VIOLIN. 



or ivory ; and, indeed, Virgil tells us, ^n. vi. 647, that it 

 was made of ivory. Bumey's Hill. Muf. vol. i. 



The origin of the violin, according to the French ac- 

 count, is unknown. It is only fuppofed to have been in- 

 Tented about the ninth or tenth century, to which opinion 

 we ftiould have fubfcribed, had not fome ancient monuments 

 remained with an exaft reprefentation of its form. In the 

 pictures of Philottratus, p. 85, in an ancient grotto, may 

 be feen many violins uhich are reprefented much like thofe 

 of the prefent times, except that the neck is fhorter. 



Amphion is there reprefented, p. 76, playing upon a kind 

 of viol or violin with five firings, and with a bow hke our's, 

 md quite different from the pleftrum of the ancients. It is 

 believed that Athenasus means the bow, when he fays, 

 " the fceptre is one thing and the pleftrum another." It 

 is imagined that by the fceptre he means the bow, which is 

 very probable, efpecially after the ancient monuments of 

 which we have preferved the figure. The pit or grotto, on 

 the walls of which we fee violins like the prefent, is found 

 on filver medals which were flruck by order of Scribonius 

 Libo, a very confiderable perfonage at Rome. An account 

 of thefe may be feen in Pierre Valerien, author of the 

 Hieroglyphics, book 47. 



This is all that antiquity has preferved concerning the 

 violin, and, fays the author, it is fo little, that we learn 

 nothing from it. 



The rebec is the moft ancient violin in France ; it had 

 but three firings, and the romancers and troubadours fre- 

 quently mention it. A figure of the minflrcl Cohn Mufet, 

 is ftill preferved at the entrance of the church of St. Julien 

 des Meneflriers, at Paris, playing on the rebec. 



The time is not known when a fourth firing was added 

 to this inflrument. It is iliU ufed in its primitive flate as a 

 trichord in Turkey atid other Eaflern countries ; the oldeil 

 violins we have in France are not more ancient than the 

 time of Charles IX. made at Cremona by the famous 

 Amati, which are flill of the beft model poffible. Laborde, 

 torn. i. 



The violin feems to have been brought into favour at the 

 court of France before any honourable mention is made of 

 it elfewhere, by the arrival of Baltazarini, a great performer 

 on that inflrument ; who, at the head of a band of violin- 

 players, was fent from Piedmont by marfhal BrifFac to Ca- 

 tharine dc Medicis, and appointed by that princefs her firfl 

 valet dc chambre and fuperintendant of her mufic. Galilei 

 (Dial. p. 147.) fays, that " both the violin and bafe, or vio- 

 loncello, were invented by the Italians, perhaps by the 

 Neapolitans ;" and wc arc unable to confute that opinion. 

 Corelli's violin, long in the pofTefTion of Giardini, was made 

 in 1578, and the cafe painted by Annibal Caracci, probably 

 feverai years after the violin was finifhed, at which time 

 Anib. Carach was but eight years old. Montagne, who 

 was at Verona in 1580, fays that there were organs and 

 violins to accompany the mafs in the great church. Journ. 

 du Voyage. 



The refloration of monarchy and cpifcopacy feems to 

 have been not only favourable to facred mufic, but fecular ; 

 for it may be afcribed to the particular ploafiire which king 

 Charles II. received from the gay and fprightly found of 

 the violin, that this inflrument was introduced at court, and 

 the houfes of the nobility and gentry for any other purpofe 

 than country -dances, and fellive mirth. Hitherto there 

 feera to have been no public concerts ; and in the mufic of 

 the chamber, in the performance oi fancies on inflrumcnts, 

 which had taken place of voc.il madrigals and motets, the 

 violin had no admiflion, the whole bulincfs having been done 

 by viols. 



Vol. XXXVII. 



After Charlea had, in imitation of Lewis XIV., efta- 

 bhlhed a band of twenty-four viohns, tenors, and bafes, in- 

 flead of the viols, lutes, and comets, of which the court band 

 ufed to confifl, the violin family began to rife in reputa- 

 tion, and had an honourable place afTigned it in the mulic of 

 the court, the theatres, and the chamber ; and the fucceflion 

 of performers and eompofitions with whicli the nation was 

 afterwards fupphed from Italy and elfewhere, ilimulated the 

 practice and eflablifhed the charafter of that clafs of inftru- 

 ments, which have ever fince been univerfally acknowledged 

 to be the pillars of a well-ordered orchcflra. A general 

 pafTion for this inflrument, and for pieces exprefsly com- 

 pofed for it, as well as a tafle for Italian mufic, feem to 

 have been excited in this country about the latter end of 

 Charles II. 's reign, when French mufic and French politics 

 became equally odious to a great part of the nation. The 

 Hon. Mr. North, brother of the lord keeper North, who 

 liflened critically to every kind of mufic, and left manufcript 

 memoirs of the mufic of his time, flill in the poffeffion of his 

 family, fays, tliat the decay of French mufic, and favour 

 of the Italian, came on by degrees. Its beginning was ac- 

 cidental, and occafioned by the arrival of Nicola Matteis. 



During the laft century, almofl all the great viohnifts of 

 Europe, except Somis and Tartini, have vifited this coun- 

 try ; but Giardini, at one time perhaps the beil performer 

 in Europe, refiding here fo many years, formed a fchool 

 which furnifhcd our orcheflras with a greater number of 

 able performers on that inflrument, than can be found in 

 the capital of any other kingdom in Europe. And we may 

 venture to aflert from our own knowledge, that the lowcfl 

 ripieno in the opera orcheflra at prefent, has more hand, 

 and is a better fight's-man, than the leader of that band 

 in Felling's lime. 



The viohn confitls, like moll other inllrumcnts, of lhr«e 

 parts ; the necl:, the table, and xhc foundloard. 



At the fide are two apertures, and fometimes a third to- 

 wards the top, fhaped like a heart. 



Its bridge, which is below the apertures, bears up tli€ 

 firings, which are faflcned to the two extremes of the in- 

 flrument ; at one of them by a fcrew, which flretchcs or 

 loofens them at pleafure. 



The llyle and found of the violin are the gayefl and mod 

 fprightly of all other inllruments ; and hence it is, of all 

 inflruments, the fittefl for dancing. Yet there are ways of 

 touching it, which render it grave, foft, languifhing, and 

 fit for church or chamber mufic. 



It generally makes the treble, or highefl parts in concerts. 

 Its harmony is from 5th to 5th. Its play is compofed of 

 bafe, counter-tenor, tenor, and treble ; to which may be 

 added a fifth part : each part has four 5ths, which rife to 

 a greater 17th. 



In eompofitions of mufic, violin is expreffed by V : two 

 V V denote two violins. 



The word violin, alone, flands for treble violin: when 

 the Italians prefix alto, tenore, or bajfo, it then expreffes tlic 

 counter-tenor, tenor, or bafe violin. 



In eompofitions where there are two, three, or more 

 difTerent violins, they make nfe of prima, fecuiuto, terao, or 

 of the charafters P 11° III^ or 1° 2° 3°, &c. to denote 

 the difference. 



The violin has only four firings, each of a different thick- 

 nefs, the fmallefl of which makes tlie ejl mi of the highell 

 odave of the organ ; tiie fecond, a fiftii below the firft, 

 makes the a mi la ; tlie third, a fifth below the fecond, is 

 dla re, lallly, the fourth, a fifth below the third, k ^r >f 

 fol. Moll n.itions, ordinarily, ufc the clef jj/' r;/o/on the 

 fecond line, to denote the mufic for the violin ; only, in 

 G g France, 



