Books › The history of the violin, and other instruments played on with the bow from the remotest times to the present. Also, an account of the principal makers, English and foreign, with numerous illustrations, 1864 › scan 22
Scan 22
The history of the violin, and other instruments played on with the bow from the remotest times to the present. Also, an account of the principal makers, English and foreign, with numerous illustrations, 1864
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1pitch depends on the length, thickness, and tension of the strings, and the quality, on the shape, proportions, and materials of the instrument; and, also, on the purity of the strings, and the power, taste, and talent of the performer; the difference between the delightful tones of a performer of the first class, and the twang of a crowdero vile, being such that we can scarcely realize them as proceeding from the same instrument. By one we are soothed until for a time the cares of the world are forgotten, whilst the other seems to rasp against the nerves, and scrapes us to the quick. We are here speaking of the majority of mankind, for there are some few who seem insensible to the charms of music; and among these, even excellent good people, quite unfit for "treasons, strategems, and spoils," but probably defective in organization. King George III. said to Madame D'Arblay (then Miss Burney), that Lady Bell Finch once told him that she had heard there was some difference between a psalm, a minuet, and a country dance, but they all sounded alike to her. On the other hand, there have been excellent musicians who have been excellent in little else. The celebrated Lord Chesterfield told his son that fiddling "puts a gentleman in a very frivolous and contemptible light, and brings him into a good deal of bad company, and takes up a good deal of time which might be much better employed." Considering, however, the nature of Lord Chesterfield's advice to his son in some other respects, we may discard him as any authority. He would probably have approved of the Gentoo Law, which prescribed that the king or rajah should not always be employed in dancing, singing, and playing on musical instruments.
3Curious effects have been produced on animals by music. Fetis mentions a dog, which had such a dislike
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