y are
rude in form and workmanship, and present a marked contrast to the
high artistic work associated with the Italians in other branches of
industry. This rudeness is indicative of this particular manufacture
being of recent importation, and of its having been received from
Germany, and partly perhaps from the Low Countries, where instrumental
music was cultivated chiefly by the people, in which case utility
would naturally have priority of design and workmanship. With the
introduction of Viols, in connection with the Madrigal, into the
palaces of Italy, together with their increased use in connection with
the service of the Church, a demand speedily arose for instruments of
elegant design and finished workmanship, in keeping with the high
standard raised by Italian artists in every direction. The work on the
Viol by Silvestro Ganassi, published at Venice in 1543, furnishes us
with ample proof of the advance made by the Italians in Viol-making
since Brensius worked. We see from a representation of a Viol in the
above-mentioned work that the sound-holes are better formed, the
scroll is artistically designed, and the whole harmonious. These steps
towards perfection were mounted by Duiffoprugcar and Gasparo da Salo,
both of whom rapidly developed the art. With Gasparo da Salo, or a
contemporary, was witnessed the rejection of the crescent-formed
sound-hole, and the adoption of that which has held its own for
upwards of three centuries. The sound-holes of the Amati and of
Stradivari are but those of Gasparo and his contemporaries, marked
with their own individuality. All Viols until about 1520 were
furnished with pieces of gut tied round the neck and fingerboard to
mark the divisions of the scale--in short, were fretted. From the work
of Ganassi we learn that the use of these divisions was optional, thus
supplying us with authentic information of considerable value with
regard to the gradual emancipation of this class of instrument from
frets, and foreshadowing the union of the Geige or Fiddle with the
Viol. Passing to the question of form given by the Italians, early in
the sixteenth century, to Viols, we find the Violono or Bass Viol with
its upper and lower sides, middle bouts, belly, and sound-holes almost
identical with those of the Tenor Viols, the chief difference being in
the back of the latter, which is modelled, whilst the former is flat.
This was the form given to the Violono by Gasparo da Salo, and which
has b