
CHAPTER III.
THE SONATA DI CHIESA YIELDS THE SCEPTRE TO

THE CONCERTO.
With Tartini under the auspices of the Church, the

sonata di chiesa had reached its goal. Once severed
from the Church it lost its raison d'itre, and died to
make place for something else; whether to the detriment
of violin art I do not wish to discuss here. We may be
convinced of the necessity of our children leaving the
narrow sphere of their early associations to become use-
fulmen and women, and yet regret to see them go,
and pine after them when they are gone. In these
days of sloppy berceuses, stereotyped romances, stale
mazurkas, insignificant musical bric-a-brac for the
violin, we may easily regret the irrevocable departure
of that noble, solemn sonata a la Tartini. 1 At all events,
towards the middle and end of the eighteenth century
away from Mother
violin art in Italy gradually drifted
Church. This was natural enough.
The worldly successes of Lolly, Ferrari, and many
1
Is not the resuscitating process of these old treasures of the
eighteenth century, which has been carried on by Cartier, Baillot,
David (Hohe Schule), and Alard (Maitres Classiques), and in our days
by G. Jensen, Moffat, and others, sufficient proof?
271
Story of the Violin
Others would have, in any case, been too tempting for a

young generation to resist long but the strides which
;
technique had made almost demanded outlets other

than the Church offered, and forms other than those the
Church had sanctioned and made popular. Moreover,
halls exclusively devoted to the cultivation of instru-
mental music became more and more general in Italy,
as elsewhere, and in the absence of concert-halls, people
went to the theatre to hear their great violinists so the ;
latter became estranged from the old nurseries of their

art, and the voice of the violin ceased to be an essential
part of the Church services.
The growing supremacy of Germany in matters
musical, Haydn's revolutionary influence on chamber
and orchestral music, the increase of orchestras every-
where, and the steady increase of players who never
had known the privilege of laying down their best
at the altar of the Highest, who grew up with (in Pro-
testant Germany) very different ideas of the best use
of their kingly instrument — all tended to dethrone the
sonata di chiesa and set the concerto in its place.
272
CHAPTER IV.
REIGN OF THE CONCERTO.
Torelli is commonly called the inventor of this form of

violin composition, but it will be found that essentially
his concerto da camera, as well as the
concerto grosso, is yet the old sonata, the
difference being that while the sonata was
1
usually
accompanied by only a bass, Torelli raised the accom-
paniment from its position of absolute subordination to
greater importance. This he effected by adding two
orchestral (ripieno) violins, a viola, and occasionally a
lute and organ.
The concertos of Tartini and other violin composers
who wrote in this form were shaped after this model.
Only Vivaldi, with the instinct of the re-
former or novelty-hunter, occasionally added
other instruments (reed), and varied his combina-
—
tions; but something of a musical pot-boiler as
this "rosso preto" was —
he poured rather poor wine
into his elaborate vessels, and his attempts left no last-
ing impression or found imitators. So, „. .
under those circumstances it is not sur-

prising that Viotti's concerto fell like a thunderbolt on
an unsuspecting world. It was a stroke of genius in
273
—
Story of the Violin
itsway as great as, some years later, the composition of

the " Eroika" or the " Freischiitz." Not only did this
marvellous Italian wed the violin to the full orchestra,
but he did so in the modern sonata form, only shortly
before introduced by Haydn. And how finely he
accomplished this feat Nowhere the trace of an
!
inexperienced hand nowhere experimenting and mis-

;
calculating new effects; no crowding out the solo

part with the new unwieldy masses. As in a perfect
marriage, the two partners— solo violin and orchestra
mutually support and help each other (be it, that the
solo violin, as it should be, has the first and also the —
last word). Wise economy and yet nowhere monotony
—happy contrasts everywhere ; here the string quartette
suffices toaccompany, there two flutes with gentle dis-
course uphold the fluttering rhythms of the solo part,
or a single oboe puts in a plaintive word. Organically,
themes, passages, and tuttis grow out of one central
idea, and a Mozartian simplicity is poured over all like
sunshine over a lovely landscape. But one
e
_ particular feature of this new principality in
the realm of violin composition, the Viotti
concerto, I would like to' point out — viz., the passages.
The and simple is an
raison d'itre of the passage pure
often-discussed subject in these days of " never-ending
melody." The father of the passage was doubtless the
necessity for variety which in the fleeting world of music
is as great as in the other arts, and made itself felt
already in the sonata da chiesa. It was not a full-
fledged passage then, it was only figuration, a

274
Reign of the Concerto
gymnastic exercise for fingers and bow-arm and for
the ear-drums of the listeners, which had been lulled
into inactivity by a drawn-out aria or adagio. That
the loose-fingered and loose-wristed virtuoso presently
made out of necessity a virtue and passed off under the
screen of exercise the desire for display, is as true as
the justification of such proceeding is discutable /£but
the necessity of variety, the importance of the passage
as a —
means to effect contrasts, remained nay, it was
heightened with the broadening out of the form into the
modern sonata form, with its twofold thematic material
as we see it in the Viotti concerto. The themes had to
be set into clearer relief, in more effective light pure
;
thematic development, which plays such an important

part in the larger modern chamber music and orchestral
works moulded in the form of the sonata, being rendered
difficult by the essentially melodic character of the
violin, the passage happily met the difficulty —
if it
could not entirely solve it, and Viotti seized his oppor-
tunity with a masterly hand.^
Modern composers of violin concertos have seen fit to
avoid the passage by laying the thematic development
partially in the orchestra, thus making the solo violin
the subordinate, accompanying part. Beethoven,
Mendelssohn, and after them Bruch, Raff, Saint-
Saens, and Brahms have thus created a new style of
violin concerto, one of symphonic character, and in
many instances with beautiful effect. Yet it is by no
means proved that this proceeding which master-minds
made successful has a right to supersede entirely the
275
Story of the Violin
older style. Indeed, the unplayable, painfully ineffec-

tive, unviolinistic attempts (thematic gymnastics, one
might them) in some later-date productions for the
call
violin, which do violence to its very nature, rather
favour the opposite assumption. We only need to think
of the piano concertos of Chopin and others where the
passage in its natural element reigns yet supreme,
and unfadingly beautiful, to prophesy a fair long life
and possibly a fairer resurrection to the passage also on
the violin.
If we look at Viotti's passages closer we find how
effectually this master draws from the natural resources
of the instrument. The pure detacher passages flavour-
ing of the antiquated contrapuntal exercise are there
yet, though they are mostly blended with relieving slurs,
and can be made still more tolerable by additional
dynamic shades; but more often in his best works we
get double-string and other combinations effective,—
new sounding, of colour, fire, and triumphant
full
vigour, and with these the master works his contrasts
and dramatic climaxes.
Rode and Kreutzer, on the whole, walk in Viotti's
footsteps, without, however, reaching him. Rode's con-
certos, while they bring out certain sym-
pathetic sides, the lyric nature, of this noble
v
French master, lack mostly manly vigour
and the happy contrasts which form the chief charm in
Viotti's creations they are also less spontaneous and
;
less organic in structure, the orchestral accompaniment

appearing added rather than grown out of the solo part.
276
Reign of the Concerto
In Kreutzer's concertos, on the other hand, the
scholastic effort is too preponderating over the free gift
of inspiration to yield pleasure as well as benefit to the
player. Some very brilliant passages and a good deal
of technical display (for Kreutzer!) cannot deceive us
over the absence of real creative genius.
Coming to Spohr, it may be said that this great master
laid some of the finest jewels of his muse before the
throne of the concerto. He fills this form
with his individuality almost to overflowing,
and it gains, but also loses in proportion. The passages
appear still more organically developed out of the
thematic material than in Viotti's concertos, but since
this material is in itself essentially of a cantabile char-
acter, it means indeed in most cases the cantabile
carried into the passage, which, failing in its prime
— —
object viz., to give variety rather adds to than
averts the monotony of the whole. This is a defect
in Spohr's concertos for which all the noblesse of
design, the masterly details, and many moments of
great beauty cannot atone. His finest concertos are
considered Nos. 7, 8, and 9, No. 8 being, and with
good reason, the most popular; it is like an autograph
which the great master wrote in the book of time, a
thing of his inmost self for future generations to con-
template with reverence.
Molique gave us five concertos of irreproachable
plastic structure, and with many graceful Molique's
—
ideas note the theme in the last movement Concertos
of No. 5
:
—
but his music is cold; it is " Capell-meister
277 20
Story of the Violin
music." The passages in them are like rows of rose-

bushes with very few blossoms but plenty of thorns
(for the performer). It is no wonder that Molique
concertos, on the whole, have been, like Kreutzer's,
relegated to the class-room.
What Mozart has given us in the form of the violin-
concerto reaches occasionally sublime heights; how
could be otherwise ? As for Bach, hear
m it
Ysaye play the master's E major concerto;

nothing more is wanted to convince any lover of the
truly great and beautiful in music that these
old concertos in the contrapuntal Vivaldi
style belong still to the finest to which composers have
been inspired by the fiddle.
278
—
CHAPTER V.
NEW PHASE OF THE CONCERTO.
We stand next before Paganini. Just as this wonderful

conjurer of the fiddle was reformatory in the develop-
ment of violin technique, so also he infused
into the Viotti, or old classical concerto -^ e
° ern
while leaving the general form untouched _..
— new elements. And since then we have

...
n
Concerto
.
the modern virtuoso-concerto which received

into its generous bosom all the modern achievements
in violin techniques. It was the passage, of course,
which fattened, often to the extent of starving the rest.

