49 chapters
3 hour read
Selected Chapters
49 chapters
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Historic, Rare and Unique
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS Historic, Rare and Unique
THE SELECTION, INTRODUCTION AND DESCRIPTIVE NOTES BY A.J. HIPKINS, F.S.A. Lond. AUTHOR OF THE ARTICLE "PIANOFORTE" IN THE ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA ILLUSTRATED BY A SERIES OF FORTY-EIGHT PLATES IN COLOURS DRAWN BY WILLIAM GIBB A. AND C. BLACK, LTD. 4, 5 AND 6 SOHO SQUARE, LONDON, W.1 1921 First published in 1888. Printed in Great Britain First published in 1888. Printed in Great Britain medals...
26 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
INTRODUCTION.
INTRODUCTION.
IT is claimed for this book, intended to illustrate rare historical and beautiful Musical Instruments, that it is unique. Classical, Mediæval, Japanese, and other varieties of Decorative Art, Weapons, and Costumes, have found worthy illustration and adequate description, but hitherto no attempt has been made to represent in a like manner the grace and external charm of fine lutes and harps, of viols, virginals, and other instruments. Engravings have been produced, in historical or technical work
30 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE I. BURGMOTE HORNS.
PLATE I. BURGMOTE HORNS.
BEAUTIFUL horns of hammered and embossed bronze belonging to the Corporations of Canterbury and Dover. The right-hand one is from Dover, where it was formerly used for the calling together of the Corporation at the order of the mayor. The minutes of the town proceedings were constantly headed "At a common Horn blowing" (comyne Horne Blowying). This practice continued until the year 1670, and is not yet entirely done away with, as it is still blown on the occasion of certain Municipal ceremonies.
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE II. QUEEN MARY’S HARP.
PLATE II. QUEEN MARY’S HARP.
THIS venerable instrument, the least impaired Gaelic Harp existing, is known as Queen Mary's Harp, and belongs to C. Durrant Steuart, Esq., of Dalguise, near Dunkeld. Of Gaelic Harps we can only reckon seven that may be dated earlier than the eighteenth century, the oldest being the Queen Mary and Lamont Harps, now in Edinburgh, and the harp named after Brian Boru (Boromha), preserved at Trinity College, Dublin; these three dating anterior, perhaps long anterior, to the fifteenth century. The Qu
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE III. THE LAMONT HARP.
PLATE III. THE LAMONT HARP.
THE Highland Harp, known as the Clarsach Lumanach, or Lamont Harp, belongs to the owner of the Queen Mary Harp, C. Durrant Steuart, Esq., of Dalguise, Perthshire. Both harps were sent to Edinburgh in 1805 by General Robertson of Lude, who owned them at that time, at the request of the Highland Society, and a book was published in 1807 under the patronage of the Society, entitled An Historical Enquiry respecting the Performance on the Harp in the Highlands of Scotland from the earliest times unti
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE IV. CORNEMUSE, CALABRIAN BAGPIPE, MUSETTE.
PLATE IV. CORNEMUSE, CALABRIAN BAGPIPE, MUSETTE.
THE Bagpipe (Cornemuse and Musette) and the hurdy-gurdy (Vielle) were, after the thirteenth century, banished to the lower orders, to the blind and to the wandering mendicant class. But polite society in France resumed these instruments again in the modern Arcadia of Louis XIV. and XV.—not the Cornemuse, it is true, for that has ever remained a rustic instrument, as may be observed in the glowing pages of George Sand's Les Maîtres Sonneurs . The Cornemuse, as formerly used in France and the Neth
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE V. BAGPIPES.
PLATE V. BAGPIPES.
IN continuation of the Bagpipes, this Plate shows, in the instrument with a crimson bag, the modern Northumbrian Bagpipe. The four drones, proceeding from one stock, are mounted with brass and ivory. The chanter, or melody pipe, has seven finger-holes in front and one behind; also, seven brass keys. As there is only one hole open at a time when the instrument is played, this manner of playing is called close fingering. The chanter and drones are furnished with stops at the ends. The instrument w
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE VI. CLAVICYTHERIUM OR UPRIGHT SPINET.
