CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY FROM The Carnegie Corporation ilC ML SOO.SsT" Un,VerS " y Ubrary iiKminiiiSil?,fiy.,.P. f the violin / 3 1924 022" "320 18™ The Mask Story Series Edited by FREDERICK J. CROWEST. The Story of the Violin Cbe "d&ustc Storg" Series. 3/6 net per Volume. Already published in this Series. 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 Williams, M.A., Mus. Bac. With Illustrations. „ 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 Williams, M.A., Mus. Bac. With Illustrations. „ STORY OF ENGLISH MUSIC (7604-1904)— MUSICIANS' COMPANY LECTURES. ,, STORY OF MINSTRELSY. Edmondstoune Duncan. With Illustrations. ,, STORY OF MUSICAL FORM. Clarence Lucas. With Illustrations. „ 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 Fitzgibbon, M.A. With Illustrations. Other Volumes in Preparation. This Series, in superior leather bindings, may be had o?i application to the Publishers. [ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.] Cornell University Library The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924022320182 DEDICATED TO WILLIAM H. CUMMINGS, Esq., MUS. DOC. DUB., F.S.A., HON. R.A.M., AS A MARK 01' ESTEEM. Contents PAGE Prologue xxiii PART I. CHAPTER I. ORIGIN OF THE VIOLIN. Origin of the Violin still a puzzle — Gradual development — A 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 for a 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 — Instruments sanctioned by religious tradition in Egypt — Idiosyncrasies of some nations ..... -17 CHAPTER V. A WANDERING. The tone of the ravanastron — Hindoo's love for it — Indebted to Persians and Arabs — Music with the sword — Improvements and spreading of music — Tradition spinning her eternal threads ....,.,. .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 — A poor 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 — The oldest European representative — The Welsh crvvth — Claims discussed ....... 30 CHAPTER VIII. A MEETING. Dark period of two centuries — A new kind of bowed instrument appears — Possibly a descendant of the ravanastron — No previous record — Introduced to the bow .... 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 in his work? — Two 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 less painstaking — Mediocrity — The 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 after Stradivari — 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 artistic violin-playing — A style of com- 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 — His playing — Corelli the teacher — Corelli's pupils ..... .... 166 CHAPTER III. violin art in italy {continued). Other centres — The churches — Tartini — Founder of the Paduan school — " II Trillo del Diavolo" — Productivity — Tartini as 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 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 — A 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 — His pupils — School of Vienna — Ernst — Joachim — A light-giving fixed star ....... 224 XV Story of the Violin CHAPTER IX. VIOLIN ART IN FRANCE. PAGE Time of Louis XIV. — The cream of the profession — Corelli's failure — The use of vocal music for instruments— The names of first French violinists — Jean Marie Leclair — Pierre Gavinies . ...... 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 — A 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 all — Very accommodating — The 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 — Of the evolution of the bow — Parts of a violin .......... APPENDIX B. 299 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. 1. Indian Sarinda - - 2. Omerti 3 and 4. Arabian Rebab and Kemangeh 5. Rebab esh-Sha'er (Poet-Fiddle) - 6. Earliest representation of a European Fiddle 7. Anglo-Saxon Fiddler ... . 8. Three-stringed Crwth 9. Mediaeval Orchestra, Eleventh Century 10. Performer on the Marine Trumpet; Type of Dress 11. Reinmer the Minnesanger 12. Rebek, from an Italian painting of the Thirteenth Century 13. Vielle of the Thirteenth Century 14. Player of the Fourteenth Century 15. Organistrum .... 16. Viola di Bordone ... 17. Gaspar Duiffoprugcar 18. Viola da Gamba of Duiffoprugcar (made 1547 A.D.) 19. Amati Crest ....... xxi FAGS 13 22 31 33 33 35 36 40-41 46 49 58 59 60 61 65 72 76 87 Story of the Violin PIG. PAGE 20. Facsimile Label of Jerome Amati ... 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 Meister Heinrich Wrowenlob (Frauenlob), Famous 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 part of Corelli's Seventh Sonata (from a photo- graph) ... -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 - - - 214 38. Portrait of Spohr ... 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 history, and its 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 new spirit on the earth — T . . ..... F . . . Its Advent 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, to float with it through realms unknown and infinite) 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 lb. , and a pressure, vertically, 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 it demonstrates the great simplicity of construc- 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 can be simpler? 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 has been traced, more or less clearly, for ^***awal 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 j ec ture as to their earlier whereabouts. European Are they a European growth at all, or ro _ or are Aey an Eastern importation? Is the an Eastern ■ r . , . ., , j time of their wanderings on earth to be 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 ^^ ar ^ an£ j tQ w j lom we would naturally turn first for information on the subject — the Greeks and Romans — give us no clue. We gain an 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 . & of Music enthusiast could conscientiously construe 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 in Egyptian and Chaldean records of 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 cant conclusions as to the cultivation of ,. a ,, ~,, . . ,, 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 that they were a foreign importation — aearcn 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 — viz., during and alter the Baby- Ionian captivity — were familiar with some kind of instrument resembling the viol of our fore- fathers (the immediate predecessor of the violin, as 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 __. f ,. Luther's version of the passage in _. , .. Genesis iv. 21: "Tubal: he was the father Translation J 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 and Pfeifer," meaning literally in English: "Jubal, from whom have 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 still more lovely voice aught else. 