Milanese and the Neapolitan were the most common. The first-named had
usually ten strings, constituting five pairs. The Neapolitan
_mandolino_ had eight strings, constituting four pairs. The strings
were usually twanged with a quill. Mozart, in his “Don Giovanni,” has
made use of the Neapolitan _mandolino_ in the serenade; but, as the
instrument has fallen into disuse, at least in most countries except
Italy, the part written for it by Mozart is now generally played on
the violin, _pizzicato_. The _mandolino_ is now often strung with
catgut strings. It resembles a diminutive lute; but its fingerboard
has metal frets, and its strings are fastened to little ivory pins at
the end of the body, instead of being looped through holes in the
bridge. The convex back of the mandoline is deeper than that of the
lute. It is one of the handsomest musical instruments.
Besides the mandoline the Italians had various instruments in shape
resembling the lute. Of this description are, for instance, the
_mandora_, _mandorina_, and the _pandurina_. The mandoline differs
from the pandurina chiefly in having a rounder and deeper body, and in
having the tuning-pegs placed at the back of the head; while the
_pandurina_ has a sort of scroll, with the tuning-pegs situated
sideways, similar to the old English cither (Fig. 43). The _mandora_
had usually for each tone two strings, which were of catgut and wire;
and there were eight pairs of them. The _mandorina_ had four wire
strings.
The _guitar_ (Fig. 44) is evidently an importation from the East, but
it has undergone various modifications since its adoption by European
nations. It was an instrument of the Moors in Spain, and became known
in France about the 11th century. The French called it formerly
_guiterne_, and the English _gittern_, _ghittern_, and _gythorn_. At
the time of Henry VIII. we find it occasionally called “the Spanish
viol.” At an early period it probably had the oval shape of the
_kuitra_, still in use by the Arab musicians in Tunis and Algiers. In
Spain it had formerly also the name of _vihuela_.
Instruction books for the old Spanish guitar have been written
by:――Ludovico Milan, Valencia, 1534; Sixtus Kargel, Mayence, 1569;
Joannes Carolus, Lerida, 1626; Pietro Milioni, Rome, 1638; Lucas Ruiz
de Ribayaz, Madrid, 1672, etc. The number of guitar manuals published
during the 18th century is enormous. Germany alone contributed above
fifty.
[Illustration: FIG. 43.――PANDURINA. On the back is carved a group
consisting of Juno, Minerva and Venus. French. Second
half of 16th century. L. 16½ in., W. 4½ in. No.
219-’66.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 44.――GUITAR. French (?). 17th century. L.
40⅜in., W. 11⅞ in. No. 676-’72.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 45.――QUINTERNA, OR CHITERNA. Inscribed “Joachim
Tielke in Hamburg, 1539,” but of later date. L. 25½
in., W. 9⅜ in. No. 1122-’69.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 46.――CITHER. German. End of 17th century. L. 31½
in. No. 219-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
The guitar was a fashionable instrument in England, played by ladies,
in the time of Charles II. On the Continent it generally had ten
catgut strings, of which two were always tuned in unison. At the
present day it has six strings, the two of which are of silk covered
with silver wire, and the others are of catgut.
A species of guitar is the _quinterna_, or _chiterna_, somewhat
resembling a violin in shape (Fig. 45). It was used about two
centuries ago, especially in Italy, by the lower orders of musicians
and comedians for accompanying their vocal performances. It was played
with the fingers instead of a plectrum.
The _cithern_, _cittern_, or _cither_ (Fig. 46), which during the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries was a popular instrument in
England, where it was often played in the barbers’ shops, had four
pairs of wire strings.
Its top generally terminated in a grotesquely-carved human head. The
cithers made in England during the eighteenth century have generally
at the top some inlaid ornamentation in ivory, mother-of-pearl, or
fancy wood.
Although not well suited for the performance of harmonious
combinations, since its wire strings are twanged with a quill, and
therefore only such chords can be properly produced as are on strings
following each other in uninterrupted succession, the cither,
nevertheless, possesses considerable charms.
There are several conjectures as to the derivation of the German name
_zither_ or _zitter_. Some suppose it to be from “_zittern_,” on
account of the peculiarly trembling sound of the instrument. During
the first centuries of the Christian era the word _cythera_
(_cithara_) implied almost any stringed instrument, especially if the
strings were twanged with a plectrum, or with the fingers. It is also
noteworthy, though perhaps only as a singular coincidence, that the
Persians and Hindus have a three-stringed species of _zither_, which
they call _sitar_, from the Persian word _si_, “three,” and _tar_, “a
string.” The Hindu _sitar_ is, however, now usually mounted with five
strings.
