Read Ebook: An Illustrated Directory of the Specifications of All Domestic and Foreign Motor-cars and Motor Business Wagons Gasoline Steam and Electric Sold in This Country 1907 by Motor The Automotive Business Magazine

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Jais, Johann--Jauch, Johann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

Karb--Kambl, Johann A.--Kembter--Kiaposse, Sawes--Kirchschlag--Kloz, Matthias; pupil of Stainer--KLOZ, SEBASTIAN; superior model, form flat--Kloz, George--Kloz, Egidius--Kloz, Joseph--Kloz, J. Karl--Knittle, Joseph--Knitting--Kohl, Johann--Kolditz, J.--Kolditz, Mathias Johann--Kramer, H.--Kriner, Joseph . . . . . . . . . . 265-267

Laska, Joseph--Lembock . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Mann, Hans--MAUSSIELL, LEONARD; Stainer model; excellent workmanship; style of Tecchler--Maher --Meusidler--Mohr, Philip--Moldonner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Niggel, Simpertus; good workmanship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267

Ohberg, Johann--Ott, Johann--Otto, Jacob August; maker to the Court of Weimar; author of "Ueber den Bau und die Ehrhaltung der Geige und aller Bogeninstrumente"--Otto, Georg August--Otto, Christian--Otto, Heinrich--Otto, Carl--Otto, C. U. F.--Otto, Ludwig--Otto, Louis--Otto, Hermann . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 267-268

Parth, Andreas Nicholas--Pfretzschner, Gottlob--Pfretzschner, Carl Friedrich--Plack, F.--Possen, L. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 268-269

Rauch--Rauch, Jacob; Court Violin-maker--Rauch, Sebastian--Rauch--Reichel, Johann Gottfried--Reichel, Johann Conrad--Reichers, August--Riess--Roth, Christian--Ruppert . . . . 269

Sainprae, Jacques; Baryton Viol-maker--Sawicki--Scheinlein, Mathias--Scheinlein, Johann Michael--Schell, Sebastian--Schlick--Schmidt--Schonfelder, Johann A.--Schonger, Franz--Schonger, Georg--Schorn, Johann; excellent work; high model--Schorn, Johann Paul; Court instrument-maker--Schott, Martin--Schweitzer--Stadelmann, Daniel; good work; Stainer model--Stadelmann, Johann Joseph--STAINER, JACOB; the greatest of German makers, and a thorough artist; his model original; sketch of his history and work; great popularity of his style; his "Elector Stainers;" Herr S. Ruf's personal history of Stainer's life, and the romance founded thereon; Counsellor Von Sardagna's contributions to his history; Rabenalt's drama, "Jacob Stainer," and other poems thereon: "Der Geigenmacher Jacob Stainer von Absam;" said to have been a pupil of Niccolo Amati; his marriage; his appointment as Court Violin-maker; accused of heresy, and imprisoned; pecuniary difficulties, and sad end; his good name frequently clouded by inferior work falsely attributed to him--Stainer, Markus--Stainer, Andreas--Staugtinger, Mathias W.--Steininger, Jacob; related to Dopfer and Nicholas Diel--Steininger, Franz--Stoss--Stoss, Martin--Straube--Strauss, Joseph . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269-281

TIEFFENBRUCKER--TIELKE, JOACHIM ; Lute and Guitar-maker; rich and chaste ornamentation of his work; description of examples extant in England--TIELKE, JOACHIM ; fine examples of a later maker of this name at South Kensington and elsewhere . . . . . . . . . . . . 281-282

VOEL, E.; excellent work; Stradivari model--Vogel, Wolfgang--Vogler, Johann Georg--Voigt, Martin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 282-283

Wagner, Joseph--Weickert--Weigert--Weiss, Jacob--Wenger, G. F.--Widhalm, Leopold; follower of Stainer; careful finish and good varnish--Wyemann, Cornelius . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Zwerger, Antoni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 283

