Books › A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments in the South Kensington museum, preceded by an essay on the history of musical instruments, 1874 › scan 126
Scan 126
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments in the South Kensington museum, preceded by an essay on the history of musical instruments, 1874
10 lines. Read by computer on 13 September 2026. Printed page 112. See the scan on archive.org.
1The triangle nearly resembled the instrument of this name in use at the present day; it was, however, more elegant in shape, and had some metal ornamentation in the middle.
3The tintinnabulum consisted of a number of bells arranged in regular order and suspended in a frame.
5Respecting the orchestras, or musical bands, represented on monuments of the Middle Ages, there can hardly be a doubt that the artists who made them were not unfrequently led by their imagination rather than by an adherence to actual fact. It is, however, not likely that they introduced into such representations instruments that were never admitted in the orchestras which they depicted, and which would have appeared inappropriate to the contemporaries of the artists. An examination of one or two of the orchestras may therefore find a place here, especially as they throw some additional light upon the characteristics of the instrumental music of mediæval time.
7A very interesting group of musical performers, dating, it is said, from the end of the eleventh century, is preserved in a bas-relief which formerly ornamented the Abbey of St. Georges de Boscherville near Rouen, and which is now removed to the Museum of Rouen. The Abbey of Boscherville was founded in the year 1066 by Raoul Sire de Tancarville. The orchestra alluded to, (Fig. 99), comprises twelve performers, most of whom wear a crown. The first of them plays upon a vielle, or viol, which he holds between his knees as the violoncello is held. His instrument is scarcely as large as the smallest viola da gamba. By his side are a royal lady and her attendant, the former playing on an organistrum of which the latter is turning the wheel. Next to these is represented a performer on a syrinx of the kind shown in the engraving Fig. 91; and next to him a performer on a stringed instrument resembling a lute, which, however, is too much dilapidated to be recognizable. Then we have a musician with a small stringed instrument resembling the nablum, Fig. 74. The next musician, also represented as a royal personage, plays on a small species of harp. Then follows a crowned musician playing the vielle, which he holds in almost precisely the same manner as the violin is held. Again, another, likewise crowned, plays upon a harp, using with the right hand a plectrum, and with the left hand merely his fingers. The last two performers, apparently a nobleman and a gentlewoman, are engaged in striking the tintinnabulum,—a set of bells in a frame.
9In this group of crowned and respectable minstrels the sculptor has introduced a tumbler standing on his head, perhaps the vocalist of the company, as he has no instrument to play upon. Very likely the sculptor desired to symbolize the hilarious effects which music is
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