Scan 102
The American History and Encyclopedia of Music, 1924
6 lines. Read by computer on 15 September 2026. Printed page 80. See the scan on archive.org.
1The English kit and the French pochette, miniature instruments used by dancing masters of the Eighteenth Century, were so small that they could be carried in coat pockets, and could be played by the teacher as he demonstrated the steps. The zither with plucked strings has been changed into the streich-zither, or philomele, by the use of a bow. The body resembles that of a violin, but the neck is fretted, the construction is crude, and the tone is but a sorry imitation of that of the violin.
3The tromba marina has not been mentioned in this evolution, for it can hardly be considered as an ancestor of the violin; it is rather to be looked upon as a descendant of the monochord of Pythagoras, to which the bow had been adapted. This monochord was diversely used by gentle nuns to accompany their hymns to the Virgin, and for many centuries in giving signals upon vessels.
5The hurdy-gurdy, with its rosined wheel, provided later with a keyboard, was first used by the minstrels, and last by the Nineteenth Century street mendicants. Many of the handsome lutes were sacrificed in constructing the hurdy-gurdies, or vielles, as the French called them. The pear-shaped bodies were thought to impart especially pleasing qualities to the voices, owing to their powers of resonance. These instruments grew into an international prominence, and the traveler found them upon the street corners of Europe, England and America, and as a consequence the name has been incorrectly passed down to the street pianos of today. They are not of much importance musically, but possess romantic associations. Pepys, in his diary under the date of October 5, 1664, tells of an English invention belonging to the hurdy-gurdy family, which he had inspected on that day. As the scene of preparation is brought into view, the anecdote contains what is almost pathos, and in the minds of the readers there remains no doubt as to the career of the "Viall." "To the Musique-Meeting at the Post-office, where I was once before. And thither anon came all the Gresham College, and a great deal of noble
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