Paganini wrote two concertos which were published,
like most df his compositions, after his death. On
both he left the impress of his powerful , ,
personality, and no matter what the musician

may think of their intrinsic musical worth, they are a
striking document to his originality. For this reason
also, and because they are really effective, in spite of
many antiquated trivialities, they have stood the test
of time fairly well. The technical demands they
make on the player are of a more substantial,
healthy, legitimate nature than those in many other
of Paganirii's compositions.
279
Story of the Violin
On this stock Lipinski grafted his pompous, some-

what bombastic, and now seldom heard "Militar
,
Concert," and Ernst his Concerto in F$
j minor, the fruit of his individuality as
p
much as perhaps the wish to outshine
even Paganini in display of technique. A fine work
this is though, and likely to remain a favourite with
violinists, if not to the same extent with the general
public, on whom the kind of difficulties that abound
here is usually lost.
Next, De BeViot creates on the lines of this modern
virtuoso concerto, yet in sympathy with the distinct
_ _, nature of his graceful
.
s talent, his Concerto.
De Beriot T . . .' . . .
It is a compromise, one might say, between
the eighteenth-century fantasie (of which more below)

and the concerto a la Paganini. The traditional
sonata (concerto) form appears mutilated, cut down
to fantaisie proportions, without quite losing its-
identity. Harmonics, staccati, etc., in short the
Paganini technical apparatus is discreetly, but with
a good deal of effect, employed. Once great favourites
with players and the public, De BeViot's concertos
have now on the whole retired from active service in
the concert field. Superannuated warriors, they only
frighten with their grim technical armour the aspiring
intermediate at our conservatories.
In the concertos of Vieuxtemps, De BeViot's great
pupil, we get an ddition de luxe, eine illus- '
'
p trierte Pracht-ausgabe," of
the older master's
work. Everything is magnificent here. Big passages
380
New Phase of the Concerto
in diminished seventh chords, melodies in sixths and
octaves, startling staccato runs, etc., alternate with
a soul-stirring cantilene. Only somehow the soul is
not stirred by them. Vieuxtemps's music is essentially
cold, though it seems full of warmth. It lacks above
all naivetd, simplicity, sincerity. He is happiest,
because most in his element, in movements like the
last of his E
major Concerto, which literally sparkles
and glitters with phosphorescent display in staccati,
sautill£, etc. or in the form of the fantaisie, as
;
in the Ballade and Polonaise, Fantaisie Caprice, etc.

His orchestration, however, is as clever as everything
else in these concertos —
it sets the passages off in
the brightest possible light moreover, the desire

;
for thematic treatment and other signalements in

the passport of the good musician is everywhere
more or less in evidence, and helps to give Vieux-
temps's concertos a deservedly high place among
their kind. —
They are still though not so much as
—
formerly the fine war-horses for the big virtuoso. I
say big, for it requires a certain grandeur of style
— such as Vieuxtemps possessed himself to do them —
full justice.
If we except the Hungarian concerto by Joachim
(one of the most difficult works in violin literature), in
which this master reaches out a friendly hand to the
virtuoso without letting go the classics, ,
only Wieniawski, with the fiery spontaneity^

of his talent, has been able, after Vieuxtemps, to fill
the well-worn form. His second concerto is still
281
Story of the Violin
waiting for a successor. It is the last virtuoso

concerto, and one of the best too at that.
What Alard, Leonard, Bazzini, Prume, and others
have given us are, generally speaking, feebler produc-
,
tion in the De B6riot concert form, with
, about the same, or (in the case of Bazzini)
greater technical demands on the player.
Most of them have disappeared or are disappearing
from our concert programmes like countless fantasies
of the same period. Even David's concertos, of
broader outlines and more musicianly texture, and
once deservedly popular, have with one or two
exceptions shared the same fate.
282
CHAPTER VI.
LATEST PHASES OF THE CONCERTO.
Meanwhile, side by side with the virtuoso concerto,

and little heeding that smart brother's temporary
successes, the classical or Viotti-Rode-Kreutzer-and-
Spohr concerto continued on its way through the
nineteenth century. It halted first before
Beethoven's genius until it had received its
blessing. The mighty master's D major Concerto 1 —
a tenth symphony with violin obligato rather is and —
ever will be the pride of the fiddle-playing world. To
it Mendelssohn added in his happiest mood
~
the almost equally beautiful, though not ,
equally grand Concerto in E minor. 2

To
—
speak of it seems superfluous a gem such as even a
great composer writes but once in a lifetime Or could !
you imagine another like it by Mendelssohn ? The idea

seems like asking spring to blossom twice. Yes, how
beautiful this concerto is, how transcendently beautiful
it must have seemed to that audience which filled the
1
Composed 1806, dedicated to Stephen von Breunig; but written
for Clement, a distinguished violinist of the day, and played by him
for the first time, December 23rd, 1806.
2 Dedicated to David.
283
Story of the Violin
small, old-fashioned concert-hall of the old Gewaridhaus

in Leipzig, one night in the winter of 1845, to hear this
concerto for the first time, played by David and con-
ducted by the composer. Ah, one could wish never to
have heard it for the sake of hearing it once again for
the first time.
Approaching our own time and the more recent phases
in the life of the concerto, we Max
Bruch, with rare
find
partiality for the he is not a
violin (for
violinist himself), devoting the shall I say —
—
cream? of his fine talent to the enrichment of the
fiddler's repertoire. He wrote three concertos, be-
sides an elaborate fantasia in concert form on Scottish
airs and several other works. The first, in G minor,
rivals Mendelssohn's in popularity, so well written
it is, so fine all through, and grateful for the player.
Generally speaking, though, this German master's later

violin works lack rhythmical charm and gracefulness.
The music goes, one might say, too much four-abreast.
One would not mind seeing a little of this scholarly
solidity sacrificed for the sake of those two above-
mentioned characteristics.
—
Just the reverse of Bruch full of piquant rhythms
—
and other niceties are Saint-Saens's contributions to
violin literature, among which stand out his
Saint-
B m nor Concerto (No. 3) and "Rondo
;
aens,^ a o,
c ap r j cc oso> » g u t j s not this music almost
i
& Benjamin , , , ,
to ° c ' ever to ° e true, too clever also to be
Godard
really beautiful ? It lacks the true ring of
genius, notwithstanding many inspired flashes and the
284
Latest Phases
incomparable attitude of the accompanying orchestra,

which throws out the solo part as a polished sheet
of bevelled glass the handsome form of an elegant
woman. Favourites with violinists are also Edward
Lalo's "Symphonie Espagnole" and Benjamin Godard's
"Concert Romantique." The latter in particular is
possessed of many happy individual traits adapted to the
nature of the instrument.
Passing over the concertos by Raff (2), Rubinstein,
Goldmark, Dvorak, etc., which cannot be said to rank
with the best or the most spontaneous of these
Raff
masters' works, and perhaps for that reason ,
'
have failed to become popular (not to speak . -,

M
'
of their effect being incommensurate with

mark
the difficulties they present), we reach, with
Brahms (Op. 77) and Tscha'ikowsky (Op. 35), the latest
in violin concertos. All due and profound re-
spect for their magnificent genius ; but if zr™ . "
both (as well as the above-mentioned com- , ,
kowskv
posers) had spoken a little less volubly in the
orchestra, perhaps fiddlers would not mind, and still less
the fiddles, poor things
! We have heard them groan and
moan, and scratch and squeak, under the strain of try-
ing to make their gentle voices audible in the terrific
onslaught of the orchestra.
285
CHAPTER VII.
DIDACTIC VIOLIN LITERATURE.
Leaving now the concerto in its latest glory, we step

back once more into the eighteenth century to gather
—
up other more modest threads. — With Geminiani
(1740) and Leopold Mozart (1756) we had the first
systematically-arranged violin methods, the one based
on Corelli's teaching, the other on the traditions of
the early Mannheim school.The study-material in both
of them, however, was small — wholly insufficient for
pupils' technical development, which became more and
more urgent as the general standard of violin technique
was being raised and difficulties in pieces increased. So
next we find the, until then, barren field of didactic
violin literature —the 6tude, the unaccompanied study
for fingers and bowing and phrasing, cultivated. It has
been perhaps the most liked, and therefore the most
generally and happily cared for branch of composition
for violinists. Unhampered by considerations of accom-
paniments, or by a rigid form in which only the more
talented and scholarly could feel at home and at ease,
the composer of Etudes was able to follow his fancy,
style, and technical predilection and the result Was that
;
wealth of studies, etudes, caprices, etc., of every style,

grade, and quality which in course of time has accu-
mulated, and now forms the mountains which the
286
Didactic Literature
student is supposed to climb before he may descend into

the valley of technical perfection.
From the long-stretching sandy plains of this or
that method to the pleasant foot-hills of Maza's and
some other Etudes, and thence across the
stately chain of Kreutzer's '
' forty," Fiorillo's
A L ° ng
" thirty-six," and Rode's " twenty-four," and
higher yet to the barren altitudes of Gavinid's Etudes,
past abysses of nerve-prostration and gorges of dis-
couragement, until the awful glaciers of Paganini's
caprices and the eternal snow-region of the fugues ot
—
Bach are reached and safely passed is indeed a long
way for the present-day pupil. Fortunately for him that
he does not know it when he starts out —
the mountains
;
seem so near and low to young and eager eyes.