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 ancient Leuka, a king. His name was Ravana. He was a Tradition great king, but he was also as great a singer repeats 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 j 1 and now, good-bye, , ''"'" ' — begfone. " Our scholar would have liked to tron b 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, though in this case it of the King . v . .' & . , , . ° requires some credulity — or, let us say, some ments ready fancy to discover even a faint relation 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 instruments of the bowed kind confined Some 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 is the watchword; change which destroys a <-.on- to-day what men kept holy yesterday : in the . „ _ . . .... , . , . ... , , in Eastern East it is stability which cherishes the old c oun t 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, as it were, the sap which runs through the 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, T ' ^ no doubt, are importations, 1 but others Instruments ' r ... in India are not » an " mav nave existed for ages 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 the four sacred books of the Brahmins, are „ . " c 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 first and the bow last, as every violinist knows ; 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 harp — should have by accident or reflection other 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 f the Absence earthly paradise and wonderland. Should „, ° , a 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 for itself. Considering what in our own days even old 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 R to be infused into their national, social, and Instruments re ^ ous ^ e > ^ ut ^ e ^ m contem Pt or aver- Hetero- sion, can we expect that their sculptors and 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 ^is 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 so bad as the miserable outward appearance - 1 on <* of the 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- monas, which since have 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- 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 Hindoos' Love for it FIG. 2. — OMERTI. 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 to two other ancient nations: the Persians Indebted 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 __ t, * u a a ? • 4- c U4- vu Music with who went abroad and got into fights 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, therefore, that most of jthe improvements improve- 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 their wanderings, and how they — after many 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 anc jing 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 _, , i r-i. ■ I u, a tu Beginnings early Christians were assembled. They were 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 (unison) to the rhythm of 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 glorious modern musical art. The same great Pope also established in TTfip Thirst _ e , * 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 lay the 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, s h wmen, rope-walkers, dancers, and all . ' such as catered to man's worldly lusts and Toneleurs appetites, and fed on the rough lawlessness 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. First in Gaul and Spain, they 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 e . r 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 two and three strings fourths, and European Rebafas Figs. 3, 4). It is pear-shaped, has sometimes - 'tuned in and is often carved and 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, and gigue in French; robel, robis, and arrabis in Portuguese; rubeba, rebeba, rebecca in elaborately ornamented FtG. 3. Flu. 4. REBAB AND KEMANGEH (ALSO SOMETIMES CALLED A REBAB). From the descriptive catalogue, South Kensington Museum. 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 -a. higher 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- paring it I (Fig. 6) with the Arabian prototype (Fig. 3) the family likeness (apart f r 0*1 the bow) is un- mistakable, although it is called by Gerbert " lira." At the same 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 The oldest European Repre- sentative The Family Likeness FIG. 5. — REBAB KSH-SHA'eR (pOET-FIDDLE). Used in the coffee-houses of Cairo to accom- pany recitations ; after each . verse the poet- musician plays a little interlude, (See Engel's descriptive catalogue.) First Bowed Instruments in Europe 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 (other pre- and the de- a handier, needs have original shape in depicted in the first of the ru- Sjurroundings, circumstances existing forms of instruments), sire for greater practicability, for more graceful form, must wrought changes from the that eventually led to the final which we mostly find the rebec succeeding centuries. 1 From that we have any record bebe or rebec and all through the Middle Ages the bow appears as part and parcel of the instru- 1 As to the one 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 rebab which has only one string; moreover, there is another bowed instrument known in Egypt as Rebab esh-Sha'er (Fig. 5) which has only one string, and is used like a 'cello, with an iron foot stuck in the 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 FIG. 6.— EARLIEST REPRESENTATION OF A EUROPEAN FIDDLE, Story of the Violin ment. It is never absent ; and this is of some significance, as we shall have occasion to observe. 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 still in use among Welsh bards 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 Archaologia ; or, Miscellaneous Tracts relating 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 First Bowed Instruments in Europe 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 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 FIG. 7.— ANGLO-SAXON PIDDLES. 