Books › Chats on violins, 1905 › scan 63
Scan 63
Chats on violins, 1905
16 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 45. See the scan on archive.org.
1Viols and Early Violins
3Playford, a music publisher of the period, give an amusing idea of the low esteem in which the Violin was held. Mace's instructions to make a "true and sizeable Chest of Viols" has a smack of the cookery book.
5He says:
7"After all this ou may add to your presse a pair of violins to be in readiness for any extraordinarily jolly or jocund consort occasion; but never use them but with the provisio, viz.: Be sure you make an equal provision for them by addition and strength of basses so that they may not outcry the rest of the music (the basses especially)."
9John Playford says:
11"The treble violin is a cheerful and sprightly instrument," and he instructs the pupil to hold it thus:
13"First the violin is usually played above hand, the neck thereof being held by the left hand, the lower part must be rested on the left breast a little below the shoulder."
15These primitive instructions and remarks about the Violin and its method have quite a pathetic ring about them. They are so evidently written by men who secretly frown
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