Scan 305
The American History and Encyclopedia of Music, 1910
14 lines. Read by computer on 15 September 2026. Printed page 235. See the scan on archive.org.
1instrument was played. Meyerbeer wrote a solo part for the viola d'amour in Les Huguenots. The softening of the tone by the sympathetic strings and the manner of their vibrations suggested the name. It is now practically obsolete.
3Leopold Mozart refers to the viola d'amour as the English violet, as does Albrechtsberger also. It was the tenor size of a series of instruments with sympathetic strings which were only useful in solos, which fact is the secret of their short life. They were the latest development of the viols and date from the Sixteenth Century. See viol.
5VIOLA DA SPALLA — Bowed Strings. Europe. The large and lower tenor viol. The name spalla was due to the fact that the instrument was played upon the knee, the head being placed over the left shoulder. The strings were six in number. It was smaller than a viola da gamba and gradually changed into the viola. The viola da spalla flourished about the beginning of the Eighteenth Century. See viol.
7VIOLA DI BORDONE — See baryton.
9VIOLA POMPOSA — Bowed Strings. Europe. The name given by Bach to a five stringed viol of large size. It is now entirely obsolete, although compositions for it by Bach are extant. See viol.
11VIOLA-ZITHER — Bowed Strings. Europe. In shape this still more resembles the violin than the philomele to which it is very similar. In tone also it is like the violin. See philomele.
13VIOLIN — Bowed Strings. Europe. From the Sixteenth Century, Italy was rich in violin makers. In Brescia and Cremona were long lines of masters, pupils acquiring the knowledge of teachers. Gaspar da Salo, Mariani, and Bente made Brescia prominent for nearly a century. In consequence, violin composition comes into evidence about 1630 and violin playing attained prominence during the same century. Then the art of playing this instrument was as generally understood as pianoforte playing is today, and the
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