PLATE VI. CLAVICYTHERIUM OR UPRIGHT SPINET.
THIS singularly interesting and rare key-board instrument, now the property of Mr. Donaldson, belonged to the collection of Count Correr of Venice. There is no maker's name or any date upon the instrument, which is of the kind named Clavicytherium by the earliest writer on musical instruments, Virdung ( Musica getutscht und auszgezogen , Basle, 1511), who gives a drawing of one. It is in fact a spinet, set upright. The internal decoration, as old as the instrument itself, may be North Italian or
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE VII. OLIPHANT.
PLATE VII. OLIPHANT.
AN ivory Hunting Horn belonging to Earl Spencer, called Oliphant because it is of ivory, and bearing in the ornament the arms and badges of Ferdinand and Isabella of Portugal, may be regarded as belonging to the first half of the sixteenth century, the strap and buckle being evidently an addition of later date. The beautiful carving, so conspicuous in this horn, is supposed to have been executed by negroes of the West Coast of Africa, who carved ivory for the Portuguese; the arms of Portugal, wi
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE VIII. QUEEN ELIZABETH’S VIRGINAL.
PLATE VIII. QUEEN ELIZABETH’S VIRGINAL.
THIS beautiful Spinet is, in the drawing, placed upon a stand, which served for its support in the Tudor Historical Room appertaining to the Music Loan Collection of 1885. I believe this instrument to be Italian, not Flemish or English, and Italian spinets had no stands or legs, but when required for use were withdrawn from an outer case, as this one would be, and placed upon a table, or some other convenient position. They were even taken in Gondolas, as Evelyn records, for pleasure and the per
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE IX. QUEEN ELIZABETH’S LUTE.
PLATE IX. QUEEN ELIZABETH’S LUTE.
STRINGED instruments with a finger-board, touched with the fingers or a plectrum, may be divided, as stated in the Introduction , into two principal types: the lute and the guitar, the former with a rounded back, the latter with a flat back. Both are derived from the East. According to this division, the beautiful instrument called Queen Elizabeth's Lute must resign the name of lute and be considered a Guitar. As a wire-strung instrument it belongs to that species of guitar known as Cither, and
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE X. THE RIZZIO GUITAR.
PLATE X. THE RIZZIO GUITAR.
THIS beautiful Guitar of tortoiseshell, combined with ivory, mother-o'-pearl, and ebony (the property of Mr. George Donaldson, London), has ten pegs representing fleur-de-lys, and the ornament round the rose is formed with the same emblematic flower. To this, no doubt, it owes its romantic reputation of having belonged to David Rizzio. The apparent age of the Guitar would agree with a supposed gift of it from Mary Stuart to Rizzio, and the fleur-de-lys might connect it with the French or Scotch
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XI. POSITIVE ORGAN.
PLATE XI. POSITIVE ORGAN.
A CHAMBER Organ formerly in the Tolbecque Collection, and belonging to the epoch of Louis XIII. The Positive Organ, as the name implies, was intended to remain in a fixed place, while the smaller portable organ ( orgue portatif ) was made to be carried about. The disposition of the pipes was usually the same in both organs,—what may be called the natural order,—ascending from the longest pipe in the bass to the shortest in the treble, but some positive organs had the pipes arranged in a circular
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XII. REGAL.
PLATE XII. REGAL.
THE Regal here drawn is the prototype of the modern harmonium, but with "beating" not "free" reeds. The beating reed is usually employed in the organ, and it derives its appellation from the reeds touching the sides of their frames. The beating reed was introduced in the fifteenth century, but whether in the simple regal first, or as part of an organ, is not known. In England, the word "regal" has been also used to denote a portable organ, as is shown by Sir John Hawkins's suggestion that the st
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XIII. PORTABLE ORGAN AND BIBLE REGAL.
PLATE XIII. PORTABLE ORGAN AND BIBLE REGAL.
THE Portable Organ ( orgue portatif , also nimfali ) was a processional instrument slung by a strap over the player's shoulder, so as to allow the bellows at the back of the instrument to be worked by the player's left hand, while the keys were touched with the fingers of the right hand. From the high pitch of the pipes, the limited number of keys, and one hand only being used for touching them, it is possible that only one voice, or part, was played. The same remarks may be made of the early la
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XIV. CETERA.
