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Scan 197
Grove's Dictionary of music and musicians, 1910
14 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. Printed page 161. See the scan on archive.org.
1back also serves as a support to the rigid sound-post, which in its turn supports the vibrating bridge, the two forming a compound apparatus resting on the thick part of the back as its foundation, and analogous to the reed, fixed at one end and vibrating at the other in the clarinet. In the violin the back has a third function. By reason of its similarity to the belly it vibrates sympathetically with the vibrations produced in the belly by those of the strings and bridge, and thus reinforces the reverberation of the air-waves in the interior. The more powerful tone of the violin, as compared with the viol, is due to this function.
3While the belly of stringed instruments is always of pine, the back is usually of maple, pear, or some other harder wood. The deeply-hollowed backs of the lute and mandoline are built up in sections, and it is customary to give contrast in colour by making these alternately of a white wood, such as maple or pear, and a dark wood, such as walnut or cedar. Some old makers of 'fancy' viols did the same, making the back of alternate strips of maple and cedar or walnut, but the practice is detrimental to the tone. The back of the viol and violin is usually made in two parts cut from a single block, the halves being so disposed as to show a similar but opposite figure in the grain of each. Occasionally the back is made in a single piece; but this practice, as is shown elsewhere, is wasteful.
5The viol, especially in its larger sizes, was long kept in use by the comparative simplicity and cheapness of its back, which is made of two or more flat sections of maple strengthened and made more resonant by stout pieces of pine glued across it. Such a back produces tone of a penetrating quality, but small volume; hence the gradual abandonment of the viol for the more powerful violin with its curved or 'model' back, so called because assimilated to the model of the belly. Like the belly of the violin, the back is thickest in the middle and thins out towards the edges. In a flat-modelled violin the rise of the back is about equal to that of the belly; in a high-modelled one, something less. The earliest Italian violin-makers often painted or elaborately inlaid the backs of their instruments; later ones were content to utilise the opportunity for decoration afforded in the unbroken expanse of the back by displaying the sparkling grain of their finest wood, finishing its curves, both of outline and of section, with mathematical exactness, and covering it with lustrous varnish. Usually the blocks for the back are sawn as wedges radiating from the centre of the tree. Occasionally they are sawn the reverse way, i.e. the tree is squared, as for ordinary use as timber, and the blocks are sawn as planks from the outside; such backs are called 'slab' backs. A 'handsome back' is usually considered a desideratum by purchasers, but some excellent instruments have very plain backs. E. J. P.
7BACKER-GRÖNDAHL, AGATHE URSULA, a famous Norwegian pianist and composer, born Dec. 1, 1847, at Holmestrand. After studying with Kjerulf in her own country, she was a pupil of Kullak in Berlin (1866) and of Bülow in Florence (1867). In 1875 she married O. A. Gröndahl of Christiania. She has composed many songs and pianoforte pieces; the best known of the former is an exquisitely graceful setting of a translation of Shelley's 'To the Queen of my heart.' She has frequently visited England with success (Riemann's Lexikon). M.
9BACKFALL. See AGRÉMENS, p. 53b.
11BACON, RICHARD MACKENZIE, born at Norwich, May 1, 1776, was a musical critic of great acumen, and wrote at a time when sensible musical criticism was a rare thing. His father was proprietor of the Norwich Mercury, which he inherited, and bequeathed to his son. Richard began to write for this journal at seventeen, and its editorship was the standard occupation of his whole life. He is known to musical men as the projector, editor, and chief writer of the Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review, which was the first journal devoted to music in England. The first number was issued in Jan. 1818, and it was for some time continued, as its name implies, quarterly, but the late numbers came out irregularly, the last (completing the tenth volume) appearing in 1829. He contributed musical notes to Colburn's Magazine, and other periodicals. He issued proposals for an extensive musical dictionary, for which he is said to have collected the materials, but it was never printed. In 1824 he published The Elements of Vocal Science, a work of considerable merit, the materials of which had previously appeared in the Musical Magazine. He claims the merit of originating the Norwich Triennial Musical Festival, the first celebration of which was held in 1824 [see History of the Norwich Festival]. He was the author of a Life of Pitt, a Life of the Earl of Suffolk, and of numerous political pamphlets. He died at Cossey, near Norwich, Nov. 27, 1844 (Imp. Dict. of Biog.; Private Sources). E. F. R.
13BADIALI, CESARE, a very distinguished basso cantante; made his first appearance at Trieste, 1827. After achieving a brilliant success at every one of the chief theatres of Italy, and especially at Milan, where he sang in 1830, 1831, and 1832, he was engaged for the opera of Madrid, then at Lisbon, and did not return to Italy till 1838. On his reappearance at Milan, he was welcomed with enthusiasm; and continued to sing there, and at Vienna and Turin, until 1842, when he was appointed principal chamber-singer to the Emperor. He sang afterwards at Rome, Venice, Trieste, Turin, and other towns of less importance. In 1845 he was at Leghorn. The Accademia di S. Cecilia of Rome received him as a member of its body. In 1859 he made his first appearance in London, when
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