Mr Galpin has written an admirable book on old musical instruments. His
knowledge, which is first hand, is the harvest of many years' research;
and, like the best type of learned authors, he has the power of sharing
his knowledge with the ignorant.
His book begins with a study of stringed instruments, which occupies
about half the book, the remainder being given up to the wind band.
My own experience of instruments of music is confined to the latter
division. I remember as a small boy at school struggling with an
elementary flute: or was it a penny whistle? I believe it was a flute,
for I have a dim recollection of pouring water into it before it would
sound. I tried to teach the instrument--whatever it was--to a friend,
and wrote down the fingerings by a series of black and white dots, in the
manner quoted from Thomas Greeting's _Pleasant Companion_, 1675, by Mr
Galpin (p. 146). Then when I was about fifteen or sixteen years old I
began under that admirable teacher, the late R. S. Rockstro, to work
regularly at the flute. As a Cambridge undergraduate I remember playing
flute solos at the University Musical Society's concerts. And I can
still recall the pleasant sound of the applause which on one occasion
called for a repetition of my performance. Since those days I took up
the bassoon under the guidance of another admirable teacher, Mr E. F.
James. But nowadays my chief interest is the recorder, which is best
known to the unmusical world from the well-known passage in _Hamlet_. Of
this instrument I shall have something to say in the sequel. I give
these personal details to show how small a right I have to do more than
give an abstract of Mr Galpin's admirable book.
The first instrument dealt with is the harp, the essential feature of
which is that each string gives but one sound. {72} It is not clear to
me why the psaltery and dulcimer are separated from the harp, since they
also have unstopped strings and therefore unalterable notes. Whereas the
interpolated chapter ii. is concerned with instruments--the gittern and
citole--whose tones are alterable in pitch by "stopping," _i.e._,
altering the length of the vibrating part of the string. I can only
suppose that the author considers that the fact of the gittern and citole
being sounded by plucking the strings, brings these instruments into
alliance with the harp. I confess that I should like to have seen Class
I. (strings unalterable in tone) including the harp, the rote, the
psaltery, dulcimer (Plate I.), the aeolian-harp, and the piano. Then
would come a class of instruments some at least of whose strings produce
a variety of tones by stopping, _i.e._, shortening the vibrating region
of the string, and this would include gittern and citole, lute, etc. But
doubtless the author has good reason for his arrangement, and I have not
knowledge enough to be his critic.
[Picture: Plate I. Psaltery and Dulcimer]
At p. 4 (Galpin) is represented the simple Irish harp or lyre which was
known as the cruit or crot; it is essentially a harp, although it seems,
in its infancy at any rate, to have had but five or six strings. The
name cruit or crot afterwards developed into rotte, and under this name
is described a remarkable instrument apparently dating from the fifth to
the eighth centuries, which is figured at p. 34 (Galpin). It was found
in the Black Forest in the grave of a warrior, together with his sword
and bow, and seems to have been clasped in his arms, as though he had
especially valued it. The true harp, which in its simplest form (Galpin,
p. 8) chiefly differs from the rote in shape, {73a} is characterised by
the picturesque triangular outline that is so familiar. It was of
Teutonic origin, and Mr Galpin tells an admirable story of a Saxon who
disguised himself as a Briton, by playing the rote instead of the harp,
which would have revealed his nationality. In spite of its Saxon
parentage the Irish adopted the harp, and a beautiful instrument of the
early thirteenth century is preserved at Trinity College, Dublin (Galpin,
p. 12). The Irish for _harp_ is _Clairsech_, {73b} a word that reminds
me of an Irish friend who used to quote--
"Old Tracy and old Darcy
Playing all weathers on the Clarsy."
Mr Galpin tells a pleasant story of St Ealdhelm, who was Bishop of
Sherborne in the year 705. When he was about to preach he found the
church empty; he therefore took his harp, and "standing on a bridge hard
by, soon attracted a considerable crowd by his playing. Then he
delivered his sermon."