Non-recognition of English makers by Continental writers on the Violin--Causes of the partial decadence of the art in this country as on the Continent--Earliest English makers, and their several models--School of English copyists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 284-292

Absam, Thomas--Adams--Addison, William--Aireton, Edmund; an excellent copyist of Amati--Aldred--Askey, Samuel . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293

Baines--Baker--Ballantine--BANKS, BENJAMIN; the foremost English maker, and termed "The English Amati;" high character of his work and varnish--Banks, Benjamin --Banks, James and Henry--Barnes, Robert--Barrett, John; follower of Stainer; good quality of work--Barton, George--Betts, John; pupil of Richard Duke--BETTS, EDWARD; pupil of Duke, and an excellent copyist; high finish; Amati model--Bolles--Booth, William--Booth--Boucher--Brown, James--Brown, James --Browne, John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293-299

Cahusac--Carter, John--Challoner, Thomas--Cole, Thomas--Cole, James--Collier, Samuel--Collier, Thomas--Collingwood, Joseph--Conway, William--Corsby, George--Cramond, Charles--Crask, George--Cross, Nathaniel--Crowther, John--Cuthbert; good quality of work . . 299-300

Davidson, Hay--Davis, Richard--Davis, William--Dearlove, Mark--Delany, John; his peculiar label--Dennis, Jesse--Devereux, John--Dickinson, Edward--Dickeson, John; excellent copyist of Amati--Ditton--DODD, THOMAS; not a maker, but an employer of makers of highest class, and especially famous for the high character of his varnish--Dodd, Thomas --Dorant, William--DUKE, RICHARD; his name a "household word" with English Violinists; high character of his real work, but frequently and badly counterfeited; his models both Amatese and Stainer--Duke, Richard --Duncan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 300-305

Eglington--Evans, Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 305

FENDT, BERNARD; a born Fiddle-maker; a fellow workman with John F. Lott; his instruments copies of Amati, bearing the labels of Thomas Dodd or John Betts, and highly valued--FENDT, BERNARD SIMON; good work, but sometimes artificially "matured;" his Violins, Tenors, Violoncellos, and Double-Basses; follower of the Guarneri and Gasparo da Salo models; his quartett of instruments in the London Exhibition of 1851--Fendt, Martin--Fendt, Jacob; his work finely finished; skilful copies of Stradivari, but artificially and cleverly "aged"--Fendt, Francis--Fendt, William--Ferguson, Donald--Firth--Forster, W.--Forster, William ; spinning-wheel and Violin-maker--FORSTER, WILLIAM ; also a maker of spinning-wheels and Violins, and amateur Fiddler; an excellent copyist of Stainer and of the Amati models; high character of his work and varnish; his Double-Basses for the Band of George the Third; his instruments highly valued by Robert Lindley--FORSTER, WILLIAM ; excellent work--Forster, William --Forster, Simon Andrew--Frankland--Furber, John--Furber, Henry John . . . . . 305-313

Gibbs, James--GILKES, SAMUEL; a thorough artist, and pupil of William Forster--Gilkes, William--Gough, Walter . . . . . . . . . . . 313-314

Harbour--Hardie, Matthew; Scotland's best maker--Hardie, Thomas--Hare, John--Hare, Joseph--HARRIS, CHARLES; genuine character of work, of Amati and Stradivari type; exquisite finish and good varnish--Harris, Charles --HART, JOHN THOMAS; pupil of Samuel Gilkes; specially known as connoisseur, collector, and dealer--Heesom, Edward--Hill, Joseph--Hill, William--Hill, Joseph--Hill, Lockey--Hill, William Ebsworth--Holloway, J.--Hume, Richard . . . . . . . . . . . . 314-318

Jay, Henry; Viol-maker--Jay, Thomas--Jay, Henry; maker of Kits--Johnson, John; music-seller and dealer; referred to by Dibdin in his Autobiography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 318-320