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 illustration of a three - stringed 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 FIG. 8. — THREE-STRINGED CR&TH. First Bowed Instruments in Europe (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 if a novelty, an object of 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 scenc i an t of the ravanastron; and it is just ° e possible that two branches of the same family of Indian bowed instruments existed 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 astron 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, 4 1 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 the conjecture that the fiedel made its way from the East 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), r f 1 ? 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 poetry and song and splendid tournaments, JNl f> lltmar £ 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- to be reckoned kings of song; 1 and naturally Jf? UrS ' the little people of the craft benefited from 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 richly rewarded, next to halt on a village common, where young and old gathered around them for a dance. Again they would pass a castle on the way, and, when a kind and open-handed knight granted permission, per- form in the court with its mossy well and shady bass-wood tree, while perhaps the sweet-faced 46 FIG. 10. — PERFORMER ON THE MARINE TRUMPET. TYPE OF DRESS. Playing before the Castle Romantic Age children of the knight, half curious and half anxious, at safe distance watched, open-mouthed, the queer antics of the fiddle-bow, and my 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 abilities he happened to possess ; or it was a real nobleman 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 p.. .. een . 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 and the splendour of the Hohenstaufen emperors had drawn the high flood FIG. IX. — REINMER THE MINNESANCER. After having accompanied the Duke Frederick to the second Crusade, he died at Vienna about 1215 a.d. . 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 in the throes of a reign of terror — a kingless time,— the 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 . these grow in size, power, wealth, and influ- Born and ence - All manner of trade and handicraft is 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 saints St. Genest 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 all over the land meet at certain intervals in . ' . er 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 settle down. Thus the wandering 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 n ° T j t ' ie P oor > des pi se d earth-worm preparing in espi e S p r i n g the hard frozen ground in our gardens 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 A Poor did it unconsciously, no doubt. He was no 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." _ —Goethe's Faust. Beauty 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 to invent and spread about those treasures 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 ? Lastly, it was the minstrel and musician who created the demand for instruments and, following it, the demand for improvements on them. Thus the fiddler of the eleventh and twelfth cen- _ e turies was directly father to the ultimate t . creation of the violin ; while in the develop- 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, stimulated his industry, his technical efforts, t-noral 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 in the South-west of Europe from the 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 lived through the vicissitudes of the fleeting centuries with something of true Eastern imperturbability as the constant, faithful companion of its first friend, the 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 Rifaouds created (1235) king of ribouds, on account 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 with the most perfect grace her rebecca? r , a 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. We had opportunity, through the courtesy of Signor G. Branzoli, librarian of St. Cecilia in Rome, to play on 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, it was worked — body, 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 e a rse, 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 R , as having been sweet and " insinuante " and 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 middle 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- able, so " sec et criant" in compari- son with the viol of the times, Fra Angelico (1387-1455) would hardly have associated his angel, the exponent FIG. 12. — REBEK. From an Italian painting of the thirteenth century. 1 Branzoli : " La voce era graziosa ed insinuante a somiglianza della voce umana. " — Manuale Storico del Violinista, p. II. s Vidal : Les Instruments it Archel, vol. 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, 3f.'. .-•■. ;.;;_.; -\\;.\\\ ■■'^\-^':'-'"--\v:^ ; ^SPi?iWS FIG. 13. — VIELLE OF THE THIRTEENTH CENTURY. a monk living in the thirteenth century, speaks of the rebec as a grave-toned instrument, tuned as follows : — m 32Z Considering the general form of the gigue, low pitch can hardly have yielded a satisfactory tone, and 1 Stradivari, p. 30. On the tuning of the rebecs, see also Ruehl* mann, Die GtsthicjiU der Bogen-instrumente mit Alias. 59 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. We know very little of its whereabouts until the beginning or middle of the thirteenth century, when it must have been in considerable vogue in Southern Europe. According to Branzoli, 3 there is in the archives of Bologna a decree of the year 1261 forbidding — at the risk of a fine of one hundred soldi for the first offence — 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. 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 and 2 Stradivari, pp. 31, 32. 8 G. Branzoli: Manuale Storico del Violinisla, 1894. 60 FIG. 14.' -PLAYER OF THE FOURTEENTH CENTURY. 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 times (nth- 1 3th centuries), one might infer e owe that as a bow instrument the early viol did , _ , not appeal to them as strongly as the ence smaller, more easily handled gigue. Then in succeeding centuries this changed, and the viol in its many — nay, almost countless — varieties and modi- fications in size, pitch, and number of strings, became 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 cities and 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 all, with the result that he had to starve and 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, in consequence improved, and 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 Im P r °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 and the early Netherland contrapuntists, through 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 ■ c • , , ' ,, . . , _.,. species of 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 ac j 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 See Appendix. J See Appendix. 