Scan 90
Researches into the early history of the violin family, 1883
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 80. See the scan on archive.org.
1In fact, there is no known European instrument played with a bow which is older than the rebec. There are some old Slavonic fiddles which may have been derived direct from Central Asia—such as the Russian gudók, a rude sort of violoncello with three strings, still occasionally found among the Cossacks, and believed by them to be of very high antiquity. However, as the age of the gudók has not been definitely ascertained, the popular belief that it is the oldest fiddle in the world is of but little use for our investigation. The Russian name for the violin, which is skruibka, and still more its Polish equivalent, skrzypcé (derived from skrzyp, "grating"), rather intimates that the Slavonic races formerly considered the sounds produced by the bow as not the most musical; and in this respect they were evidently of one opinion with the Arabs and Persians when these named their fiddle rebab—i.e., "emitting melancholy sounds."
3If the gudók may be supposed to have been derived from the three-stringed rebab, the Slavonic fiddle, gusla, with its single string of black horsehair, suggests a derivation from the Arabic rebab-esh-sha'er, or from the Arabic kemangeh-a-gouz—i.e., "the old viol." The Slavonic term gusla designates "goose"; perhaps the instrument was originally made in the figure of this bird, or it had usually some carving at the top representing the head of a goose. Be this as it may, the bow and the present shape of the gusla have evidently been adopted from the Arabs, or from the Turks, who obtained several of their musical instruments direct from Persia. The Russian gusli, a kind of dulcimer, represents probably the earlier construction and form of the instrument.
5The Kalmuks introduced into Russia a fiddle which came direct from Central Asia without passing through the hands of the Arabs. But this Kalmuk instrument has never been adopted by European nations; besides, it was brought to Russia after the bow was already known in that country. The Kalmuks came to Russia in the thirteenth century.
7The influence of the Arabs upon the cultivation of music can be distinctly traced in several countries of eastern Europe, besides Turkey, where we might naturally expect
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