PLATE XIV. CETERA.
THE instrument, in Italian " Cetera ," is in French called " Cistre ," and in English "Cither," sometimes English Guitar. It belongs to the guitar kind because it has a flat back, but all cithers are strung with wire, and the sounds are elicited, like those of the lute-shaped mandoline, by means of a plectrum. This exquisitely beautiful instrument of the early sixteenth century is attributed to the Brescian School. Formerly the property of the Biblioteca Estense at Modena, it has since been acqu
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XV. LUTE.
PLATE XV. LUTE.
A FINE old Italian Lute, with the label "1600, In Padova Vvendelio Venere ." It is not only rare, but a special interest is attached to it from its having been the favourite musical instrument of the late Carl Engel. When he disposed of his collection he reserved this instrument for his own use, and probably his last performance upon it was Handel's " Lascia ch'io pianga ," which he played to the present writer, who now owns the instrument. It is a large lute, being 42 inches in length. The grea
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XVI. THEORBO.
PLATE XVI. THEORBO.
THE instrument here drawn was made by Giovanni Krebar of Padua in 1629, and now belongs to Mr. George Donaldson, London. The body of this instrument is built up of ivory; the back of the peg-box and neck is also of ivory, and is delicately engraved with a view of Venice, showing vessels engaged in firing, and spearmen advancing. Incised dancing and fencing figures adorn the lower neck; there is a garden scene with numerous figures upon the upper neck. By the pegs we find the instrument had eight
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XVII. DULCIMER.
PLATE XVII. DULCIMER.
WE derive "Dulcimer" from the Spanish " Dulcemele " as the only etymology to be offered with any show of certainty. The Provençal " Lai " was in the Latin of the period " Dulcis Cantus ,"—" Dulcemele " (Lat. Dulce Melos ) has a kindred ring, and by the change of a liquid "Dulcimer" has become an accepted name. The dulcimer is a variety of the psaltery or qanūn , and bears the same relation to it that the modern pianoforte does to the older spinet or harpsichord. The psaltery was sounded by the f
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XVIII. VIRGINAL.
PLATE XVIII. VIRGINAL.
IN this interesting Virginal, which belongs to the Brussels Conservatoire, we have a Ruckers " Vierkante Clavisingel " in the original external decoration just as it left the hands of the younger Hans Ruckers, a master of the Saint Luke's Guild of Antwerp. The decoration is a covering of paper printed from blocks. The stand is also original. An untouched Ruckers virginal or harpsichord like this rarely comes under notice, and, at this moment, I can only recall one in England—a single key-board h
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XIX. VIOLA DA GAMBA.
PLATE XIX. VIOLA DA GAMBA.
THE old Bass Viol (French Basse de Viole ) derives its name of Viola da Gamba (leg viol) from its having been held between the knees of the player, whence the German " Kniegeige ." Shakspeare speaks of it as "viol-de-gamboys" in Twelfth Night —where Sir Toby Belch in his panegyric on Sir Andrew Aguecheek says, "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." Domenichino's famous St. Cecilia is represented as
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XX. DOUBLE SPINET OR VIRGINAL.
PLATE XX. DOUBLE SPINET OR VIRGINAL.
THIS uncommon instrument displays one of the expedients employed to gain a more brilliant effect by the addition of an octave string, before such a string was permanently attached to the sound-board of the harpsichord itself by means of an additional row of strings placed beneath the ordinary unison strings. Octave spinets were, as Mersenne (1636) describes, made independent of the ordinary spinet, and there are frequent examples to be met with. These little spinets were placed upon the larger o
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXI. THREE CHITARRONI.
PLATE XXI. THREE CHITARRONI.
THE primary meaning of " Chitarrone " is a large guitar, but, in point of fact, this imposing yet graceful instrument is a theorbo or bass lute with a very long upper neck to give length for bass strings of deep pitch. The one to the left in the drawing, which belongs to Mr. Rudolf Lehmann, London, is Venetian, if we may judge from the beautiful decoration. It has three sound-holes with roses joined together in a fashion that is regarded as Roman, and is adorned with mother of pearl. It is strun
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXII. SPINET.