Kennedy, Alexander--Kennedy, John--Kennedy, Thomas . . . . . . . . 320

Lentz, Johann Nicolaus--Lewis, Edward--Longman and Broderip; music-sellers and publishers--LOTT, JOHN FREDERICK; a finished workman, employed by Thomas Dodd; splendid character of his work; the "King of English Double-Bass makers"--Lott, George Frederick--Lott, John Frederick; his chequered career, and Charles Reade's novel thereon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 320-322

Macintosh--Marshall, John--Martin--Mayson, W.--Meares, Richard--Mier--Morrison, John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 322-323

Naylor, Isaac--Norborn, John--NORMAN, BARAK; probably a pupil of Urquhart; follower of Maggini; excellent quality of his Violoncellos and Tenors; his partnership with Nathaniel Cross--Norris, John 323-325

Pamphilon, Edward--Panormo, Vincent--Panormo, Joseph; excellent character of work--Panormo, George Lewis--Panormo, Louis--Parker, Daniel--Pearce, James--Pemberton, Edward--Perry and Wilkinson--Powell--Preston, John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 325-327

Rawlins, Henry--Rayman, Jacob; founder of Violin-making in England--Richards, Edwin--Rook, Joseph--Rosse , John--Ross, John ; good character of work and varnish . . . . . . . . . 327-328

Shaw--Simpson--Smith, Henry--Smith, Thomas--Smith, William . . . . 328

Tarr, W.--Taylor--Thompson--Thorowgood, Henry--Tilley, Thomas--Tobin, Richard--Tobin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 328-329

Urquhart; excellent character of his work . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Valentine, William . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 329

Wamsley, Peter; superior character of his work--Wise, Christopher--Withers, Edward--Withers, Edward . . . . . . 329-330

Young, father and son, and Purcell's Catch . . . . . . . . . . . . 330

Sterne on Hobby-horses--Tender relationships between the Violin and its Votaries--Wendell Holmes on the Violin--Thomas Mace on early prices of instruments--Early makers, continental and English--Advent of the Stainer model, and its temporary preference over those of the Italian masters; its depressing influence on prices of Amatis and Stradivaris--Guarneri del Gesu brought to the front by Paganini, and Maggini by De Beriot--Recognition of the merits of Bergonzi, Guadagnini, and Montagnana--Luigi Tarisio, and his pilgrimages in search of hidden treasures; his progress as amateur, connoisseur, devotee; his singular enthusiasm, and Charles Reade's anecdote thereon; the Spanish Bass in the Bay of Biscay; Tarisio's visit to England, and the Goding collection; his hermit life; purchase of his collection by M. Vuillaume--Principal buyers of Italian instruments at this period, continental and English--Charles Reade as a connoisseur--Count Cozio di Salabue, an ardent votary of the Cremonese Violin; his purchase of Stradivari's instruments, patterns, tools, &c.; his correspondence with Paolo Stradivari relating thereto--William Corbett, and his "Gallery of Cremonys and Stainers"--The collections of Andrew Fountaine and James Goding--The Gillott Collection; its curious origin, its unique character and interesting circumstances attending its sale . . . . . . . . . 331-374

INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 509

FRONTISPIECE--Paganini's "Giuseppe Guarneri." 1743.

"Marriage at Cana," by Paolo Veronese . . . . . . . . . . . 376

Tartini's Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 428

THE VIOLIN ITS FAMOUS MAKERS AND THEIR IMITATORS

SECTION I The Early History of the Violin

The early history of the Violin is involved in obscurity, and in consequence, much diversity of opinion exists with regard to it. The chief object of the writer of these pages is to throw light upon the instrument in its perfected state. It is, therefore, unnecessary to enter at great length upon the vexed question of its origin. The increased research attendant upon the development of musical history generally could hardly fail to discover facts of more or less importance relative to the origin of instruments played with a bow; but although our knowledge in this direction is both deeper and wider, the light shed upon the subject has not served to dissipate the darkness attending it. Certain parts have been illumined, and conclusions of more or less worth have been drawn therefrom; for the rest, all remains more hopelessly obscured and doubtful than the identity of the "Man in the Iron Mask" or the writer of the "Letters of Junius."

