Anthony Stradivari the Celebrated Violin Maker
144
Anthony Stradivari the Celebrated Violin Maker
144eBook
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Overview
A reprint of a rare 1864 publication, this study offers intriguing historical information to violinists, music historians, and music lovers of all ages. A new Introduction by famed musicologist Stewart Pollens provides further insights.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780486316529 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dover Publications |
| Publication date: | 06/26/2013 |
| Series: | Dover Books On Music: Violin |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 144 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
About the Author
Stewart Pollens is a maker of violins and keyboard instruments who served as the Conservator of Musical Instruments at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1976 to 2006. He is the founder of Violin Advisor, LLC, a consulting firm that advises purchasers of fine violins.
Read an Excerpt
ANTHONY STRADIVARI the Celebrated Violin Maker
Preceded by the Origin and Transformation of bow instruments and Followed by a Theoretical analysis of the Bow
By François-Joseph Fétis
Dover Publications, Inc.
Copyright © 2013 Stewart PollensAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-486-31652-9
CHAPTER 1
HISTORICAL RESEARCHES
ON THE ORIGIN AND TRANSFORMATIONS OF
BOW-INSTRUMENTS.
* * *
What is the origin of bow-instruments? This archæological problem has engaged the attention of many learned men, without their having arrived at a satisfactory solution. Certain obscure expressions, interpreted in an unnatural manner, have induced the belief that the Greeks and Romans possessed, among their instruments of music, something which resembled the viol. Some have fancied they recognized it in the magadis—the name of which is derived from magas (a bridge)—because nothing like a bridge appears in the lyres and cytharas.
The magadis was mounted with twenty strings, or with twenty-one according to Athenæus, or twenty-two according to Pausanias. John Baptist Doni thought it might have borne some analogy with the viola di Bordone, otherwise called lirone, which was used in Italy in the sixteenth century, and the eleven or twelve strings of which served to produce arpeggios with the bow, or harmony in many parts. These conjectures, however, have no historical value, being unsupported by any passage in the ancient writers; neither does any monument among the Greeks present us with an instrument having a neck and a bridge.
Some have been disposed to trace the bow in the plectrum; but [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] comes from, [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] to strike. The dictionaries, it is true, define it as the bow of a musical instrument; but this arises from a confusion in regard to the real meaning of the word. Statues, bas-reliefs, and the pictures on Greek vases, afford us numerous representations of the plectrum; but in all we see a piece of wood, bone, or ivory, ending with little hooks to pull the strings, or to strike them with the back. Had the Greeks wished to describe a veritable bow, the hairs of which serve, by friction, to put the strings into vibration, they would have called it [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] (little bow). But nothing like a bow appears in any Greek or Roman sculpture or painting which has come down to us.
The country which affords us the most ancient memorials of a perfect language, of an advanced civilization, of a philosophy where all directions of human thought find their expression, of a poesy immensely rich in every style, and of a musical art corresponding with the lively sensibility of the people—India, appears to have given birth to bow-instruments, and to have made them known to other parts of Asia, and afterwards to Europe. There, no conjecture is needed, for the instruments themselves exist, and still preserve the characteristics of their native originality. If we would trace a bow-instrument to its source, we must assume the most simple form in which it could appear, and such as required no assistance from an art brought to perfection. Such a form we shall find in the ravanastron, made of a cylinder of sycamore wood, hollowed out from one end to the other. This cylinder is 11 centimètres [4.331 inches Eng.] long, and has a diameter of 5 centimètres [1.969 in.]. Over one end is stretched a piece of boa skin, with large scales, which forms the belly or soundboard. The cylinder is crossed from side to side—at one-third of its length, next the sound-board—by a rod or shank of deal, which serves as a neck, of the length of 55 centimètres [21.654 in.], rounded on its under part, but flat on the top, and slightly inclined backwards. The head of this neck is pierced with two holes for the pegs, 12 millimètres [.472 in.] in diameter; not in the side, but in the plane of the sound-board. Two large pegs, 10 centimètres [3.937 in.] in length—shaped hexagonally at the top, and rounded at the ends which go into the holes—serve to tighten two strings made of the intestines of the Gazelle, which are fixed to a strap of serpent skin attached to the lower extremity of the rod or shank. A little bridge, 18 millimètres [.709 in.] long, cut sloping on the top, but flat on the part which rests on the sound-board, and worked out rectangularly in this part, so as to form two separate feet: this supports the strings. As to the bow, it is formed of a small bamboo, of which the upper portion is slightly curved, and the lower straight. A hole is made in the head of the bow, at the first knot, for fastening a hank of hair, which is strained and fixed at the other end, by binding a very flexible rush string twenty times round it.
Such is the primitive bow-instrument, now abandoned to people of the lowest class, and to the poor Buddhist monks, who go from door to door asking alms. Its sound is sweet, though muffled. According to Indian tradition, it was invented by Ravana, King of Ceylon, five thousand years before the Christian era.
