Books › the history of the violin, 1864 › scan 198
Scan 198
the history of the violin, 1864
8 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 176. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHAPTER XIII.
3HE bass-viol was still occasionally practised by ladies in England in the eighteenth century (indeed we have known lady performers on the violoncello at the present time). In Vanbrugh's "Relapse," it is said of one, "the parson of the parish teaches her to play on the bass-viol, the clerk to sing, her nurse to dress, and her father to dance." In "The Levellers," a dialogue between two young ladies concerning matrimony, 1703, Politica, a tradesman's daughter, describing her education at a boarding school, says she "learned to sing, to play on the bass-viol, virginals, spinnet, and guitar."
5The first opera on the English stage was "Arsinoe," set to music by Thomas Clayton, and performed at Drury Lane in 1707. William Corbet was the leader, but we do not know of what instruments the orchestra was composed. Corbet, who was a fine player, advertised for sale, "Stainers' Cremona violins and bases, with the four celebrated violins of Corelli, Gobbo, Torelli, and Nic. Cosimi;" he left his best instruments to Gresham College, and 10l. a-year for the care of them.
7Concerts now became frequent, gradually increasing in merit, until the establishment of the professional concerts in the latter part of the century, the Ancient Concerts, the Philharmonic, now of half a century standing,
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.