"Chrotta Brittanna" mentioned in one of the odes of Venantius
Fortunatus, written about A.D. 617, and published under the
title of "Venantii Fortunati Poemata"; but following the analogy of
the Gaelic "cruith," and the phonetic "crot" of the Book of the Dean
of Lismore (a sixteenth-century collection of Ossianic fragments),
the British Chrotta was more likely to have been an early form of
the Celtic Harp. Of original Welsh Crwths known there are three--one
from the Engel collection in the South Kensington Museum, another
less perfect in the Warrington Museum, and the one here drawn, which
belongs to Colonel Wynne-Finch of Voelas, Bettws-y-Coed, North Wales.
They have been hollowed out of single pieces of wood, the sound-board
being glued on--a very primitive manner of structure akin to the
old Celtic Harps. The dimensions of Colonel Wynne-Finch's Crwth
are--length, 22-1/2 inches; width, between 10-1/2 and 9 inches;
depth, 2 inches. This instrument has six strings, although nearer
examination shows that it had originally only five; four are on a
finger-board played with a bow, and two are off the finger-board,
intended to be twanged by the player's thumb. These open strings are
a comparatively late fancy, adopted in the theorbo, lyra, and baryton
viols. It is said there was a three-stringed crwth (Crwth thrithant)
probably bowed, and tuned as the first, fifth, and octave, but I am
disposed to agree with the late Carl Engel (_Researches into the
Early History of the Violin Family_: London, 1883) that this could be
no other than the mediæval Rebec. From observations made, more than
a hundred years ago, by the Hon. Daines Barrington (published in the
_Archæologia_ of the Society of Antiquaries, London, Vol. III. p.
20), who had the advantage of hearing a performer claiming to be the
last upon the instrument, the accordance of the six-stringed crwth
was--
[Music]
The strings were of catgut. Another authority, Bingley, heard the
crwth played at Carnarvon as late as 1801. He gives a different
accordance, in which, however, the octave arrangement remains:--
[Music]
It would appear as if the notes forming octaves upon the finger-board
were bowed together but not all four strings at once, as has been
sometimes supposed. To effect this there must have been a peculiar
knack in using the bow. From the large openings on either side of
the finger-board it is possible to trace, through the intermediate
mediæval Rotta or Rote, a descent from the Græco-Roman Cythara or
Lyre. There are two sound-holes in the belly, and the bridge, which
is placed obliquely, has the right foot resting upon the belly,
while the left foot, as in the tromba marina, passes through the
left sound-hole to rest upon the back. The left foot then acts as
a sound-post, and sets the whole instrument in vibration. Colonel
Wynne-Finch's Crwth was found in the Island of Anglesey. It has the
following inscription upon a label inside:--
MAID IN THE PARIS OF
ANIRHENGEL BY RICHARD
EVANS INSTRUMENTS MAKER
IN THE YEAR 1742.
But it is supposed to be older, and only to have been repaired or
reconstructed by Richard Evans. It was restored very carefully by
Mr. George Chanot before being shown at South Kensington in the Loan
Collection of 1872.
The BALALÄIKA is the Russian peasant's guitar. This example
was drawn because of the ornament, but the common instrument is
usually quite plain. It came from Moscow tuned [Music] but another
in my possession, sent to me at the same time from St. Petersburg,
was tuned [Music]. The Balaläika has three frets attached to the
neck, for stopping the semitone, whole tone, and minor third on
each string. The strings are of catgut. The quality of tone is very
sympathetic, almost sad.
The dimensions of the specimen drawn are--extreme height from the
base, 30 inches; the finger-board, 13 inches; the width at base is
11-1/2 inches. The depth of the sound-chest, which is the half of a
duodecagon, 5-3/4 inches. The corresponding measures of the simple
peasant's instruments are--26-3/4, 13-3/4, 13, and 3-1/2 inches.
The peculiar triangular shape of the Balaläika is of very primitive
character, the curved form in lutes and guitars being an artistic
development. In a delightfully realistic Russian bronze shown
at the Health Exhibition, South Kensington, 1884, the performer
simultaneously holds the neck of the instrument and stops the strings
with his left hand, while he touches them, guitar fashion, with
his right hand, the instrument being free from any other support
whatever.
[Illustration: XXV]
PLATE XXV.
VIOLIN, THE HELLIER STRADIVARIUS,
AND TWO OLD BOWS NOTED FOR THE FLUTING.
