Books › The Violin and its Music, 1881 › scan 186
Scan 186
The Violin and its Music, 1881
5 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 162. See the scan on archive.org.
1parts; the first treats of the fretted Viola, which at once proves that Violas, like Lutes and Guitars, had frets at this date. The second part teaches how to play the fretted Double Bass, which shows that the notes on these instruments were also mechanically divided; but on the title of this curious work we have yet further interesting information, for it states the book treats of the effect of the false, just, and middle string,* which I take to mean the back, natural, and first position on the finger-board. Here we have a distinct indication of progress in the knowledge of positions. It further states that the work teaches how to place the frets in different ways, which points to different methods of tuning the open strings,† but the last few words on the title are even more interesting: these are, that the book is suitable also to those who play the Viola without frets. Here we have a distinct reference to Violas Fiddle-fashion, and therefore an indication of the coming of the Fiddle to the Viol. In the early pages of my book I have remarked in effect that it may seem but a flight of the imagination to regard the juggler's Fiddle as having been instrumental to the domination of the Viol, and likewise as having dethroned it, and becoming itself the king of instruments; but it is here that we appear to have evidence bearing on this change of fortune.
3* The words used are corda falsa, giosta, et media.
4† In England we appear to have had, a century later, a repetition of this variety of tuning, in Viols tuned "Lyra way" and for "consort."
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