Scan 253
A dictionary of old English music & musical instruments 1923, 1923
6 lines. Read by computer on 19 September 2026. Printed page 225. See the scan on archive.org.
1writers, so like that of a trumpet that no further search after the origin of the first half of the name need be attempted. The string was put into vibration with a short bow applied near the bridge. In operation, the instrument rested against the shoulder of the standing performer, its wide end on the ground. The string, which was of the thickness of a 'cello D-string, was stopped lightly with the thumb, and only harmonics were used. This being the case, it produced only the series of notes peculiar to the natural trumpet.
3The fact that the instrument was particularly adapted to the production of overtones caused it to be developed, and further strings of varying length and differing tuning were added. These extra strings were not played with the bow, but merely used to vibrate in response to some note produced on the bowed string. Glareanus mentions a two-stringed Trumpet Marine. Praetorius gives the information that the first added string was half the length of the bowed string, thus producing the octave; but this, of course, was unnecessary, since modification by means of the tuning peg could easily have secured an octave without undue consideration for the length of the string. Praetorius (Theatrum Instrumentorum, 1620) gives an illustration of a four-stringed specimen, each string of different length. This particular picture shows the construction of the instrument very well. In Germany the term Tromba Marina seems to have been reserved for the older monochord form, and a variant—Trumscheidt—was used for the three- and four-stringed specimens (v. Valentin Trichter, Curiöses … Exercitien Lexicon, 1742). The sympathetic strings that interested Pepys so much were often placed inside the soundbox, and thus produced very peculiar effects from no apparent cause. Vidal speaks of such an example in the Conservatoire of Paris, and another with forty-two sympathetic strings is in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. The present writer remembers having seen a very fine collection of these quaint instruments in the museum of Dr. D. F. Scheurleer at The Hague.
5The tone produced by the Trumpet Marine varied with the skill of the performer, and judging by the widely different opinions expressed by many writers, one is forced to the conclusion that the skill of the performers varied too. The combination of the floating tone produced by harmonics with
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