The _harp-guitar_ and _harp-theorbo_ (Fig. 47) were manufactured in
England with the intention of improving the sound of the guitar and
theorbo by adopting for them the body of the harp.
There was also another invention of this kind, called the _harp-lute_.
The _harp-ventura_ (Fig. 48) was invented at the beginning of the last
century by Signor Angelo Benedetto Ventura, professor of music, and
teacher of the guitar and harp-lute to the Princess Charlotte of
Wales. The example given has a back of satin wood, and sides of turtle
shell; the belly and pillar are painted and gilt. It has nineteen
catgut strings, six of which are covered with wire.
The _banduria_ (Fig. 49) a lyre-shaped guitar, was often strung with
wire instead of catgut, and played with a plectrum generally made of
tortoise-shell. The specimen illustrated is made of various woods, has
three sound-holes, a machine head, and twelve catgut strings tuned in
pairs.
The Spanish peasants call their rustic guitar _vihuela_; and it
appears probable that the “gittrons that are called Spanish vialls,”
mentioned in the list of musical instruments of Henry VIII. (Harl.
MSS. 1419, p. 202) were small guitars of this description.
The Irish harp (_clarseth_) illustrated in Fig. 50, belonged formerly
to a celebrated Irish harper. A similar one, which is in the
possession of the Marquess of Kildare, bears the date 1671.
[Illustration: FIG. 47. HARP THEORBO. Made by Harley. English. About
1800. L. 36 in. No. 250-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 48.――HARP VENTURA. So-called from the inventor,
Signor Ventura. English. Early 19th century. L. 33
in. No. 248-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum]
[Illustration: FIG. 49.――BANDURIA. English. Early 19th century. L.
22¼ in. No. 227-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 50.――HARP. Old Irish. H. 52 in., W. 43 in. No.
616-’72.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
Considering the scarcity of the old Irish _clarseth_, mention may be
made of a fine specimen formerly in the collection of Irish
antiquities belonging to Thomas Crofton Croker, from which it was
purchased, in the year 1854, at an auction in London, by Thomas
Bateman, Esq. It bears on its front the inscription, _Made by John
Kelly for the Rev. Charles Bunworth Baltdaniel, 1734_. At the
contentions or meetings of the bards of Ireland, between the years
1730 and 1750, which were generally held at Bruree, county Limerick,
the Rev. Charles Bunworth was five times chosen umpire, or president.
Although this harp is not of high antiquity, it is an interesting
example of the ancient form and construction, and likewise of the
ancient manner of ornamenting the instrument. A wood engraving of it,
from a drawing by Maclise, is given in “A Descriptive Catalogue of the
Antiquities and Miscellaneous Objects preserved in the Museum of
Thomas Bateman, at Lomberdale House, Derbyshire,” Bakewell, 1855. An
account of the Irish harps deposited in the Museum of Dublin is to be
found in “A Descriptive Catalogue of the Antiquities in the Museum of
the Royal Irish Academy,” by W. R. Wilde, Dublin, 1863. The
illustrations of the Irish harp in the works of Bunting and similar
writers may be supposed to be known to musicians.
The number of strings appears to have been greater on the older
specimens recorded than on the later ones. Prætorius, in his “Syntagma
musicum,” etc., vol. ii., Wolfenbüttel, 1619, gives an illustration of
the Irish harp, in which it is represented with forty-three strings.
He describes the instrument as having a pleasant resonance, and being
constructed with a considerable degree of ingenuity. The illustration
exhibits the same shape, with the fore-bar bent outwards, which is
shown in the present specimen.
Some harps after the model of the old Irish _clarseth_, which are
painted and gilt, were made in Dublin in the beginning of the last
century.
The small harp of the middle ages of Central and Western Europe,
depicted in old sculptures and paintings, generally exhibits the
front-bar of its frame somewhat bent outwardly, much as is the case
with the Irish _clarseth_. Gradually the number of its strings was
increased; and, likewise the strength of the frame for resisting the
tension of the strings. The front-bar of our harp is straight, or a
front-pillar. Until the seventeenth century only the diatonic series
of intervals was properly obtainable on the instrument. The performer
had, however, a method of producing occasionally a semitone by
pressing the finger against the string towards the end, much in the
same manner in which the Burmese produce chromatic intervals on the
_soung_. Towards the end of the seventeenth century the Tyrolian harp
makers adopted little plates with hooks, which could be moved so as to
press upon the strings, and thereby shorten them, for the production
of the semitones, more rapidly and unerringly than could be done by
the fingers. A French harp of the period of Louis XVI. is illustrated
(Fig. 51). It is carved and gilt in the style of Gouthière, and
decorated with oak foliage and acorns; at the top of the pillar is a
figure of a Cupid.
