Books › the history of the violin, 1864 › scan 172
Scan 172
the history of the violin, 1864
4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 150. See the scan on archive.org.
1conclusions upon my viall, in order to the inventing a better theory of musick than hath yet been abroad; and I think, verily, I shall do it." However, we do not find that he did do it, but in this he only failed with other great men.
3It might be considered presumptuous in us to suggest even, whether the rules of harmony might not be somewhat simplified; but in such case, what would become of the learning of those who know the nomenclature, are acquainted with the tools, but know little of the working, yet still keep you at bay with hard terms, unless you are able to meet them with their own weapons. However, all professions, whether musical, medical, legal, or carpentering, must have their technicalities, though the genius of the age is tending gradually to remove or lessen them. Even, however, with the use of them we cannot fix on the pitch in music. We find a certain natural note has thirty-two vibrations, and therefore fix upon a certain number of vibrations, the figures denoting which form no multiple of 32, as the recognised pitch of a note of the same name four octaves higher. We are not agreed upon the division of the minor scale—scarcely, indeed, of the major—and as to the variation in the different keys, involving however, probably, some troublesome calculations, we can give little if any explanation. Harrison, the celebrated chronometer-maker, as mentioned in Smith's "Harmonics," took the interval of a major third to that of the octave, as the diameter of a circle to its circumference, and adjusted the frets on his viol accordingly; so that, as the circumference of a circle is a little more than three diameters (that is, about 3 1/7), so is a perfect octave a little more than three major thirds. However, under all circumstances, it is not surprising that Pepys did not do it.
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