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 207
Scan 207
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
4 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. Printed page 186. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHAPTER XIV.
3N the present century, the instruments of the violin class have been perfectly established, the viol class being now obsolete, except as matters of curiosity. But with all our advances in practical skill, we have been unable to improve on the models known three hundred years since, unless it may be in some of the minor details. Some experiments were made in France for the purpose, as was considered, of improving the shape and tone of the violin. Chanot, an officer in the French army, and the son, it is said, of the violin-maker Chagniot, proposed to make the violin of a flatter model, with the sides less curved inwards, the sound-holes straighter, and the bar in the centre of the upper vibrating plate; in fact, something in shape like the old viol, or modern guitar. It was submitted to a committee of the French Academy in 1817, who, after three trials, decided in its favour, considering the tone to be of superior quality, and not inferior, indeed, to the Italian instruments. It was not, however, brought into use, and it was found, after a time, that the tone did not last. Baud, a maker at Versailles, submitted to the Institute in 1810 a violin without bars, which he fancied interfered with the vibrations; however, the report of the Institute was not favourable. In 1819 Felix Savart, M.D., published "Mémoire sur la Construction des Instrumens
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