PLATE XXII. SPINET.
THIS "Spinet," with its original six-legged stand, was made in London about the end of the seventeenth century. "Stephanus Keene Londini Fecit ," is inscribed upon the name-board, which is characteristically inlaid with birds and foliage. It is a transverse Spinet, the Italian " Spinetta traversa ," an adaptation of the longer bichord or trichord harpsichord within the limitations of size of this instrument, which, like the trapeze-shaped and oblong spinets, had one string only to each note. The
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXIII. QUINTERNA AND MANDOLINE.
PLATE XXIII. QUINTERNA AND MANDOLINE.
THE Quinterna or Chiterna , the Italian guitar, was formerly used by the humbler order of musicians. According to Engel, it had three pairs of catgut strings and two single strings covered with wire, and was played guitar-lute fashion with the fingers, and not with a plectrum. But the instrument here drawn, with its ten wire strings, must have been played with a plectrum in cither fashion. It was exhibited by Mr. George Donaldson in the Music Loan Collection at the Royal Albert Hall as a Giterna
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXIV. WELSH CRWTH. RUSSIAN BALALÄIKA.
PLATE XXIV. WELSH CRWTH. RUSSIAN BALALÄIKA.
THE Crwth is a rare Welsh instrument, supposed to have been the " Chrotta Brittanna " mentioned in one of the odes of Venantius Fortunatus, written about A.D. 617, and published under the title of " Venantii Fortunati Poemata "; but following the analogy of the Gaelic "cruith," and the phonetic "crot" of the Book of the Dean of Lismore (a sixteenth-century collection of Ossianic fragments), the British Chrotta was more likely to have been an early form of the Celtic Harp. Of original Welsh Crwth
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXV. VIOLIN, THE HELLIER STRADIVARIUS, AND TWO OLD BOWS NOTED FOR THE FLUTING.
PLATE XXV. VIOLIN, THE HELLIER STRADIVARIUS, AND TWO OLD BOWS NOTED FOR THE FLUTING.
THIS is the beautiful "Hellier" Stradivarius Violin made in 1679 and bought by Sir Samuel Hellier of Womborne, Staffordshire, about the year 1734, from the maker himself. It remained in the Hellier family until 1875, when it was acquired by Mr. George Crompton, who subsequently disposed of it to Messrs. W.E. Hill and Sons of New Bond Street, formerly of Wardour Street, London, the experts in the violin section of the South Kensington Music Loan Collection of 1885. It now belongs to Mr. Charles O
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXVI. VIOLINS, THE ALARD STRADIVARIUS, THE KING JOSEPH GUARNERIUS DEL GESÙ.
PLATE XXVI. VIOLINS, THE ALARD STRADIVARIUS, THE KING JOSEPH GUARNERIUS DEL GESÙ.
THE back and front views of the Violin to the left of this Plate are taken from the "Alard" Stradivarius, so called from the famous violinist who formerly owned it. It is one of the finest violins made by Stradivarius, and bears the date 1715, thus belonging to his great period, which is considered by connoisseurs to have extended from about 1700 to 1725. The following is the brief history of the Alard Stradivarius. Bought in Florence early in the present century by a banker of Courtrai in Belgi
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXVII. VIOLA D’AMORE.
PLATE XXVII. VIOLA D’AMORE.
FRENCH " La Viole d'Amour " is the Love Viol, so called from the soft and tender quality of the tone produced from it. Beneath the catgut strings there are usually wire strings, which, being tuned in accordance, vibrate sympathetically when the catgut strings are bowed. This is in obedience to a well-known law of physics, according to which a body set in vibration will cause another body having the same frequency of vibration to sound when within reach of its influence. In the beautifully carved
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXVIII. CETERA, BY ANTONIUS STRADIVARIUS.
PLATE XXVIII. CETERA, BY ANTONIUS STRADIVARIUS.
AN interesting Italian Cither, dated 1700, that may be compared for design, beauty, and workmanship with Lord Tollemache's English cither known as Queen Elizabeth's Lute. It belongs to the violinist Alard, and found a place in the splendid contribution of violins and other stringed instruments sent from Paris, by the mediation of Mr. E. Gand, to the Music Loan Collection in the Royal Albert Hall, 1885. It had also been lent by Mr. Vuillaume to the South Kensington Collection of 1872. This instru
57 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXIX. GUITAR, BY ANTONIUS STRADIVARIUS.
