Scan 46
The violin, its famous makers and their imitators, 1887
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1cultivated sufficiently, if at all, to leave its traces in history, until about the twelfth century, when the Troubadours sought the aid of the Trouvères and Jongleurs. The Trouvères were minstrel poets belonging to Northern France. The Jongleurs entertained their patrons with jests and arch sayings, and were often joined by the Gigeours of Germany to accompany their lays with their Geigen and kindred instruments.
3The foregoing remarks point to the absence of reliable evidence of the existence of a bow—worthy of the name from the point of view of a Violinist—among the Asiatic nations in the early centuries of our era. The Ravanastron of India, the Rebab of Arabia, and other stringed instruments used by the Persians and the Chinese, hardly admit of being looked upon as links in the genealogical Fiddle chain. Whatever the shape and use of ancient Eastern instruments—having something in common with the European Violin—may have been, the slight apparent affinity is accidental, and no real relationship exists between the European and the Asiatic Fiddle.¹
5¹ Mr. Engel, "Researches into the Early History of the Violin Family," page 104, remarks: "It is rarely that the name of an Asiatic musical instrument can be traced to a European origin. There are, however, one or two instances in which this seems to be possible. Thus, the Chinese name Ye-Yia, by which they occasionally designate their Fiddle, may possibly be a corruption of giga or geige, considering that the common name of the Chinese Fiddle is Unheen, and that Macao, where this instrument is said to be called Ye-Yin, has been above three hundred years in the possession of the Portuguese, and in constant communication with European nations." This seems to deprive the argument of the Eastern origin of the Fiddle of weight, and favours the already strong evidence of Scandinavian origin centred in the word Geige.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.