Chapter ii, p. 20, is devoted to the gittern and citole. In the
first-named instrument we have the ancestor of the guitar, which it
resembled in its flat back, and in the curving inwards of the vertical
sides. {74a} It has generally been believed that the "waist" thus
produced was an adaptation to the use of the bow, but, as the author
points out, this form occurs long before the existence of bowed
instruments. {74b} At p. 22 (Galpin) is given an early fourteenth
century illustration of a gittern-player, holding in his right hand the
plectrum with which he sounds the strings. The most curious point,
however, is the depth of the neck of the instrument, which is pierced by
a large hole to admit the left thumb; without this curious device it
would apparently be impossible to stop the strings. On the same plate is
given an illustration of the precious gittern at Warwick Castle, believed
to date from about 1330, in which the thumb-hole is more clearly shown.
The guitar, which may be considered a descendant of the gittern, is said
to have completely eclipsed its ancestor in the seventeenth century. And
at the present time it, together with the mandoline and the banjo, are
the only representatives of the type in every-day use.
Mr Galpin places the citole in the same class as the gittern. He says
that this instrument has been much misunderstood, and since I do not
desire to add my quota to the injustice under which this unfortunate
instrument suffers, I shall pass on to the mandore and lute. The
essential characteristic of these instruments is that their bodies,
instead of having the flat back of the guitar, are rounded. Though the
body is now built of strips of wood or ivory, its form is "reminiscent of
the time when the body or resonator consisted of a simple gourd or
half-gourd covered with skin." In this they resemble the instruments of
Oriental races, and the author traces the form of the rebec and mandoline
as well as that of the mandore and lute to Persian, Arabic, and Moorish
influence in the Middle Ages.
The European lute had at first only four strings, but in the "elaborate
instruments of the seventeenth century there were twenty-six or thirty
strings to be carefully tuned and regulated." No wonder that a lutenist
should have been said to spend three-quarters of his existence in tuning
his instrument. The mandore was a small form of lute, and is chiefly of
interest because in a yet smaller form it still survives as the
mandoline, which, however, usually has both wire and covered strings, and
is played with a plectrum. To return to the lute, its most obvious
characteristic is that the head (in which are the pegs for tuning the
strings) is bent at right-angles to the general plane of the instrument.
It is not clear what is the meaning of this curious crook in the
instrument, but it is some comfort to the ignorant since it enables us to
recognise a lute when we see one. Henry VIII. and his daughters Mary and
Elizabeth are said to have been good lutenists. The smaller gut strings,
called by the pleasant name of _minnikins_, were easily broken, and a
gift of lute-strings was considered a present fit for a queen, and one
which the great Elizabeth did not disdain.
There was also an archlute, which in its largest form--six feet in
height--was known as the chitarrone. It had not the rectangular bend in
the neck of the ordinary lute; it was also characterised by having four
or five free or unstopped strings. A fine reproduction of Lady Mary
Sidney and her archlute faces the title-page of the book.
Mr Galpin (p. 46) quotes from Thomas Mace's _Musick's Monument_, 1676,
the proper method of "fretting" a lute or similar instrument. The frets,
or horizontal strings or wires which make cross ridges on the neck of
lutes, viols, etc., I had ignorantly imagined to be guides to the
beginner as to where to stop the string; but it appears (Galpin, p. 46)
that they "add to its tone and resonance by keeping the string from
touching the finger-board too closely." The word "fret" is said to be
derived from the old French _ferrette_, _i.e._, banded with iron. {77a}
[Picture: PLATE II. Various stringed instruments]
In Mace's {77b} book above referred to he discourses with a child-like
enthusiasm on his favourite instrument. He does not follow the elder
lutenists, whom he describes as "extreme shie in revealing the _Occult_
and _Hidden Secrets_ of the Lute." He gives the following examples of
"_False and Ignorant Out-cries against the Lute_":--
(1) "That it is the _Hardest Instrument_ in the _World_.
(2) "That it will take up the Time of an _Apprenticeship_ to play
_well_ upon _It_.
(3) "That it makes _Young People_ grow _awry_.
(4) "That it is a very _Chargeable Instrument_ to keep; so that one had
as good keep a _Horse_ as a _Lute_ for _Cost_.
(5) "That it is a _Woman's Instrument_.
(6) "And lastly (which is the most _Childish_ of all the rest), It is
out of _Fashion_."