PLATE XXIX. GUITAR, BY ANTONIUS STRADIVARIUS.
THIS Guitar is inscribed on the back of the peg-box ANT S STRADIVARIVS CREMONEN S . F 1680. It was brought from Brescia in 1881, and was acquired by Messrs. W.E. Hill and Sons of London. It has been supposed that this might have been the only guitar made by the illustrious violin-maker; but another, in the Museum of the Paris Conservatoire, is also claimed for Stradivarius. The beautiful arabesque rose of this Guitar will attract attention. The coat of arms upon the finger-board indicates the no
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXX. BELL HARP AND HURDY-GURDY.
PLATE XXX. BELL HARP AND HURDY-GURDY.
THE Bell Harp, although it appears in modern pre-Raphaelite paintings and is a kind of wire-strung psaltery, cannot be classed as a mediæval instrument, as it dates only from about the year 1700. Its invention is attributed to John Simcock, a soldier, who, judging from the label inside, probably gave the name of his superior officer to the instrument. It reads as follows:—"John Simcock, in the Right Honourable the Earl of Ancram's regiment of Dragoons, and in Captain Bell's troop, makes, mends,
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXXI. SORDINI.
PLATE XXXI. SORDINI.
THE Sordino is a pocket fiddle, the " Pochette " of the French and the " Taschengeige " of the Germans. In form it is derived from the mediæval rebec which came from the East, and was also known as "gigue." It was distinguished from the viol family by the neck being a prolongation of the body of the instrument, instead of an attachment to it. A diminutive viol, the dancing master's kit, replaced the rebec kit, or sordino, at the beginning of the eighteenth century. A sordino, in the Museum of th
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXXII. CLAVICHORD.
PLATE XXXII. CLAVICHORD.
"The claricord hath a tunely kynde As the wyre is wrested high and lowe." JOHN SKELTON, Poet Laureate, who was born at Oxford in 1489, and died in the sanctuary, Westminster, in 1529, was the author of a poem entitled "The Claricorde," from which this quotation is taken. The true spelling is Clavichord, from the Latin " clavis ," a key, and " chorda ," a string. The wrester was the tuner, who wrested or strained the wire to the required tension. The words "wrest-pin" and "wrest-plank" remain in
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXXIII. THE EMPRESS HARPSICHORD.
PLATE XXXIII. THE EMPRESS HARPSICHORD.
REPRESENTS a Harpsichord of the largest size, the culmination of an instrument that had remained in use for nearly three hundred years, but, at the time this one was made, was about to be replaced by the pianoforte. This fine Harpsichord bears the joint names of Shudi and Broadwood, and was made at the house now known as No. 33 Great Pulteney Street, London, where the pianoforte business of Messrs. John Broadwood and Sons is still carried on. The instrument is numbered 691, and the books of the
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXXIV. PEDAL HARP.
PLATE XXXIV. PEDAL HARP.
A GREEN and gold Harp that once belonged to George IV., and is now in the possession of Mr. Edward Joseph, of London. It is 5 feet 3 inches high, 2 feet 6 inches in extreme width, and 1 foot 9 inches wide at the base. It was included in the characteristic Louis Seize Historic Room, in the Music Loan Collection, Royal Albert Hall, 1885. This room, one of three, was so contrived as to display the musical instruments in social use with such surroundings of furniture, paintings, etc., as would be tr
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXXV. STATE TRUMPET AND KETTLEDRUM.
PLATE XXXV. STATE TRUMPET AND KETTLEDRUM.
THIS silver state trumpet, with nine others, adorned with bannerets of the Royal Arms in crimson and gold, and silver state kettledrums, similarly adorned, belong to the collection of H.M. the Queen, in St. James's Palace. They were both probably made in the reign of George III., one of the trumpets in the collection bearing the maker's name, William Shaw, Red Lion Street, Holborn. Henry VIII. had fourteen trumpets in his Royal Band, while Queen Elizabeth, in 1587, had ten. The bending back of t
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXXVI. CAVALRY BUGLE, WITH TASSELS. CAVALRY TRUMPET, EMBOSSED. TRUMPETS, THREE INSTRUMENTS—WITH CROOKS, GILT, AND SILVER MOUNTED.
