Books › The violin : some account of that leading instrument and its most eminent professors, from its earliest date to the present time : with hints to amateurs, anecdotes, etc., 1852 › scan 381
Scan 381
The violin : some account of that leading instrument and its most eminent professors, from its earliest date to the present time : with hints to amateurs, anecdotes, etc., 1852
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 365. See the scan on archive.org.
1tion of what fell from the others, than by advancing any ideas of his own. The Tenor was a solid, profound, and sententious personage, who gave support to the remarks of the First Violin, by maxims of a laconic turn, but of striking truth. As for the Violoncello, 'twas a good woman, of a somewhat babbling inclination, who said nothing to signify overmuch, but yet would not be without her share in the conversation. She contributed a certain grace to it, however, and, whilst she was talking, the other interlocutors got time to breathe! One thing, with respect to her, was not difficult to discover—namely, that she cherished a secret bias for the Tenor, and gave him the preference over his instrumental brethren."
3If these comparisons should appear too fanciful, let it be remembered that the subject is inviting, and might even be carried a good deal further. We should only wonder that Monsieur Beyle's clever female friend, having contrived to make up so snug a little party, did not still further develop their capabilities, and explain, "avec circonstance," the matter of their amiable chit-chat. Why she should have chosen, by the by, to assign to the Violoncello the feminine gender, is by no means obvious. According to the general rules of proportion, which govern sex, it would be otherwise. Perhaps the creation of that instrument subsequently to the fiddle, as a help-mate to it, may have suggested this notion to our speculatist; but, n'importe; let us be content, rather than differ with a lady, to allow personification under the softer sex to the instrument in question, which may then figure characteristically, like one of Byron's heroines, as
5"Somewhat large, and languishing, and lazy."
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