Books › Chats on violins, 1905 › scan 21
Scan 21
Chats on violins, 1905
2 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1violin as the invention of any one man; rather it appears to be the result of a collection of inventions which ingenious men have made in different centuries. For instance, from the primitive twang of the hunting-bow came the first suggestion of a musical sound produced by a vibratory string. From Mercurie's invention of the Lyre played with a plectrum (bow) came the first idea of three or more strings on one instrument. From the monochord invented in the third century by Claudes Ptolemeus, came the first idea of a peg by which to regulate the tension of a string; from the Rebec, six centuries later, came the first idea of a finger-board, and the foundation of the pitch of the first three strings of the fiddle. From the Crouth came the first idea of ribs to join the belly and back. Through the ancient custom of holding bow instruments between the knees came the gradual inward curving of the ribs. Finally, from the early Viols, which first appeared in the fifteenth century in Germany, came the crude outline of the violin. Very bulky and heavy looking were these early Viols, and terribly uncomfortable to play on; yet one can distinctly trace in
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