=Change from the Viol to the Violin=.—The reader who has studied the
principles of construction and playing of the old string instruments,
as explained in Lesson XV, or examined them in museums, will not have
failed to note that they were complicated and limited in technic. The
members of this family were large and cumbersome, troublesome to handle
and not particularly graceful or pleasing to the eye; the position in
which the player was forced to hold them was difficult to maintain
and not conducive to a rapid, facile technic. Now, the direction of a
perfected art is always toward simplicity; the various members of the
viol family were to yield place to a new instrument, a modification of
the original type, and one that possessed some striking and valuable
advantages over the viol. Another element that aided in the change
from the viol was the efforts of composers to produce a distinctive
instrumental music, a style which demanded an instrument with a higher
range than the viols, corresponding to the highest female voice. Still
another element to be considered was the stir in intellectual, social,
political and commercial life which was evident everywhere, the product
of the Renaissance. Music was influenced by this spirit; composers were
seeking new forms in which to express their thoughts and were calling
for new and better media for presenting them to others. As composers
gained in breadth and power of conception, instruments were improved
even beyond their demands; the increase in resources stimulated, in
turn, the composers. At this period music was on the threshold of a
splendid activity in instrumental lines, the reign of the old choral
music and the contrapuntal composer was being challenged, and the way
prepared for Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven.
=Beginning of the Violin=.—With regard to the violin, as in other
beginnings, there is disagreement; the strongest claims are set
forth for France and Italy, with German historians by no means lax
in attributing the first instruments to one of their own countrymen.
We give the following facts which seem to divide the honors: In the
scores of Italian works of the 16th century, a part may be found for
what is called the _piccolo violino alla francese_ (little French
viol), a fact which would argue that an instrument of this kind,
perhaps most commonly used in France, had been known for some time.
The oldest known instrument of the violin type is one which bears the
date 1449, and is signed Jean Kerlin, a Breton luthier (lute maker,
a term applied also to violin makers), whose name is also given as
Kerlino, living in Brescia, Italy, in the middle of the 15th century.
About the same time there lived in Bologna, Padua and Venice, members
of a celebrated lute-making family, named Duiffoprugcar, Italian
equivalent for the German name, Tieffenbrucker, for the family came
from the Italian Tyrol. The most celebrated member of this family was
Gasparo Duiffoprugcar (Casper Tieffenbrucker), who was born about 1469,
lived in Bologna until 1515, when he went to Paris. Later he removed
to Lyons, where he spent the rest of his life. Six instruments having
violin characteristics (high, not sloping shoulders, deeper curves in
the waist and better-defined _f_ holes) are attributed to him, bearing
dates of 1510, 1511, 1515 and 1517.
=Early Italian Makers=.—The next name is that of Gasparo di Salo,
founder of the Brescian school of violin-making, who was born at a
little village called Salo, on Lake Garda; hence his name. His model
varied, sometimes it was high, at other times flat; as his instruments
produced a full, sonorous tone, the model was revived in later years
by Joseph Guarnerius. His tenors and double-basses are considered his
finest work, his violins being a trifle small. The favorite double
bass of Dragonetti, the famous contrabassist, was by di Salo; Ole
Bull frequently played on a di Salo violin in his concerts. The
greatest successor of di Salo was his pupil, =Giovanni Paolo Maggini=
(1590-1640), whose violins are highly prized. They are characterized by
a brown varnish and a double purfling.
=The Cremona School=.—With the public the name Cremona is indissolubly
connected with violin-making. In the 16th century this city was a
famous art centre, rivaling Bologna in music and painting. The first
great maker and founder of the Cremona school was Andrea (Andrew)
Amati, born about 1520 and died 1577 or 1580.[11] He used mostly a
small pattern, top and back high, the varnish amber in color. A number
of his instruments furnished for the Chapel Royal of Charles IX were
known to have been in Versailles prior to the French Revolution. The
Amati style was continued by Andrea’s two sons, Antonio (Anthony) and
Hieronymus (Geronimo or Jerome) Amati. The former is said to have lived
1550-1638, the latter 1551-1635. They worked conjointly, although the
latter made some experiments with a larger model than the usual Amati.
=Nicolo Amati=.—The greatest of the Amati family and the one whose
instruments are still highly prized was =Nicolo (Nicolaus) Amati=
(1596-1684), the son of Geronimo. He forms one of the great triumvirate
of violin-making, Amati, Guarnerius and Stradivarius. At first he
followed the small form adopted by his father and his uncle, although
he improved on the workmanship. But about 1625, no doubt as the result
of an experiment, he began to use a slightly larger pattern which is
known to connoisseurs as the “Grand Amati.” These instruments represent
his best work and command a high price. The Amati tone is sweet, mellow
yet somewhat delicate, although remarkable in purity; the instruments
are unsuited to orchestral work, although admirable in chamber music,
particularly of the old style. The varnish is yellowish or amber
colored.
=Joseph Guarnerius=.—In our study of the piano we noted how the small,
weak tone of the clavichord and harpsichord gave way before the fuller
toned, sonorous pianoforte, which, with its greater possibilities,
came into use at a time when composers were seeking for means to give
increased breadth and power to the reproduction of their music. It
would have been unfortunate for instrumental music if the small though
sweet tone of the Amati violin had been accepted as the ideal. We could
not have had the surging tumult of Beethoven’s “Eroica” symphony, the
great dramatic pictures of Wagner with the Amati to lay on the colors.