The following extracts from Mace will give some idea of his style and of
his method of treating the subject:--
"_First_, _know that an Old Lute is better than a New one_: _Then_, _The
Venice Lutes_ are commonly _Good_. There are diversities of _Mens Names_
in _Lutes_; but the _Chief Name_ we most esteem, is _Laux Maler_, ever
written with _Text Letters_: _Two_ of which _Lutes_ I have seen
(_Pittifull Old_, _Batter'd_, _Crack'd Things_) valued at 100 l. _a
piece_ (p. 48).
"When you perceive any _Peg_ to be troubled with the _slippery Disease_,
assure yourself he will never grow better of _Himself_, without some of
_Your Care_; therefore take _Him_ out, and _examine_ the _Cause_ (p. 51).
"And that you may know how to _shelter your Lute_, in the worst of _Ill
weathers_ (which is _moist_) you shall do well . . . to put _It into a
Bed_, _that is constantly used_, _between the Rug and the Blanket_; but
_never_ between the _sheets_, because they may be _moist_ with _Sweat_
(p. 62).
"Strings are of three sorts, _Minikins_, _Venice-Catlins_, _and Lyons_
(for _Basses_).
"I us'd to compare . . . _Tossing-Finger'd Players_ to _Blind-Horses_,
which always _lift up their Feet_, _higher than need is_; and so by that
means, _can never Run Fast_, or with a _Smooth Swiftness_" (p. 85).
He says, "You must be _Very Careful_ (now, in your first beginning) to
get a _Good Habit_; so that you _stop close to your Fretts_, _and never
upon any Frett_; _and ever_, _with the very End of your Finger_; except
when a _Cross_, _or Full Stop_ is to be performed" (p. 99).
[Picture: Plate III. The Crwth]
Bowed Instruments.
Mr Galpin (p. 75) gives a figure of a man playing a Crowd with a bow,
instead of plucking the strings with the fingers as shown in sculptured
Irish Crosses. What makes the figure so especially interesting, is that
there is clearly no means of _stopping_ the strings, _i.e._, of altering
the length of the vibrating region, and therefore altering the pitch. No
one, I fancy, would have guessed that the bow was of more ancient lineage
than the fiddle. The finger-board, which transforms the instrument into
an undeniable relative of the violin, is known to have existed in the
thirteenth century. It is a striking fact that what is practically a
cruit or rotte survived in use until the nineteenth century in this
country, in the form of the Welsh _crwth_ or crowd shown on Plate III.
There is a specimen dated 1742 in the Victoria and Albert Museum. The
crwth here figured was made last century by Owain Tyddwr of Dolgelly, an
old man who remembered the instrument as it was in his younger days, and
took great pleasure in its reconstruction.
The crwth is followed by the rebec, which most of us know better from
Milton's lines--
"When the merry bells ring round
And the jocund rebecks sound"--
than in any more practical manner. It had a certain resemblance to the
lute in its pear-shaped outline and its convex or rounded sound-box, but
differs from that instrument in being played with a bow. Mr Galpin
quotes very appropriately the name of one of the country actors in _A
Midsummer Night's Dream_--Hugh Rebeck--as suggesting that an everyday
audience was familiar with it.
_Viols_.--The only surviving instrument of this class is the double bass,
which is "still frequently made with the flat back and sloping shoulders
of its departed predecessors." The bass viol was also known as the Viola
da Gamba, and this was Sir Andrew Aguecheek's instrument, who was said to
play on the "Viol de Gamboys." These instruments--bass and treble--had
six strings, and were provided with frets like the guitar. Their tone is
described as "soft and slightly reedy or nasal, but very penetrating."
It seems that the smaller viols disappeared in England towards the end of
the seventeenth century, but the type of viol corresponding to the
violoncello "held its own for nearly another hundred years," when it at
last yielded to the more modern instrument.
Under the heading "Concerning the _Viol_ and _Musick_ in general," Mace
writes (p. 231):--
"It may be thought, I am so great a _Lover of It_ [the Lute], that I make
_Light Esteem_ of any other _Instrument_, besides; which _Truly_ I do
not; but _Love the Viol_ in a _very High Degree_; yea, close unto the
Lute. . . .