This is the beautiful "Hellier" Stradivarius Violin made in 1679
and bought by Sir Samuel Hellier of Womborne, Staffordshire, about
the year 1734, from the maker himself. It remained in the Hellier
family until 1875, when it was acquired by Mr. George Crompton, who
subsequently disposed of it to Messrs. W.E. Hill and Sons of New
Bond Street, formerly of Wardour Street, London, the experts in the
violin section of the South Kensington Music Loan Collection of
1885. It now belongs to Mr. Charles Oldham, who possesses another
inlaid violin dated 1687, which was originally made for the King
of Spain, and completes his quartet of Stradivarius instruments.
This Violin is considered to be one of the perfect earlier works of
Stradivarius, and is of full proportions. It has greater breadth than
the so-called "grand" pattern of that famous maker, and is one of his
inlaid violins, of which there are not more than twelve extant. A
letter of Stradivarius, recording the price (£40) Sir Samuel Hellier
paid for it, was forthcoming until a few years ago, when it was
unfortunately lost. We are not informed why Stradivarius should have
kept this instrument in his own possession for fifty-five years--it
seems likely that it had had another owner before Sir Samuel Hellier,
and that Stradivarius had taken it back. The details of the ornament
upon this Violin have been corrected from an exact tracing taken
by Mrs. Huggins of Upper Tulse Hill, London, an earnest amateur of
Stradivari's violins. The Hellier Stradivarius was certainly one
of the most remarkable examples that appeared in the unrivalled
collection of famous violins exhibited at South Kensington in 1885.
A quotation from Mr. George Hart's well-known book upon _The Violin,
its Famous Makers and their Imitators_ (London, 1884, p. 191), justly
sums up the worth of those artificers when Italian violin-making
most excelled. He says: "The chief merits of Stradivari and his
contemporary makers were intuitive. Their rules, having their origin
in experience, were applied as dictated by their marvellous sense of
touch and cunning, with results infinitely superior to any obtained
with the aid of the most approved mechanical contrivances. When to
these considerations we add that devotedness of purpose without which
nothing great in art has been accomplished, we have a catalogue
of excellences sufficient to account for the greatness of their
achievements."
The bows that accompany the "Hellier" Stradivarius are from the
collection of Messrs. Arthur and Alfred Hill. The violin bow, the
medium by which the performer's personality is transmitted to the
instrument and its various powers are brought out, is not less worthy
of admiration than the violin itself. The gradual improvement of
the bow has followed the development and improvement of the violin,
and the settlement of its form and materials in the last quarter of
the last century by François Tourte, in reality made the violin a
different instrument from what it had been before. With Tourte's bow
came a power of expression in violin-playing previously unknown.
[Illustration: XXVI]
PLATE XXVI.
VIOLINS, THE ALARD STRADIVARIUS, THE KING JOSEPH GUARNERIUS DEL GESÙ.
The back and front views of the Violin to the left of this Plate
are taken from the "Alard" Stradivarius, so called from the famous
violinist who formerly owned it. It is one of the finest violins
made by Stradivarius, and bears the date 1715, thus belonging to his
great period, which is considered by connoisseurs to have extended
from about 1700 to 1725. The following is the brief history of the
Alard Stradivarius. Bought in Florence early in the present century
by a banker of Courtrai in Belgium, it passed at his death into the
possession of the late J.B. Vuillaume of Paris, one of the most
famous violin-makers and experts of the present century. Vuillaume
reserved it for his son-in-law, Mr. Delphin Alard, professor of the
violin at the Paris Conservatoire, and of European reputation as
a virtuoso, in whose possession it remained until he retired from
public life in 1876. It was then acquired by Mr. David Laurie of
Glasgow, in whose possession this fine instrument still remains.
It is a Stradivarius of the "grand" form, and of a very handsome
model, the arching of the belly and back being of exquisite
proportions, neither exaggerated nor weak. The workmanship is between
the earlier and later styles of the master. A careful choice of
the wood is of course presupposed, but the fine regular marking
of the back may be observed, and also the beautiful colour and
quality of the varnish. The neck is original, as it left the hands
of Stradivarius; it has, however, been lengthened by a piece added
at its junction with the upper block of the body. The letters P.S.,
which are sometimes found on Stradivari violins at the peg-box
end of the neck when it is original, are here very distinct.