More tone, more sonorousness, more virile singing was needed. One of
the men to place in the hands of executants the instrument to work
out the conceptions of the great composers was =Giuseppe Guarneri=
or, as he is generally called, Joseph Guarnerius del Gesu. He was
born at Cremona, 1683, and belonged to a family of lute and violin
makers. He has been credited with having been a pupil of Stradivari,
yet his instruments show no trace of that maker’s influence. He seems
to have been impressed with the tone-producing qualities of the di
Salo violins, for his best instruments have something of their bold,
vigorous style. He was an experimenter, ever seeking, it would seem,
for the means of producing big, sonorous tone, and changed his model
frequently, for which reason his instruments vary much in value.
His work was not so highly favored by connoisseurs until Paganini
showed the value of a Guarnerius from the standpoint of tone. His
best instruments are now greatly admired and, because so few in good
condition are known, command a high price. The date of Guarnerius’
death is not known. Others of the Guarnerius family who lived and
worked at Cremona were Andreas Guarnerius, uncle to Giuseppe, his son
also called Joseph and known as “_filius Andreæ_” (Son of Andreas) to
distinguish him from his cousin, Joseph del Gesu, another son Peter,
“of Cremona,” and a son of Joseph _filius Andreæ_, known as Peter of
Venice.
=Antonius Stradivarius=.—The greatest of violin-makers who united in
his instruments the brilliant and powerful tone of di Salo and the
Brescian school and the purity and finish of the Amati was =Antonius
Stradivarius= (Antonio Stradivari is the Italian form), born in 1644,
one year after the death of Monteverde, and died in 1737, five years
after the birth of Haydn, a period of nearly a century in which a
most significant development took place in music. He was apprenticed
to Nicolo Amati, and the instruments of his early years are faithful
copies of that master’s work; but as he grew in years and experience
he improved on the Amati model, every change tending to produce a more
powerful and resonant tone. The differences that strike the eye most
strongly are the larger proportions, the flatter arch of the top, and
the shape of the sound holes. In his earlier instruments he used a
yellowish varnish; after 1684, one of a reddish tint. Stradivarius
also fixed the form and adjustment of the bridge. He left two sons,
Francesco and Omoboni, who finished some of their father’s instruments
after his death. They both died five or six years later. Pupils of
Stradivarius who made excellent instruments were =Carlo Bergonzi=
(1712-1750), =Lorenzo Guadagnini= (1695-1740) and his son =Johannes
Baptista Guadagnini= (1750-1785) and =Alessandro Gagliano=.
=Other Makers=.—Germany’s contribution to violin-making dates from
=Jakob Stainer=, of Absam in Tyrol (1621-1683). Tradition has it that
he learned his art at Cremona; if so, his work shows no influence of
the Amati; his model is different, somewhat broader and shorter, the
arch of the belly is greater, and the sound holes are set differently;
the varnish varies from a brown to an amber color; the tone is sweet
and quick to respond, but lacks intensity. A follower of Stainer was
=Ægidius Klotz= (1653-1743), many of whose instruments were sold as
of Stainer’s make. France contributed no makers of great renown. The
names of importance are =Nicholas Lupot= (1758-1824), a follower
of Stradivarius, and =J. B. Vuillaume= (1799-1875). In England the
most distinguished names are =Richard Duke= and =Benjamin Banks=
(1727-1795).
=The Violin Bow=.—A few words must be said in regard to the bow, the
means for producing tone from the violin strings. In its earliest
form it was simply a bow with a stretched string. Hair came into use,
to replace the string, about the 13th century, and the bow lost its
original shape, becoming straight for nearly its entire length, curving
downward at the point. Corelli used a bow of this shape. Tartini’s
bow had the same shape, but was made longer. At the end of the 18th
century, =François Tourte= (1747-1835), a Paris bow-maker, lengthened
the bow still more, and bent it slightly inward, giving it the form
familiar to us today. Viotti was the first great player to use this
style of bow, and is credited with a share in perfecting it. It is no
exaggeration to say that upon Tourte’s improvements to the bow rests
the whole fabric of modern violin-playing, with its wonderful variety
of execution and consequent nuances in expression.
=The Viola and the Violoncello=.—Two other instruments of the violin
type are in use, the Viola, the _tenor_ violin, and the Violoncello,
the _bass_ violin; both these instruments shared in the development of
the violin, and were made by the great makers, Amati, Guarnerius and
Stradivarius. The Contra-bass, the bass-viol, as it is often called,
while it is used to furnish the bass to the string orchestra, is a
member of the viol family, having the special characteristics, sloping
shoulders and flat back. Instruments were made on the violin pattern,
but given up as less satisfactory than the viol type.
The impetus given to instrumental composition by the perfecting of
the instruments of the string group stimulated makers to work for
improvement in those belonging to the family of wind instruments,
flutes, oboes, clarinets, horns, harps, etc., thus offering the means
to reproduce for hearers the great conceptions of the tone-masters.