The latest addition to didactic violin literature a sort —
of St. Gothard or Mount Cenis Tunnel through the
mountains, a shorter cut as it is supposed to
be (though I am not sure of that) are the — _
works of Ot. Sevîk, the teacher of our
latest fiddle wonders —
Jan Kubelik, Kocsian, and Marie
Hall. No one who has given these works a close and
unprejudiced perusal can fail to see there a will and a
master-mind fathoming the depths of violin didactics.
It is a whole Darwinian world of finger and bowing de-
velopment. Unless another comes next with a sort of

flying-balloon method to carry fiddle students into the
promised land, Ot. Sevcik's remarkable works may
stand a good chance of becoming the violin method of
the twentieth century.
287
CHAPTER VIII.
A PRODIGAL
Meandering through the eighteenth and nineteenth

centuries in company of the violin composition in state,
the Sonata and Concerto, and the violin composition en
negligee, the Method and Etude, etc. came a third, a sort ,
.of prodigal brother —the

small piece, "Character and
Fantasie Stuck." It was the oldest of them
of
- .,
them
„
all
all,
'
born
. ....
who knows where and when
perhaps, in the tent of a minstrel as the
?
cross-breed of a dance and a chanson. Jean Char-

millon could doubtless tell us more about it, but we
will not disturb him any more. Since the days when
it imitated caterwauling and dog-barking and hens
cackling, it sprouted many varieties. Not only Lolli,

Woldemar, and Jarnowick, but Franzl, Lamotte,
Lafont, in short every travelling virtuoso had espoused
it with fervency. It was after the Etude (which at best
was only for the four patient walls of the study) the
most congenial form for the violin composer
er y
^ in whom creative instincts and talent did
, not keep quite step with technical equipment
."
and ambition. It was elastic as india-rubber,

stretching in any direction, from an accumulation of
288
A Prodigal
mere runs and trills a la Lolli to an elaborate fantasia

or a pretty romance and rondeau a la Jarnowick and ;
when it had reached the paradisiacal stage of the Air

Vari6, it made halt and waxed exceeding popular.
I need not tell you of the Air Varied Its popularity at
one time can only be compared to that of certain domestic
preparations of to-day. It swamped the'
concert-rooms and parlours, and threatened
v ,,
to invade the kitchen also. The big and
the small all varied airs. Paganini accommodated his
devils in this obliging abode. Like the wild animals at
—
.the Zoo, they pizzicati, harmonics, etc. —each had a
separate cage to perform their tricks. Ernst, too,
installed his gentler but not less exacting gnomes and
fairies there; and De BeViot, Vieuxtemps, Bazzini,
Alard, David, Leonard, Wieniawski all
1
— "aired"
varied airs. The Air Vane is practically dead now
— it died from over-prodigality; but it left us its
grandfather, the small piece.
Yes, the small piece, the "Character and Fantasie
Stuck," we have still with us. Under a hundred and
one names it figures on our publishers' lists
and lives in the hearts of the people. Now, _,
the form in which Schumann, Chopin,
Henselt, Stephen Heller, etc., have given almost their
—
best on the piano at any rate their most spontaneous,
—
inmost self the small piece should also be the form of
expression best suited to the nature of the most grace-
ful of instruments. But alas! nothing demonstrates
more painfully the doleful sterility in present-day violin
289
Story of the Violin
composition than the output in small pieces. What

do we get ? Is it not the Character-stuck without the
character, the Fantasie-stiick without fan-
e resent
tasVj mus ; ca i s i p for the most part, written
p, for teaching purposes at the instigation of
rather than the sacred call of
publishers
the muses? Thissweeping, and sdunds hard, but
is
look at our violinists' recital-programmes. Generally

speaking, they have been fiddling away for the last
twenty years or more on the same old effective pieces
(I need not name them), just as they did on the Beet-
hoven, Mendelssohn, and Bruch,' etc., concertos, with

an occasional loan from an old master. Paganini,
Ernst, Vieuxtemps, and Wieniawski still must do
service, and even their airs varies are suffered with a
grunt from the critic.
What is the reason of this sterility? Has the genius
for violin composition died out among violinists ? Is it
the devil's hoof, that legacy of Paganini?
„ Y
!
| Are the muses shunning a generation which

persists in shouldering the enormous weight
of present-day technique ? Has on this altar of tech-
nique been sacrificed the better, the more precious
thing? Has the modern violinist ho time for aught else
than drilling his fingers and memorising his difficult
solos when he is not up and about earning his bread
by teaching or playing? Since the time of Men-
delssohn and David (never mind the few exceptions)
he has left it to his brother-musician the pianist com-
poser and the Capell-meister to write violin-concertos
290
A Prodigal
for him while he practised his fiddle. It was not so

once in the days of Viotti and Rode.
I think, in spite of the Kubeliks and Kreislers, whose
triumphs ring in our ears, our time will go down to
posterity as a very uninteresting age in the
annals of violin art. Will the future redeem very n "
, ,
interes n S
the present? Let us hope. What is needed
^
is perhaps not another Viotti who can write
classical concertos, a Vieuxtemps, a Bruch, a Brahms, or

a Tschai'kowsky who squeezes the fiddle like a lemon to
get the most tone out of it for the sake of his orchestra.
No; the violin world, I think, is waiting for its Chopin. '
It is waiting for the man who possesses the master-key

with which to unlock as yet unexplored regions of
poetry and beauty.
I am convinced the last word in violin composition
has not yet been said. There are yet more treasures to
be got out of this wonderful treasure-box,
he Last
the Stradivari fiddle. Even the concertos « £
of Beethoven and Mendelssohn, not forgetting-
& » y e i0 ,
t Spoken
Spohr, Ernst, and Vieuxtemps, etc., give
us each in its way glimpses only of the wealth which is
waiting to be raised by that Chopin of the violin. He
will not be a Capell-meister or a pianist-
composer who writes symphonies and lhe ^ h °P' n
chamber-music, and for a change also for v> .,
the fiddle. He will be a fiddler, heart and
soul, who lives, dreams, dies for the fiddle; who loves
it with a great, beautiful love as in the old days of
Tartini. Whatever he will give us, whether a concerto,

291
Story of the Violin
a fantaisie, or a song without words, it will be a new

thing of beauty, adapted to, and grown out of the
nature of the instrument as scent rises out of a
flower. It will not be a long, winding concerto of the
old orthodox style, for the violin tone is like the per-
fume of certain flowers, too exquisite to permit a
surfeit; and a surfeit, who can deny it, we get in most
modern concertos. In proportion to the sweetness of
the native effect of the violin tone on the human soul, it
palls sooner, and is in this way quite different from that
of the piano.
Nor has the last been said in the way of accompani-
ment to the violin. Perhaps the last will be very much
like the first: I mean a return to simplicity, transpar-
ency, to primary effects, only refined like gold after a
process of Is this struggling against impossi-
fire.
bilities, as we can
witness in the modern concerto, in the
nature of the most gentle of instruments destined by
form and tone to administer to the most subtle and
refined of human emotions and feelings ? Compare
only the same violin in its true world among its own
—
kind the string quartett. Does it not sing most
sweetly there ? We
have become accustomed to the
accompaniment of a piano, although there is absolutely
no sympathy, no relation between the two instruments,
and their marriage in consequence is a sort of acous-
tical barbarity. It may be because " les extremes se
touchent " that the combination has its abiding, peculiar

charm for our modern ears but whoever will say that
;
some day a great one will not come to teach the world
292
Postscript
that something else sounds better ? Have we, perhaps,

been just a bit hasty, as far as accompaniment for the
violin is concerned, overboard the clavi-
in throwing'
chord and spinet and kindred instruments for the sake
of the concert grand ? Perhaps there are pearls yet to
be found among the effects once dear to our great-
grandfathers and great-grandmothers.
This Chopin of the fiddle, then, let us hope for him.
Perhaps while I write, the genius of the violin the —
—
angel with the fiddle-bow has already picked him out,
and now bends over a squalling little figure in a little
cradle somewhere in the land (I hope it will be Eng-
land), and whispers into his ears: "Be good, be still,
my son; thou shalt be the Chopin of the violin."
POSTSCRIPT.
And so I have finished the task I set myself viz., to —

the story of the violin.
tell I almost wish I could begin
over again, to tell it better; so much more I should

like to say, and so much more I ought to have said.
But perhaps the reader will kindly remember that
the subject is very complex —
too complex almost
to: be dealt with in two or three hundred pages.
He may remark that I have given a rather dispro-
portionately large space to the consideration of the
earlier stages of violin art as compared to the later de-
velopment — disproportionate to the extent of suppress-
ing all biographical notes on men so well known and
293 21
Story of the Violin
interesting as De BeViot, Vieuxtemps, Joachim, Wieni-

awski, and many others but I would say in my defence
;
that since I was obliged to sacrifice details, however in-

teresting, to generalities, I thought it more justifiable
to omit where omission was least harmful to the
appreciation of the whole. Personalities in the earlier
stages were really synonymous with epochs. Corelli,
and Paganini, to whom I give
Tartini, Viotti, Spohr,
much space, were the great corner-stones for progress;
in the later stages personalities became submerged in
the vastness of the whole, or stood out as only small
projections from a smooth surface. Besides, as child-
hood and youth appeal to the imagination more strongly
and in sweeter accents than manhood, so also does
violin art in its youth as represented by those great
old Italian masters. They lived with a young art, if I
may say so, in a state of perpetual betrothal, with all
its sweet delights, its little surprises and discoveries, its
hide-and-seek of affections. Now it is a married state
of long-standing, and though it may be a happy and
prosperous one, many of the sweet illusions d'autrefois
are gone.
Just fancy the elation and excitement of him who first
discovered that by a certain knack, a little movement
of the wrist, he could make his bow produce whole
cascades of pearly arpeggios, or play twenty or thirty
notes in one bow staccato, firm or light, like beads
rolling off a string ; or the delight, half-mixed with awe,
of him who stole a first glimpse into that wondrous,
undreamed-of kingdom of artificial harmonics. Our
294
Postscript
ever-improved elaborate instruction-books leave us no

room for new discoveries; they are like the official
charts for the mariner by which he may safely sail over
the great deeps.
Schools have lost their former-day significance ; con-
servatoires with dozens of teachers have generalised
what was once the precious property of a few, and turn
out by hundreds young aspirants as clever as many a
star of old.
I may also be found fault with for allowing undue
space to the mediaeval fiddler and his wretched fiddle. I
agree.. Perhaps he does not deserve it, but would you
blame the story-teller for being a bit partial to some of
his heroes ? Perhaps it is because we know so little of
him and he was so despised that he appeals to me.
Therefore I commend the foregoing pages to the in-
dulgence of my reader. After all, it is only a story I
purposed to tell. He who seeks more will find it in
books which deal with the subject in detail. If the
perusal of this work only helps to spread the love for
"that dear fiddle," it has not been written in vain.
295
Appendices.
A. Some Remarks on the Name Fiedel as Applied to
the Early Ancestor of the Viol Kind —

