Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/265

Rh VIOLIN 243 lower ribs at an angle on the block, the resonant box was greatly strengthened, its construction became easier, and it became possible to make instruments of indefinitely larger size. Corner-blocks thus converted the fidel into the viol. Single corner-blocks (contrary flexures being still given to the upper ribs) were sometimes used, and often occur later on ; but double corner-blocks came at once into general use, and resulted in the construction of the viol in several sizes. The mediaeval fiddle appears originally to have had a perfectly flat belly like the lute. It must early have been discovered that a belly scooped out to a slight curve offered greater resistance to the pres sure of the strings transmitted by the bridge. Bellies thus scooped out probably came into general use with the in vention of corner-blocks. The back continued to be, and in the viol family has always been, a piece of flat joinery. Theoretically, no doubt, this is right; for a scooped-out back is false in construction, as there is nothing for the arch of the back to carry. But, as a back thus modelled and forming a duplicate of the belly, as in the violin, produces a much more powerful tone, this consideration has come to be disregarded. The viol is an instrument, or rather family of instru ments, of merit and interest, though now superseded by the violin, with the exception of the double bass, which still survives as a practical instrument. The following are the points in which the viol differs from the violin : The Viol has 1. A flat back of joiner s work. 1. The Violin has A scooped-out back, modelled like the belly. Square shoulders, and a top like the bottom. 3. A low bridge with feet only. 4. /-shaped sound-holes. 5. A thick narrow handle. 6. Four strings tuned by fifths. Acute corners. Shallow ribs. A ringing brilliant tone. 2. Shoulders with a contrary flexure in the pattern, and an oblique slope in the back. 3. A high bridge mounted on legs. 4. C-sliaped, sometimes &quot;flaming sword,&quot; sound-holes, f). A thin broad handle. . Six or seven strings, tuned by fourths and a third. 7. Square or obtuse corners. 8. Deep ribs. 9. A soft penetrating tone. 9. [n the matter of 4 and 7 a few viols, made after the violin had been perfected, and chiefly Italian, follow the violin. The modern double bass also follows the violin in these points and in 5. The viol was made in three main kinds, discant, tenor, and bass, answering to the cantus, medius, and bassus of vocal music. Each of these three kinds admitted of some variation in dimensions, especially the bass, of which three distinct sizes ultimately came to be made (1) the largest, called the concert bass viol; (2) the division or solo bass viol, usually known by its Italian name of viola da gamba ; and (3) the lyra or tabla- ture bass viol. The normal tuning of the viols, as laid down in the earliest books, was adapted from the lute to the bass viol, and repeated in higher intervals in the rest. Viola da Gamba. The fundamental idea, as in the lute, was Distant Viol. Tenor Viol. the outermost strings E should be two octaves &quot; =l &quot; apart hence the in- g:=i=r^ .fry g tervals of fourths with _=E^ a third in the middle. The highest, or discant viol, is obviously not a treble but an alto instrument, the three viols answering to the three male voices. As a treble instrument, not only for street and dance music, but in orchestras, the rebec or geige did duty until the invention of the violin, and long afterwards. The discant viol first became a real treble instrument in the hands of the French makers, who converted it into the quinton. The double bass, the largest of the viols, is not a legitimate member of the family, having no corre- spending voice, and being from the purely musical point of view superfluous. It appeared, however, concurrently with the bass, as soon as the invention of corner-blocks made it possible to construct bowed instruments of a size only limited by the possibility of playing them. As the discant viol is determined in size by the proportions of the bent arm, the tenor viol by the height above the knee of a sitting player, the bass by a relative height when the instrument is held between the knees, instead of supported on them, so the double bass is determined in size by the height of the standing figure, the bottom of the resonant box resting on the ground. In this respect it corresponds with the marine trumpet, which afforded an obvious hint for its construction. Originally it was made for six strings, the tuning being as follows : Double Bass In imitation probably of the largest register _ of pipes on the improved organs which were ^^_^^^ then being built, the double bass viol was used ^ as a sub -bass. For this purpose the three fs&amp;gt; highest strings were probably soon found to be useless, and they must have been very liable to break ; and, as the pressure of useless strings impairs the resonance of the instrument, they seem to have been gradually dropped. The three lowest strings are the same as those used for the modern double bass. The earliest use of the viols was to double the parts of Develop vocal concerted music ; they were next employed in Inent. of special compositions for the viol trio written in the same uols compass. Many such works in the form of &quot; fantasies &quot; or &quot; fancies,&quot; and preludes with suites in dance form, by the masters of the end of the 16th and 17th centuries, exist in manuscript ; a set by Orlando Gibbons, which are good specimens, has been published by the English Musical Antiquarian Society. Later, the viols, especially the bass, were employed as solo instruments, the methods of com position and execution being based on those of the lute. Most lute music is in fact equally adapted for the bass viol, and vice versa. In the 17th century, when the violin was coming into general use, constructive innovations be gan which resulted in the abandonment of the trio of pure six-stringed viols. Instruments which show these innova tions are the quinton, the lyre, and the viola d amore. The first-mentioned is of a type intermediate between the viol and the violin. In the case of the discant and tenor viol the lowest string, which was probably found to be of little use, was abandoned, and the pressure on the bass side of the belly thus considerably lightened. The five strings were then spread out, as it were, to the compass of the six, so as to retain the fundamental principle of the outer strings being two octaves apart. This was effected by tuning the lower half of the instrument in fifths like the violin and the upper half in fourths. This innovation altered the tuning of the treble and tenor viols, thus One half of the instrument was therefore a viol, the other half a violin, the middle string form- p ing the division. The tenor ffJEz viol thus improved was called in France the quinte, and the gy ^ treble corresponding to it the quinton. From the numerous specimens which survive it must have been a popular instrument, as it is undoubtedly a substantially excellent one. The relief in the bass, and the additional pressure caused by the higher tuning in the treble, gave it greater brilliancy, without destroying the pure, ready, and sympathetic tone which characterizes the viol. While the tendency in the case of the discant and tenor was to lighten and brighten them, the reverse process took place in that of the bass. The richer and more sonor ous tones of the viola da gamba were extended downwards Quinto or Tenor Quinton.