It is satisfactory to know that the most valuable and interesting part of our subject is comparatively free from that doubt and tradition which necessarily attaches to the portion belonging to the Dark or Middle Ages. When we reflect that Music--as we understand it--is a modern art, and that all instruments of the Viol and Fiddle type, as far as the end of the fifteenth century, were rude if not barbarous, it can scarcely excite surprise that our interest should with difficulty be awakened in subtle questions pertaining to the archaeology of bowed instruments.

The views taken of the early history of the leading instrument have not been more multiform than remote. The Violin has been made to figure in history sacred and profane, and in lore classic and barbaric. That an instrument which is at once the most perfect and the most difficult, and withal the most beautiful and the most strangely interesting, should have been thus glorified, hardly admits of wonder. Enthusiasm is a noble passion, when tempered with reason. It cannot be said, however, that the necessity of this qualification has been invariably recognised by enthusiastic inquirers into the history of instruments played with a bow. We have a curious instance of its non-recognition in a treatise on the Viol, written by a distinguished old French Violist named Jean Rousseau. The author, bent upon going to the root of his subject, begins with the Creation, and speaks of Adam as a Violist. Perhaps Rousseau based his belief in the existence of Fiddling at this early period of the world's history on the words "and his brother's name was Jubal; from him descended the Flute players and Fiddlers," as rendered by Luther.

The parts Orpheus and Apollo have been made to play in infantile Fiddle history have necessarily been dependent upon the licence and the imagination of the sculptor and the medallist. Inferences of antiquity, however, have been drawn from such representations. Tracings of a bow among the sculpture of the ancients have been sought for in vain: no piece is known upon which a bow is distinguishable. A century since, an important discovery was thought to have been made by musical antiquarians in the Grand Duke's Tribuna at Florence, wherein was a small figure of Apollo playing on a kind of Violin with something of the nature of a bow. Inquiry, however, made it clear that the figure belonged to modern art. Orpheus has been represented holding a Violin in one hand and a bow in the other; inquiry again showed that the Violin and the bow were added by the restorer of the statue.

The views held by musical historians regarding the origin of the Violin may be described by the terms Asiatic and Scandinavian. The Eastern view, it need scarcely be said, is the most prolonged, exceeding some five thousand years along the vista of time, where little else is discoverable but what is visionary, mythical, and unsubstantial. It is related--traditionally of course--that some three thousand years before our era there lived a King of Ceylon named Ravanon, who invented a four-stringed instrument played with a bow, and which was named after the inventor "the Ravanastron." If it were possible to identify the instrument of that name, now known to the Hindoos, as identical with that of King Ravanon--as M. Sonnerat declares it to be--the Eastern view of our subject would be singularly clear and defined. A declaration, however, resting on tradition, necessarily makes the gathering of evidence in support of it a task both dubious and difficult.

It is said that Sanscrit scholars have met with names for the bow in Sanscrit writings dating back nearly two thousand years. If this information could be supplemented by reliable monumental evidence of the existence of a bow of some rude kind among the nations of the East about the commencement of the Christian era, its value would necessarily be complete. In the absence of such evidence we are left in doubt as to what was intended to be understood by the reported references to a bow in ancient Sanscrit literature. The difficulty of understanding what Greek and Roman authors meant, in reference to the same subject, must be greatly intensified in the works of ancient Eastern writers.

