Ole Bull Part 22

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they should be played as if there was a rest after every note, in this manner-

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The second precaution is, that you first play with the point of the bow; and when that becomes easy to you, that you use that part of it which is between the point and the middle; and when you are likewise mistress of this part of the bow, that you practice in the same manner with the middle of the bow; and above all, you must remember in these studies to begin the _Allegros_ or flights sometimes with an upbow, and sometimes with a downbow, carefully avoiding the habit of constantly practicing one way. In order to acquire a greater facility of executing swift pa.s.sages in a light and neat manner, it will be of great use to you if you accustom yourself to skip over a string between two quick notes in divisions, like these-

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Of such divisions you may play extempore as many as possible, and in every key, which will be both useful and necessary.

With regard to the fingerboard, or carriage of the left hand, I have one thing strongly to recommend to you, which will suffice for all; and that is, the taking a violin part, either the first or second of a concerto, sonata, or song, anything will serve the purpose, and playing it upon the halfs.h.i.+ft, that is, with the first finger upon G on the first string, and constantly keeping upon this s.h.i.+ft, playing the whole piece without moving the hand from this situation, unless A on the fourth string be wanted, or D upon the first; but in that case, you should afterwards return again to the halfs.h.i.+ft, without ever moving the hand down to the natural position. This practice should be continued till you can execute with facility upon the halfs.h.i.+ft any violin part not intended as a solo, at sight. After this advance the hand on the fingerboard to the wholes.h.i.+ft, with the first finger upon A on the first string, and accustom yourself to this position till you can execute everything upon the wholes.h.i.+ft with as much ease as when the hand is in its natural situation; and when certain of this, advance to the doubles.h.i.+ft, with the first finger upon B, on the first string; and when sure of that likewise, pa.s.s to the fourth position of the hand, making C with the first finger upon the first string; and indeed this is a scale in which, when you are firm, you may be said to be mistress of the fingerboard. This study is so necessary, that I most earnestly recommend it to your attention.

I now pa.s.s to the third essential part of a good performer on the violin, which is the making of a good shake, and I would have you practice it slow, moderately fast, and quick, that is, with the two notes succeeding each other in these three degrees of _adagio_, _andante_, and _presto_; and in practice you have great occasion for these different kinds of shakes, for the same shake will not serve with equal propriety for a slow movement as for a quick one; but to acquire both at once with the same trouble, begin with an open string, either the first or second, it will be equally useful; sustain the note in a swell, and begin the shake very slow, increasing in quickness, by insensible degrees, till it becomes rapid, in the manner following:-

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But you must not vigorously move immediately from semiquavers to demisemiquavers, as in this example, or from these to the next in degree-that would be doubling the velocity of the shake all at once, which would be a skip, not a graduation; but you can imagine between a semiquaver and a demisemiquaver intermediate degrees of rapidity, quicker than the one, and slower than the other of these characters; you are therefore to increase in velocity by the same degrees in practicing the shake, as in loudness when you make a swell. You must attentively and a.s.siduously persevere in the practice of this embellishment, and begin at first with an open string, upon which if you are once able to make a good shake with the first finger, you will with the greater facility acquire one with the second, the third, and the fourth, or little finger, with which you must practice in a particular manner, as more feeble than the rest of its brethren. I shall, at present, propose no other studies to your application; what I have already said is more than sufficient, if your zeal is equal to my wishes, for your improvement. I hope you will sincerely inform me whether I have explained myself clearly thus far; that you will accept of my respects, which I likewise beg of you to present to the Prioress, to Signora Teresa, and to Signora Chiara, for all whom I have a sincere regard; and believe me to be, with great affection,

Your obedient and most humble servant, GIUSEPPE TARTINI.

VIOLIN NOTES.

BY OLE BULL.

PREFACE.

Ole Bull had long contemplated revising and filling out his fragmentary notes on the violin and its construction, jotted down at various times.

Excepting some slight rearrangement they are now presented as he left them, unfinished and incomplete. As they stand they are genuine and characteristic, and doubtless indicate part of the general design he was not permitted to complete.

