Scan 117
The American history and encyclopedia of music .., 1908
12 lines. Read by computer on 11 September 2026. Printed page 85. See the scan on archive.org.
1This system of notation is a direct pictorial representation of the actual performance of the music. It is concise and accurate, and possesses the immense advantage of applying to any tuning of the instrument without disturbing the player. But, apart from the particular instrument and tuning for which it was intended, it is meaningless. It does not convey music directly to the brain like the staff notation.
3SECTION II.
5THE VIOLS.
7A great variety of stringed instruments played with a bow, in use in Western Europe from the Middle Ages to about the end of the Eighteenth Century, is comprised under the name viols.
9To study their transformation during six or seven centuries would require a long treatise. We shall mainly consider in these notes the typical perfected viols used from the latter part of the Sixteenth Century until the time when violins were left sole masters of the field.
11The disappearance of the viol is regrettable, for it has not been replaced by the violin. The aims and capabilities of both were differentiated even in the earliest times. The three-stringed rebec, prototype of the latter, dry and sharp, was best for popular tunes and dances. To the viol, with its many strings, low and sweet, refined music and harmony was rightly appropriated. As a consequence of the development of the orchestra, which greatly increased the demand for violin players, professional musicians gradually relinquished the study of the viol, not so serviceable for orchestral purposes. The amateur was left without guidance; and, as in every age he only imitates the master, the viol soon became wholly disused, although it is better adapted for chamber music than its rival, and more resourceful and pleasurable for private use.
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