"I cannot understand, how _Arts and Sciences_ should be subject unto any
such _Phantastical_, _Giddy_, or _Inconsiderate Toyish Conceits_, as ever
to be said to be _in Fashion_, _or out of Fashion_.
[Picture: PLATE IV. The Tromba Marina]
"I remember there was a _Fashion_, not many Years since, for _Women in
their Apparel_ to be so _Pent up by the Straitness_, _and Stiffness_ of
their _Gown-Shoulder-Sleeves_, that _They_ could not so much as _Scratch
their Heads_ for the _Necessary Remove of a Biting Louse_; nor _Elevate
their Arms scarcely to feed themselves Handsomely_; nor _Carve a Dish of
Meat at a Table_, but their _whole_ Body must needs _Bend towards the
Dish_."
And here we must leave Thomas Mace (who with all his oddities is a
lovable and genuine writer) and pass on to the "scoulding" violin--to use
his own phrase--an instrument he considered as only suitable for "any
extraordinary Jolly or Jocund Consort-Occasion."
The violin, which finally ousted the treble viol, seems indeed to have
had a humble beginning in fairs and country revels: but six violins were
included in Henry VIII.'s band, where they were played by Italian
musicians. Violins did not rapidly make their way to popularity, and
Playford (1660) describes these instruments--rather condescendingly--as
"a cheerful and spritely instrument much practised of late." He speaks,
too, of a bass violin, _i.e._ the violoncello.
The chapter ends with a description of the tromba marina, which is not
marine trumpet, but a curious elongated box-like instrument with a single
string, which is sounded with a bow and wakens the harmony of the
sympathetic strings within the body of the instrument. Mr Galpin's
instrument was discovered in an old farmhouse in Cheshire (Plate IV.).
Chapter vi. is chiefly devoted to the organistrum or hurdy-gurdy (Plate
V.). This is a stringed instrument which differs from the rest of its
class by being sounded neither with fingers like the lute nor with a bow
like the viol, but by means of a rotating wooden wheel. The melody
string (or strings) is not stopped directly by the finger as in the
violin, but by a series of keys manipulated by the performer, who need
not necessarily possess a musical ear since the stopping is arranged for
him. The Swedish nyckel-harpa--which I remember to have heard in
Stockholm--is the only other instrument in which the strings are stopped
by mechanical means. This instrument differs from the organistrum in the
fact that it is sounded by the ordinary fiddle-bow, and not by means of a
wheel. The organistrum is remarkable for having been "in constant and
popular use" from the tenth century up to the present day.
Clavichord and Virginal.
The clavichord, the earliest progenitor of the piano, originated in an
instrument in which the _tangent_ which struck a given string also acted
as a bridge to mark off the length of the vibrating portion and therefore
to determine the note produced. It is remarkable that (p. 115) this type
of instrument remained in use until the time of Sebastian Bach, when the
principle of "one tangent one string" replaced the more ancient system.
Of the clavichord Mr Dolmetsch (p. 433) writes that its tone is
comparable, as regards colour and power, "rather to the humming of bees
than to the most delicate among instruments. But it possesses a soul . . .
for under the fingers of some gifted player it reflects every shade of"
his "feelings like a faithful mirror. Its tone is alive, its notes can
be swelled or made to quiver just like a voice swayed by emotion. It can
even command those slight variations in pitch which in all sensitive
instruments are so helpful to expression."
[Picture: PLATE V. I. Viola d'Amore. 2. Cither Viol. 3. Hurdy-gurdy or
Organistrum]
The best known among the group of instruments to which the clavichord
belongs are the spinet and the harpsichord. I think that Browning's
musician who "played toccatas stately at the clavichord" must have
performed on one of the last-named instruments. In the spinet and the
harpsichord the strings are plucked, and therefore sounded, by small
points made of leather or of quill which are under the control of the
keyboard.
Mr Galpin (who is always interesting on evolution) points out that the
progenitor of the spinet is the plucked psaltery, whereas the piano forte
(the earliest form of which appeared about 1709) is a descendant of the
dulcimer in which the strings were struck.
Wind Instruments.