Aided by peculiar physical and nervous force Ole Bull presented that rare combination,-excellence in the _technique_ of the left hand, with equal excellence in that of the bow. No difficulty in the fingering of double, treble, and quadruple tones seemed to exist for him. The fact that the violin is not best calculated for the powerful demands of a fourpart pa.s.sage, and that, therefore, the effect in a large hall is apt to be hazy and indistinct, should in no way detract from the wonderful skill required for its performance. In executing a trill he showed no partiality for a particular finger: the pulsation was always even and clear. His scales were extremely smooth, both in ascending and descending. He excelled in executing whole pa.s.sages in any fixed position, also in rapid s.h.i.+fting from a low position to a high one and _vice versa_, and in pizzicato with the left hand. In the management of the bow he was unrivaled. His staccato was peculiar to himself, and was simply perfection. Whether the bow was impelled in a succession of little rippling bounds or of detached _martele_ strokes, each note possessed wonderful distinctness and impetus. In the arpeggio the notes were never slurred together, and the double accentuation of the lowest and highest notes imparted a full rhythmic swing to such pa.s.sages. The tremolo and _sautille_ displayed the delicate flexibility of his wrist.

His tone was pure, elastic, and sympathetic.

In his compositions the various motives are always well worked out, and abound in broad and beautiful effects. As they were written for himself, they exemplify his peculiarities of fingering and bowing. Like Paganini's, they are almost unplayable; for, apart from the difficulties of _technique_, without the _vis viva_ of the master they lack their greatest charm.

To his remarkable personal magnetism was added a grace and dignity of appearance, an unvarying amiability and courtesy of manner. He met few whose feelings towards him, however antagonistic at first, did not speedily become warm and friendly, and little children loved him.

WALTER E. COLTON.

THE ORIGIN OF THE VIOLIN.

The country which affords us the most ancient memorials of a perfect language, of an advanced civilization, of a philosophy in which all phases of human thought find expression, of a poetry rich in every style, and of a musical art corresponding with the lively susceptibilities of the people-India-appears to have given birth to bow instruments.

Cla.s.sical antiquity, in its forms of sculpture and basrelief, contains no suggestion of the instrument. A little figure of Apollo playing upon a kind of violin with something like a bow, exhibited in Florence, has been proved to be of modern production. This is the only known piece of sculpture reputed ancient, in which anything like a bow can be found.

Ancient painting, while giving many delineations of musical instruments, in every case fails to represent that indispensable adjunct of the violin proper,-the bow.

As to India, no conjecture based on obscure interpretation of record or delineation is needed, for the veritable instruments exist today, preserving, in the main, their original characteristics. The first or simplest form of bow instrument seems to have consisted of a little hollow cylinder of wood covered at one end with a piece of skin tightly stretched, and furnished with a neck and bridge, the whole being very much like a modern banjo. A slip of bamboo, bent so as to hold tense a bundle of hairs, furnished the bow. The number of strings was variable, according to the purpose of the instrument. Thus, in the case of the virtuoso, one string was deemed sufficient, while for the uses of the common people two or three were permitted. The antiquity claimed by Indian writers for this form of bow instrument is almost incredible; one tradition relates that it was invented by one of the early kings of Ceylon, at a period about five thousand years before the Christian era.

In that dawn of history the migratory tides flowing from the East to the West, from India through Asia, Persia, Arabia, thence through northern Europe, and thence across the Danube and the Rhine, have left other memorials than the stormy history of their wars. The polite arts of today find their crude germs in that ancient time. And although, by the ready interchange of ideas achieved by modern civilization, a modern invention may embody suggestions gathered from all countries and all times, it is possible to examine each component part, to follow up each relative train of thought which has here found practical expression, until we arrive at the single idea, the mainspring, as it were, of the whole mechanism. In music the violin may be traced back through a thousand varied forms until it finds its beginning in the _revanastron_, or, as I have called it, the banjofiddle of India. At the time of its invention, it was undoubtedly designed for nothing higher than an accompaniment to the voice. As such it exists today in parts of India and Arabia, and in such menial capacity it was retained until about the 12th century. In fact, bow instruments did not come into special notice in Europe until about the 13th or 14th century.

At that time the natural divisions of the human voice, long recognized, were definitely cla.s.sed into soprano, tenor, alto, and ba.s.s; and music began to be considered in the true dignity of its position as an art to be scientifically cultivated. With the scientific division of the voice, bow instruments became at once similarly divided into their four registers. The form of instruments was still arbitrary; the number of strings and manner of tuning varied with every new caprice; but the instrumental combinations of that day contained the nucleus of the modern quartette.