Other instruments, made in imitation of the ravanastron, are known among the poorer classes of Hindostan. The first, which we may consider as the base of that, is also made of a cylinder of sycamore, 16 centimètres [6.299 in.] long, and 11 centimètres [4.331 in.] in diameter, and hollowed throughout its length; so that the thickness of this sonorous body does not exceed 3 millimètres [.118 in.]. This body is crossed from side to side by a rod or shank of the total length of 86 centimètres [33.858 in.], which forms the neck, as in the ravanastron. A hole is bored vertically, at the lower extremity of this shank, into which is inserted a little pin of iron-wood, 9 centimètres [3.543 in.] long, terminated by a knob or button, which carries a strap of jackall leather, to which the strings are attached. The sound-board is formed of a thin plate of mounah-wood, which, in its longitudinal fibres, bears a resemblance to deal. This instrument, which is called the rouana, is mounted with two strings, like the ravanastron, to which it is in all other respects similar.
To an epoch doubtless posterior to the invention of the two instruments before mentioned belongs the omerti, another bow-instrument, mounted with two strings, and which evinces some progress in the art of manufacture. The body is made of a cocoa-nut shell, one-third being first cut away, and after reducing its thickness to 2 millimètres [.079 in.], it is then polished inside and out. Four elliptical openings, and another of a lozenge form, are cut in the front part of the body, to serve as sound-holes. I possess two of these instruments; in one of them the sound-board is formed of a piece of Gazelle skin, well prepared and very smooth; in the other it consists of a veneer of satin-wood, extremely fine in the grain, and 1 millimètre [.03937 in.] thick. In both instruments, the size of this sound-board at its greatest diameter is 0m,05,15 [2.027 in.]. As in the ravanastron and the rouana, the neck is formed of a shank of deal (red wood of India), which passes through the body of the instrument. The lower part is rounded, and a hole is bored longitudinally at the bottom, to receive a pin, ending in a knob or button, as in the rouana. This button is a little cube, having a hole in it where the strings are fastened. The upper part of the neck is flat, and terminates in a head turned back and finished off at right angles with the neck. The pegs are not placed upon this head, but both are inserted on the left of the neck, and a longitudinal opening is made through the head, 6 centimètres [2.362 in.] in length, and 12 millimètres [.472 in.] wide, for passing the strings into the holes of the pegs: this is a rude commencement of the scroll Lastly, at the lower end of the opening is a little ivory nut, 1 millimètre [.03937 in.] in height, on which the strings rest. The bridge, over which they pass at the other end, is exactly like that of the ravanastron. The bow, which is longer than that of the latter instrument, is also made of a light bamboo, which forms the curved part. At its upper end is a slit in which the hank of hair is fixed; but, instead of being fastened by a rush string at the other end, it passes through a hole in the bamboo, and is there stayed by a knot.
If we compare the omerti with the Arabian instrument called kemângeh à gouz (from kemân, a bow, and káh, pronounced guiáh, place; that is to say, place of the bow, or bow-instrument), we shall immediately perceive that the Indian instrument has furnished the model for that of Arabia. The expression à gouz signifies ancient; from whence it follows that kemângeh à gouz answers to ancient bow-instrument, or primitive bow-instrument. The lexicons translate [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII] kemângeh, by viol. Villoteau remarks that this word is Persian. Now, ancient Persia was contiguous to India on the east, and the relations of these two great countries are apparent throughout history. I affirm that it is impossible to forget the omerti in the kemângeh à gouz; a mere glance at the latter being sufficient to reveal their identity. The body of both instruments is formed of a cocoa-nut shell, with one-third part cut off; openings are made in the body of the kemângeh, as in that of the omerti, for putting the exterior air into communication with that which is contained in the instrument; the only difference being that these openings are small, very numerous, and ranged symmetrically in the Arabian instrument. In this, as in the other, the belly or sound-board consists of fine skin glued to the edges of the cocoa-nut shell. The neck consists of a cylindrical shank of courbary wood, its lower part terminating in a large ivory ferrule. The length of this shank, from the body of the instrument to the commencement of the head, is 66 centimètres [25.984 in.]. The head, which is hollowed out for the two pegs, like that of the omerti, is made of a single piece of ivory, 20 centimètres long [7.874 in.]. The pegs are placed one on each side of the head, instead of being both on the left as in the Indian instrument. The shank is bored longitudinally, to receive an iron rod, which crosses the body of the instrument, and, instead of ending in a button, like the omerti, is extended outwards, to the length of 25 centimètres [9.842 in.], to form a foot. To this foot there is a hook, to which is fastened the ring which serves for a tail-piece. In the description of this instrument, Villoteau speaks of the finger-board; but there is nothing like it on the kemângeh à gouz which is in my collection: the cylindrical neck itself serves for the finger-board , as in the omerti. The strings are the most curious part of this instrument, each of them being formed of a hank of black hair highly stretched. The bow is composed of a rod of sycamore fig-tree (figuier-sycomore), worked round and then curved, to which is attached and stretched a hank of the same hair [as that used for the strings].