Students who examine the old instruments above described will probably
wish to know something about their quality of tone. “How do they
sound? Might they still be made effective in our present state of the
art?” are questions which naturally occur to the musical inquirer
having such instruments brought before him. A few words bearing on
these questions may therefore not be out of place here.
[Illustration: FIG. 51.――HARP. French. About 1770. H. 63 in., W. 30
in. No. 4087-’57.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 52.――VIOLIN. Said to have belonged to James I.
English. Early 17th century. L. 23¼ in., W. 8 in. No.
34-’69.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 53.――Angel playing a Viol, after an oil painting
by Ambrogio da Predis. Late 15th century.
National Gallery.]
It is generally and justly admitted that in no other branch of the art
of music has greater progress been made during the last century than
in the construction of musical instruments. Nevertheless, there are
people who think that we have also lost something here which might
with advantage be restored. Our various instruments by being more and
more perfected are becoming too much alike in quality of sound, or in
that character of tone which the French call _timbre_, and the Germans
_Klangfarbe_, and which professor Tyndall in his lectures on sound has
translated _clang-tint_. Every musical composer knows how much more
suitable one _clang-tint_ is for the expression of a certain emotion
than another. Our old instruments, imperfect though they were in many
respects, possessed this variety of _clang-tint_ to a high degree.
Neither were they on this account less capable of expression than the
modern ones. That no improvement has been made during the last two
centuries in instruments of the violin class is a well-known fact. As
to lutes and cithers the collection at South Kensington contains
specimens so rich and mellow in tone as to cause musicians to regret
that these instruments have entirely fallen into oblivion.
As regards beauty of appearance our earlier instruments were certainly
superior to the modern. Indeed, we have now scarcely a musical
instrument which can be called beautiful. The old lutes, cithers,
viols, dulcimers, etc., are not only elegant in shape but are also
often tastefully ornamented with carvings, designs in marquetry, and
painting.
Of the stringed instruments used in our orchestra, the _violin_ (Fig.
52) is the one which has been longest preserved entirely unaltered.
Its name (Italian, _violino_), a diminutive of _viola_, suggests that
our _tenor_ (_viola di braccio_) is the older instrument of the two.
The _viol_ (Fig. 53, facing p. 104) in use about three centuries ago,
was however somewhat different in shape. As the oldest-known
instruments played with a bow, which in European countries preceded
the violin, may be mentioned:――The _rebec_, which, it appears, was
first popular in Spain; the _crwth_ of the Welsh; the _fidla_ of the
Norwegian, which, in shape somewhat resembled the _crwth_, and which,
with some slight modifications, is still occasionally to be found in
Iceland, where it is called _langspiel_; and the _fithele_ of the
Anglo-Saxons.
Such were the instruments from which our violin has gradually been
developed, until it attained, in the seventeenth century, that degree
of perfection which has never since been surpassed. The violin makers
whose instruments are still most highly valued are:――Antonio Amati,
whose most flourishing period dates between the years 1592 and 1619;
Nicolo Amati, the nephew of the preceding, 1662-1692; Giuseppe
Guarneri, 1690-1707; Antonio Stradivari, 1700-1725; and Jakob Stainer,
1650-1670. All these celebrated makers, except Jakob Stainer, were
Italians, living at Cremona. Jakob Stainer (or Jacobus Steiner) was a
native of Absam, a village near Innsbruck in the Tyrol. Few musical
instruments have experienced so great an increase in price as the
violins of these celebrated makers. Stainer used himself to carry his
violins to the monasteries situated in the neighbourhood of Absam,
where he lived. He sold them at 40 florins apiece. It was not until
after his death that his workmanship was duly appreciated.
The _viola da gamba_ (French, _basse de viole_; German, _Kniegeige_)
derives its name from its being held between the knees of the
performer (Figs. 54 and 55). It was the predecessor of the
violoncello, and was made with frets. It was a favourite instrument in
England at the time of Queen Elizabeth, and even ladies played it
occasionally. In England it was called _base viol_, and also
_viol-de-gambo_. Sir Toby Belch, in Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,”
says of Sir Andrew Aguecheek:――
“He plays o’ the viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four languages
word for word without book, and hath all the good gifts of nature.”
