Show t e Music Student Abroad The rhe t Tj Violin 1 lill ill and 1 1 Its li h Evolution By Y Pietro p I I t r HEX one goes Into a great g Phil Phil- W concert concen and observes observe I tho men mean Into their slats I hc hears Ji s tho thu subdued whispers of the violins a as the loving rt of or orl lh their lT masters touch th them m with wilh delicate l vibrations il to te test t the accuracy of or each ach string watches file tho U swift placing pIa of or the I violins under chins latus the uplifted batOl baton ba- ba ton toil tOlor of or th the leader the instantaneous I contact O of or how bow with string and then is swept away on the rl rising crest l of hal har harmony inon mony into lino realms where resale ro ale things sare s sM j M are c forgotten one Is startled to hear a n statistician at on one sl side hide e say a practical Gr Tr at at violins Invention violins practically unknown OO years calS ago aEu And one comes conies down dove to earth tarth with a thud thUll But Brat it i is true true that that statement From tl tie tIC e most ancient times there were pl n plenty a-plenty nty of ot harps zithers dulcimers dulci mers S lyres and lutes Jutes These rhese were ere all stringed instruments but only the harp has maintained Its s standing up to modern modern mod mod- ern times And who would be bold bol enough enough to put the kine- kine of all Instruments Instruments Instruments ments In comparison with a tWan twanging harp David and long ong before him Jubal Cain had tad a harp of a 1 thousand strings The Tho singers cr and dancers who attended the social Jo lal functions presided over by br Jobs Job's dau daughters made merry to tho the sound of kinnar or harp and psaltery or lute Now th there r art are two lar large e 11 dl Ismons of ot I tide the le stringed Instrument family those family those which have th strings s free from the sounding board nd did those which are aro only partially free tree harp and nil The harp anti and tho the lyre have strings which are stretched from rom the the upper frame to the lower sound box free to th the han hand of the player who plucks them 01 or twangs them either cither with or without plectrum A plectrum Is Is' Is a aquill aquill a aquill quill or of ivory ivon or had hard haid d w wood od used to twitch the strings instead of or ordo do doing Ins tidy this with the fingers Harps are held ht hut but the lyres are arc held more mOl or 01 less les horizontally with ono one ell edge e down to permit the pla-or pla or to use his right hand The Thc lute into and th time the viol have both a aMender ail il Mender blender n er neck or fingerboard coming up front from rom the central soun soundboard board along Llong which the th strings aro are stretched up to tope pe pegs u used C l to tune tunc up tho stringy strings to the tho desired pitch A variant of the lute family the KUltar f used by the tho Russian peas peasants ants and called caned balalaika has been making a bl bIg birr sensation in European centers re Ye- recently Plucked b by the swiftly delicate touch louch of fhe Ile fierce Russian peasantry taught and led b by a a. hearted fiery Russian RusI Russian Rus Rus- sian master maRtel these these- Cossacks Cossack have have- ta 1 taught ht us moderns that we l have not I yet ct plumbed the depths of or this despised modern form of or the ancient lute The lute Is tho the mother of th the violin I Books Books t a whole library of them have been written concerning tho the genesis of the h violin Certain It is that In Its resent present form Its ago age is about the time same as as the opera the tho the cultivated at d singing hinging In ing voice instrumental mU music lc as a n separate Identity and the pianoforte In other words the musically wonderful sixteenth sixteenth six six- an and seventeenth se centuries saw the bud blos blossom om and fruitage of or all these forms of or musical al art ripen to a a. perfection which ha has never been surpassed surpassed sur sur- passed except In the tho cas case e of or the tho piano piano- forte l I of or III lII torr were here Ii little Ule fiddles In the tho lla days s 's soC of oC the die famous L ellart but experiments experiments ments were wore constantly going forward forwar with them Tho ancient Welsh Ish has a 0 form although form although clumsy lum and square In ht its outline that outline that SUS' SUS suggests the modern violin to the eye ere K t. t us u more than likely that several forms torms of oC the lute lutc family suggested to tho clever level Italian mater master workers that Cormor form Corm of or musical perfection which camo Into Inlo ben being bein in tho the seventeenth se century and reached perfection In the eighteenth with such geniuses as and Stradivarius When hen first musicians conceived tho the Idea of or playing a vo vocal nl solo 1010 trio or quartet with ono one or more viols they at once saw how poor and rou rough h their Instruments were and began to experiment experiment ment to Improve o them It Is said that when the Duke of or Orleans In Paris Yards wonted wanted Lu Lully Lolly l tho tiro I great musician and Im to pio o- o pare one of tho newl newly invented violin trios written b by Corelli for tor tho French I court Lully couldn't find three violin violin- I in all Paris skilled enough h to pIa play I It so he had hall to have have- havethe the trio suns sung In Iii I I pai parts ts by three court r i Violin of or lire el 11 One of ot the time first viols was ma made e In Its present shape and and called a a. violin because It was a a. small viol viol-by viol viol viol-b by Gaspar Gaspar GaJ- GaJ Gas Gas- par dl Salo Solo who lived in Brescia boand bo- bo I tween 1580 and 1610 1610 M Most rost St Of t the early violins were made there or at at Cremona or somewhere In tho ho north of or J Ital Italy i In the quiet open squares of or I the these little Italian