Still, despite the progressive steps and more popular diffusion of musical knowledge, the instruments of the violin family at that time, and for a period of nearly two centuries, held but a precarious tenure of existence in the rivalry with the more robust fellowmembers of the orchestra; for the musical susceptibilities of the people appear to have been more cordially appealed to and drawn out by the sonorous blasts of the brazen trumpet and the artillery of the kettledrum, than by the sweet and subdued tones of the bow instruments of the day.

It is related that King Henry the Eighth of England, in the year 1530, was entertained at Cardinal Wolsey's palace with "a concert of drums and fifes." This is nothing compared with the heroic endurance of his daughter Elizabeth, who was "daily regaled during dinner with twelve trumpets, two kettledrums, which, together with fifes, cornets, and sidedrums, made the hall ring for half an hour together."

Between the latter part of the 15th century and the first half of the 16th, the instruments of the viol family, with the introduction of the _viol d'amour_ and the _viol di gamba_, reached the terminus of their servitude as appendages to the voice, and at one step culminated in the invention of the violin as we have it today. The new curvatures of the top and back; the deep indentures of the sides for convenience of the bow; the sweep of the outline; the scroll; the removal of the frets on the fingerboard,-an ancient distinguis.h.i.+ng feature, perpetuated in the arrangement of the neck of the guitar,-all these innovations upon established conventionality seem to have been made at once. Since that time the violin has steadily, and without retrogression, advanced to its present position in popular estimation,-the aristocrat of musical instruments. Laboring under difficulties not encountered by the voice, it is yet capable of presenting a rhythmic musical picture, which the mind can take up and at once translate to the feelings in intelligible language.

GASPAR DA SALO AND THE CREMONA SCHOOL.

The form of the violin varied with the epoch in which it was used. The lifetime of Tartini (born A. D. 1692, died A. D. 1770) marks the period during which the powers of the violin in all varieties and styles were completely developed. The violinmakers had to adapt their instruments to the wants of the performers. The efforts of Stradivarius and Guarnerius contributed in a marked degree to a.s.sist Tartini in creating a new era for the violin. The best epoch of Stradivarius was from 1700 to 1720 or 1725. It was during Tartini's lifetime that considerable rise in the pitch took place. This, in the violin, necessitated a new arrangement to withstand the greater strain. The instrument kept pace with the new demands made upon it. In consequence of the increased powers of the general orchestra, the old delicate sweetness of the Amatis ceased to be the chief desideratum, a more masculine and heroic tone gaining the preference. This quality of tone reached its climax in Joseph Guarnerius.

When Francis I. was in Rome and heard the choir of the Vatican Chapel, he was so charmed with the violin, that he induced the lutier Gaspar Duiffoprugcar, also, as I believe, called Da Salo[28] after his native town on Lake Garda, to accompany him to Paris, there to make violins, violas, and contraba.s.ses for his court. It is known of Gaspar's history that he was quite unable to endure the climate of Paris, and therefore removed to Lyons; so that his instruments date from three places,-Brescia, Paris, and Lyons.

[28] Ole Bull was almost convinced that Duiffoprugcar and Da Salo were names of one man, and thought the Brescian labels bearing the late date of 1610 spurious. This doubtful point, which he could not wholly clear up, is given because he accepted although he could not prove it.

His instruments, at least those made during his life in Italy, are for the most part roughly constructed. His varnish is of a brownish yellow color, exceedingly fine and soft. The thickness of wood in the top and back is so adjusted as to give to the tone quality, power, and solidity, and great variety of color. Da Salo violins of any of his periods are very rare.

The viol in Raphael's "Parna.s.sus," where Apollo is represented as playing it, was introduced in honor of the then admired _improvisatore_ and violist Giacomo Sansecondo, who had inspired in Raphael so great an admiration for the viol that he considered it worthy of being placed in the hands of the G.o.d of song. In Giacomo Sansecondo's time the violin had been already introduced, and he was doubtless able to play that instrument. As Gaspar da Salo was then living, it is probable that the viol in the picture was drawn from a model supplied by him. In the first changes from the form of the viol to that of the violin, the new offshoot retained many of the peculiarities of its older kindred, notably in the broad, full oval of the back and top, and the pointed _f_ holes.

