Scan 320
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1875
4 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 258. See the scan on archive.org.
1the Violin was in use prior to 1550. There is, however, considerable doubt about the proper nomenclature of the instruments. In a picture it is difficult to distinguish Viols from Violins, and still more so to define the mode of stringing, which is an important point in settling the class to which the instrument belongs. There was an instrument that was in use prior to 1600 which had much in common with our Violoncello, and yet cannot be identified with it, since it had five strings, whereas, from about the middle of the 17th century, the Violoncello was an instrument of definite character, and possessed four strings only. If Tintoret and Paul Veronese used an instrument having the shape of the Violoncello with four strings, then, clearly, that instrument dates back much further than has been hitherto imagined. Leaving, however, these interesting historical points for the consideration of connoisseurs, I will proceed to notice the earliest player on the Violin, of whom we have any account worthy of attention, viz., Baltazarina, a native of Piedmont. He removed to France in the year 1577, whither he was sent by Marshal Brissac to superintend the music of Catherine de Médicis. He delighted the court as much by his skill on the Violin as by his writing of ballet music.
3About the year 1583 a new species of music made way in Italy which exercised a marked effect on the progress of the Violin, namely, that of the concert orchestra. It was chiefly cultivated at
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