Books › The Story of the Violin, 1914 › scan 94
Scan 94
The Story of the Violin, 1914
10 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Instrument of Respectability
3di spalla," which we see depicted on Raphael's picture, "Apollo in Parnassus," in the hands of Apollo. The great painter, it is said, took for his model of the Greek god the then celebrated viol-player, Sansecondo. Further, there existed the "viola bastarde," a viol with six strings of the bass-viol kind, a little larger (broader) than the viola da gamba, and held like the latter—that is, like our 'cello—between the knees. Also, the "viola di lira," a little smaller than the 'cello; and the "viola di bordone" (Fig. 16), a formidable-looking affair with six strings, underneath which were twenty-two metal strings¹ that served as sympathetic strings; and last, the "viola d'amour," which is yet occasionally heard in concerts.
5Fancy a large viola: seven strings, partly gut, partly covered with silver wire, tuned as follows:—
7¹ See Catalogue of Musical Instruments, South Kensington Museum, by Carl Engel.
9FIG. 16.—VIOLA DI BORDONE. Descriptive Catalogue, South Kensington Museum.
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