Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 201
Scan 201
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
2 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 187. See the scan on archive.org.
1before referred to, is supposed to have taken to France as a reminiscence of his Italian war in 1482, one might almost conclude that the English viol was derived from the same fertile source. At whatever time the viol manufacture became an established industry here, it is, at any rate, improbable that it was either invented or developed in this country. The oldest illustration of a viol is, I believe, to be found in a sculptured decoration on Notre Dame, in Paris. The official existence of that cathedral extends, of course, to the first centuries of the Christian era, but the present edifice, on which these sculptures are found, dates from the thirteenth century. On the other hand, Melrose Abbey, on which the earlier crwth is found, was erected in the first years of the fourteenth century. But even our own earliest writers on such topics do not, in the most distant manner, formulate such a claim. Roger North, the materials for whose manuscript, "Memoires of Musick," were probably compiled somewhere about the period of Rousseau's publication—the date affixed to the work when complete is 1728, but North was born in 1650—says: "Nor is there any hint when the viol kind came first in use. Had the Greeks known it, some deity for certain had been the inventor, and more worthily than Apollo of the harp." And further, "I cannot but esteem it perfectly Gothick, and entred with those barbarous nations settled in Italy, and from thence spread into all the neighbour nations round about, and now is in possession, and like to hold it, as a principall squadron in the instrumental navy." He was mistaken, of course, as to its hold in musical circles, for at the very time he wrote it was falling into disuse in Italy, and, to some
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.