Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

66

the violin were living; and since their day until now, all attempts to improve the violi by changing its form in any manner hav failed.

The violin was introduced into England by Charles the Second, who was restored t the throne in 1660. Four years after this the English took New-York, and the nex

W

abroad," were included among rogues, vagabonds, and sturdy beggars," and were to be punished as such; and in Cromwell's usurpation, an act was passed, declaring "fiddlers" rogues and vagabonds-as it is most likely the generality of them were. England did not want for rogues at that time. The French also lay claim to the inven-year, 100,000 of the population of Londor tion of this disreputable crowding instru- perished of the plague, which was before the ment. On the portico of the Cathedral of establishment of newspapers like ours. Notre Dame in Paris, the building of which give these dates to convey an idea of the was begun in the tenth century, is a figure time, and of the changes that have taker representing King Chilperic with a sort of place since. violin in his hand. And so late as the close of the sixteenth century, or just before the modern instrument took its form, the violin is indicated in some old Italian scores thus: piccoli violini alla Francese; rendering it probable that the reduction which took place in size, from the ancient viols and violas, is to be ascribed to the French.

In Italy there were also early instruments of the violin family. In the old paintings of the Decameron of Boccaccio, the ladies and gentlemen are represented playing upon the lute and viol, some of the ladies, in particular, using the latter instrument. Also, in the celebrated painting of the marriage of Cana, by Paul Veronese, the foreground contains portraits of his brother artists, who are represented performing upon stringed instruments like those now in use.

The modern violin dates from the begining of the seventeenth century, or about the year 1600; and Italy has the honor of its parentage. Let us consider what was transpiring in the world about two hundred and fifty years ago.

In 1670, King Charles established a band of twenty-four violins, tenors and basses; and about this time a celebrated solo player named Baltzar came over to London. He could run up and down on the instrument. says the old Chronicle of Anthony Wood. "in divers waies, all in good tune;" and when he played on one occasion, a famous musician looked down at his feet to see if he had "huffs," as if to ascertain if he were not a devil. This was before the death of Milton, 1674, and before the passage of the act of Habeas Corpus, the sure remedy in all cases of false imprisonment, 1678.

The

The most valued of the old violins were made at Cremona, in Italy, about 1650, by Stradivarius, Guanerius, and the brothers Amati. Many of these are still in use, and counterfeits of them without number. Stradivarius violins are the largest and loudest, while the Amati excel in sweetness. The best of these instruments sell in Europe for enormous prices. Viotti's Stradivarius sold at Paris in 1824 for 3800 francs. They have never been equalled. Some have imagined their excellence to lie in the varnish, or in the wood, and these have accordingly been imitated in all possible ways. The old var

Shakspeare had not ceased writing; he died in 1614, and New-York was settled by the Dutch about the same year. In 1605, the Gunpowder Plot took place, the anniver-nish has been subjected to chemical analysis, sary of which is still celebrated in New-Eng- but the secret of it is lost; wood from anland, where the Pilgrims did not land till cient organs and buildings has been employfifteen years after. Our translation of the ed with like ill success. The highest-priced Bible dates from 1611. In 1625, Charles modern French instruments are the most the First was beheaded. Louis XIV. the exact copies that can be made of the old ones, Great, began to reign in France in 1643. even in the most minute particulars. Yet In 1652, the Jews were restored by Crom- the old ones possess, in addition to the sweetwell to England, from which they had been ness and smoothness which only age can imbanished more than three hundred years. part, a peculiar sonorous, rich, and penetratThe Great Plague of Naples, which destroy-ing quality of tone, that has never been even ed 400,000 people in six months, broke out

in 1656.