[Illustration: FIG. 54.――VIOLA DA GAMBA. Italian. About 1600. H. 48
in., W. 14 in. No. 7360-’61.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 55.――VIOLA DA GAMBA. Italian. 17th century. L.
47¼ in. No. 168-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 56.――VIOLA DI BARDONE, OR BARYTON, WITH BOW.
Inscribed “Jaques Sainprae, à Berlin.” German. 17th
century. L. 54 in., W. 16½ in. No. 1444, 1444ᵃ-’70.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
Among the English public performers on the _viola da gamba_ are
recorded a Mrs. Sarah Ottey, in the year 1723, and a Miss Ford in
1760. Carl Friedrich Abel, a German, who lived in London during the
latter half of the eighteenth century, was the last performer of
celebrity on this instrument. Johann Sebastian Bach has employed it in
his admirable “Passionsmusik des Matthæus”; and there are some fine
“Suites,” still occasionally to be met with, composed for it by M. de
Caix d’Herveloix, published in the year 1710. The tone of the _viola
da gamba_ is rather nasal, but sweet and expressive; indeed, it is to
be regretted that this charming instrument has fallen into disuse.
There is, however, a _gamba_ stop in the organ, which resembles the
famous _vox humana_ stop, and which has recently been much favoured by
organ builders.
The _violoncello_ came into competition with the _viola da gamba_ at
the beginning of the eighteenth century, and has now entirely
superseded its predecessor.
A _viola di bardone_ in the Museum (Fig. 56) has a neck of carved and
pierced box-wood, terminating in a figure of Apollo playing the lyre;
the principal finger-board is of ivory, engraved and inlaid with ebony
and tortoiseshell, with figures of Jupiter and Juno, and a lady
playing a lute; the second finger-board is also of pierced and
engraved ivory. The instrument has four catgut and fourteen metal
sympathetic strings, and a double wrest. It was made by Jaques
Sainprae, of Berlin, and is said to have belonged to Quanz, music
master of Frederick the Great.
The most accomplished performers on the _viola di bardone_ were Anton
Lidl of Vienna (to whom is sometimes erroneously ascribed the
invention of this instrument) and Karl Franz, a musician of the band
of Prince Esterhazy, about the middle of the 18th century. Lidl played
on the _viola di bardone_ in concerts in England during the year 1776.
Joachim Tielke of Hamburg, the manufacturer of a specimen in the
Museum, was an instrument maker whose lutes were much esteemed on
account of their fine tone, and their elegant ornamentation. He made
them of ebony inlaid with ivory, mother-of-pearl, silver, and gold.
Joseph Haydn wrote sixty-three compositions for the _viola di bardone_
by order of Prince Esterhazy, who was himself a performer on this
instrument, and who admired it greatly. Its tone is soft and very
expressive, but rather tremulous; owing to this quality, probably, it
was also called _viola di fagotto_. It never became very popular,
since its rather complicated construction offered too many
difficulties in its treatment. In Germany it was generally called
_Baryton_.
The _viola d’amore_ (Fig. 57) was often strung entirely with wire. It
appears to have been a novelty to Evelyn, for he records in his Diary
of November 20th, 1679, “I dined with Mr. Slingsby, Master of the
Mint, with my wife, invited to hear music, which was exquisitely
performed by four of the most renowned masters: Du Prue, a Frenchman,
on the lute; Signor Bartholomeo, an Italian, on the harpsichord;
Nicholao, on the violin; but above all, for its sweetness and novelty,
the _viol d’amore_ of five wire strings played on with a bow, being
but an ordinary violin played on lyre-way by a German.” Mattheson
(“Das Neu-Eröffnete Orchestre,” Hamburg, 1713) describes the _viola
d’amore_ as being mounted with four wire strings, and with one catgut
string for the highest tone.
[Illustration: FIG. 57.――VIOLA D’AMORE. Probably English. Late 17th
century. L. 27½ in. No. 154-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 58.――DOUBLE-BASS, WITH BOW. Known as “The
Giant.” Italian. 17th century. L. 103 in., W. 42 in.