3 See Appendix. 64 Special Favourite Designs in Different Countries Instrument of Respectability di spalla," which we see depicted on Raphael's picture, "Apollo in Parnassus," in the hands of Apollo. The great painter, it is said, took for his model of the Greek god the then celebrated viol-player, 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 • — PPt ^ 1 See Catalogue of Musical Instruments, South Kensington Museum, by Carl Engel. 6 S VIOLA DI BORDONE. Descriptive Catalogue, South Kensington Museum. 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 events the English must have been particularly 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 the time 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 Wer e the the world was ready to receive its musical ,me j" e * f 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) 5 1 and England sees the last of the Wars of the 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 in Italy. Everywhere a '' , 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 the form 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. 1 o 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, six in all, the „, ,,. ,. ... * . ff s v ' '. .. Six Violins 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 inlaid, adorned with oil paintings 1 of 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 tells us that Duiffoprugcar was born in Freising, thirty kilometres from Munich, and prob- 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, unless it can be proved that the labelled violins attributed to DuifFoprugcar were not his make. At 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 est d'une forme assez lourde dont le patron primitive- ment grand a etc" recoup^ par Chanot mais dont les ouis sont 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- I do not see any reason why the facts _ I0 ° s 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 DU1FFOFRUGCAR, MADE 1547 A.D. 1 Now in the museum of the Con- servatoire at Brussels. 76 Two Gasparos perpetrated with the best intention some time after the master's death, when repairs or the wish to reduce the original thickness of the neck, , ' e 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 or Duiffopruggar is Italian on the face of it— ^ lodi 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 follows the rays of the sun which penetrate 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 front; who, because the world knows them not, 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 activity from archi- 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 born in 1542, in a little place situated on the as P ar ° a picturesque Lago di Garda, after which he was called Da Salo. We know no more of his youth and apprenticeship than of Duiffoprugcar's. Perhaps he learned the art of viol and lute- Know no making from some Brescian maker unknown 1 " ore ° 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 little kingdom, 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 ment in his ^' s wav *° * ne & oa ^ °^ attainment, or do we 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 ^ performance of his opera Orfeo, at French . , ' v . , ., v J ' v , ,, Mantua in 1607, the composer names — besides ten viole da brazzo (arm viols), three bassi da gamba (leg basses), and two cbntra- 1 According to Fetis,' he was particularly renowned for his 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- istics of Da Salo's violins are a large pattern, 1S ICS ° . * 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 Prior records leave it uncertain whether tenor viols are meant or really our small violin. 83 s 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, as compared to viols, had — at for Violins , . T , r . ' , _, 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 fertile and 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 Andrew Amati 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- scendant from an old decurional family of Cremona — was the founder of the world 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 traditions of their art. The year of Andrew's birth is not known, but from an instrument of his making 1 — strange to say, a three- stringed rebec 1 — bearing the date 1546, it has been inferred that he was born about 1520 — that is, twenty - two years before Gasparo da Salo. It is therefore surprising that some writers still entertain the belief that Andrew was a 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 The Belief that he was a Pupil of Da Salo FIG. 19. — AMATI CREST. 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. — a , 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 Revolution, 1789. He had furnished them for the Chapel Royal by order of 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 _. <, the names 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 his work was somewhat less finished in distinct 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 11 IS brightest luminary in the fiddle-making realm. At first Nicolaus followed closely pieces , , , . , . . , ... ,. , the model of his father and his uncle in the adoption of a small form; but about 1625, by what T process of thinking or experience or outside m f , influence we know not, he created a larger 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 A .. large Amatis, and it is among these that are 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- g- enera i noblesse of design and elegance of . .. 