HANDBOOK OF THE COLLECTION OF MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS 99 



ceived its name from Marin, the famous French trumpeter, and 

 Engel expresses the opinion that the name may be " a corruption of 

 tromba mariana, implying a trumpet played in honor of the Virgin 

 Mary." Other authorities hold it was named from a resemblance 

 to a speaking trumpet used on Italian vessels. This is an interest- 

 ing instance of the uncertainty which surrounds the names of 

 medieval musical instruments. There is no doubt that the instru- 

 ment was used in musical performances at the convents. The 

 trumpet was considered an important instrument in ensemble music 

 and trumpeters were not allowed in the convents, so the nuns made 

 use of this instrument, whose harmonics resembled the tone of a 

 trumpet. We read that " sometimes the nuns were moved to jubilate 

 upon four marine trumpets accompanied by drums." 



The marine trumpet, as already stated, had only one string. This 

 was a very thick gut string, stretched over a peculiar bridge, and 

 played with a bow like a violincello bow, heavily rosined. The har- 

 monics, obtained by touching the string lightly with the ringer tips, 

 were very pleasing, but "if the strings were pressed down on the 

 finger board in the ordinary manner the tone was far less melodious 

 than the bray of an ass." The entire weight of the string rested on 

 the right end of the bridge, pressing it firmly against the body of 

 the instrument but the left end of the bridge rested lightly and 

 vibrated against the instrument like an organ reed. Without this 

 bridge the instrument was a bowed monochord, but with the addition 

 of this bridge it became a new and unique instrument. Sometimes 

 it was fitted with two, three, or even four strings and in this form it 

 was undoubtedly an ancestor of the German " geige " whence the 

 viol and violin were derived. 



The third class of bowed stringed instruments to be considered is 

 the viol, which shows the adaptation of the bow to an instrument 

 with a guitar-shaped body. The early forms of viol have been 

 already noted. They are not unlike the mandolin, but narrower and 

 longer, and, like all bowed instruments, came into Europe from the 

 Orient, chiefly by way of northern Africa and Spain. The viol 

 appeared in Europe during the sixteenth century and became obso- 

 lete with the eighteenth century, and its use was the first step to- 

 ward the violin of the present day. In the Hardanger violin and 

 the viol (viola) d'amore the ordinary strings are supplemented by 

 sympathetic strings tuned in unison with them. The latter is seldom 

 heard to-day, but the quartet of strings — violin, viola, violincello, 

 and bass — form the foundation on which the modern orchestra is 

 built. A Hardanger violin is shown as 95912. 



The viols were furnished with frets like the lute and were studied 

 by the greatest masters of music. Owing to the depth of their sides 

 and the flatness of the back, the sound was soft and slightly reedy 



