Bow & Bridge Violin and bow makers, as the old books printed them

Books › Notice of Anthony Stradivari, the celebrated violin-maker, known by the name of Stradivarius:, 1864 › scan 49

Scan 49

Notice of Anthony Stradivari, the celebrated violin-maker, known by the name of Stradivarius:, 1864

6 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 27. See the scan on archive.org.

1of the ninth century, and an engraving of it has also been given by the Abbot Gerbert*. I know an instrument of the same class—that is, a genuine rote, and not a crouth, for it has no neck—in a sculpture of the Cathedral of Amiens, which dates from the fifteenth century. From all evidence, the strings of this instrument were pulled; it was a cithara, a rote. We see, then, that the erudition of Bottée de Toulmont is in fault, and that the rote was not a bow-instrument. M. Coussemaker, true to his system of borrowing, without citing those from whom he copies, has not the conjectural discretion of his predecessor; he adopts the notion without ceremony, and expresses himself categorically in these terms:—"Although chiefly in use among the Britons, the crout was of barbarous origin, and has taken the name of rota among the poets and romance writers of the middle ages. Many authors have thought that the term rote was given to the hurdy-gurdy (vielle); but this is erroneous. Rota or rottta is not derived from rottare, but rather from chrotta, a German word, of which the sign of aspiration, ch, has been suppressed, as in the case of many names of the same origin."† I have merely entered into these details in order to dispel an error which has been accredited among archaeologists, who copy from each other, without giving themselves the trouble to verify statements. If the rote is often mentioned by poets and writers before or after bow-instruments, this in no way
3* De Cantu et Musica, vol. ii, Tab. xxxii, fig. 17.
5† Essai sur les instruments de musique du moyen âge, in the Annales archéologiques of Didron, vol. iii, p. 152.

The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.