Books › The Violin: A concise exposition of the general principles of construction.., 1871 › scan 27
Scan 27
The Violin: A concise exposition of the general principles of construction.., 1871
11 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1edral; in the Musurgia of Lucinius; on the façade of Amiens Cathedral;—all the foregoing being ascribed to a pretty early period. As previously remarked, the term "Fiddler" cannot be accepted to signify "Violinist" at all times, although it was evidently used by many ancient writers to designate a player on the violin; yet in numerous cases, where early mention is made of the word, it is impossible that it can be classed as violinist. In the song of the Nibelungen, which is considered the most ancient of all the Teutonic poetical romances which have been preserved entire, we find the following:—
3"Folker knight of courage, bold by his side sat he;
4A sharp and mighty fiddle-stick held the hero free;"
6again,
8"Raging like a savage bear; a fiddler mad is he;
9Praised be my luck that from the fiend safely I could flee"—
10where thus the fiddle-stick is made to represent the sword of the warrior. This poem is ascribed to the eleventh century; and again, in the following century, in the life of St. Christopher, mention is made of "the fithele and of song." Fiddlers also formed a part of the Royal Household in the fifteenth century,—their number about this time having been limited to three, and in the same century mention is made of several throughout Scotland, as "the fidelar of Dunbar," "the brokin-bakkit fithelar in Sanct Androws," whilst at the commencement of the following century every Scottish town possessed a "fithelar," as various ancient documents testify. In 1505 a "hielan fithelar" is spoken of as having received gratuities in Perth. The violin
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.