Bowed Instruments in the Works of
Agricola, Gerle, Prêtorius, del Fontego
—Tuning of the Rebecca (Gigue) — Of the
Evolution of the Bow —Parts of a Violin.
B. Chronological Table Showing the Descent of

Violin Playing.
C. Violin Makers.
D. Books of Reference.
297
:
Appendix A.
Some Remarks on the name Fiedel as applied to the
Early Ancestor of the Viol Kind.
Clearly enough defined as were the two principal forms or

species of bowed instruments of the violin family in mediaeval
times, the names applied at different times to various types of
either species by writers who incidentally mention them are
very misleading. It is indeed difficult to find one's way through
the maze of seemingly synonymous expressions. Thus we
find the designations fiedel, fidula, vedel, fiddle, viedel, crowd,
geige, gigue, even lira, rotta, rote, etc., to denote sometimes
an instrument of the rebec, sometimes of the fiedel (early viol)
kind. In many cases centuries lay between the actual existence
of an instrument and the time when a name was applied by this
or that writer to another similar one; therefore the muddle.
The first real musical authors, Virdung, Judenkiinig, Gerle, and
Agricola, did not make their appearance until the beginning of
the sixteenth century.
Ingenious deductions have been drawn by historians from
the significant resemblance of the word fiedel with the Latin
fides, fidula (?), fidicula and the Provencal fideille, with the
intent to demonstrate the descent of the violin from the lyre
and the monochord, both Greek-Roman instruments. The
writer in Sir George Grove's dictionary remarks, for instance
" Given the lyre and the monochord, the violin was bound to
be the result." Of course both these instruments may have
halped to shape the form of the fiedel, and no one can
reasonably deny the relation existing between the above-men-
tioned names, but does it prove anything beyond that ? None
299
—
Story of the Violin

of these writers, it strikes me, seem to make enough of the
real bone of contention, the vital point, the thing on which the
very existence of the fiddle hangs, the bow. Where did it
come from, given the lyre and monochord? How capricious
and misleading the names were which monks and others ap-
plied to instruments appears from Otfried von Weissenburg's
Liber Evangeliorum (ninth century), in which the two-bowed
instruments then in existence are called fidula and lira, although
,the latter is nothing else than a transplanted Arabian rebab
(and bow) in a modified form. Latin was the common language
for speaking and writing among the learned, the monks ; and
they only wrote about music. I venture to say that the
word fiedel, vedel, viedel (fidla) was as German (or may be
Teutonic, Gothic, Anglo-Saxon) as fides is Latin and fidula is
supposed to be Latin ; and as for fidelaer or vedelaer (fiddler), it
is on the face of it much more likely to be an original Teutonic
idiom than a derivation from any Latin word. What can be
more natural than that a Roman soldier, or a monk during
missionary work in a pagan country, when he met with an
instrument hitherto unknown to him gave it a name which he
was accustomed to apply at home to a similar instrument ? If
fides were used by the Romans and Latin-speaking Christians
for twanged string instruments in general, as we speak now of
—
the " strings " in the orchestra he called the new instrument
(though played with a bow) fidula, or he latinised the original
Teuton word as closely as possible, calling the instrument
vitula (see below). So also the Provencal fideille appears to
me more like a Frenchified (Spielman's French) way of pro-
nouncing fiedel than a complicated derivation from fidula (vitula),
—
through the middle form fidi-cula. But even if it were
which is quite possible, as by that time (thirteenth century)
the Spieleute (minstrels) had long made the instrument their
—
own, name and all the word fiedel, vedel, would still remain
the original and point to the instrument being not of Latin, but
Teutonic (or if you will, Indian) origin.
I am not sure, but I believe that "fiedeln" in mediaeval
German meant drawing across. It is probably an Indo-Ger-
manic idiom, like many others, and fiedel and fides may thus be
still connected or related by the bond of a common origin on
the banks of the Indus.
300
: : :
Appendix A
Branzoli, in his Manuale Storicho del Violinista, mentions a
certain Antiphor, orator, poet, and musician, who. in 352 brought
to Rome an instrument played with a bow which was called
vitula (violla), and players of the vitula were subsequently
termed vitulari. Branzoli does not give the source of this
information, but the logical conclusion from it would be that the
vitula must have been a foreign importation. Why not from
some northern Roman province where it was at home ? And
how that it was not at once called fidula ?
is it solution My
would be that vitula and fiedel were identical in the fourth
century, while fidula was Spielman's (minstrel) Latin of a much
later date.
Martin Agricola, in his Musika Instrumentalis, published

1 529 at Wittemberg, mentions as existing at his time
)Discantus"|
Altus I with
4, 5, and 6
Tenor j strings.
Bassus /
2. Kleine Geigen (small viols) mit

Biinden (with frets) do. with 4 strings.
3. Kleine Geigen (small gigues or I ,,. with 3 strings.

J-
rebecs) ohne Biinden (with--! funnr

out frets )
(.Bassus (or replaced by the
marine trumpet).
Tuning of Grosse Geigen Kleine Geigen (small viols)

(large viols)
Treble. Alto (Tenor). Bass. Treble. Alto. Tenor. Bass.
— : :
Story of the Violin

Hans Gerle, in his Mustek Teulck, published 1533, at Nurem-
berg, makes a similar distinction between Grosse Geigen with
frets, and Kleine Geigen without frets.
Michael Praetorius, in his Syntagma, published a century
later (1619), divides bow instruments of the violin kind gene-
rally into two species —
viz., leg viols and arm viols (viol da
braccio), and subdivides them :
1. Very large bass viols.

2. Large bass viols or viols da gamba.
3. Small viols da gamba of 5 different kinds.
4. Tenor (5 strings) and alto (3 and 4 strings) viols da
gamba.
5. Discant viols (violettas) mounted with 3, 4, 5, or 6 strings
of 4 different kinds as to pitch.
6.Viola bastarda (mixed kind) of various sizes and pitch.
7. Viol da braccio (arm viols) tuned in 4 different ways.
In his Theatrum Instrumentorum, published a year later
(1620) at Wolfenbiittel, we have the violin family, as we know it
to-day, complete.
Ganassi del Fontego (Regola Rubertina, published 1542, in
Venice) gives information as to the manner the Italian viols
were tuned. They had mostly 6 strings, and were tuned in
fourths, with a major third in the middle, similarly, therefore, to
Agricola's large viols. It is noteworthy that the Italian viols
were tuned a fourth higher than the German ones at the time
of Praetorius's Syntagma. They must have sounded brighter
therefore, rather more —one might say, foreshadowing the
future violin tone —than the German viols.
Tuning of Italian viols in Ganassi del Fontego's time
Discant. Tenor. Bass.
\% \
zmz
\m J
-a-
Tuning of the Rebecca, or gigue with two strings, in the
thirteenth century, and scale in first position
302
—
Appendix A
E^S
ife3 in0133 01234
Tuning of three- stringed Rebec:
It is
i
interesting to note that only rebecs were tuned in fifths,
as the later violin.
Of the Evolution of the Bow.
The bow, made of bamboo, is retained in India to this day more

or less in its rudimentary state
i.e., the hair is clumsily fastened
at both ends, and the tension permanent. An improvement

came with the Arabs, who at some time or other gave their bow
a head or point where the hair is fastened, and a nut fixed in a
dovetail notch in the stick. In this form it was probably carried
into Spain in the eighth century. After various modifications in
the course of the Middle Ages, when we find bows depicted
either long or short, very much or less curved, according to the
use to which they were put, the stick began, in the sixteenth
century, to assume more and more the familiar shape.
It appears sometimes round, at others pentagonal, and be-
coming smaller towards the top end. In the seventeenth
century, with the bow used by Corelli, Vivaldi, and their con-
temporaries, the various degrees of tension (which we regulate
now by means of a little ferrule) were attained by a contrivance
called cremaillere. It was a band of metal divided into notches;
a movable loop of iron or brass wire attached to the nut served
to catch the nut to one of the notches. Tartini's bow, it will be
seen, was longer, and thus rendered more flexible and more ser-
viceable for producing the great variety of bowings and dynamic
shades of expression which the master introduced in his music.
But only at the end of the eighteenth century, with Franpois
Tourte (born in Paris, 1747), the bow received its last, and since
303
Story of the Violin
then unimproved, shape. It is significant that Viotti was the first
to use this new bow, and one naturally asks whether he had any
share in its creation. Perhaps he assisted the ingenious bow-
maker with his advice and experimented with him; at all events
by his famous "sweep of the whole bow," in which the new
(Tourte) bow surely had its share, he won for it immediate
popularity. The Tourte bows are still the finest in existence,
and one marvels at the unfailing instinct or insight of the maker,
who, it is said, was wholly without education, being neither able
to read nor write. To him is also due the invention of the little
ferrule for regulating the tension of the hair.
Parts of a Violin.
'Belly .
Back
Ribs
o
o
o
en
i*
"Sfr
>>
rt o
o
1* .S~o.
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-c g>—
f^ 00 Wig" mi?
-*1
3 n 6
2 ST? Is
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2
*j
c
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<u
0)
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o
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•5
c
3
Appendix C
Makers of the Brescian School
(mostly imitators of Paolo Maggini).

