The two most pleasing, expressive, and powerful single instruments of
music are the human voice and the violin. The one, the gift of
beneficent nature, has from the creation exercised its touching
influence on the human soul--the other, the product of the ingenuity of
man, has only within the last three centuries attained to perfection,
but since that period what delight, what rapture has arisen from so
simple a construction, when acted upon by the hand of genius!
While the melodious tones of Grisi and Mario have touched with
sympathetic feelings the hearts and imaginations of spell bound
listeners, how have the magic tones of Paganini and Ernst wrapped the
souls of wondering thousands in an elysium of delight and admiration!
What effect cannot be produced by the Violin, (except that of speech,)
which the voice can accomplish?
The Violin in the hands of genius can draw tears or create laughter.
Whoever has heard the great masters of this extraordinary instrument,
has heard all the sweetness of tone, the intensity of feeling, the
power of expression that the most gifted sons and daughters of song
could possibly produce without the additional aid of speech. The
Violin, in fact, in its power of expression far excels those singers,
of whom there are too many, who while singing the notes, fail to make
their hearers understand the sense of their songs. If a merry dance is
produced by the agile bow, its sympathetic tones at once excite a
corresponding feeling. If a plaintive air streams in delicious and
heart-touching cadences from the strings, what soul is there so dead to
feeling as not to respond?
The perfection of the Violin is that its master, if alive to the subtle
and mysterious influences of the imagination, can elicit from it the
most perfect and touching "songs without words."
It is besides the only instrument, except the voice, which is perfect.
Every shade of expression, every nicety of tone can be produced on it.
All other instruments sink into insignificance in comparison with the
Violin, because they cannot do this. They are all more or less
imperfect; and therefore fail in those subtleties of expression of
which the Violin and the voice are such able exponents.
What gratitude do we owe therefore to those great masters of Cremona,
more especially the Amati and Stradiuarius, who have succeeded in
bringing the Violin to its present state of perfection.
Music has in all ages been a source of the purest delight. The greatest
poet and dramatist the world ever knew says that whoever "has not music
in his soul is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils." In the
present age the cultivation of Music forms one of the most general and
the most refined sources of amusement and pleasure. All ranks of people
are now privileged to join in its delightful enjoyments.
Even the cottage of the artisan is now often elevated by the elegant
practice of music, through the increased facilities for producing
instruments at a cheap rate. The consequence is that in the present age
there is a more general study and a finer perception of what is good
and beautiful, and their elevating tendencies are doing much for the
mental cultivation and refinement of all classes.
A very extraordinary feature of the musical world of the present day is
the enormous orchestras which can be produced on special occasions. A
chorus of several thousand voices supported by hundreds of instruments
may now be heard, rendering the immortal compositions of the greatest
masters of the divine Art, in the Peoples' Palace at Sydenham and
elsewhere. These Orchestras are chiefly selected from the ranks of the
people, of whom the artisan is the chief contributor.
The reduction of the cost of instruments and the adoption of what may
be called the joint stock principle are tending still further to
enlarge the boundaries of the practical musical world. At any time and
for any special purpose it is now easy to secure a band and chorus
sufficient in numbers and executive power to render in an efficient and
powerful manner, the glorious productions of Beethoven, Mozart, Handel,
and other great masters.
In all these transitions, the Violin bears a most important part. It is
the leading instrument in these great performances, as it is also,
after the voice, the most powerful medium of expression in solo. It is
also the peoples' instrument.
The labours of many eminent violin makers who have followed in the
steps of the great masters have of late so immensely improved the art,
that a good instrument may now be possessed by any one. And it may
safely be said that with its improvement, has arisen also the extension
and wide spread practice of music generally. An ear accustomed to the
fine tone of a good violin will not now tolerate a bad piano-forte.
The Piano-forte and the Violin are the most general instruments, and
they have alike participated in the improvements effected, in becoming
cheaper by the advance of science. Every description of machinery has
within the last fifty years received the attention of able men, and the
mechanical construction of the Piano-forte is one prominent proof of
the advantages which can be conferred by science on even the luxuries
of life.
The Violin, also, seemingly the most incapable of mechanical
application to its manufacture, is said to be now made by a most
persevering and enthusiastic lover and follower of the great makers, by
mechanical means. Copies of these celebrated makers, are now said to be
manufactured by him with an uniformity, a certainty, and a precision
impossible except by the aid of scientific improvements. These
instruments are therefore understood to require only the ameliorating
influences of time and use to become fine in tone and satisfactory in
every respect.
Every one interested in the progress of music, must rejoice at the
rapid development of its resources and the general spread of its
pleasures among the people. We are a profoundly commercial nation, and
it is delightful to see that in our greater wealth and prosperity,
rational amusements, and more especially music, go on increasing step
by step with our more business-like occupations. This class of
amusements must exercise a humanising and refining influence on the
habits and manners of the people, and they should be, therefore,
patronised and encouraged by all those whose means are large and their
example powerful. There can be no doubt that their tendency is for
good, and that those whose leisure hours are devoted to their practice
and study, will be richly benefited by them in all those qualities
which combine to make the good citizen and the estimable friend.
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