Scan 13
Researches into the early history of the violin family, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 3. See the scan on archive.org.
1term "mediaeval." The reader, should he not agree with the conclusions I have drawn from the evidences, may therefore find this discussion nevertheless serviceable, inasmuch as it supplies him with a number of carefully selected authentic documents, from which he may form his own theory; true, they are too scanty to convey all the desirable information.
3As regards the musical instruments of the early mediaeval centuries, we possess scarcely any literary records; and respecting the later centuries, we have to consult poetical productions, which do not generally afford the most reliable evidence. No doubt the names of musical instruments were not unfrequently used rather indiscriminately by poets, just as is the case at the present day. Nor are the old records written in prose always more elucidating; yet, with the assistance of the representations to be found on sculptures and in paintings, it is possible to obtain a fairly accurate notion of the early mediaeval instruments, especially as instruments similar to those which we find depicted are still in use in some countries. An acquaintance with the musical instruments of foreign nations in different stages of civilisation, extant at the present day, certainly facilitates these researches.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.