Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 4.djvu/303

VIOLIN DIAPASON. VIOLIN DIAPASON. An organ stop of 8 ft. pitch, in scale between the Open Diapason and the Dulciana. The pipes are open, and have a slot near the top. It is usually in the Swell organ. [ W. Pt. ]

VIOLIN-PLAYING. Some account of the musical employment of the mediæval fiddle, from which the viol and the violin were developed, will be found in the preceding article (p. 273). From this it appears that all the elements of violin-playing were already in existence in the 13th century. But it was not till the middle of the 16th that players on bowed instruments began to shake off the domination of the lute, with its tunings by fourths and thirds, and its excessive number of strings; and it appears that concurrently with this change, the modelled back, which gives the characteristic violin tone, came into use, and the fiddle finally took its present form. It seems to have spread quickly both in France and Italy. At Rouen, in 1550, a considerable number are said to have been employed in public performances, and Montaigne, in 1580, heard at Verona a Mass with violins. Too much importance, however, must not be attached to such statements, since the terms 'violin' and 'viola' were then often applied to stringed instruments of all kinds.

In order to gain an idea of the way the violin was played at this early period, we naturally look to the scores of contemporaneous composers. But here we meet with a difficulty. Down to the end of the 16th century we do not find the instruments specified by which the different parts are to be played. On the titles of the earlier works of A. and G. Gabrieli (15571613) we read: 'Sacræ Cantiones, tum viva voce tum omnis generis Instrumentis cantatu commodissimæ' (most convenient for the voice, as for all kinds of instruments), or 'Sacræ Symphoniæ tam vocibus quam instrumentis' (for voices as well as instruments); or 'Psalmi tum omnis generis instrumentorum tum ad vocis modulationem accomodati' (Psalms for all kinds of instruments and the voice); or 'Buone da cantare e suonare,' or other similar directions. No doubt settled usages prevailed in this respect, and it is of course to be assumed that whenever violins were employed, they took the upper part of the harmony. It is obvious that, as long as the violins had merely to support and to double the soprano-voice, the violin-parts were of extreme simplicity. Soon, however, we meet with indications of an independent use of the violin. As early as 1543 Silvestro Ganassi, in the first part of his 'Regula Rubertina' (Venice), speaks of three varieties of violins as Viola di Soprano, di Tenore, e di Basso; and Castiglione, in his 'Cortigniano,' [App. p.812 "Cortegiano"] mentions a composition as written for 'quattro viole da arco,' which almost seems to indicate a stringed quartet. Towards the end of the century we meet with the Balletti of Gastoldi and Thomas Morley, some of which were printed without words, and appear, therefore, to have been intended for independent instrumental performance. Nevertheless, they are entirely vocal in character, and do not exceed the compass of the human voice. Among the earliest settings which are not purely vocal in character are the 'Canzoni da sonare' by Maschera (1593),—originally, perhaps, written for the organ, but printed in separate parts, and evidently therefore intended for performance by various instruments. The earliest instance of a part being specially marked for 'Violino' we find in 'Concerti di Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli per voci e stromenti musicali Venetia, 1587.' Up to this time the leading instrument of the orchestra was the Cornetto (Germ. Zinke)—not, as might be concluded from its German name, an instrument made of metal, but of wood. The parts written for it correspond to the oboe parts in Handel's scores. In Gabrieli's the cornetti alternate with the violins in taking the lead. His instrumental compositions may roughly be divided into two classes, the one evidently based on his vocal style, the other decidedly instrumental in character. In a 'Sonata' belonging to the first class, we find an instrumental double-choir, a cornetto and 3 trombones forming the first choir, a violin and 3 trombones the second, and the two being employed antiphonally; the setting is contrapuntal throughout, and the effect not unlike that of a motet for double-choir. The violin-part does not materially differ from that for the cornetto. To the second class belong the Sonatas and Canzoni for 2 or 3 violins with bass. Here the setting is much more complicated, mostly in fugato-form (not regular fugues), reminding us to a certain extent of organ-style, and certainly not vocal in character, but purely instrumental. The scores of Gabrieli contain the first beginnings of the modern art of instrumentation, and mark an epoch in the history of music. Not content with writing, in addition to the voices, obligato instrumental parts, he takes into consideration the quality (timbre) of the various instruments. That this should have been brought about at the very period in which the violin came into general use, can certainly not be considered a mere accident, although it may be impossible to show which of the two was cause and which effect. Once the violin was generally accepted as the leading instrument of the orchestra, its technique appears soon to have made considerable progress. While Gabrieli never exceeds the 3rd position, we find but a few years later, in a score of Claudio Monteverde (1610), passages going up to the 5th position: after an obbligato passage for 2 cornetti, enter the violins (1st and 2nd):

