Books › A special loan exhibition of musical instruments, manuscripts, books, portraits, and other mementoes of music and musicians, formed to commemorate the tercentenary of the granting by King James I of a charter of incorporation to the Worshipful company of musicians in 1604 .., 1904 › scan 127
Scan 127
A special loan exhibition of musical instruments, manuscripts, books, portraits, and other mementoes of music and musicians, formed to commemorate the tercentenary of the granting by King James I of a charter of incorporation to the Worshipful company of musicians in 1604 .., 1904
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1But the aim of the Musicians' Company has not been to display endless specimens of "Strads" and "Josephs," but rather to make the Exhibition as far as possible of historical interest. The evolution from Viol to Violin, or from Gamba to 'Cello, the place taken by England in those days when a "chest of Viols" was the property of every gentleman, these are points which are illustrated in a manner which the student will appreciate, and perhaps also the general public, which seems to take keener interest in all that pertains to the Violin every year. Whereas a century ago the doings of great Violinists were of moment only to an esoteric circle, to-day the papers are filled with the doings of Kubelik and Marie Hall, of Vecsey, or of whomever the latest prodigy may be, whilst the account of the Celebration of Dr. Joachim's Diamond Jubilee will have been read by millions. The question of the descent of the Violin is, one may reasonably hope, of considerable interest to the bulk of the visitors to this Exhibition.
3The exhibits will of course speak for themselves, but it may be pointed out that the Lyra di braccio, made in Brescia in 1535, and considered by experts to be the immediate predecessor of the Violin, is worthy of especial attention. Like most of the great luthiers of the past, Gioan Maria (the name is to be seen on the label—an original one) was a good artist as well as craftsman, the head, a Volute covered with arabesques, being of considerable artistic merit. Full particulars of this instrument are found in the archives at Brescia. The Knee Viols, or Viole da gamba, exhibited include one without a soundpost—"a body without a soul," our French neighbours would say. The fact that with them this adjunct, or connecting rod between upper and lower tables, is known as l'âme du Violon (the soul of the Violin) is proof convincing that it has hitherto been considered indispensable, and when one realises from this instrument that the ancients did altogether without it in the first instance, it comes as a shock to preconceived notions. It widens the gap, already considerable in the matter of tone volume, between Gamba and 'Cello.
5Gasparo da Salo (born 1542) is well represented at this Exhibition. It is well to point out that this
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