PLATE XXXVI. CAVALRY BUGLE, WITH TASSELS. CAVALRY TRUMPET, EMBOSSED. TRUMPETS, THREE INSTRUMENTS—WITH CROOKS, GILT, AND SILVER MOUNTED.
THE Cavalry Bugle, decorated with tassels and graciously contributed by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, President of the International Inventions Exhibition, 1885, to the Music Loan Collection, has an historical interest in having been used by Trumpeter Smith to sound the moonlight charge of the Household Cavalry and 7th Dragoon Guards, at Kassassin in Egypt, August the 28th, 1882. The Trumpet with crooks was carried by Sergeant-Major Webb of the 5th Dragoon Guards, Field Trumpeter to the Duke of We
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXXVII. LITUUS,ROMAN CAVALRY. BUCCINA,ROMAN INFANTRY. CORNET,WITH TWO VALVES. TRUMPETS.
PLATE XXXVII. LITUUS,ROMAN CAVALRY. BUCCINA,ROMAN INFANTRY. CORNET,WITH TWO VALVES. TRUMPETS.
THE Roman Lituus, the antique straight instrument with the curved end, is drawn from a reproduction in bronze of the original, found in the tomb of a warrior discovered in 1827, at Cervetri, the Etruscan Caere, and preserved in the Museum of the Vatican. The lituus took its name from the augur's staff, which it resembled in shape; it belonged to the cavalry of the Roman Empire. It produces the following proper notes or natural harmonics— music the seventh being flatter than the note which occurs
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXXVIII. TWO DOUBLE FLAGEOLETS, A GERMAN FLUTE, AND TWO FLÛTES DOUCES.
PLATE XXXVIII. TWO DOUBLE FLAGEOLETS, A GERMAN FLUTE, AND TWO FLÛTES DOUCES.
THE Flageolet is the last example in present use of the " flûtes douces ," or " à bec " (German Blockflöten ), bored with reversed cones, that is to say, with the embouchure at the larger end. It is referred to by Pepys in his Diary (1st March, 1666): "Being returned home I find Greeting, the flageolet-master, come, and teaching my wife, and I do think my wife will take pleasure in it, and it will be easy for her, and pleasant;" and again (20th January, 1667): "To Drumbleby's the pipe-maker, the
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XXXIX. DOLCIANO. OBOE. BASSOON. OBOE DA CACCIA. BASSET HORN.
PLATE XXXIX. DOLCIANO. OBOE. BASSOON. OBOE DA CACCIA. BASSET HORN.
THE shawm of the English Bible is the schalmey, the treble instrument of the old Pommer or Bombardo family and the origin of the modern oboe. The oboe da caccia , derived from the alto pommer or Bombardo piccolo of the sixteenth century, has gone out of use, the Italian corno inglese (French cor anglais ) having taken its place. There being some confusion about the description by different writers of the oboe da caccia and oboe d'amore , I fall back upon Dr. W.H. Stone's authoritative definition
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XL. SITÁRS AND VÍNA.
PLATE XL. SITÁRS AND VÍNA.
THE Sitár is the favourite instrument of Upper India, and was reintroduced and perfected by the poet-musician Amir Khusru of Delhi in the thirteenth century. The name is Persian, and implies "three strings," although the Sitár has now usually five, six, and sometimes seven strings. Sitárs called Taruffe have sympathetic strings of fine wire attached to the side of the neck and passing underneath the frets and bridge, to vibrate in unison with the notes of the same pitch that are played. This con
5 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XLI. INDIAN DRUMS.
PLATE XLI. INDIAN DRUMS.
PAINTED instruments consisting of a wooden drum, one of earthenware, and a Tam-Tam. The employment of such instruments is necessarily rhythmic, and they occupy a place on the borderland of music and mere noise. Mr. Rowbotham, however ( History of Music , vol. i., London, 1885), in formulating the stages through which instrumental music has passed, according to a development theory as applied to music, considers the drum first responded to the nascent conception of music in the prehistoric man, a
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XLII. SAW DUANG & BOW. SAW TAI & BOW. SAW OO & BOW. KLUI. PEE.
