Books › The Violin: How to Master It, 1880 › scan 6
Scan 6
The Violin: How to Master It, 1880
9 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE VIOLIN:
2HOW TO MASTER IT
4CHAPTER I.
5The Powers of the Violin.
7No instrument ever has been—or ever will be, I suspect—
8invented capable of even approaching the violin in extraordinary power and variety of expression. Its vocal singing; its smooth sliding; the impassioned power of a sweep from one end of the string to the other; its weird tremola; its pensive and velvety legato; its clear, bird-like harmonics; its pearly staccato bow; its wailing chords; the mellow vox humana of its bass string; the flute-like sweetness of its third; and the ringing brilliance of its upper register, can scarcely be excelled even by the human voice. All other instruments give but a clumsy imitation: this all but outrivals the thing imitated. Hear the overtures of Semiramide or William Tell imitated on a pianoforte or organ—for even under the fingers of a master it can be but an imitation—observe how all the short notes are either buried in a mass of groaning harmony, or never attempted to be fingered; then hear the same compositions rendered by a full orchestra, every note, however short, standing out sharp and clear, and then understand in part what makes the violin monarch of every musical instrument. Again, hear a piece of dance music, no matter of what nationality, executed by a flute or pianoforte, and afterwards listen to the same piece performed on the violin. The first is a theatrical scene—all scrabbling and coarse daubing—compared with the clearness and minute beauty of a picture by Raphael. The shortest note, in the faintest whisper or most noisy fortissimo, the most rapid run or the swiftest chromatics, can be executed with a precision and perfection
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