Scan 76
Researches into the early history of the violin family, 1883
11 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 66. See the scan on archive.org.
1regards any statements respecting music and musical instruments. An example showing how unreliable their statements sometimes are is afforded in a verse by Venantius Fortunatus, in which we have a description of the church in Paris, and of its clergy, at the time when Saint Germain was bishop of this city—that is to say, about the middle of the sixth century. Venantius Fortunatus says that the singing of the Psalms was accompanied by the sounds of the organ, lyre, flutes, trumpets, cymbals, and drums."
3Fétis quotes the verse alluded to, and continues:—
4"These names of instruments were required by Venantius Fortunatus for the euphony of his verses, and he took them from the poets of antiquity without troubling himself about the improbability of the combination of such instruments in a church for accompanying the Psalms."
6Notwithstanding this sensible observation, Fétis cites the often-quoted lines from the poem of Venantius Fortunatus in proof of his opinion that the chrotta of the sixth century was the crwth played with a bow; because he had to uphold a preconceived impression derived from Edward Jones, Sir John Hawkins, and other previous advocates of the Welsh origin of this instrument.
8Probably Chrotta Britanna was meant by Venantius Fortunatus to refer to a popular instrument of the inhabitants of Brittany, in France, who lived in the neighbourhood of Poictiers, where he was bishop. Although these Britons were a kinsfolk of the Celtic race in England, it does not necessarily follow that the latter had the same musical instruments which were in use in Brittany. This proposition ought not to be accepted as an ascertained fact until more weighty evidences are forthcoming than those which we possess at present.
10The chrotta seems to have been identical with the common Eastern lyre, called by the Greeks chelys, and by the Romans testudo. This lyre was introduced into Central and Western Europe at an early period, probably at the time of the Roman conquests. The strings were twanged with the fingers and also with a plectrum. Representations of this instrument, evidencing its existence in Western Europe
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