No. 487-’72.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
He praises its sweetness of sound, but does not mention the
sympathetic strings. The transformation of the wire-strung _viola
d’amore_ into the so-called psaltery or sultana, which has no
sympathetic strings, is indicated in the following statement by Sir
John Graham Dalyell (“Musical Memoirs of Scotland,” Edinburgh, 1849),
“The instrument was first introduced in public in London during the
year 1715, when it was heard between the acts of an opera. It was
known in Scotland in the middle of the century, and a taste for it was
probably encouraged by the performance of Passerini, an Italian
resident in Edinburgh, in the year 1752, when it was said to be a new
instrument called _viole d’amour_. Passerini was manager of the
Gentleman’s and St. Cecilia Concert, where he and his wife had a
permanent engagement as skilled musicians. He played solos and
accompanied singing with the instrument. Perhaps the _viole d’amour_
underwent several modifications, as its name was changed to
_psaltery_, in the belief of its being the ancient instrument so
denominated, which is quite different according to most authorities,
not belonging to the fidicinal tribe. In 1754 a concert for the new
instrument called the _psaltery_ was announced for Signor Carusi’s
benefit concert in Edinburgh, and performed by Pasquali, another
Italian musician, also resident there. From its soft and simple nature
it was eulogised in 1762 as unequalled for delicacy and sweetness. I
knew a lady many years ago in Edinburgh who played melodies with great
delicacy on this instrument, which was strung with wire, and had frets
on the finger-board.” From these accounts it would appear that the
_viola d’amore_ strung entirely with wire was not much used in England
before the year 1700, although it evidently existed in this country in
the seventeenth century.
The _double-bass_ (Italian, _contrebasso_, _violone_; French,
_contrebasse_; German, _grosse Bassgeige_, _Kontrabass_) is either
four-stringed or three-stringed. A three-stringed example known as
“The Giant” presented by Dragonetti to the Duke of Leinster, and given
by the latter to the Museum, is illustrated in Fig. 58.
Dragonetti, the celebrated _virtuoso_ on the double-bass, came to
England in the year 1794. His favourite instrument, upon which he
played in public concerts, was a “Gaspar di Salo,” which he obtained
from the Convent of St. Pietro at Vicenza, and which he never could be
induced to part with, although £800, it is said, was offered him for
it by one of his rich and enthusiastic pupils in England. After the
death of Dragonetti this bass, and another valuable one by
Stradivarius, were sent back to Italy, he having bequeathed them in
his will to the town of Venice. Dragonetti died in the year 1846 at
his house in Leicester Square, at the age of eighty-three. A year
before his death he was still able to assist in the public
performances at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn. His friend H. Philipps
mentions in his “Musical Recollections” that the ends of Dragonetti’s
fingers had gradually become quite flat and deformed from playing.
Some double-basses of extraordinarily large size are known to have
been made in England. William Gardiner (“Music and Friends,” London,
1838, p. 70) mentions such an instrument, made by Martin in Leicester,
which he saw in the year 1786, and which, if his statement may be
relied upon, “was of such height that Mr. Martin was obliged to cut a
hole in the ceiling to let the head through; so that it was tuned by
going upstairs into the room above.”
A _sordino_ (French, _pochette_; German, _Taschengeige_) is
illustrated in Fig. 59. About 300 years ago the _sordino_ was kept by
gentlemen in a case resembling a pen case, which they put in the
pocket when they went to a singing party; and they used the instrument
for insuring correct intonation while singing madrigals and catches.
Kircher, in his “Musurgia Universalis,” Romæ, 1650, calls it
_linterculus_, no doubt from its resemblance to a small boat.
Fig. 60 represents a _bûche_ (German, _Scheitholz_) made by Fleurot,
of the Val d’Ajol, in the Vosges Mountains, early in the last century.
[Illustration: FIG. 59.――SORDINO, OR POCHETTE. Probably German. Late
17th or early 18th century. L. 17½ in. No. 457-’83.]
[Illustration: FIG. 60.――BÛCHE, OR SCHEITHOLZ. Made by Fleurot, of
the Val d’Ajol in the Vosges Mountains. Early 19th
century. L. 27½ in. No. 210-’82.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 61.――VIRGINAL. Formerly belonging to Queen
Elizabeth. Italian. Second half of 16th century. H.
8½ in., L. 65 in., D. 23 in. No. 19-’87.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]
[Illustration: FIG. 62.――VIRGINAL. Bears the arms of William, Duke
of Cleves, Berg and Jülich, Count of La Marck and
Ravensberg, and originally also Duke of Guelderland
(b. 1516, d. 1592). Flemish. Second half of 16th
century. H. 16 in., W. 67 in., D. 28 in. No. 447-’96.
Victoria and Albert Museum.]