The violins of Gaspar da Salo and Joseph Guarnerius have the sound of a trumpet, horn, or flute; those of Stradivarius have the sound of the oboe and clarinet; and those of the Amati family, of the English horn and the human voice. The Steiner violins have the greatest diversity of color between the upper and lower strings, and resemble a sharp oboe.

The violins of Maggini are grand but somewhat hollow in tone, inclining to the viola; this quality is due to their curves and large proportions.

Andrew Amati, the earliest of the Cremonese makers, is supposed to have learned the principles of his art in the Brescian school. He made violins for the courts of France, Italy, and Spain; and these instruments were often ornamented by gilding or painting-covered with devices in gold, Latin adages, and in some instances the coats of arms of the different courts for which they were made. His violins are all of high model. His workmans.h.i.+p in all the details of outline, swells, _f_ holes, scroll, etc. is exceedingly fine. They have enough wood at the centre of the top and back, but are rather thin at the extremities. The tone is sweet and vocal, but sometimes inferior on the G and D strings.

He discarded the serious cathedral style of Da Salo and Maggini, together with the broad, thick, and strong extremities of their instruments; and it must be said that his narrow, hollow, rounded, thin violins were admirably adapted to their purpose; the sweet and subdued tone harmonizing with that of the _viol d'amour_ and its kindred in the interpretation of the ballad music of the royal chambers.

Antonius and Hieronymus Amati, the two sons of Andrew, at first worked together in the style of their father, but later they adopted a model somewhat flatter at the edges. These violins combine great beauty of form with superior wood, and have a fine and brilliant though delicate tone. After some years the brothers ceased working together.

I have seen several violins of Antonius Amati. They were all of rather high model. The wood of the back and sides was frequently of peartree, but they were made quite strong in wood, and therefore possessed a rather strong tone, particularly on the G string.

The violins of Hieronymus Amati are of larger pattern and flatter model than those of his brother, but are not so finely finished. Their tone, however, is much finer.

Nicholas Amati, son of Hieronymus, was the most celebrated maker of the family. In his large instruments he flattened the model somewhat, carving it sometimes, however, rather abruptly to a ridge in the centre, and making the curve an inch from the edges all around slightly concave.

His workmans.h.i.+p was always most careful, and his finish exquisite. In these respects, he has never been excelled by any of the Italian makers.

The tone, while often sufficiently powerful, lacks the breadth of the Gaspar da Salo, or Joseph Guarnerius. The varnish is generally yellow, and somewhat thin in body. Of all the Amati family, Andrew had the best varnish, it being more intense and rich in color and having greater body than that used by his sons.

Antonius Stradivarius was a pupil of the Amatis. His life has been divided into three periods,-his pupilage, his emanc.i.p.ation from the old rules, or artistic period, and his old age. He made a great many violins. He originated a new outline, flattened the model, did away with the excessive gutter or hollowing out at the edges, and selected his wood with regard to beauty as well as quality. His violins of the second period are marvels of neat, attentive workmans.h.i.+p. The varnish has a beautiful warmth of color, and great flexibility. But although the tone is wonderfully even and full, it is tinctured with a peculiar nasal quality. For this reason, though I have owned several fine specimens of this maker, among them one of a quartette made for the court of Spain, I have never played on them in public.

Of the Guarnerius family, I shall only mention Joseph, the nephew of Andrew. Rejecting the new form of Stradivarius and the older traditions of the Amatis, he seems to have chosen Gaspar da Salo and Maggini for his models; but his violins, while combining the peculiarities of these two makers, preserve the stamp of his own genius. The salient points of the Brescian school are noticed in the pointed _f_ holes, the sweep of the outline, and the curve of the back. His violins are generally flat in model. The workmans.h.i.+p in its minute details is not always careful.

The purfling is irregular, the edges not well finished, the outline awry, the _f_ holes irregular, and the scrolls show the marks of the chisel; but all is thoroughly characteristic. The varnish is of every color,-yellow, red, and brown, and generally of fine intensity of color and great body. The tone, like that of Da Salo, is full and masculine.

Those instruments which were produced during one not very long period of his life are by far his best; those made at other times are inferior, and in some cases almost unrecognizable as his productions. Possessing more genius than Stradivarius, he wasted his abilities, and rumor a.s.serts that he led a life of idleness and dissipation, broken only, under pressure of want, by fitful periods of industry.