These enigmatical letters have given rise to some discussion
among experts, but the conclusion appears to be that they are the
initials of Stradivari's youngest son, Paolo, through whose hands
the instruments may have passed. Paolo was a cloth merchant, not
a violin-maker, but he succeeded to his father's house after the
decease of his brothers.
The "King Joseph" Guarnerius del Gesù Violin (del Gesù on account of
his signing his violins with the device [Illustration: I.H.S.]), of
which back and front views appear to the right of the Plate, also
belongs to Mr. Laurie, who has allowed this fine instrument to be
drawn for comparison with the no less fine specimen of Stradivarius.
The differences in the construction of the instruments of these
famous makers are, to the practised eye, considerable. In general,
the violins of Guarneri are smaller than those of Stradivari. There
is a marked difference observable in the outlines of the two makers,
the Stradivarius being somewhat square in the shoulders, the C's, or
inward curvings of the sides of a violin which resemble that letter,
and in the lower part, while all those features in the Guarnerius are
more curved. The head of the latter is bolder, less symmetrical and
quaintly original. The "_f_'s," the sound-holes in violins assuming
the form of that letter as an italic, which are beautifully curved
by Stradivarius, are by Guarnerius often sharply pointed at top and
bottom. It might be expected that this peculiarity of the "_f_'s"
would be detrimental to the artistic effect, but it is not. The
arching of the belly and back is with Guarnerius less marked than
with Stradivarius. Generally speaking, Guarnerius left his bellies
thicker than those of Stradivarius. As may be expected, there is
a decided difference in tone between a Guarnerius del Gesù and a
Stradivarius. I am indebted to Dr. William Huggins, F.R.S., for the
following interesting comparison. The Stradivarius possesses, as a
rule, a brighter tone with unlimited capacity for expressing the
most varied accents of feeling, "welling forth like a spring (says
Dr. Joachim in Mr. Payne's 'Stradivari,' Grove's _Dictionary_, vol.
iii., p. 733) and capable of infinite modifications under the bow."
The tone of Guarnerius has intense individuality, it is powerful and
somewhat contralto in quality, with a superb mellow richness strongly
tinged with melancholy.
The famous "King Joseph" Guarnerius del Gesù was formerly in the
celebrated collection formed by the late James Goding. It was sold
after his decease in 1857 to the Viscomte de Janzé, from whom Mr.
Laurie obtained it. The Tourte bow, mounted with gold, tortoiseshell
and mother of pearl, shown in the same Plate, is also Mr. Laurie's.
[Illustration: XXVII]
PLATE XXVII.
VIOLA D'AMORE.
French "La Viole d'Amour" is the Love Viol, so called from the
soft and tender quality of the tone produced from it. Beneath the
catgut strings there are usually wire strings, which, being tuned
in accordance, vibrate sympathetically when the catgut strings are
bowed. This is in obedience to a well-known law of physics, according
to which a body set in vibration will cause another body having
the same frequency of vibration to sound when within reach of its
influence. In the beautifully carved and inlaid instrument here
drawn, a perfect viola d'amore in form, surmounted by a lovely head
with bandaged eyes, the sympathetic strings are absent, and if they
were ever attached the peg-box has since been altered. But it has the
"flaming sword" sound-holes invariably found in a viola d'amore, and
also the addition, not unfrequent in that viol, of a rose immediately
under the finger-board.
Meyerbeer has revived the use of the viola d'amore by writing for
it the delicious _obbligato_ to Raoul's song, "Ah! quel spectacle
enchanteur," in _Les Huguenots_. In the present day Mr. Carli Zoeller
has come forward in England as the regenerator of the viola d'amore.
He has published an instruction-book, with an historical introduction
of value, and has also composed for the instrument. The following
interesting passage occurs in John Playford's _Musick's Recreation on
the Viol Lyra-way_, London, 1661:--"The first authors of inventing
and setting lessons this way to the Viol was Mr. _Daniel Farunt_,
Mr. _Alfonso Ferabosco_, and Mr. _John Coperario_ alias _Cooper_.
The first of these was a person of much ingenuity for his several
rare inventions of instruments, as the Poliphant and the Stump,
which were strung with wire; and also of his last, which was a _Lyra
Viol_, strung with Lute strings and Wire strings, the one above the
other; the wire strings were conveyed through a hollow passage made
in the neck of the Viol and so brought to the tail thereof, and
raised a little above the belly of the viol by a bridge of about
1/2 an inch. These were so laid that they were equivalent to those
above, and were tun'd unisons to those above, so that by striking
of those strings above with the bow, a sound was drawn from those
of wire underneath, which made it very harmonious; of this sort of
Viols I have seen many, but Time and Disuse have set them aside."
