Scan 254
A dictionary of old English music & musical instruments 1923, 1923
10 lines. Read by computer on 19 September 2026. Printed page 226. See the scan on archive.org.
1the rattling of the loose foot of the bridge must have been very original, and need not have been at all unpleasant. When Paganini removed three strings from his violin, and played harmonics, he merely converted his instrument into a small Trumpet Marine in effect; for the tension of the single string (G) depressed one side of the bridge only, leaving the other foot fairly loose and capable of independent vibration. Who knows how far the peculiar effects produced by the great violinist were due to such physical causes?
3A great many improvements were introduced, but the present-day importance of the instrument will not merit more details being given under this head. The uses to which the Trumpet Marine was put were many and varied. Its social status fluctuated in different centuries, and those to whom it appealed ranged from the wandering vagabond to the ducal minstrel. In 1619 Praetorius said that "the minstrels carried it about the streets"—yet at the same time it was being used in the laboratories of the serious students of acoustics. One of the most dignified of its uses was to fill a part in the musical service of the nunneries. In this environment it probably took the place of the inaccessible wind-instruments, and it was employed in complete sets of three or four. In the hands of a careful player—one whose hand on the bow was not too heavy—the tone must have been eminently suited to accompany the vocal ensemble. Personally, I see no reason why they should have been less musical than, say, the Bass Cornets. In France the Trumpet Marine became very popular, and in 1666 no fewer than six performers on it were on the lists of the French king's musical establishment. Yet more amazing is it to find that as late as 1767 there were still references to it in the French State Papers. Its use in England was, as we have seen, only very slight from the musical point of view—although learned societies made a good deal of it for acoustical research.
5TRUMP-MARINE. v. TRUMPET MARINE.
7TUCK. v. TUCKET.
9TUCKET: A military call stated by Francis Markham (1622) to have been "a signal for marching used by cavalry." This shows clearly how closely Shakespeare could keep to facts when he introduced technical details: "Then let the trumpet sound the tucket-sonance and the note to mount" (Henry V,
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