Petrus Sanctus Maggini, presumably a relative (not a son) of
Paolo.
Antonio Mariani (1568-1620). 1
Savietta Budiani (1580-1610).
Matteo Bente (1580-1610).
Nella Raphael (1652-70).
Domenico Pasta (1700-30).
Gaetano Pasta (placed by Fdtis among the followers of the
Amati school).
Francesco Tortobello (1680), Florence.
Pupils and Imitators of the Amati School

(chiefly of Nicolo Amati).
Giofredo Cappa, pupil of Jerome and Anthony-)
Cremona and
(1590-1640) Saluzzo
\ odluzzo -
Ofredo Cappa, son of the above (1640-88) j

"Francesco Ruggieri (1670-1725)'
Giacinto ., (1690)
*Gio. Battista „ (1666-75)
Vincenzio „ (1690-1730)
Acevo (1620) y Cremona
/Egidius Barzellini (1670- 1700)
Domenico Rogieri (1750)
Davido Camillio (1755)
Giuliani (pupil of- Nicolo)
1
All dates refer only to time of activity of the makers.
3°5
Story of the Violin
*Paolo Grancino (1665-90), pupil of Nicolo -\
*Giov. Bapt. Grancino (1690-1710), son of Paolo

Giovanni „ (1696-1720)
Francesco „ [Milan
Mantagazza (1720)
*Carlo Antonio Testore (1700-30) followed also
Joseph Guarnerius.
*Florentus Florenus, pupil of Nicolo (i68?-i7iOl „ ,
Felice Tononi
Bolo & na -
(1730) }
*Santo Seraphino (Venice, 1730-45), famous maker.
Alexander Mezzadie (1690) 1 ^
Dominicelli (1695-171 5) J
* errara -
Paulus Palma (Lucca, 1760).

Paolo Albani, pupil of Nicolo (Palermo, 1650).
David Techier (1685-1743)1
Guido Tononi |Kome.
Paolo Castello (Genoa, 1750).
Antonius Gragnani (Livorno, 1780-1800).
Joannes Celionatur (Turin, 1734).
*Joannes Florens Guidentus (Bologna, 1740-80).
Carlo Brochi (Parma, 1744).
Giuseppe Dominichino (Verona, 1700).
Jacques Bocquay( 1700-30), see Violin-making in France.
Altmann and others (violin-makers in Germany).
Henry Jacobs (1690-1740), Cremona-Amsterdam.
Pupils and Imitators of Stradivari.
Pupils and their Imitators.
*Francesco and Omoboni Stradivari.

*Carlo Bergonzi
s w
(1712-52)
3
/ Michelangelo Bergonzi (1730-50).
'\N1c0laus Bergonzi (1725-60).
f*Joannes Battista
Lorenzo Guadagnini (Cremona, 1695-J Guadagnini, father
1742) I and son (Parma,
1750-85).
306
Appendix C
fNicolo Gagliano (1700-41).
Giuseppe Gagliano (1740-50).
Alexander Gagliano (Naples,
Ferdinando Gagliano (1740-
i695-i73°)
1800).
^Gennaro Gagliano (1700-50).
Francesco Gobetti (Venice, 1690-1720).
*Domenico Montagnana (Venice, 1700-50)"! thought by some
*Gregorio Montade (Cremona, 1670-1730) to be imitators
J-
Tomaso Balestrieri (Mantua, 1720-50) J only.
Imitators.
Pietro della Costa, or Caesta (Trevisa, 1660-80).

Michael Angelo Garani (Bologna, 1685-1715).
Carlo Guiseppe Testore (Cremona, 1690- 17 10), imitated also
Joseph Guarnerius.
*Giovanni Baptista de Gabicellis (Florence, 1745-60).
Gaspard Assaloni (1690-1710).
Hans Mans (Naples, 1710-50).
Lucas Maher (1714-1730).
Spirito Sursano (1714-20).
Francesco di Milano (1742).
*CamilIus de Camile (Mantua, 1720-50).
*Vincenso Panormo (1740).
*Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi (Milan, 1750-60).
Catena (Turin, 1746).
*Gio. Battista Gabrielli (Florence, 1745-60).
Antonio Bagetella (1782).
Laurentius Storioni (1780-1804), the last Cremonese maker.
* Those marked with stars are the more eminent ones.
Various other Italian Makers.
Testator il Vecchio (1560), Milan.

Joh. Baptista and Peter Jacob Rugger (17th century)! B s
:
Vettrini (1630), Mezzabotte (1720) J
3°7
Story of the Violin
Antonius Gouvernari(i6oi) \
Pietro Balestieri (1735) j
Giovanni Rudger (1650-1700) fCremona.

Francesco Ruger (1640)
Sanzio Santo (1634) J
Nicolo Garani (Naples).
Tomasso Circappa (Naples, 1730).
Alexander Zanti (Mantua, 1765), followed Peter Guarnerius.
Joh. Bapt. Lolio (1740). .
Bartholomaus Christophori (1750-70).

Bartolomeo Obizi (Verona, 1780).
Anselmo Bellosio (Venice, 1750-70).
Fr. Gofriller (Venice, beginning 18th century).
Renisto (1738).
Nicolo Gusetto (1738).
Nicolas Guletto (1790).
Petrus Joh. Montegratia (1780).
French, English, and German Violin-makers.

FRENCH.
Bourdat, Sebastian (Mirecourt, 1620).
Castagnery, Jean Paul (Paris, 1655-65).
Me'dard, Nicolaus (17th century).
Paul, Saint (17th century).
Niggel (end of 17th century).
Me'dard, Francois (Paris, 1710).
Despont, Antoine (Paris, beginning 18th century).
Bocquay, Jacques (Paris, 1700-30).
Vuillaume, John (Mirecourt, 1700-40).
De Comble, Ambroise (1730-60).
Gavinies (Paris, 1734).
Verron (Paris, 1720-50).
Pierray, Claude (1725). •
Chapuy, Augustinus (1765).

Guersan, Louis (1760).
Lupot, Francois (1758).
Lupot, Nicolaus, son of the above (born 1758, died 1824).
308
Appendix C
Fendt (Paris, 1780).
Pique (Paris, 1792).
Pons (Paris, 1790).
Nicola (Paris).
Claudot, Charles (Mirecourt).
David (Paris).
Vuillaume, J. B. (born 1799, died 1875).
Gand, Francois (1802).
Chanot, Francois (1788-1824).
Modessier (Paris, 1810).
Miremont (Paris).
Sylvestre (Lyon, 1835).
Rambeaux (Paris, 1840-60).
Simoutre, N. E. (Bale, 1880).
ENGLISH.
Raymann, Jacob (at Ye Bell Yard, South wark, 1648),

Pamphilon, Edward.
Norman, Barak (1688-1740).
Urquhardt (17th century).
Addison, William (1670).
Cole, Thomas (near Fetter Lane, Holborn, 1690).
Cuthbert (17th century).
Banks, Benjamin (Salisbury, 1727-85).
„ „ son (Salisbury, 1754-1820).
Kennedy, Alexander (1700-86).
„ John (1730); Thomas Kennedy (1784-1810).
Barret, John (at the "Harp and Crown," Piccadilly, 1718).
Collier, Samuel (1775).
Collingwood, Joseph (1760).
Johnson, John (1750).
Jay,Henry (175°)-
Thompson, Robert (St. Paul's Churchyard, 1749).
Marshall, John (i75°)-
Wamsley, Peter (" Golden Harp," Piccadilly).
Conway, William (1750).
Crowther, John (1760- 18 10).
Dickinson, Edward (1750).
309 22
Story of the Violin
Duke, Richard (Holborn, 1768).

Botts,John (175 5- 1823).
Preston, John.
Fendt, Bernard (1756).
„ B. Simon and Jacob Fendt (18 1 5).
Dodd, Thomas.
and grandson (1739-1824).
Forster, William, father, son,
Hare, Joseph.
Morrison, John (1780- 1822).
Hill, William (1741).
„ Joseph (1769).
,, Joseph and Lockey (1800-45).
„ William E., and Sons.
Mayson, William (Manchester).
GERMAN.
Klotz family: Egidius, Matthias, Georg, Joseph, Sebastian
(1660-1784).
Albani, Matthias (Botzen, 1621-70).
,, „ son (1650-1709).
Kambl, Joh. Andreas (Munich, 1635).
Altsee, P. (Munich, 1727).
Hornstainer, Matthias (Mittenwalde).
Knitl,Joseph (Mittenwalde, 1760).
Stadelmann, Daniel Achatius 1 ,,.
jV.enna, 1714-44.
„ John Joseph
Vogler, Joh. Georg (Wiirzburg, 1740).
Mayr, Andreas Ferdinand (Salzburg, 1750).
Mayerhof, Andreas Ferdinand,
Weiss, Jacob.
Kolditz, J. Matthias (Munich, 1740).
Altmann (Gotha, 18th century).
Christa, Joseph Paul (Munich, 1730).
Jaug (Dresden, 18th century).
Schorn, Joh. (Innsbruck, 18th century)
Eberle, J. N. (Prague, 1750).
Bachmann, Carl Ludwig (Berlin, 1765).
Ernst, Franz Anton (Gotha, 1760-80).
310
Appendix Q
Fritche,Samuel (Leipzig, 1790).
Hunger (Leipzig, 1820).
Scheinlein (1750).
Hassert (Eisenach, 1 8th century).
Schmidt (Cassel, 1800-25).
Bausch, Ludwig (Leipzig, 1850).
Otto (Gotha)
Hammig, W. (Leipzig).
Riechers (Berlin; etc.).
3"
—— ———— ———— — —
Appendix D.
Books of Reference.
PART I.
F. J. FetisNotice of Anthony Stradivari. Translated by

J.Bishop. London.
Carl Engel Researches into the Early History oj the Violin
Family. London.
Sir George Grove Dictionary of Music.
Ambros Geschichte der Musik.
Reissmann Musikalisches Conversations Lexicon. Leipzig.
Sir William Jones Music of the Hindoos.
Dr. Kostlin Geschichte der Musik.
Brendel Geschichte der Musik.
Julius Ruehlmann Geschichte der Bogen-instrumente mit Atlas.
Brunswick.
Giuseppe Branzoli Manuale Sloricho del Violinista. Rome.
A. Vidal Les Instruments a Archet. 3 vols. Paris.
George Hart The Violin: its Famous Makers and their
Imitators.
Martin Agricola Musica Instrumentalis (1529 and 1545).
Michael Prsetorius Syntagma (1619), and Theatrum Instru-
mentorum (1620).
Silvestro Ganassi del Fontego Regola Rubertina. Venice
(IS42).
Niederheitmann— Cremona.
Prince N. Youssoupoff Observations sur I'Origin du Violon.
Dr. Burney History of Music. (Also John Hawkins's and
Busby's History of Music.)
312
—————— — ———— —
Appendix D
Otto, J. A. Ueber den Beat und die Erhaltung der Geige tend
alter Bogen-instrumente.
Hermann Starcke-«-2?z'e Geige.
—
Hermon Aller Violin-making as it was and is. London.
Henri Coutagne —
Gaspard Duiffoprugcar et les luthiers
Lyonais.
W. E. Hill and Sons Paolo Maggini.
W. Alfred Hill, and Arthur Hill— Antonio Stradivari:
Hill,
his Life and Work. London.
Hepworth (Wm.) Information for Players, Dealers, etc., of
Bow Instruments.
H. Saint-George The Bow: its History, Manufacture, and Use.
PART II.
F. J. Fetis Biographic Universelle des Musiciens. Paris.

