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 128
Scan 128
A descriptive catalogue of the musical instruments in the South Kensington museum, preceded by an essay on the history of musical instruments, 1874
8 lines. Read by computer on 14 September 2026. Printed page 114. See the scan on archive.org.
1capable of producing, as well as its elevating influence upon the devotional feelings.
3The two positions in which we find here the vielle held is worthy of notice, inasmuch as it refers the inquirer further back than might be expected for the origin of our peculiar method of holding the violin, and the violoncello, in playing. There were several kinds of the vielle in use differing in size and in compass of sound. The most common number of its strings was five. It was tuned in various ways, according to the particular kind of vielle. One kind had a string which was tuned to the note running at the side of the finger-board instead of over it; this string was, therefore, only capable of producing a single tone. The four other strings were tuned thus,— Two other species, on which all the strings were placed over the finger-board, were tuned,— and
5The contrivance of placing a string or two at the side of the finger-board is evidently very old, and was also gradually adopted on other instruments of the violin class of a somewhat later period than that of the vielle; for instance, on the lira di braccio of the Italians. It was likewise adopted on the lute, to obtain a fuller power in the bass; and hence arose the theorbo, the arch-lute, and other varieties of the old lute.
7A grand assemblage of musical performers (Fig. 100) is represented on the Portico della Gloria of the famous Pilgrimage Church of Santiago da Compostella, in Spain. This Triple Portal, which is stated by an inscription on the lintel to have been executed by one Master Mateo, in the year 1188, consists of a large semicircular arch, with a smaller arch on either side. The central arch is filled by a tympanum, on which are numerous figures in high relief, the principal being a colossal seated figure of our Blessed Lord, surrounded by figures of the Evangelists and of Angels bearing the instruments of His Passion; the rest of the space being filled up by a number of small figures representing the blessed. Around the tympanum are twenty-four life-sized seated figures, representing the twenty-four Elders seen by St. John in the Apocalypse, each with an instrument of music. These instruments are carefully represented, and are of great interest as showing those in use in Spain at about the twelfth century.
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