Scan 44
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1909
8 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 10. See the scan on archive.org.
1of the Church of Santiago da Compostella, does not carry conviction that a bow was used, since none is represented.¹
3That the Spanish were influenced by their Moorish conquerors with regard to music, minstrelsy, and dancing is certain. The origin of such movements as the Saraband, the Morisca (or Morris dance), and the Chaconne,² has been traced to the East. That such dances should have been accompanied by instruments of Eastern origin of the Lute kind may be assumed. Both in Spain and southern France accompanying instruments struck with plectra or twanged with the fingers were adopted at a very early period, and the people of those parts attained to a high state of proficiency—so much so indeed as to have rendered the cultivation of this description of music a national characteristic with them in the use of such instruments. The usage of the bow, however, does not appear to have been cultivated 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.
5¹ In "The Violin and its Music," 1881, page 50, I have assumed their use by the performers on the above mentioned arch, believing it not improbable that the use of the bow was introduced by the settlers in Spain from the North.
7² It need scarcely be said that the Eastern and Spanish ancestor of Bach's Chaconne was terpsichorean, and was unconnected with any kind of scientific musical treatment.
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