PLATE XLII. SAW DUANG & BOW. SAW TAI & BOW. SAW OO & BOW. KLUI. PEE.
THESE instruments belong to H.M. the King of Siam, and were drawn by the gracious permission of H.R.H. Prince Narés Varariddhi, then Siamese Minister in England, and brother of the King. The Saw Tai, or Siamese fiddle (centre figure), has the lower part of the neck of carved ivory, and the upper part of gold enamelled. The back is of cocoa-nut shells, jewelled. There is a jewelled boss on the sound membrane, which is of parchment. It is the same instrument as the Javese Rabáb, and is of Persian
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XLIII. RANAT EK. KHONG YAI. TA’KHAY.
PLATE XLIII. RANAT EK. KHONG YAI. TA’KHAY.
THESE instruments, like those drawn in Plate XLII. , belong to H.M. the King of Siam, and were also drawn for this work by the gracious permission of H.R.H. Prince Narés. Harmonicons of wood and of metal, such as the Ranat and Khong, are the foundation of music in Siam, Burma, Java, and the Indian Archipelago generally. They also extend into India, and even, in another direction, to South Africa. Tuned in Siam to a heptatonic scale, not founded upon an harmonic conception of chords, they present
1 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XLIV. HU-CH’IN & BOW. SHÊNG. SAN-HSIEN. P’I-P’A.
PLATE XLIV. HU-CH’IN & BOW. SHÊNG. SAN-HSIEN. P’I-P’A.
WE learn from Mr. J.A. Van Aalst's comprehensive treatise on Chinese Music, published, it may at first sight appear somewhat oddly, by the Imperial Maritime Customs (Shanghai, 1884), that the Hu-ch'in, the left-hand figure in the Plate, is one of the most popular musical instruments in Peking. The strings, four in number, are of silk, and are tuned in pairs a fifth apart. This instrument is in fact a double-strung Erh-hsien or Urh-hsien (Van Aalst and Dennys; Ur-heen, Engel), and has the same pe
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XLV. CHINESE TI-TZU, SO-NA, YUEH-CH’IN. JAPANESE HIJI-RIKI. CHINESE LA-PA.
PLATE XLV. CHINESE TI-TZU, SO-NA, YUEH-CH’IN. JAPANESE HIJI-RIKI. CHINESE LA-PA.
THE Ti-tzu to the left in the Plate is the Chinese flute. It is usually bound round with waxed silk and ornamented with tassels. It has seven holes besides the embouchure, that nearest to the latter being covered with a thin membrane as in the Provençal galoubet, taken from the sap of the bamboo and melted at the moment it is applied, intended to make the quality of tone more reedy. The remaining six holes are stopped by the fingers. According to Mr. Van Aalst, twelve notes in a diatonic success
3 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XLVI. JAPANESE KOTO.
PLATE XLVI. JAPANESE KOTO.
THIS is the thirteen-stringed Sono Koto of Japan, and a very beautifully-ornamented specimen, lent for drawing by Mr. George Wood, of Messrs. Cramer and Co., Regent Street, London. The strings of the koto are, as in all Japanese stringed instruments, of silk drawn through wax, and the accordance follows the pentatonic system already described in connection with the Siamisen, and as given by Mr. Isawa, Director of the Institute of Music at Tokio, in twelve different popular pentatonic accordances
2 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter
PLATE XLVII. SIAMISEN, KOKIU, BIWA.
PLATE XLVII. SIAMISEN, KOKIU, BIWA.
THESE are Japanese instruments. The Siamisen and Biwa were drawn by permission of the Japanese Commission of the Inventions Exhibition, 1885. The Kokiu in the centre of the plate, and its long fishing-rod bow in four lengths of black wood mounted with silver, belong to the writer. The Siamisen is the commonest Japanese stringed instrument, and is played by the singing girls (Gesha); it has been the characteristic musical instrument at the Japanese Village, Knightsbridge, London. The name was the
4 minute read
Read Chapter
Read Chapter