Scan 85
The violin & its story : or the history & construction of the violin, 1905
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 69. See the scan on archive.org.
1bellies, which when separate did not vibrate the same number of times, and consequently did not give the same note, were united they then gave one note. The same results came about with a right-angled closed chest.
3By blowing through a small pipe into several Stradivarius violins, and thus setting the enclosed volume of air into vibration, Savart found that they always gave the note corresponding to 512 vibrations per second, or the C flat of our own time. In the beginning of the eighteenth century, when Stradivarius made most of his best instruments, the pitch was half a tone lower than it is to-day, and thus—adopting Savart's mode of expression—all that master's violins were "tuned"* to the above note.
5Savart announced his discovery as one of real importance to the science and industry of violin making. Unless these conditions were complied with, any violin would leave much to be desired. If the enclosed volume of air gave the lower registers of the instrument would be bad; but if the note was or the upper registers would be bad, while the lower would resemble those of a viola.
7In order to find out what effect the air volume had on the strength of tone, Savart had made a rectangular violin,
9* This means that the enclosed air, made to sound by blowing through a small pipe, gave that note.—Translator.
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.