towns lived the greatest violin makers of oC all times Stradivarius and Hero Here th they wrought ht those thos wonderfully fragile and beautiful shapes which are arc now worth north a 1 kings king's ransom These men taught their sons and daughters and pupils from tram dawn till sunset w working rl for or love lore of or their theil art and shapIng shap shap- ing hug their priceless Instruments And the task fade was worthy wo thy of at their genius g There are aro as man many as seventy nieces of or wood used In lu the making of at ono one first class violin These tiny Uny hits bits of ot wood must be selected with tho the greatest greatest great great- c est t of or care The maker must know Just where to put the tho hard hartl pi pieces and where the softer ones Olles must go o jo so 0 that the time vibrant mellow tone will carry well and yet et bo bt rich with golden olden mel mel- od ody Some borne kinds of ot wood will whit answer back more quickly than others will and these inert merl who wrought perfection Into time the violins spent pent years ears In experimenting along these lines Jines Sometimes the they would cut down a whole tree Just to secure one aile small piece of wood to fit Into one ono especial part Then they had to W wait Jt years ears to have that thal piece properly seasoned They Thoy had hall to know linow now exactly how hots thick or how thin each piece ought ht to be bc be for or the least shaving down or of C nil any one piece made a vast ast difference In the tho tone Moreover Moreo tho the shaving sha down must not bo ho too great lest the strain n put upon it II In ln use will shatter It i Gau Gauging S Sound Hole Holu I Again the sound holes must bo ho most iL gaU gauged eased cd and proportioned Time width arid and the length Is a matter matters or of supreme s Sm importance and t to this point must mUl-lt be add added d that other vitally Important matter as to just where to locate the Sound p post st and Bridge Then th tho curving of or the sides Is a delicate Vs matt matter r and the thc breadth o of them than is equally vItal Now comes the c the own the varnish Magic word ord wh when violins are arc mentioned For the art understood and practiced practice by these Italians Hallan r M or of r the time seventeenth century cen- cen tuv tury or of getting th the thc P proper Per r varnish on t at the tho i wood crItical moment moment just just when tho I Was read ready for tOr It ll- ll not a a. moment acknowledged too soon ili ilin n nor T a moment too late late lato-hi is ged by most moderns to bo Le bolo lost n rime pupils of the thc used usell lo to say that that- v tho masters mastora mixed their lr varnish with dragons drag n blood Great superstitions m matchless fi gathered around aroun these Violins And il to this day n their like m diced has never bc been on again a aln pro Pr pro TO own a an Amati or a s the th rl neav Leaven n a n inspired dream of ot evo rv every fr from rom m down lown W i the tho final Perfection o of this table lna instrument t came caino two inevitable forms the invention of or new now or of musical composition and the into massing massing- a and annid mingling ng of or Instruments ts orchestra wondrous rous orchestral whole Tho Thoy st st. only as an au independent b b dy I 1 Is y as M harpsichord old aa as the fhe Perfection of or the M or piano plana no and the violin there thure the discovery or or of the Were as m many iny l of c stringed cd instruments n for them s as there were Performers into th ri Then the tho lute luto emerged voice the tho int viola followIng Allowing the tho human human into JS treble ti tenor alto and bass called Taking ih time the the to tenor nor as the tho basis tile this was a viola ld while the Ule small viola vlola was a or r little viola lolL The Tho hiss haNs Was wan the big viola or the thc Volene Iolena time th alto w s called thu ti nr or faction the little if JS bl big viola Iola With ith Ith the thc perv per- per ot of rth the thi violins mun many of or the v variants varlan vm With BOr of J the lie luto were wore thrown aside the glorious Serious discovery cover of or thin the r n o A Ues i es or of c separate music for tor solo n and nud for tor groups of ot ments fi iM he whole naSH masa of or Invented In musical forms rm to tit fit the new now tru- tru ments and the old outs ones made mallo over OCI Into now ones And thus came into musical existence all the sonatas preludes s and variant forms torms Tho The term sonata Is If applied to apiece a apiece apiece piece of or music for a small group roup of or In Instruments Instruments instruments In- In or for tor a 0 solo Instrument with accompaniment Two 0 e varieties are arc usually named The sonata da chiesa usually consisting of a slow stately Introduction a R. quick fugal movement a a. flowing melodic section ending with within witha a lively da dashing dat hinh movement all an of them arranged cd with more or less contra- contra detail Tho The other form was called the sonata da camera which was like a set of or dances dance Usually there was a r pavan or allemand which was you OU remember a slow German 4 t dance time second a caranto a slow dance dance- In n 4 3 time third a sarabande in tho the tame same time as the last but with the second second second sec sec- ond beat Jent lengthened leng out closing with a gigue ue which was a Jig and as lively as one Thus through the aid partly of that sister art the thc llan dance e instrumental Instrumental mental music threw off the shackles of ot a mere slavish follower of or the human voice and c came me me into Its own I bourne hourne on the wings o of melody drawn II by a magic bow from tho the delicate bod body I of a a. violin or 01 tho the more Imposing framework of ot the time organ and piano piano- forte Th The Tho evolution of or the tho orchestra followed natural naturally Piano Piano-I t |