Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 24.djvu/267

Rh VIOLIN 245 flat model must be left too thick for perfect vibration. Hence we might expect to find the flat and the high model employed respectively where different qualities of wood are available, with a corresponding result in the tone. Fine elastic pine is chiefly found on the southern slopes of the Alps ; and thereabouts the best viols and violins have always been made. The famous violin-makers carried on their trade at Brescia, Cremona, Mantua, Milan, and Venice, while the Piedmontese Alps and the Apennines furnished material for some makers in Piedmont and at Bologna. High-modelled violins, and flatter instruments of thicker wood and inferior sonority, were chiefly made in Tyrol, Germany, France, and England, where the available mate rial was less tenacious and elastic. The early Italian school is chiefly represented by the Brescian makers, Caspar da Sal6, Giovanni Paolo Maggini, Giovita Rodiani, and the two Zanettos (1580-1630). It is, however, misleading to denominate it the Brescian school, for its characteristics are shared by the earliest makers of Cremona and Venice. To eyes familiar with the geometrical curves of the later Cremona school most of the violins of these makers, like the early violins of England and Ger many, have a rude and uncouth appearance. The height of the model varies ; the pattern is attenuated ; the /-holes share the general rudeness of design, and are set high in the pattern. Andreas Amati of Cremona, the eldest maker of that name, effected some improvements on this primitive model ; but the violin owes most to his sons, Antonio and Geronimo, who were partners. Nicholas, son of Geronimo, and Antonio Stradivari, the pupil of Nicholas, each did something to perfect the model ; but the substantial im provements which converted the Brescian violin into the modern instrument were the work of Antonio and Geronimo. These im provements, which were, in fact, of an artistic rather than a scien tific nature, consisted in modelling the instrument in all its outlines and surfaces to regular curves. Painting and inlaying had long been employed in the decoration of stringed instruments ; but the brothers Amati were the first who applied to the violin the funda mental law of decorative art, that the decorative and constructive elements should be blended in their inception : in other words, the construction should be itself decorative and the decoration itself constructive. The nature of the instrument suggested the applica tion of this law, for all extraneous additions to the varnished wood of which it consists tend to damp the tone. Nicholas Amati (1596- 1681) made some slight improvements in the Cremona model, and Antonio Stradivari (1649-1737) finally settled the typical Cremona pattern, which has been generally followed ; for the majority of violins since made, whether by good or bad makers, are copies of Stradivari. Besides the last-named, the following makers worked generally on the Amati model, Cappa, Gobetti, the Grancino family, Andreas Guarnieri, and his son Giuseppe, the Ruggieri family, and Serafin of Venice. Bale^trieri, the Bergonzi family, Alessandro Gagliano, the earlier members of the Guadagnini family, Montagnana, and Panonno were pupils or followers of Stradivari. Landolfi, Storioni, and Carlo Giuseppe Testore, a pupil of Giovanni Grancino, leaned to the model of Giuseppe Guarnieri del Gcsu. Some resemblances, especially in the matter of the varnish, are traceable between the works of makers who lived contemporaneously in the same town, e.g., in Naples, Milan, and Venice. The Amati method was adapted to the higher model by Jacob Stainer of Absam, near Hall in Tyrol, whose well-known pattern was chiefly followed by the makers of England, Tyrol, and Germany, down to the middle of the 18th century. It thenceforward fell into disuse, owing to the superior musical qualities of the Cremona violin and to improved means of communication, which enabled the violin- makers of other countries to procure wood sufficiently soft and tenacious to be worked to the flat model. The school of Stainer is represented amongst many others by Alhani, Hornsteiner, the Klotz family (who made large numbers of instruments excellent in their kind), Schorn of Salzburg, and Withalm of Nuremberg. The English makers may be divided into three successive groups : 1. an antique English school, having a character of its own (Rayman, IJrquhart, Pamphilon, Barak Norman, Duke of Oxford, &c. ); 2. imitators of Stainer, at the head of whom stands Peter Wamsley (Smith, Barrett, Cross, Hill, Aireton, Norris, &c. ) ; 3. a later school who leaned to the Cremona model (Banks, Duke of Holborn, Betts, the Forsters, Gilkcs, Carter, Fendt, Parker, Harris, Matthew Hardie of Edinburgh, &c.). The early French makers have little merit or interest (Bocquay, Gavinies, Pierray, Guersan, &c. ) ; but the later copyists of the Cremona models (Lupot, Aldric, Chanot the elder, Nicholas, Pique, Silvestre, Vuillaume, &c.) produced admir able instruments, some of which rank next in merit to the first-rate makers of Cremona. The tenor violin, in compass a fifth lower than the treble violin, appears to have preceded the latter ; and from Tenor Violin. Violoncello. Camera ex ^ s ^ n S Specimens W6 Tenor =#= KK g= : ^^=^= know that the bass vio- violil1 W-& :=L2=:= lin, now termed the a ! 1( ! ~-^- i 11 i violon- -& violoncello, with a tun- ce u 0j i^=gEZ- ing an octave below the tenor, appeared very shortly afterwards. A double bass violin, tuned a fourth below the violoncello and usually known as the basso da camera, completed the set of instruments in violin shape ; but from the difficulty attending its manipulation it never came into general use. The celebrated double bass player, Dragonetti, occasionally used the basso da camera, and an English player named Hancock, who dis pensed with the highest or E string, is still remembered for his performances on this unusual instrument. The tenor and violoncello are made on the same general model and principles as the violin, but with certain modi fications. Both are relatively to their pitch made smaller than the violin, because, if they were so constructed as to have the same relation to the pitch and tension of the strings as the violin, they would not only have an over powering tone but would be unmanageable from their size. This relatively diminished size, both in the dimen sions of the instrument and in the thickness of the wood and strings, gives to the tenor and violoncello a graver and more sympathetic tone. To some extent this reduced size is compensated by giving them a greater proportional height in the ribs and bridge; the increase is hardly per ceptible in the tenor, but is very noticeable in the violon cello. Correlative to this general diminution in the size of the instrument and the tension of the strings as the bass register is entered, there is a progressive diminu tion in the size and tension of the strings of each instrument, the treble string having in all cases the greatest tension and being thickest in proportion, though actually the thinnest. This is partly due to the fact that the ear demands greater brilliancy and force in the higher register ; but it has also a mechanical reason. The treble foot of the bridge is fixed, while the bass foot vibrates freely ; additional stability is given to the rigid side and additional freedom to the bass side by lightening the tension in each string progressively towards the bass. This can be verified by the simple experiment of stringing up a violin with the strings reversed, but without altering the sound-post and bass-bar. Still further to lighten the tension on the bass side, the lowest string of the violin and the two lowest of the tenor and violoncello are .spe cially made of thin gut and covered with fine metal wire. Such strings yield a grave tone with comparatively little tension. It is obvious that, if the lowest string, or the two lowest strings, Scorda- are elevated in pitch, the tension will be greater, and the violin tura. will produce a more powerful tone ; if the bass string is lowered, the contrary will take place. By adapting the music to this altered tuning (scordatura) some novel effects are produced. The follow ing are the principal scordaturc which have been occasionally employed by various players. Lolli. DC Bcriot, Prume, Mazas, &c. The violoncello is less amenable to the scordatura than the violin ; the only classical instance is the tuning employed by Bach -,. jg in his fifth sonata, which consists in lowering the iirst It is commonly said that an old violin is better than Bucli. a new one. Other things being equal, and supposing
 * ^:~r3 string by a tone.