Books › Musical instruments, 1908 › scan 190
Scan 190
Musical instruments, 1908
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1shape somewhat resembled the crwth, and which, with some slight modifications, is still occasionally to be found in Iceland, where it is called langspiel; and the fithele of the Anglo-Saxons.
3Such were the instruments from which our violin has gradually been developed, until it attained, in the seventeenth century, that degree of perfection which has never since been surpassed. The violin makers whose instruments are still most highly valued are:—Antonio Amati, whose most flourishing period dates between the years 1592 and 1619; Nicolo Amati, the nephew of the preceding, 1662-1692; Giuseppe Guarneri, 1690-1707; Antonio Stradivari, 1700-1725; and Jakob Stainer, 1650-1670. All these celebrated makers, except Jakob Stainer, were Italians, living at Cremona. Jakob Stainer (or Jacobus Steiner) was a native of Absam, a village near Innsbruck in the Tyrol. Few musical instruments have experienced so great an increase in price as the violins of these celebrated makers. Stainer used himself to carry his violins to the monasteries situated in the neighbourhood of Absam, where he lived. He sold them at 40 florins apiece. It was not until after his death that his workmanship was duly appreciated.
5The viola da gamba (French, basse de viole; German, Kniegeige) derives its name from its being held between the knees of the performer (Figs. 54 and 55). It was the predecessor of the violoncello, and was made with frets. It was a favourite instrument in England at the time of Queen Elizabeth, and even ladies played it occasionally. In England it was called base viol, and also viol-de-gambo. Sir Toby Belch, in Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," says of Sir Andrew Aguecheek:—
7"He plays o' the viol-de-gamboys, and speaks three or four languages word for word without book, and hath all the good gifts of nature."
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