Books › The heart of music; the story of the violin, 1906 › scan 115
Scan 115
The heart of music; the story of the violin, 1906
12 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1The Dark Days
3So at a time when the Assyrians and Greeks and people of the Empire had their various stringed instruments, the Celts were not behind in musical development. It is, however, worth noting that those extraordinary people, the Phoenicians — cosmic bees carrying pollen between nations — had invaded Wales at a much earlier period and brought with them, as usual, a love for adornment and the rudiments of Eastern culture.
5In the native Welsh the lyre, adopted by the Britons as their national instrument, was called crwth (pronounced crooth). But with the strong Roman colouring that affected all Britons so intensely, the word crwth became Latinised into chrotta. In the later records it is sometimes called the one and sometimes the other.
7To the early Britons this instrument was a never failing inspiration and spur. In war the armies were always accompanied by musicians and singers, in order that, should their zeal flag, they might be played on into the battle by war-songs and clanging strings.
9Diodorus Siculus says: "With instruments like lyres in their hands, the British Minstrels advanced at the head of their armies."
11In those primitive, barbaric days, when existence was a battle, when every man's hand was set
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