A. Pougin— „ „ „
J. W. v. Wasielewski— Die Violim und ihre Meister. Leipzig.
Branzoli Manuale Storicho del Violinista.
Regli Storia del Violino in Piemonte.
Fayolle Tartini, Paganini, de Be not.
Fe"tis Paganini.
Spohr Autobiography.
G. Conestabile La Vita di Niccolo Paganini.
Pohl Mozart and Haydn in London.
A. Vidal Les Instruments d Archet.
E. Hermon Aller Fidicula Opuscula.
Henry Lahe -Famous Violinists.
Ehrlich Beriikmle Geiger.
G. Dubourg— The Violin, etc. 5th ed. London, 1878.
Guhr Paganini's Kunst die Violine zu spielen.
;
Index.
***«*-
Abb£, fils, L' (Joseph B. S. Attila, 41

Sevin), Appendix B Aubert, Jacques, 239
Addison, William, 139, Appen- Auer, Leopold, Appendix B
dix C Aury, James, 257
Agricola, Martin, 64, Appendix
A Bach, Joh. Sebastian, 55, 67,
Ahna, de, Appendix B 269 ;concertos of, 278 ; ciac-
Air Varie, popularity of, 289 cona 266, 270
of,
Alard, Delphin, 246, 27 1, 282, Baillot, Pierre Maria Francois de
289, Appendix B Sales, 244, 245, 271, Appen-
Alberghi, 184 dix B
Alday, le jeune, 242, Appendix Baltzer, Thomas, 219
B Baltazerini, 166
Aldred, 138 Bande, la grande, la petite, 235,
Amati, Andrew, 87, 166;
144, 236
Anthony, 89; Jerome, 89; Banks, Benjamin, 139, Appen-
Nicolo, 89-92; Jerome, son of dix C
Nicolo, 91 ; school qf, 96, Ap- Banister, John, and son, 253
pendix C Barbella, 184
Amatis, the work of the, 93-95 Barcevicz, Stanilaus, 249
pupils and imitators of the, Bargheer, 227, Appendix B
Appendix C Barrington, .Daines, 34
Ambrosius, 26 Barthelemon, Hippolite, 240
Anet, Baptiste, 172, 238, Appen- Bassani, Giov., 168, 174
dix B Bazzini, Antonio, 215, 282, 289,
Arabia, influence of, 12, 23, 24 Appendix B
Arezzo, Guido of, 53 Beethoven, L. van, 55, 67, 243 ;
Art of playing the violin, 173 violin concerto of, 283

Arte, 1', del violino, 173 Belgian School of violin-playing,
Artot, Alexander d', 246, Ap- 241, 246; characteristics of,
pendix B 247
Ashley, General, 256 Benda, Franz, 220
3*5
;
Story of the Violin
Bergonzi, Carlo, 120, 126, Appen- Bridgetower, 256

dix C; Nicolaus, 126; Michel- Brodsky, A., 230
angelo, 126, Appendix C Bruch, Max, concertos of, 284,
Beriot, Charles de, 242, 246, 289, 290
Appendix B ; concertos of, 280 Bruni, Ant. Bartolomeo, 185, Ap-
Berlin court orchestra, 220 pendix B
Berthaume, Isidore, 240 Brussels Conservatoire, 76
Bertolotti, Gasparo (da Salo), 81 Bull, Ole Bbrnemann, 249, Ap-
Biber, Franz Heinrich, 219, 263 pendix B
Bini, Pasqualini, 184 Burney, Dr., 3
Bitti, Martinello,175 Busby, 50
Blagrove, Henry, 227, 257 Busetto, Johann Marcus del, 88
Blasius, Mathieu Frederic, 240 Buxtehude, 264
Boccherini, 184
Bocquay, Jacques, 136, Appendix C Cambini, Giov. Giuseppe, 198
Bodini, Sebastiani, 198 Campagnoli, Bartolomeo, 198, Ap-
Boghera, Marchesa di, 189 pendix B
Bohm, Joseph, 231, 233, Appen- Canavasso, Giuseppe, 198
dix B Cannabich, Christian, 221, Appen-
Borghi, Ludivico, 185 dix B
Borra, 185 Capriccio Stravagante, 262
Bott, Jean Joseph, 227, 229 Capron, 240, Appendix B
Boucher, Alexandre Jean, 201, Carissimi, 68
240 Carminati, 184
Bow, the, 2, 4, 9, 10, 16, 22, 30, Carnival de Venice (Ernst's), 232
33, 38, 41, 42, 161, 300; evolu- Carrodus, John T. , 257
lution of the, Appendix A Cartier, Jean Baptist, 241, 271,
Bowed instruments,
Indian, 12 Appendix B
first European, 30 ; progress of, Castrucci, Pietro, 172, Appendix
56 ; their pitch and number of B
strings in the works of Agricola, Celestino, Eligio, 198
Gerle, Prsetorius, etc., Appen- Chamber music, 270
dix A Chanot, Francois, 137, Appendix
Bowing, art of violin, 248
Brahms, John, violin concerto of, Charmillon, Jean, 56, 58, 158,
285 160, 288
Branzoli, G., 33, 57, etc. Ciaccona of Bach, 266, 270 ; of
Brescia, 78, 86, Appendix C Vitali, 168, 265
Brescian violin-makers, 78, 84, 85, Clegg, John, 256, Appendix B
93, 130, Appendix C Clements,, Franz, 283, Appendix B
Bridge, violin, its influence on Cole, Thomas, 139, Appendix C
tone, 115; on mediaeval fiddles, Comble, Ambroise de, 136, Ap-
162 pendix C
316
; ;
Index
Concert spirituel (Paris), 203, 239 Dufour, 225
Concerto da camera, 273 grosso,;
Duiffoprugcar, Gasparo, 70-81,
273; reign of the, 273; latest 136, 144, 166
phases of the, 283-285 Duke, Richard, "139, Appendix C
Conestabile, G., 210, 215, Appen- Dumanoir, Guillaume, 237
dix D Dunstable, 55, 63
Conforti, Antonio, 185 Durand, August Frederic, 241,
Conservatoire concerts (Paris), 245 Appendix B
Conservatory of Prague, 222; of Dvorak, violin concerto of, 285
Leipzig, 230
Constantin, 237
Corelli, Arcangelo, 55, 157, 158,
Eck, Franz, 222, 226, Appendix B
168-171, 266, Appendix B Joh. Friedr., 222, Appendix
pupils of, 172, 173, Appendix B
B
Coutagne, Henri, 74, etc., Appen- Engel, Carl, 22, etc., Appendix D
Ernst, Heinrich Wilhelm, 231,
dix D
Cramer, Wilhelm, 221, 252, Ap- 232, 249, 290, Appendix B
pendix B concerto of, 280; and the Air
Varie, 289
Cremona, 86, 153, Appendix C
Esser, Michael Ritter von, 223
Cremonese Masters, 84-101, 110-
Evolution of violin composition,
,135, 145, 148, Appendix C
261-289
Crbner, the brothers, 222
Evolution of the bow, Appendix
Crowd, 32
Crwth, Welsh, 32, 34-37
A
Dancla, Charles, 246 Fahrende leute, 38, etc.
Dauvergne, Antoine, 239 Falco, Francesco, 198
David, Ferd., 227, 229, 230, 271, Fantasie-stiick, the, 288, 289, 290
Appendix B ; pupils of,
289, Farina, Carlo, 167, 216, 261, 263
230 ; concertos of, 282 Farinelli, 167, 216
Demachi, Giuseppe, 198 Fauvel, Joseph, 242
Dengremont, Maurice, 247, Ap- Fauxbourdon, 163
pendix B Fayolle, 182, 195, etc.
Devil's Sonata, the, 268 Ferrari, Domenico, 183, 271, Ap-
Dido Abbandonata, 269 pendix B
Dittersdorf, Karl, 231, Appendix Fetis, F. J., 6, 8, etc., Appendix
B D
Dodd, Thomas, 139, Appendix C Fidaeler (fiddler), 45, etc., Ap-
Dont, Jacob, 231, Appendix B pendix A
Dresden Court, the, 216, 219, 220 Fiddle-playing in the romantic age,
Dubourg, Mathieu, 255, Appendix IS9-I03
B in the fourteenth and fifteenth
Dufay, 55, 63 centuries, 164
3*7
;;
Story of the Violin

Fidla of Iceland, 42 Graun, Joh. Gottlieb, 184, 220,
Fiedel, 42, etc. ; remarks on the Appendix B
name of, Appendix A Gregory the Great, 26
Fiorillo, Federigo, 198,287 Grosset, Jean Jacques, 240
Fisher,John Abraham, 256 Griin, Jacob, 231
Fodor, Joseph, Appendix B Guadagnini, Lorenzo, 120, 126,
Fontana, Battista, 168 149, Appendix C; Johannes
Forty Studies, Kreutzer's, 243, Battista, 126, Appendix C
287 Guarneri, family, 98 ; Andrew,
Fra Angelico, 58, 68 ; picture by, 99 ; Joseph, 99, 149 Petrus,
;
57 100; Petrus, son of Petrus, 101 ;
Franco-Belgian School, 247 Pietro, son of Joseph, 101

