Scan 96
Researches into the early history of the violin family, 1883
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 86. See the scan on archive.org.
1The illustration on page 85 represents a fine specimen of a Persian three-stringed rebab still in use. The shape of the instrument is of the old type; but the neck is provided with a special fingerboard, which is not the case with the most ordinary rebab.
3It appears strange that Fétis should have remained unacquainted with this kind of rebab, which represents the old species originally introduced into Europe. He mistakes for it the square-shaped rebab-esh-sha'er; and most of the subsequent writers on the subject have adopted his explanation without further comment. Take, for instance, the description and illustration of the rebab in Abele's treatise on the violin, or the statement of Dr. Schebek, in his essay on the violin manufacture in Italy. The latter points to the rebab of the Javanese as representing the instrument in question, while even a superficial acquaintance with the Asiatic instruments played with a bow would have convinced him that the Javanese rebab is a variety of the kemangeh-a-gouz introduced into Java by the Arabs. Like the kemangeh-a-gouz, the rebab-esh-sha'er, and the rebab-el-mughanee of the Arabs, the Javanese rebab may be regarded as a sort of eastern violoncello, since these instruments are placed in a perpendicular direction before the legs. They are for this purpose provided with a rod serving as a foot to support them.
5It may prevent further misapprehension if illustrations of these instruments are here inserted, with short descriptions, which I have had the opportunity of carefully examining.
7The Javanese rebab is an elegant instrument, measuring about three feet in length. Its two tuning-peggs are eight inches long. They are usually made of ivory neatly turned,
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