At this time the great Italian makers of

approached by a modern instrument. They will sound smooth near at hand, and make themselves heard equally well in the full

orchestra; showing that it is not the rough- | expression. But, many modern players find ness, but the purity of tone which commands it easier to conquer his pizzicato runs and the most effect. harmonics, than to imitate him in legiti

Every other thing connected with the vio-mate playing. The evil, however, must cure lin has changed except its shape. The old itself in time; the burlesque is the most short bow, such as was used by Corelli, trivial and variable of all forms of art. would excite a general smile if brought into It is a singular fact in the history of Art, any of our orchestras; and so would that that no artist of any sort ever created such great master's style of bowing, with a stiff an universal sensation throughout Europe wrist. The loose wrist was not in general as did this wonderful performer. No singuse, even in Handel's time. The idea of er, not even the most celebrated of the shifting to the third position would a little be-time, was ever greeted by such enthusiastic fore have been thought indicative of insanity. On the old music was written "Gare l'ut!" (look out for the C!) whenever a C had to be played on the upper string, several bars before it came, in order to give the performer time to quiet his nerves for the immense stretch. Now, the player must often go an octave higher without any caution, and, it should be added, without always hitting his note. The whole mode of writing for the instrument has changed. As the loose wrist came into use, the doubling of notes in forte passages, which could not have been played in the old way, was introduced in the orchestra, and increases ten-fold the brilliancy of effect. So with innumerable other combinations, both of bowing and fingering.

audiences, or could set in motion such quantities of the "circulating medium." Even Jenny Lind in America has not surpassed this remarkable "crowder," as the old English has it. Nor did ever any painter, sculptor, architect, or any man, by whatever title he should be called, who set out to please his fellow-men through forms of beauty, attain to such a distinction and such a command of wealth. And it might be added, that no artist ever had so much of nonsense written about him. The furore which he kindled has not even yet died away. We have never known a musical person, who heard him, who was tired of expatiating on the miracles of his extraordinary performance.

Yet it is a frail tenure by which the artist, however successful he may be, holds his power. A little finger broken, and the hand that held the sceptre so firmly, could have held it no longer; while the great world would have moved on as before he came; and the great world is singularly forgetful. "To rave done," says Ulysses, "is to hang like a rusty coat of mail, in monumental mockery." Those forms of art which recede farthest from the physical and material, and which task the subtle energies within, are, after all, the safest. The great performer may delight thousands in his lifetime, and enrich and ennoble himself; but the compo

Tartini, the great master of bowing, is esteamed the founder of the modern school. After him, Giardini and Pugnani made still further advancement, both in the bow and in the management of the left hand. Some of their compositions present examples of great difficulties conquered to little purpose; yet they are interesting as illustrations of what was once thought to be a bold style. Viotti was perhaps the first artist who should be considered to have established the modern school, though many great performers aided in bringing it to perfection. Viotti's bowing was large and free, and his execution full of fire. He had the true in-ser, sitting and smoking in some old parlor spiration of a musician; his compositions are therefore still interesting.

in the outskirts of a city, elaborating points and figures over a German stove, though he After Viotti, the great French and Ger- may earn but a little money, just enough to man artists, Rode, Baillot, Kreutzer, Lafont, live comfortably upon, has yet an estate, Spohr, De Beriot, and a host of others, in- of which (thanks to the mercy of Provicreased still more the powers of the instru-dence, in seldom afflicting our minds) he ment, until at length PAGANINI, one of the cannot be suddenly deprived. Even the deworld's wonders, came from Italy, and found-vastation of battles passes over him without ed what must be designated the modern touching him; the great Emathian conqueror fanciful or solo school. His extraordinary bid spare the house of Pindar, when facility in all sorts of difficulties was no less remarkable than his command of tone and VOL. IX. NO. 1. NEW SERIES.