This description may have referred to the Viola Bastarda, with the
invention of which Praetorius credits England. A great authority
on this subject, Mr. E.J. Payne, writing in Sir George Grove's
_Dictionary of Music and Musicians_ (article Violin), says the
principle of sympathetic vibration was applied to several Viols, even
the little Sordino. The Viola Bastarda was the Viola da Gamba with
wire strings added. In the same way the Tenor Viol became the usual
Viola d'Amore. But the latter has varied in construction, the name
being applied by Mattheson (1713) to a Viol with four metal strings
and one of catgut, which he said bore "the beautiful name of Viola
d'Amore (Viole d'Amour), in fact, for it expresses much languishment
and tenderness." This must have been similar to the Viola d'Amore "of
5 wyre strings plaied on with a bow," described by Evelyn in 1679 as
"above all for its sweetnesse and novelty."
The tuning of the Viola d'Amore was at first the ordinary viol way
of fourths and a third, but later the major common chord tuning
was given to it [Music] known as "Harp-way Sharp" (on account of
the facile arpeggio and major third). This tuning was adopted by
Meyerbeer for his graceful _obbligato_. Whether Bach wrote for
a true viola d'amore is doubtful; the compass employed in the
Johannis-Passion suggests an ordinary viola which might have been
partly strung with steel or brass. Berlioz, in his _Treatise on
Instrumentation_, writes of the Love Viol with sympathetic strings,
"The quality of the Viole d'Amour is faint and sweet; there is
something seraphic in its partaking at once of the viola and the
harmonics of the violin. It is peculiarly suitable to the legato
style, to dreamy melodies, and to the expression of æsthetic or
religious feeling." It will, I think, be conceded that when an
instrument which has gone out of fashion possesses some special
quality, such as is found in this fascinating viol, there is
sufficient justification for bringing it back into use.
The Viola d'Amore and other instruments in this work, that belong
to the Music Class Room of Edinburgh University, have been drawn by
permission of Professor Sir Herbert Oakeley, Mus. Doc., and composer
to her Majesty the Queen for Scotland.
[Illustration: XXVIII]
PLATE XXVIII.
CETERA, BY ANTONIUS STRADIVARIUS.
An interesting Italian Cither, dated 1700, that may be compared
for design, beauty, and workmanship with Lord Tollemache's English
cither known as Queen Elizabeth's Lute. It belongs to the violinist
Alard, and found a place in the splendid contribution of violins
and other stringed instruments sent from Paris, by the mediation of
Mr. E. Gand, to the Music Loan Collection in the Royal Albert Hall,
1885. It had also been lent by Mr. Vuillaume to the South Kensington
Collection of 1872. This instrument, as well as the guitar drawn in
the next Plate, show Stradivarius was not averse from making other
instruments than violins. As well as cithers and guitars, he is known
to have made a harp. Two views are given of this cetera, and one
enlarged profile of the head and peg-box. It is a woman's head, said
to represent Diana,--a satyr and nymph behind the peg-box serving to
form a crook or handle for supporting the instrument, as the lizard
in Mr. Donaldson's cetera already described.
It will be seen this Cetera differs from the Quinterna in
Plate XXIII.; it is in form one of the oldest existing musical
instruments.
[Illustration: XXIX]
PLATE XXIX.
GUITAR, BY ANTONIUS STRADIVARIUS.
This Guitar is inscribed on the back of the peg-box ANT'S
STRADIVARIVS CREMONEN'S. F 1680. It was brought from Brescia
in 1881, and was acquired by Messrs. W.E. Hill and Sons of London. It
has been supposed that this might have been the only guitar made by
the illustrious violin-maker; but another, in the Museum of the Paris
Conservatoire, is also claimed for Stradivarius.
The beautiful arabesque rose of this Guitar will attract attention.
The coat of arms upon the finger-board indicates the noble family to
which the instrument formerly belonged.