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 t elder, Jerome, born 1649, worked in his _ „ 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 a name 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), not to speak of the younger one, who was > etoa £ less 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, 9 1 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 orchestral accompaniment and. Fierce a P oor sm gl e little solo-fiddle, where only Battle be- t ^ ie ^> 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" ideal for which Andrea and his immediate 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, weak, mellow-toned Andrew and Antonio 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 in powdered wigs, and knee- 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 of the Rococo, and was not such a sweet- * "f e 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 will never 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 the pupils 1 and imitators of the Amati school, as might 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 1 the latter iust 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 to 1730. One should think Joseph learned the technique of the art From his father, but as he copies in the beginning of his career Nicolaus Amati, it has been surmised that he, too, studied with that veteran. It is, indeed, easy enough to imagine that old Andrew, who imitated his own master so reverentially, took his young son Joseph (Giuseppe) 99 FIG. 21. — GUARNERI CREST. His two Sons, Petrus and Joseph Story of the Violin after he had just begun to learn the use of the tools, to father Nicolaus 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 equally 'distinguished member of the family was 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 v , j. melting into amber : a sonnet transcribed into colours. If from it, and the equally 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 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 as one 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 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 of his father, without, 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 A Son of Petrus A Third Pietro racter, he must vxii Si / >->'' 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 f T'me sadness ; or, should I rather say, a sound floating — not like that of the Amatis, on 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 rises from the dew-strewn Alpine 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, or teach him the composition of 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 at or hearing a violin, 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. It appears as historically certain that Stainer stayed in Absam all his life, except for one visit he paid to Salzburg in 1643, to deliver in person a viola bastarta and receive for it thirty Some Facts 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 title ' ' honoured and 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 '■" «■*,-•.; , .v " : '. '"• '^ H>. iTf *§!k j^v MB -■ > ' ■■■ ill FIG. 23.— STAINER S HOUSE AT ABSAM, {Copyright.) 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 free again, he was a ruined man. An appeal to 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. 1 The story formerly went — and Fetis in his Stradivari repeats it — . 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, of some imbecile official (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 proper instruction, in such surroundings (a s 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 his V V Italian makers were appreciated at their 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 T ti I with his label, and their bad example has 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 its young, and pine to pine, and the winds 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, „ ,, , with the Christian name Antonio — Antonio Stradivari ,. . 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 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 FIG. 24. — STRADIVARI CREST. Ill Story of the Violin he also scrupulously copied his master, with the ' result that his productions of that period 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 Inte lude misleading, for no man of Stradivari's genius could be tied down to act on strict lines. 1 Stradivari's productions before 1690 have therefore been termed Amatise. 2 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. We are 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 first time Corelli draw the hidden soul out of a violin, 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 ^ ?v!^ ge 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 that for more than twenty-five years : 1700- JJ ea es 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 of his predecessors, we see that no item, ° m " 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 alter its form ever so slightly. If the 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 ^i 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 A sharp; 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 r ,, ' in an artist's life, when the impetuous pro- 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 their work, he laboured on. Much of his manhood 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 furrowed by thought, in his little kingdom (surely some small workshop 2 ) surrounded by talented pupils watching, following, and helping the master. Behold among FIG. 25.— STRADIVARI S HOUSE AND SHOP. (By kind permission of W. E. Hill & Sons.) 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' breast — seemed to have understood and imi- His two tated the master best . the talented Guad- ons, r ^ n- a o- nm ;. an( j perhaps also, for a short time cesco and ° , , r , , Omoboni least, the man who was almost to reach 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 R h dt amon & n ' s little flock, dropping advice into 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 off making violins one year before 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 his industry should have secured for him a 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 associated with the history of some of the most famous violin-artists, 1 and would, no doubt, make interesting 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, or regrets at parting with them echoed through their delicate, sympathetic frames, and tear-dimmed eyes rested inconsolably on their luminous varnish. Of the great master's home life we know very little. He was married twice, and had three sons and two daughters by the first wife, and several by the second. One can hardly ^imagine s t radiv * r «' s 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 last, but not least, through the stimu- 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 ... ,. ' j , , ™ s : Sh d possible light and shade. There, genius 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 of his powers. For the rest, the details Q^stion of his chequered life, traditional reports alone supply the much desired information, besides what the historian and connoisseur have been able to 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 young Giuseppe also was not apprenticed IS **, 7 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