"temple and tower
Went to the ground.”
4

For there is no art more elevating tha music; none more powerful to charm dow and silence the rough passions and "low thoughted cares" of men. It is the mos universal, and, in many of its forms, th most intelligible of all the arts. Its image steal upon the mind in a mode that permit no avoidance; once heard, they haunt th memory, and keep the fancy busy with beautiful expressions. The composer i rightly thus named; for it is he who com poses mankind. He sings the lullaby to his race, and gives it pleasing dreams i place of the unquiet thoughts of the inevit able pains and woes of existence. His of fice harmonizes with his whose duty it i to keep alive the Christian hope of a better life to come; and this all recognize in the propriety of sacred music in our churches It may seem extravagant, but if one reflects it cannot appear going too far to claim for a great violinist no mean position among the benefactors of our species.

and so it is said Napoleon spared the house | more, have contributed by their admirab of Haydn in the suburbs of Vienna. In con- performances to elevate their beautiful a nection with the marvellous success of Paga- in the estimation of thousands of the cit nini, it may be mentioned, as a circumstance zens of this our young and restless nation which the vulgar little dream of, that music and have thus, by instilling new ideas costs more money than any other art in the beauty, aided in refining society.* world. It is estimated that the works of HANDEL have caused the exchange of more value than those of any artist, musician, or poet, who has ever lived, not excepting even the writings of Homer, whose works even now, at the distance of so many centuries, give employment to so many minds, hands, and steam-engines. It was probably with some dim notion of the truth this illustrates, that a young man in Boston came to an eminent artist to learn the violin. Mr. Herwig, whose name will be remembered by many lovers of the violin, told the writer that during the first successes of Ole Bull in this country, a young man called on him one morning to inquire about some lessons. He wished to know how long it would take to learn, and whether three months would not be sufficient. He was in the boot manufacturing business, but disliked the confinement, and wished to exchange the employment for one more congenial to him. There was Ole Bull, he said, making a fortune by playing the violin, and it had occurred to him, that if he could acquire it without too much trouble, he didn't see why he should not do the same! This in-years of practice, to be begun and continued dividual deserves to be remembered as without question the boldest speculator of this speculative age. His conception of the difficulties of the instrument almost equals that of the person who, when he was asked if he could play the violin, made the immortal reply, that he "didn't know, for he never had tried!" We will not sully the reputation of the accomplished artist and leader of Jenny Lind's orchestra, by quoting his name as a voucher for the truth of this latter story. To the violinist there is something in it quite overwhelming.

Even to enumerate the names of the great performers of our day, would require almost as much space as we have devoted to our entire history. Some of the first have been heard in this country, and have spread a general knowledge of the capabilities of their wondrous instrument. Vieuxtemps, Olé Bull, Artot, Sivori, and others of great merit, such as Mr. Joseph Burke, Henri Appy, Miska Hauser, and many

At all events, his profession is not a very inviting one to those ungifted with true mu sical enthusiasm. He has before him long

with unwavering perseverance. In his case there is no royal road to excellence; and he must be able to find his reward in his art itself. He should bear in mind the epitaph which it is said may be found in Wolverhampton churchyard in England, and which, lest he may never have seen, shall be here transcribed:

ANNO DOMINO 1753.

"Near this place lies Claudius Phillips, whose absolute contempt for riches, and inimitable performance on the violin, made him the admiration of all who knew him."

But it is not necessary to devote oneself so exclusively to the art, in order to attain

*For some hints respecting performance on the violin, the reader is referred to an article on the subject, by the writer, in the American Review for December, 1847, and to a general and more elaborate essay upon music in the number for February of the same year.

By the common consent of civilized nations, beginners on the violin are expected to retire for practice to the attics, which

respectable degree of skill upon the violin; that of an inherently dead and scratchy enough at least to place ordinary music with-quality in his violin; and no wonder. If he in reach, and thus to add to the amusements does not, he speedily becomes a nuisance to of the domestic circle. There is no instru- his friends; for if there is any species of torment more social in its character, and none ture to be ranked the most unendurable of that is, when it is properly cultivated, more all, it is the performance of a new beginner elegant and refining. Its small size renders on a bad instrument. it a convenient companion in travel, and a good amateur of it will never lack society, whatever may be his taste. We know of an instance where it enlivened a long sea-voy-affords, perhaps, another reason for supposage; another where a very moderate skill upon it became an additional resource to a forlorn schoolmaster in Indiana; and still another, where a gentleman of considerable literary attainments was glad to avail himself of it in the city.