The inquiry is simplified from the point of view of a Violinist if we reject all bow-progenitors but those which have been strung with fibre, silk, hair, or other material, the properties of which would permit of the production of sustained sounds. Implements less developed belong to a separate order of sound-producing contrivances, namely plectra, and may be described as permitting strumming by striking in place of twanging or twitching the strings. The imperfect knowledge we have of instruments of the Fiddle kind in Europe, belonging to a period many centuries later than that we are now considering, points to their having been struck or strummed, and not bowed with a view to the sounds being sustained.

The oldest known representation of a contrivance or instrument upon which a string is stretched with a peg to adjust its tension, is probably that described by Dr. Burney as having been seen by him at Rome on an Egyptian obelisk. In a notice of Claudius Ptolemeus, an Egyptian, who wrote upon harmonic sounds about the middle of the second century, we have an illustration of an instrument of a similar character to that found on the obelisk above noticed. In all probability neither of these contrivances was intended to be used as a musical instrument further than for scientific purposes, as a means of testing the tension of strings and the division of the scale: in short, they were monochords and dichords.

In following the Eastern branch of our subject, it is necessary to refer to the suggested Arabian origin of the Ribeca of the Italians and the Rebec of the French--a little bowed instrument, shaped like the half of a pear, and having therefore something of the character of the mandoline. We have early mention of this particular view of Violin history among the valuable and interesting manuscript notes of Sir John Hawkins. The author states that the Rebab was taken to Spain by the Moors, "from whence it passed to Italy, and obtained the appellation of Ribeca." He also refers to a work entitled "Shaw's Travels," in which mention is made of the Rebeb or Rebab as an instrument common in the East in the eighteenth century. It is, however, upon turning to the dissertation on the invention and improvement of stringed instruments by John Gunn, published in 1793, that we first find a lucid account of Eastern influence in connection with bowed instruments. The author refers to the monochord as the invention of the Arabians: he then says, "The early acquaintance which it is probable the Egyptians had of the science and practice of music, was the source whence the Arabians might derive their knowledge. There is a remarkable correspondence between the dichord of the Egyptians and an instrument of the like number of strings of the Arabians. This instrument was played with a bow, and was probably introduced into Europe by the Arabians of Spain, and well known from the Middle Ages down to the last century by the name of the Rebec; it had probably, on its first introduction, only two strings, as it still has among the Moors, and soon after had the number increased to three. Dr. Shaw, who had seen it, calls it a Violin with three strings, which is played on with a bow, and called by the Moors Rebebb." In passing it may be said that the translators of the Bible, historians, painters, and poets have in many instances contributed greatly to the confusion attending the history of bowed instruments from their inability to correctly name and depict corded instruments. About a century after the publication of Dr. Shaw's "Travels in the East," appeared Lane's "Modern Egypt," wherein reference is made to an instrument named Rebab. It is described as being made partly of parchment, and mounted with one or two strings, played on with a bow. These instruments appear to be identical. We do not usually look to the East for progressiveness, and would therefore not expect to discover much difference between a Rebab of the nineteenth century and one of the eighth century. In taking this view we may therefore assume that the existing Rebab has nearly all in common with its Eastern namesake of the eighth century. The rude and gross character of the instrument is remarkable, and renders any connection between it and the Rebec of Europe in the Middle Ages somewhat difficult to realise. Having no certain knowledge of the form of the ancient Rebab, our views regarding its connection with the Rebec must necessarily be speculative, and mainly dependent upon the etymological thread which is drawn between the words Rebec and Rebab. It is worthy of notice in relation to the opinion held by Sir John Hawkins and many other musical historians as to a bowed instrument of the Fiddle kind having been introduced into Spain from the East in the eighth century, that we possess no certain evidence of bowed instrument cultivation in Spain between the eighth and twelfth centuries, whilst we have proof of the use of bowed instruments both in Germany and in England within that period. The evidence we have of the use of a description of Viol at that time, from the carvings on the Portico della Gloria of the Church of Santiago da Compostella, does not carry conviction that a bow was used, since none is represented.

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