The instruments already described fall not, properly speaking, within the domain of art; they belong to music of a primitive and popular kind, the instinctive expression of a feeling which has everywhere preceded genuine art. In the same category must be ranged, as mere varieties, certain other instruments made on the same principle, the diversity in the forms of which appears to have originated only in fancy. Such is the rebâb of the Arabs, which does not enter into any combination of instruments used at concerts in eastern countries, and which serves no other purpose than to guide the voice of the poets and story-tellers in their chanted recitations. The body of the rebâb consists of four sides, on which are stretched two pieces of parchment, which thus form the belly and the back. This combination of parts presents the appearance of a trapezoid, of which the summit is parallel to the base, and the two sides are nearly equal. The neck is cylindrical, and formed of a single piece, including the head. The foot consists of an iron rod fixed into the neck, which passes through the instrument. The rebâb is placed on this foot, like the kemângeh à gouz. There are two kinds of rebâb, both of which have the same form: the first is called the poet's rebâb, and has only one string; the other, which has two, is named the singer's rebâb. To say the truth, the rebâb is nothing but a modification of the Indian rouana—a modification which consists only in the form of the body of the instrument. The rebâb does not appertain to music, properly speaking; it is confined to its primary use of sustaining the voice, by rubbing the string with the bow.
If we now turn to Europe, and there examine the oldest monuments, together with the earliest particulars collected on the subject of bow-instruments, we shall find in them the same traces of Indian origin. There is nothing in the West which has not come from the East. In many places of my writings I have stated this truth, and now again repeat it. Formerly, I thought it admitted of a single exception as regards the bow, whose origin I had observed in the goudok of the Russian peasantry; but, at that time, I had only a very imperfect knowledge of India, in a musical point of view. Favorable circumstances, however, which, during the lapse of twenty years, have enabled me to fully investigate the ancient musical doctrines of this country, and which have brought into my possession a portion of its native instruments,—these circumstances, I say, have enlightened me; so that I can now reiterate, without any reservation, there is nothing in the West which has not come from the East. The goudok—with its three strings, its scroll, its finger-board placed on the neck, its regularly constructed sonorous chest, its sound-holes in the belly, its bridge duly proportioned to the length of the strings, its tail-piece similar to that of our violins—is a viol already brought to perfection, and does not resemble a primitive essay. The goudok also derives its origin from the East.
No traces of the existence of bow-instruments appear on the continent of Europe before the end of the eighth or the beginning of the ninth century; but a poet—Venantius Fortunatus, Bishop of Poictiers, who died about 609, and who is thought to have composed his A elegiac poems about 570—tells us that the crwth or crouth of the Gaelic [? Celtic] or Welsh bards was then known, and that it probably existed in England a long while before. The poet renders this barbarous name by chrotta, in the following verses:
Romanusque lyra plaudat tibi, Barbaras harpa, Græcus achilliaca, chrotta Britanna canat.
The Saxons took possession of a part of England in the year 449, that is to say, upwards of a century before the period in which Venantius Fortunatus wrote his poems. We know that they governed the part of Great Britain which was subdued by them; for their predecessors, the Romans, were only encamped there. It might be supposed that the use of a bow-instrument was introduced by them among the Britons; but we must not forget that Wales was never brought under the Saxon rule, and that the crouth, the use of which appears to have been preserved to the descendants of the Celts, seems to have been long unknown to the other people of England. The name of the instrument is evidently Celtic, and the original orthography of the word (crwth) cannot belong to any other language than the Gaelic. Now, the Welsh w, with an accent, has precisely the sound of the vowel (ú) of the Sanscrit language. Edward Jones, bard to the Prince of Wales, remarks that crouth, or crowd, is an English alteration of the primitive word, from whence is derived crowther, or crowder, to play on the crouth. The Welsh name of the instrument (crwth) comes from the Celtic primitive cruisigh (music), which is itself derived from the Sanscrit krus' (to cry out, to produce loud sounds), the root of which is kur (to yield a sound).
(Continues...)
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Table of Contents
Contents
Editor's Preface,Author's Preface,
Introduction—Anthony Stradivari, known by the name of Stradivarius, the celebrated violin-maker; his predecessors, contemporaries, and pupils,
Historical researches on the origin and transformations of bow-instruments,
Violin-makers of the Italian school from the earliest times,
Anthony Stradivarius—improvements of bow-instruments,
The Guarneri or Guarnerius [family],
The bow of Francis Tourte,
Experimental determination of the form of Tourte's bows,
APPENDIX, BY THE EDITOR.,
No. I—Letter of Anthony Stradivari, deciphered from the fac-simile,
No. II—Translation of the preceding letter,
No. III—Some account of Paganini's celebrated Guarnerius violin (mentioned at p. 106),