The great obstacle with most amateurs, has hitherto been the difficulty of obtain ing a fair instrument at a convenient price. Few of the best are ever in the market, being retained among professors acquainted with their merit. Generally there is a long interval between first-rate instruments and such as are to be had at any price in the music-shops. The learner soon gives up in despair, when his own scraping is added to

ing the instrument to have had its origin in Greece. There we will leave him, with his scales and studies before him. We fancy we can almost hear that everlasting second study of Kreutzer. Enough; let the door be listed, and let there be a door to the staircase below, that the birth-chamber of the nascent Paganini may be as secluded as the seventh heaven of Mahomet.

If this brief sketch shall contribute to spread a knowledge of the violin, the writer hopes it may thus render a service to the art of Music-the art divine-the art in which there may be found consolation under whatever can be inflicted by misfortune, or by false and cruel men,

KNOW YE THE LAND?-SONG.

BY WILLIAM DOWE.

Dedicated (sans permission *) to the Standard-Bearer of the Federal Constitution,

THE HON. D. WEBSTER.

"Knowest thou the land where the citron fruit is blooming," &c.—GOETHE.

KNOW ye the Land where the Forest and Prairie
Spread broadest away by the Cataract's fall;

Where the harvests of earth the most plenteously vary,
And the children that reap them are happiest of all;

Where the long-rolling rivers go mightily trending,

With wealth on their billows, through many a clime;
Where the lakes, mid their woodlands, like seas, are extending,
And the mountains rise lone in the centre sublime?

Know ye the Land where a royal oppressor

Bade the burghers and husbandmen bow to his will;
But they fought the good fight, under God, the Redresser,
And the heart of Humanity beats to it still!

Where Lakes, Mounts, and Plains keep, inspiring or solemn,
Their tales of that strife: and its monuments be
The Statue, the Tablet, the Hall, and the Column,
But, best and most lasting, the souls of the free?

Know ye the Land where fair Freedom's dominion
Stands proudlier than any the earth ever knew:
When Greece flashed like fire through the East, or the pinion
Of Ronie's dreaded War-bird with victory flew;
Where, high as the haughtiest, she lifts up her banner;
By crime undishonored, sustained by retreat;

While the winds of two oceans blow brightly to fan her,
And waft the wide wealth of the world to her feet?

Where she bends, great Protectress! to greet the pale strangers,
The pilgrims of many a realm, who prefer

To the mercies of tyrants her seas and their dangers,
To their birth-place the exile that bears them to her:
Whence, far as the breezes and billows, her warning

Is heard on all shores by their slaves and their kings:
"I will come, I will come, like the march of the morning,
And the healing of nations go forth on my wings?"

Oh, that Land! yes, we know it-its luminous story,
Its wealth of all Nature-America's land!
We would die for that land of our love and our glory:
We live to maintain it, heart, spirit and hand!
And thus, Brothers, Friends, we salute it: oh, never
Its high Constellation made less by a star!
All hail it PERPETUAL, still brightening for ever,
The fond hope of millions, in peace or in war!

Till the hard Rock of Plymouth be worn by the ocean,
And Charlestown's tall Obelisk dust on the shore;

And, dear Old Dominion! thy noblest devotion,
And the gift of thy chieftainry, thought of no more:
Shall this Bond, long our glory, still bind us together,

One people from Maine to the Mexican lines;
From the Chesapeake's wave to the Cape of Foulweather;
From the palms of the South to the Cataract's pines!

It is but a piece of poetical propriety that any lyric expressions of attachment to the Federation should do homage to the matchless man of prose who has done more than all the Nine Muses put together in the way of inspiring them

« AnteriorContinuar »