Scan 43
The Violin & Its Story: Or the History & Construction of the Violin, 1905
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Judenkünig, on the other hand, speaks of the fiddle as a solo instrument, and classes it as of equal rank and reputation with the lute. We shall see how important is this classification, if we remember that when Judenkünig wrote, the lute was held in similar esteem to that accorded to keyboard instruments in our own time. Indeed, Praetorius sets the lute above all other instruments; he calls it the "fundament und initium," and ranks it as not merely above such instruments as the theorbo, the cither, and the harp, but even higher than the "fiddles and viols." All through this sixteenth century the lute was in Germany the favourite instrument of kings, emperors, princes, and nobles, the highest ladies had it played in their presence; all songs of love and joy were accompanied by it. One author calls it "omnium instrumentorum princeps"—"the chief of all instruments"; another names it "nobillissimo stromento,"—"the most noble instrument"; while a third describes it as "regina instrumentorum"—"the queen of instruments."
3Judenkünig's "Instruction Book" for the "Lute and Fiddle" contains twenty-five pieces, suitable equally for the one or the other instrument, and is of the highest value to us, as throwing a clear light, in many ways, upon the degree of development to which players on the lute and fiddle had then attained. But Judenkünig has helped us further still, by giving us a picture of the "fiddle" as he knew it, and enabling us to see how it was handled. (See Fig. 12).
5The instrument is somewhat large in build, and was tuned thus:—
7The hook-shaped peg-box, bent backwards, enabled the fiddle to hang over the left shoulder, thus leaving free the
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