New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1901-09-15
PRIMITIVE RIDDLES.
HINDOO AND CHINESE PROGENITORS-
WHENCE CAME THE BOW-THE FID-
DIE IN EUROPE AND AMONG
THE APACHE INDIANS-STM-
PATHETIC STRINGS AND
THE VIOLA GLAMOUR.

The jurors who distributed the awards IN
Class No. II at the Universal Exposition In faris
last year were all men Of experience IN musleai
matters the majority of them manufacturers OF
pianofortes, violins and wood and brass wlnd
Instruments yet a little hutter of surprise went
around the table when an Austrian eXhiDilOr
laid before them couple of volins. fair in ex-
terror and apparently sound and substantial III
construction and informed them that their trade
price 30 francs. say. $40, the dozen Then
the Hungarian juror verified the statement OF
the exhibitor and, since he had been sent out by
his own government to investigate the industry
with view to it's introduction in Hungary, he
explained how the instruments are made They
the product of communal labor in many viii
lagos and rural districts in Austria. but more
especially in the highlands of Germany Hun
dreds. perhaps thousands of families cooperate
in their manufacture. In household men,
women and children engaged in the carving
of scrolls and necks; in another they fashion
backs and bellies; in another sides. ribs. sound
posts bridges pegs, etc. These various parts.
all made to scale, of course, are purchased by
contractors, who have them put together in
other centres of industry and introduce them to
commerce.
Violins of this character are not unknown 10
the American market. but freight charges, i'm
port duties and dealers profits raise their cost,
that II Is doubtful II enc can DCuSht at ie-
tail for less than 81; yet this instrument con-
tains all the material that violin made by
Stradivarius or Guarnerius does, disposed in
the same fashion. Why one of the latter class
should fetch one thousand times more than one
Of the former in the markets of the civilized
world is a mystery that lies all but hidden from
the discernment of the uniformed one is the
Ingenious product of the mere handicraftsman;
the other OF inexpiicab!e genius
If one Were to search through the world of
music for the most convincing evidence of the
difference in adaptability from a musical point
CT yiew between tn civilized peoples of Asia and
Europe nothing could be found to equal the Vio-
lin ard it's literature 1t is old scholastic
habit 10 go to the East for the origin Of all
things that embelIsh our civilization-fOr music
poetry, the plastic arts and all the sciences
From the East. too, it is said, came the people
who are now dominant in all these things. as in
all else. Some day, mayhap, the popular view
win change, and the cradle OF civilizations VIII De
sought in Northern or Northwestern EUROPE,
and we shall trace the course of culture along
the shores of Great Britain. France. Spain and
Northern Africa see it eddy and whrI in the
valley of the EuphTates and start again toward
the West. Then. perhaps, some of IN, mysteries
connected with musical instruments may be
! cleared up. and may form better theory
| than any which prevails now concerning the
genesis of the violin The feature Of the violin
which offer initiates il from all other musical in
( struments. save those Of its own tribe. IS the
/ bow by means of which tones are generated
from tense strings through friction students
are puzzled by the fact that in Of the
monuments of classical antiquity. neither in
mural paintings nor in sculptures. has . repre-
sentation Of anything taking tnv place OF
fiddle bow been found. If such negative cyi-
deEce is conclusive than neither AssETiaCs
II sbrevs. neither Egyptians Greeks nor
/ Romans knew aught OF the principle of the
fiddle bow. II is because of this that musical
antiqUarits scout the story that Nero fidied
while gazing burning Rome. He played the
hagpipe. the water organ the Tyre, say ,tey.
So far the Hebrews are concerned Winston
has troubled youthful investigators a little hv
piling up violin bows well as thousand Cf
trumpetS in the temple at Jerusalem in hi;
translation of JosephUs. hut this is a blunder due
10 Whiston's plentiful lack of musical kao,-I-
edge. The word use by JOSE plus was pick
tron. which the name of a bit of wood
shell or Tretal used To pluck the strings of an
instrument-nOt To rub them. The invention of
the violin bow, and. therefore. of the earliest
form of the violin, is claimed by the Hindoos
who say that the rude instrument called ~Ray-
anastron, still to- be found occasionally in the
hands of mendcant monks. was invented in
their country not less than five thousand wears
no 10,