Francour, Francois, 238 Giuseppe Antonio del Gesu,
Franzl, Ferdinand, 221, 288, 101, 120, 128-134, 149, 154
Appendix B ; Ignaz, 221, Ap- Guastarobba, Don Paolo, 184
pendix B Guenin, Marie Alexandre, 240,
Furchheim, Job,., 219 Appendix B
Guerini, 198
Gabrieli, 69 Guersan, Louis, 137, Appendix C
Gagliano, Alexander, 127, 140, Guhr, 215, Appendix D
Appendix C Guignon, Gian Pietro, 197
family, Appendix C Guillemain, 239
Galeazzi, Francesco, 198
Gand, Francois, 137, Appendix C Halir, Carl, 249, Appendix B
Gaudock, Russian, 42 Hall, Marie, 287
Gavinies, Pierre, 239, Appendix Halle, Lady (Norman Neruda),
B ; fitudes of, 287 259, Appendix B
Geige, 32, etc. Handel, 67, 269
Geminiani, Francesco, 173, 252, Harmonics on the violin, 183
255, 286,Appendix B artificial, 206, 294
Gerber (New Musical Dictionary), Hart, George, 115, etc., Appen-
261 dix D John Thomas, 139
;
Gerbert, Martin the Abbot, 32, 33 Hauser, Miska, 203, 231, Appendix
Gerbini, Signora, 259 B
Giardini, Felice, 185, 252, Ap- Haydn, Joseph, 67, 231, 270, 274
pendix B Helmesberger, George, 231, Ap-
Gigue, 32, etc. pendix B
Giorgis, Giuseppe, 198 Hilf, Arno, 230, Appendix B
Gobetti, Francisco, 127, Appendix Hill, William Ebsworth, and Sons,
C 85, 139, Appendix C ; William,
Godard, Benj., Concerto Roman- Joseph, 139, Appendix C; W.
tique of, 285 Henry, Arthur F. (F.S.A.), and
Goldmark, violin concerto of, 285 Alfred Hill, no, etc.
318
;
Index
Hindoos,- 14 Kbmpel, A., 227, 229
Hohe Schule, David's, 183, 271 Kostlin, Dr. Heinrich, 163, Ap-
Holmes, Henry, 227, Appendix B pendix D
Holzbogen, Joseph, 185, 222 Kreisler, Fritz, 247, 291
Hornstainer, Matthias, 142, Ap- Kreutzer, Rudolph, 242-243, 276,
pendix C Appendix B ; Sonate, 243, 256 ;
Hortulus, Chelicus, 263 concertos of, 277 ; forty studies
Hubay, Jeno, Appendix B of, 243, 287
Hucbald of St. Armand, 53 Kubelik, Jan, 287, 291
Hurdy-gurdy, 61 Kumisch, 226
Hume, Richard, 138
Labarre, Louis Julien Castels de,
Idiosyncrasies of old nations, 242
Lacroix, 240
India, 6, 7 ; 11;
tradition in, Lady violinist, the, 258-260
documentary records of, 13 Lafont, Charles, 288, Appendix B
music in, 21 ; disposition of Lahoussaye, Pierre, 184, 239
people, 21 Lalande, 178
Lalo, Edward, " Symphonie espag-
Janitch, Anton, 186, 222, Ap- nole " of, 284
pendix B Lamotte, Franz, 222, 288
Jansa, Leop., 249, Appendix B Lasagnino, Luigi, 166
JarnowiclT(Giornovichi), 201, 288, Laub, Ferdinand, 249, Appendix
Appendix B B
Jensen, G., 271 Laurenti, Bartolomeo G., 168,
Joachim, Joseph, 209, 230, 233- 174
234, 249, Appendix B; Hun- Lausa, Antonia Maria, 85
garian concerto of, 234, 281, 287 Lauterbach, Joh. Christian, 247,
Jones, Sir William, 22, Appendix Appendix B
D Leblanc, 240
Josquin des Pres, 55 Leclair, Jean Marie, 185, 238, 269,
Jubal, 5. 14 Appendix B
Julien, Hubert, 240 Leipzig Conservatorium, 230
Leonard, Hubert, 247, 282, 289,
Kalliwoda, Joh. Wenzeslaus, Appendix B
249, Appendix B Leuka (Ceylon), 7
Kammel, Anton, 185, 222 Libon, Philippe, 242, Appendix B
Kerlino, Giovanni, 78 Linley, Thomas, 256, Appendix B
Kiesewetter, 25 Lipinski, Charles, 249 ; concerto
Klingenthal, 142-144, 259 of, 280, Appendix B
Klotz, Egidius, Matthias, Sebas- Lira, 32, Appendix A
tian, 142, Appendix C Locatelli, Pietro, 172, 173, 200,
Kocsian, 287 Appendix B
3J9
Story of the Violin
Loeffler, Charles, 247, Appendix Method de Violon (Baillot), 245
E for violin-playing (Gemini-
Lolli, Antonio, 199-200, 271, 288, ani), 173
289, Appendix B Milanollo, Teresa, 247, 259, Ap-
Lotto, Isidore, 247, 249, Appendix pendix B Maria, 259
;
B Mildner, Moritz, Appendix B

Lully, Giov. Batt., 168, 236, 237 Militar Concerto, Lipinski, 280
Lupot, Nicolaus, 136, Appendix C Minnesanger, 45, 49, 161, etc.
Luther, Martin, 4 Minstrels, wandering, 38, 45, etc.
Mirecourt, 136, 142, Appendix B
Maggini, Giovanni Paolo, 84, 85, Mittenwalde, 142
1 14, Appendix C Molino, Ludivico, 185
Maitres Classiques (Alard's), 240, Molique, Bernhard, 229, 244, 257,
271, etc. Appendix B ; concertos of, 277
Maler, Laux, 152 Mondonville, Jean Joseph Cas-
Mannheim Court, the, 22r; school, sanea de, 239
221 Montanari, Francesco, 184, 220
Manfredi, Filipo, 184, Appendix Monteverde, 82, 261
B Morgan, John, 34
Marini, Biagio, 167, 261 ; Carlo Mori, Francesco, 197, Appendix
Antonio, 174 B
Marine Trumpet, 60 Morigi, Angiolo, 184
Markneukirchen, 142-144 Morrison, Meredith, 139
Marsick, M., 247, Appendix Mozart, Leopold, 222 ; violin
B method 286; Wolfgang A.,
of,
Marteau, Henri, 247, Appendix B 67> 2 59; concertos of, 278
Massart, Lambert Joseph, 247, Music in the first centuries A.D.,
Appendix B 25-29 ; in Italian churches, 1 74,
Matteis, Nicola, 253, 254, 255 271, 272; of the primitive kind,
Maucourt, 226 162
Mayseder, Joseph, 231, Appendix Musicians, wandering, 38, 43 ; in
B the romantic age, 44-49
Medard, Nicolas and Francois, Musical records : Greek, Roman,
136, Appendix C; Henri, 136 Chaldean, Egyptian and As-
Meerts, Lambert, Appendix B syrian ; in the Old Testament,
Meistersinger, period of, 50, 164 2, 3, 4, etc.
Mendelssohn, 230, 290; violin Musin, Ovide, 247, Appendix B
concerto of, 283, 291
Me'netriers, La Confrerie, 50 ; roi Nardini, Pietro, 183, 200, 245,
des, 50,237 256, 269, Appendix B
Meneghini, Giulio, 184, Appendix Navoigille, Guillaume de, 240
B Nazari, 184
Mestrino, Nicolo, 198 Nibelungenlied, 41, 42
320
;;
Index
Niederheitmann, 73, etc. Petrucci Ottavianola, 68
Noferi, Giov. Batt., 198 Philharmonic Society (London)
Norman, Barak, 139, Appendix C concerts, 227, 257
Pichl, Wenzeslaus, Appendix B
Obermayer, 1S5 Piedmontese School of Violin-
Olivieri, A., 185 playing, 172, 185
Omerti, 22 Pierray, Claude, 137, Appendix C
Ondricek, Franz, 249, Appendix Pisendel, George, 219, Appendix
B B
Organistrum, 61 Pixis, Friedr. Wilh., 221, Ap-
Orlando di Lasso, 55 pendix B
Ospitale della Pieta, 258 Playford, John, 255
Otto, A., 153, Appendix D Plectrum, 16
Pollani, 245, Appendix B
Paduan School of violin-playing, Polledro, Giambattista, 186, Ap-
175 pendix B
Paganini, Nicolo, 16, 205-215, Polyphonic writing, 27 ; poly-
224, 226, 231, 245, 247, 279, phony, 54
290, Appendix B ; stories of, Pougin, Arthur, 195, Appendix D
207 ; contributions to technique Prsetorius, Michael, 64, 66, Ap-
of, 206 ; caprices of, 287 pendix A
concertos of, 279 ; and the Air Prume, Francois, 246, 282, Ap-
Varie, 289 ; witches' dances, 22 pendix B
Pagin, Andre Noel, 184, 239, Pugnani, Gaetano, 185, 189, 241,
Appendix B 259, Appendix B ; pupils of,
Palestrina, Giov. Pierluigi da, 55, 185, 186
68 Puppo, Giuseppo, 198
Pamphilon, Edward, 139, Ap- Purcell, Henry, 252, 254
pendix C
Pandarons, 8 Quanz, 181
Paris Conservatoire, 75, 239, 243,
245 Radicati, Felice, 185
Parravicini, Slgnora, 242, 259, Raff,Joachim, violin concertos of,
Appendix B 275. 28S
Passage, the, raison d'etre of, 274 Ravana, 7, 13, 14, etc,
father of, 274; in the Viotti Ravanastron, 8, 9, etc. tone of
;
concerto, 275, 276 ; in Spohr's the, 21

concerto, 277; resurrection of, Rayman, Jacob, 138, Appendix C
276 ; Paganini and, 279 Rebab, 24; Arabian, 31
Pemberton, 138
J.,
Rebec (rubebe), etc., European,
Persia, spreading of music through, 3i» 32, 39, S6-60, 163
23 Rebecca, tuning of the, Appendix
o
Petit, 184 A
321
;
Story of the Violin