One of the most ancient of wind instruments is the panpipe, which used to
be familiar in the Punch and Judy show of our childhood, when it was
accompanied by another ancient instrument--the drum. The panpipe
consists of a row of reeds of graduated lengths which are closed at the
lower end and into which the performer blows, much as we used, as
children, to blow into a key and produce a shrill whistle. It is
illustrated in an Anglo-Saxon Psalter of the early eleventh century,
which is preserved in the Cambridge University Library. The whistle
which we have all made in our childhood by removing a tube of bark from a
branch in which the sap is rising, is an advance on the panpipes, since
it includes a method of producing a thin stream of air which impinges on
a sharp edge, whereas in the panpipes we depend on our lips for the
stream of air. These whistles are closed at the lower end, and yield but
a single note. But in the tin penny whistle the tube is pierced by six
holes for the fingers, and on this instrument one may hear the itinerant
artist perform wonders. An instrument of this type, known as the
recorder, played a great part in the early orchestra. It differs from
the penny whistle in being made of wood, and in having eight instead of
six finger-holes; the additional ones being for the left thumb and the
little-finger of the right hand. The recorder seems to have been
especially popular in England, indeed it was sometimes known as the
_fistula anglica_, _i.e._ the English pipe. The instrument was made in
different sizes; and I shall not easily forget the astonishing beauty of
a quartette of recorders played by Mr Galpin and his family. In Plate
VI. are shown the great bass recorders, in regard to which the author is
careful to point out that the bassoon-like form shown in No. 1 and No. 5
does not alter the pitch of the instrument, which depends on the length
of the tube measured from the fipple.
[Picture: Plate VI. Recorders]
Mr Dolmetsch, in his book _The Interpretation of the Music of the XVIlth
and XVIIIth Centuries_, p. 457, writes:--
"At the first sound the recorder ingratiates itself into the hearer's
affection. It is sweet, full, profound, yet clear, with just a touch of
reediness, lest it should cloy."
"The intonation . . . right through the chromatic compass of two octaves
and one note is perfect, if you know how to manage the instrument; but
its fingering is complicated, and requires study."
The flageolet is the nearest living relative of the recorder. What is
known as the French flageolet is especially reminiscent of the ancient
instrument in having a thumb-hole, or rather two such holes. It has the
pleasant archaic feature of its lowest note being produced by thrusting
the little finger of the right hand into the open end of the tube. The
most curious development of the flageolet is found in the double or
triple pipes which were made in the closing years of the eighteenth
century. I remember Mr Galpin demonstrating the truth of his assertion
that duets and trios can be played on one of these curious instruments.
A much simpler instrument known as the tabor pipe {85} was in general use
in the twelfth century. Its essential feature is that it has but three
holes, so that it can be played with one hand, thus leaving the other
hand free to accompany the melody on the tabor or small drum hung round
the neck of the performer or from his wrist. Its working compass is an
octave and three notes, though two shrieking higher notes can be
produced. The French form of three-holed pipe is known as the galoubet.
There was also a bass galoubet, which is known from the figures in
Praetorius (1618), and from one solitary instrument which has escaped
destruction. Mr Galpin has a copy of it in his great collection, and I
have had the pleasure of playing on it. The instruments of the genus
recorder have been finally beaten in the struggle for life by the
flageolet, and perhaps especially by the true flute, which Mr Galpin, for
the sake of clearness, distinguishes as the cross flute. It seems to be
a mistake to consider the flute as a modern instrument, as it was popular
about the year 1500, and is shown in an illuminated MS. of 1344 preserved
at Oxford.
The flute as used about 1600 had but six holes, but the D# key for the
little finger of the right hand came into use about the end of the
seventeenth century, and about 1800 several keys had been added to enable
the performer to play with less cross-fingering.
Dolmetsch, _op. cit._, p. 458, claims that although the one-keyed flute
of the eighteenth century has a weak tone, it is more beautiful than the
modern flute.
He adds that a flautist has recently studied this instrument, guided by
Hotteterre le Romain's book (1707), and can play more perfectly in tune
than "he ever did before upon a highly improved and most expensive modern
instrument."
The concert-flute of the present day is an elaborate instrument covered
with keys, and it has, I believe, been suggested that its tone is injured
by this elaboration. Bass flutes have been made, one 3 ft. 7 ins. in
length is mentioned, whose lowest note was an octave below middle C.