OLD TIME MUSIC

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 13, 16 July 1934, Page 16

OLD TIME MUSIC

AND ITS INSTRUMENTS

RENEWED VOGUE ARISES

GOOD TONE AM) RANGE

Little groups of.enthusiasts have al-■n;a3-s existed for whom the old musical instruments' r6main living mediums of cjcpr'essioivj.iiut.in recent years interest has.happily :bo.conic more general, says 'the■*.' Manchester Guardian." Voices that have for many generations sounclecl so rarely;; and so,shyly that the public has forgotten them are beginning to speak up again, and the announcement that an antique stringed instrument, for which Haydn wrote one hundred and sixty.works,"for.his patron the Prince Esterhazy, is 1, likely' to be brought into use in European centres i?£. music "reminds us of possibilities that were,'tod carelessly let slip -when 'aneieiit fashions gave way to new ones. ' . Tho instrument for which Haydn :wrote is tho viola di bardono, or baryto'n.—an old form of violoncello, but possessed of six or seven strings to be played upon and a set of metal strings beneath, the lattcrintended to add resonance to the tone. The barytou is also akin to the viol da gamba, or —as Shakespeare's characters have it—tho "viol de gamboys." Haydn once made a point of learning to play the instrument, 'hoping to please his master by his .skill as a soloist. He was, however, snubbed for his pains, for the princo fancied himself as |i solo player, and \ra.s annoyed to find that somebody else ■might; prove a iiyal 'or''even a superior. The; composer took'the hint, and was afterwards heard only in'the ensemble parts when baryton music was given at (jourt. ' -' - .

THE VIOL.

-More, charming in tonfe than the baryton is the viola -d'amore, which, with a bigger Tange of notes and a more powerful sound, has become our modern viola. The treble viol —the most famous pi:, its family of instruments played iwitiij the^b'bw— -lield for centuries a leading^ position \ in" all music-making until, 'late.'ln^'th.e' spyen'teenth Century, the. niqre brilliant violin stepped into its place. The viol usually had six strings, and frets—often catgut bands —were added to the finger-board to help the player. It is probable that many living musicians never cease to deplore the silencing of the viol's quiet yiice, and they would ~ agree heartily with. .Thomas Mace, ;\vh6, in his "Mu'sick'.'s/ Monument," dated 1676, fefera" : tp the ''scduldirig" violins," whoses tone he always contrasts unfavourably "■with that of the smaller-scaled instrument. Mace says that when the violins'"run over some Coranto, Sarabande, or Brawle of suchlike stuff they bei more, fit to make a Man's Ears GJoiy and. to! ,fill his .brains full of Friskesj etc.,:'thaii tp season '■ and Sober ln,s*.Srind'pi:.EioYiitc.hi3! 'Aflie^tions to Goodness.'^'■;:; l ;:j;' v"v^ .j;'-;;;.:-It Sya;s',.,however; useliess- tp- fiilminato in /this .'way. :; iJef ore' tl'io'..'fibstoration suclia vie.>y;Svpnl.d have been apiilauded, for' wo are told that gentlemen ''esteemed a Violin to bo an - instrument only. belphging to a common fiddler j and'could not'endure that it should come among them for fcare of making their meetings to bo vaine and fidling." But Charles JI detested the viol, so it was doomed in England. Purcell -wroto a satirical catch at the expense of the.older: instrument, but that.was perhapsbeeause he wanted to follow Court-fashipns. .

RECORDERS.

'.Has any wind instrument ever had a 1 sweeter tone 'than that of the ie- | (sotders, op straight 'flutes,- universally popular until, in the eighteenth century, the invention of the German flute caused the bidet f6rms: t.6 disappear? Henry ' Y;III: iseenis to have • numbered apiiong hjs-n'iusicat acoompUshiiientß a pertain facility, in flute-playing, and it haa'befen "stated' that in his palace at ! Westnvmikter he had about one hundred £neT fifty flutes, most of them being re'ctfifdJßrjs;" -Shakespeare's allusions to , th'e.iecor.der. in-•Hamlet" and "Midsummer, Night's. Dreaih"ar6 interesting: to those who understand the fingering and'mechanism of the instrument. In'later times music for it was widely practisdd, and Pcpys, writing in-'Mis ("Diary" on April 8,'i688, says': "To Drumbleby's, and there did talk a great deal; about' pipes, and. did buy a recorder; jvj-hicli .1 ;d,oMntend to: learn to play 'o^',*ihb'.Soknd':b'f it being, of ;all sounds in'the; wOrldj; .most pleasing tome." I High, praise, that, from a 'connoisseur. Tho instrument is; an open pipe, and it was held straight ill- front of' the player.; The length varies from about two; or three feet in the treble kinds up'to eight feet for .the"great bass 5' "recorder. Each pipe had'eight or nine note holes for the fingers, and the compass was; only' two'octaves. ' Full' harjmony from; a; quartet: of ' recorders gives softly "breathed sounds,' and. on the Continent the instruments .were known as' ( "les- flutes douces." ■ The Dolmetseh family are keeping the recorder's music alive in England.

THE HARPSICHORD.

la tie history of Western music one of tho prototypes of the modern pianoforter has contrived not to be swept entirely out of. recognition by tho changes that have overwhelmed most keyboard, instruments of :the past; and,indeed,, there; are' not wanting signs»of of _ the harpsichord for "that kind of- music whose composers pride themselves on being "unemotional." Yet 'if present-day makers construct wonderfully; effective harpsichords) why should we not; also have the still older, smaller, and more sensitively ■ toned clavichords? The key action of the clavichord ensured that the strings were struck and not plucked or twanged as in the later instruments which are now being resuscitated. .

_ Clavichords and afterwards tho- virginals and the spinet possessed only a small compass of notes-^at. first about three octaves—and thevtiniest range-of tone;"yet towards tho end of the sisteentli' century England produced, a number of composers and-player^.for these- instruments, who, along with our ;niadrigali'sts, placed this country. first among musical nations of the Europe of that age. Tho harpsichord, however, continued to improve in mechanism it_-was, -in-many instances, furnished with, two rows of keys and -stops, giving octavo doublings—its popularity increased right up to the close of tho 'eighteenth century; then- a new reign ■began. The ■ pianoforte, with its .balanced -hammer action, its command of tone gradations, and its pedal effects, became th,e sole niedium for the keyboard music of the. early '' romantic composers. .