Rebel, 237 Sauret, Emilj 247, Appendix B
Remenyi, Edward, 203, 231, Savart, 147
Appendix B Scarlatti, Alessandro, 69
Renaissance, 68 Scheller, Jacob, 201, 223
Ribouds, king of, 56, 15?, Schmitt, Lorenz, 185, 222
Ries, H., 227, Appendix B Schradieck, Henry, 230, Appendix
Rig Veda, hymns of the, 13 B
Robberechts, Andre, 242, 248, Schubarth, 183, 199
Appendix B Schuppanzigh, J., 231, Appendix
Robineau, l'Abbe, 240 B
Rochefort, Jean Baptiste Bona- Senaill£, Baptiste, 238, Appendix
venture, 71 B
Rode, Pierre, 226, 242, 276, 291, Servetto, 211
Appendix B caprices of, 287 ;
; Sevcik, Ot, 287
concertos of, 276 Signoretti, Giuseppe, 184
Roi des Men£triers, 50, 237 Simonetti, Matteo, 168
Rolla, Alessandro, 212 Singer, Edmund, 231, Appendix
Romano, Alessandro, 166 B
RomaYii, 185 Singing school, first, 26
Roman School of violin-playing, Sirmen, Maddalena Lombardini,
169, Appendix B 183. 259
Romberg, Andreas, 223 Sivori, Camille, 215, Appendix B
Ross, father and son, 138 Soldat, Marie, Appendix B
Rovelli, Pietro, 244, Appendix B Somis, Giov. Batt., 172, 185, 238,
Rubinstein, Anton, violin concerto Appendix B
of, 285 Sonata, da camera ; di chiesa,
Ruehlmann, J., 32, etc., Appendix 265 ; Corelli and the, 266 ; the
D reign of the, 265-272
Ruf, S., 103 Spain, Mussulman conquest of,
Rust, Wilh., 220, Appendix B 3°
Spielleute, 45 ; dress of, 46
Sainton, Prosper Philippe, 246, social position of, 47
Appendix B Spohr, Ludwig, 224-228 ; 233,
Saint-Saens, Camille, 275 291, Appendix B ; pupils of,,
concertos and rondo capric- 229 ; concertos of, 277
cioso of, 284 Stadt-pfeiferei, 218
Salo, Gasparo da, 7°> 81-83, ^S> Stainer, Jacobus, 102-109, r 4°.
87, 136, 144, 166 141, 144, 147 ; pupils of, 142
Salomon, Job. Peter, 220 Stamitz, Anton, 221, 243, Ap-
Saranguy, Indian, 40 pendix B ; Joh. Carl, 221,
Sarasate, Pablo de, 250, Appendix Appendix B
B Starcke, Hermann, 88, etc.
Sarinda, 22 St. Georges, Appendix B
322
;;
Index
St. Lubin, 227, Appendix B Urso, Camilla, 247, 259, Appen-
Stradivari, Antonio, 110-125, I2 8> dix B
130, 149, 154, 155; pupils of,
126-127, Appendix C ; Fran- VACHON, Pierre, Appendix B
cesco, 120; Omoboni, 120 Vai, Gaetano, 198
Strinasacchi, Regina, 259 Valentini, Giuseppe, 175
Strungk, Nicolaus Adam, 219 Vedel (see Fiedel), 42, etc., Appen-
Sympathetic strings, 65 ; principle dix A
of, 66 Venantius, Fortunatis, 34
Syntagma, by Prsetorius, 265, Veracini, Antonio, 167, 174
Appendix A Maria Francesco, 175, 176, 252,
Appendix B
Tartini, Giuseppe,175-183, Vidal, A, 37, etc., Appendix D
196, 203, 205, 241, 291, 294, Vielle, 61
Appendix B ; pupils of, 183- Vienna, School of, 230
185 ; the sonata di chiesa and, Vieuxtemps, Henri, 203, 246, 280,
267-269 289, 290 ;concertos of, 280
Teleman, Geo. Philipp, 219 Ballade et Polonaise of, 281
Thompson, Cesar, 247, Appen- Vingt-quatre ordinaires du roi, 235
dix B Viola bastarde, di bordone, di
Thurn und Taxis, Count of, 185 spalla, 64, 65 ;di gamba
Tiburtino, Giuliano, 166 (bass viol), 66, 71 ; d'amour,
Tieffenbrucker {see Duiffoprugcar), 66, Appendix A
73 Viol, predecessor of the, 39, 60
Toeschi, Carlo Giuseppe, 198 Viols, bass, tenor, treble, 64, 164;
Tone picturing, 163, 262 construction of different sizes,
Torelli, Giuseppe, 167, 220, 265, 64, Appendix A
273, Appendix B Violin, the, see Prologue; origin of,
Touchemoulin, Joseph, 239, Ap- I ; gradual development of, I ;
pendix B cradle of, 7 ; the coming of, 67;

Tourte, Francois, Appendix A art in Italy, 166 ; in Germany,
(see Evolution of the bow) 216 ; in France, 235 ;, in Eng-
Traversa, Gioachimo, 185 land, 251 ; makers of (Italian,
Treu, Daniel Theophil, 219 French, English, German), Ap-
Trillo del Diavolo, il, 177-178 pendix C ; violin-making in
Troubadour, 45, 48, 160, etc. France, 136-138; in England,
Trouveur bastard, 48 138-140; in Germany, 140-144;
Tschai'kowsky, 153; violin con- players and playing of, see Part
certo of, 285 II.; descent of, Appendix B
Tua, Teresina, 247, Appendix B composition, Part III.
Violins, old, age of, 149 ; varnish
Urquhart, Cuthbert, 139, Ap- of, 151; wood of, 146; work-
pendix C manship of, 153
Story of the Violin
Viotti, 185, 187-196, 205, 224, Wasielewski, Jos. Wilh. v., 183,
226, 228, 241, 242, 244, 248, etc., Appendix D
252, 256, 291, 294, Appendix Wieniawski, Henri, 247, 249, 281,
B ; concertos of, 273, 274, 275, 289, Appendix B ; second con-
etc. ; pupils of, 242 certo of, 281
Virtuosity, autocracy of, 200 ; seed Wilhelmj, August, 230, Appen-
of, 173 dix B
Virtuoso, concerto, 279 ; the old- Woeiriot, Pierre, 71, 77
time, 201-204 Woldemar, 201, 262, 288, Ap-
Vitali, Giov. Battisla, 266 ; Tom- pendix B
maso, 168, 265 Wolff, Johannes, 247, Appendix B
Vivaldi, Antonio, 172, 175, 219, Wranitzky, Anton, 231, Appen-
220, 258, 269, 273, Appendix B dix B
Volker, the spielman, 42
Vuillaume, J. B., 137, Appendix C Youssoupoff, Prince Nicolaus,
John, of Mirecourt, 136, Ap- 73, Appendix D
pendix C Ysaye, Eugene, 209, 247, 278,
Appendix B
Walter von der Vogelweide, 159
Walther, John Jacob, 219 263 Zanetto, Peregrino, 85
THE END.
TUB WALTER SCOTT PUBLISHING CO., LTD., FELLIHC-ON-TVKB.

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CORNELL

The Carnegie Corporation

3 1924 022" "320 18™

Already published in this Series.

THE STORY OF ORATORIO. A. Patterson, B.A.,

„ STORY OF NOTATION. C. F. Abdv

„ STORY OF THE ORGAN. C. F. Abby

„ STORY OF CHAMBER MUSIC. N. Kilburn,

„ STORY OF THE VIOLIN. Paul Stoeving.

,, STORY OF THE HARP. W. H. Geattan

,, .STORY OF ORGAN MUSIC. C. F. Abdy

„ STORY OF ENGLISH MUSIC (7604-1904)—

,, STORY OF MUSICAL FORM. Clarence

„ STORY OF OPERA. E. Markham Lee, M.A.,

,, STORY OF THE CAROL. Edmondstoune

,, STORY OF THE BAGPIPE. W. H. Grattan

,, STORY OF THE FLUTE. H. Macaulay

Other Volumes in Preparation.

This Series, in superior leather bindings, may be had

[ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.]

The original of this book is in

the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in

MUS. DOC. DUB., F.S.A., HON. R.A.M.,

ORIGIN OF THE VIOLIN.

Origin of the Violinstill a puzzle —

TRADITION AND THE SCHOLAR (AN INTERLUDE).

Tradition repeats a story and adds further variations — The ravan-

Story of the Violin

THE OLD NATIONS.

Idiosyncrasies of some nations .....

The tone of the ravanastron — Hindoo's love for — Indebted to it

MUSIC IN GENERAL IN THE FIRST CENTURIES A.D.

The first fair flower of the spirit —

FIRST BOWED INSTRUMENTS IN EUROPE.

Dark period of two centuries —

THE MINSTREL AND MUSICIAN IN THE ROMANTIC AGE.

Story of the Violin

THE INSTRUMENT OF RESPECTABILITY.

The clever cabinet-maker spurred to extra efforts Improve- —

THE VIOLIN (PRELUDE).

Maggini's work —Demand for violins — Other Brescian makers . 84

Spread of fame —Workers in Italy, France, Germany, and Holland 96

Story of the Violin

GIUSEPPE GUARNERI DEL GESU.

THE ART OF VIOLIN-MAKING IN FRANCE, ENGLAND,

VIOLIN-PLAYING AND VIOLIN-PLAYERS.

Father and founder of —A style of com-

Story of the Violin

VIOLIN ART IN ITALY.

Sixteenth century— First half of seventeenth century Second —

violin art in italy {continued).

SOME MORE NAMES AND ONE FAMOUS ONE

The world unprepared — —

VIOLIN ART IN GERMANY.

VIOLIN ART IN GERMANY (continued).

Ludwig Spohr — His youth — On the high road of success— Spohr

Story of the Violin

VIOLIN ART IN FRANCE.