While often made in Italy, France and Germany, the Guitar is the
national Spanish instrument, and although fashion may for a time
permit its use in other countries, it is as an exotic, for the
character and traditions of the instrument attach it closely to
Spain, where it is the universal accompaniment to song and dance. The
Andalusian Seguidilla and Fandango with castanet accompaniment are
characteristic measures for dances, with which are combined vocal
performances of _coplas_ and _estrevillo_ (couplets of four short
lines and a refrain of three), partaking more of the character of
an improvisation than a set performance. In the north of Spain, the
Jota Aragonesa and Jota Navarra are accompanied by a vocal refrain
as well as castanets, hand-clapping and finger-snapping. All these
Spanish dances are in triple time with certain peculiarities of
rhythm; occasionally professed guitar players elaborate them into
compositions of special interest and beauty, astonishing the listener
with the capabilities of the Spanish guitar as a solo instrument.
But, in truth, the artist will make himself felt, however limited the
range and power of the instrument may be.
[Illustration: XXX]
PLATE XXX.
BELL HARP AND HURDY-GURDY.
The Bell Harp, although it appears in modern pre-Raphaelite paintings
and is a kind of wire-strung psaltery, cannot be classed as a
mediæval instrument, as it dates only from about the year 1700. Its
invention is attributed to John Simcock, a soldier, who, judging from
the label inside, probably gave the name of his superior officer
to the instrument. It reads as follows:--"John Simcock, in the
Right Honourable the Earl of Ancram's regiment of Dragoons, and in
Captain Bell's troop, makes, mends, and sells the English harp; also
instructs gentlemen in the best mode of playing that instrument."
Robert, third Earl of Ancram, afterwards Marquis of Lothian, was
appointed Colonel of the seventh regiment of Dragoons in 1696.
The Bell Harp here drawn belongs to Miss E.A. Willmott of Warley
Place, Essex, as well as the Hurdy-Gurdy beneath it in the same
Plate. It has four roses and fourteen notes of brass strings of four
unisons to each. The extreme length of the sides is 21 inches; the
breadth at the top is 6-5/8 inches, and at the bottom, 13-1/2 inches.
Simcock constructed bell harps with more notes, occasionally of three
unisons to each, excepting the deepest note, which was one string
only, spun over with wire. The scale of another of sixteen notes,
made by John Simcock at Bath, as given by Engel, was--
[Music]
The bell harp, like the zither, is sounded with a plectrum on each
thumb, and the performer, while twanging the strings rapidly, holds
the harp by wooden projections from the sides of the frame, and
swings it upwards and downwards, to which action Grassineau (_Musical
Dictionary_, London, 1740) attributes the name. This may have been
so, but it is certain that the swinging motion could have no
appreciable effect upon the tone. A few years ago a Frenchman played
the bell harp in the streets of London, attracting audiences by the
novelty of the instrument and the grace with which he swung it.
THE HURDY-GURDY.
"With dead, dull, doleful, heavy hums,
With mournful moans, with grievous groans,
The sober hurdy-gurdy thrums."
These lines, from an Ode for St. Cecilia's Day, are said to have been
set to music for ancient British instruments, by Arne. But they libel
an instrument that has only failed from lack of inventors to attain
to the development that has raised some of its former competitors to
the consideration they are now held in. While the organistrum of the
church became the vielle of the Jongleurs, passing into the chifonie
and hurdy-gurdy of the common folk in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries, the dulcimer has been the precursor of the pianoforte.
The hurdy-gurdy, although at one time transformed to a sostenente
key-board instrument described by Evelyn, and as the "Geigenwerk"
exciting the attention of J.S. Bach, has remained what it was. The
latest improved vielle or hurdy-gurdy had the following key-board
compass and tuning of the open strings--
[Music: Tuned in C. Tuned in G.]
[Music: The open notes correspond with the long black keys of the
instrument; the black notes with the short white keys.]
The sound is produced by the vibration of the strings, maintained by
the friction of a wheel with which they are brought into contact,
the function of the rotary movement being analogous to that of the
fiddler's bow, the wheel being also prepared, like the bow, with
rosin. Sympathetic strings are not unfrequently attached.
The Hurdy-Gurdy here drawn has within the sound-body the maker's
label, "Louvet, Luthier, à la Vielle Royale, rue de la Croix des
Petits Champs, à la côté de la petite porte Saint Honoré à Paris,
1757." The length, without the head, is 19-1/2 inches; the breadth
being respectively 8-1/8 and 10 inches across the belly at the wider
measures. The carving of the head in this and many other vielles and
viols is a message to us from the past of loving care bestowed.