Books › A popular account of ancient musical instruments and their development, as illustrated by typical examples in the Galpin collection at Hatfield, Broad Oak, Essex, 1897 › scan 66
Scan 66
A popular account of ancient musical instruments and their development, as illustrated by typical examples in the Galpin collection at Hatfield, Broad Oak, Essex, 1897
2 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 48. See the scan on archive.org.
1this instrument produces tones of a most distressing nature. It is properly played wholly in natural harmonics. Grove, in his Dictionary of Music, says: "The facility with which the marine trumpet yields the natural harmonics is due to its single string and lopsided bridge. Paganini's extraordinary effects in harmonics on a single string were, in fact, produced by temporarily converting his violin into a small marine trumpet. That a great player placed his single fourth string on the treble side of the bridge, and, leaving the bass foot of the bridge comparatively loose, he then produced a powerful reedy tone, and obtained unlimited command over the harmonics. The marine trumpet was anciently used as a street instrument by mendicant musicians, and those who have heard it will agree with an ancient author that it sounds best at a distance. The name of marine trumpet was probably given to it on its introduction to Italy on account of its external resemblance to the
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