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Re: Violins & Fiddles - 19th century
There have been many questions about "period" violins in the forums. I would like to give some information, adapted from an article I wrote about a year for distribution at Old Bethpage Village Restoration, a living history museum of the mid-19th century, where I have worked for 24 years as music historian and performer.
The term "period" instrument or "historically accurate" instrument refers to the fact that at Old Bethpage Village Restoration, since we are a living history museum, just as much care is given to re-creating the authentic appearance and sound of nineteenth century instruments as is given to other aspects of daily life. As with the tools and materials of other crafts and occupations, such as farming, broom-making, hat-making, blacksmithing, etc., thorough research has been done in order to recreate as closely as possible historically accurate musical performances with authentic instruments. This is true with the antique rotary-valve cornets, horns and tuba, and rope-tension drums of our eleven piece brass band, as well as our string instruments.
The violins ("fiddles) used at the museum are antique instruments which have been restored to the characteristics of the mid-nineteenth century. We currently have five of these violins in use at the museum, of both European and American manufacture. They differ from modern violins in several ways. The most visible difference is the lack of a chin rest, this being a later addition to the violin. However, of even more significance is the dramatic contrast in the sound, or tone quality, between the nineteenth-century instrument and the modern one. The sound of the period violin is more mellow and delicate, with more overtones, and lacks the bright "metallic" edge and increased volume of the twentieth-century fiddle that you may be more used to. This is because the modern violin uses strings made from synthetic materials, such as nylon and perlon -- polyamide plastics developed by the DuPont Company in the 1930's -- along with steel, aluminum and other metal alloys. These materials came to be utilized in string manufacturing during the twentieth century in order to increase the brilliance and volume of the instrument, responding to the changing tastes of the listening public and the need to be heard in the increasingly larger concert halls of the twentieth century. The nineteenth-century fiddle, on the other hand, is quieter, with a more complex though less brilliant tone, or timbre, because it is strung with "catgut" strings, (actually sheepgut). These gut strings are wound more loosely, with less pressure on the belly of the instrument. Other string instruments, such as the guitar and banjo, also used gut strings in the nineteenth-century. The pitch of the period instruments varies somewhat from the standardized pitch adopted in the twentieth-century -- about a half tone lower, sometimes even more. Alternate tunings (scordaturas) were also more commonly used during the nineteenth-century and are frequently employed on our period instruments as per the writings and transcriptions of Willam Sidney Mount, Stony Brook (Long Island) fiddler, painter and music historian (1807-1868).
You may also notice that the period violin does not have metal fine tuners inserted onto the tailpiece, as these were only added during the twentieth-century in order to help keep modern metal strings in tune. The strings, bridge and tailpiece are all held in place by tension to the belly of the violin by a natural tailgut, a cord of dyed sheepgut stretched between the tailpiece and the end button at the bottom of the instrument. The modern violin instead uses a heavier attachment, a tailpiece adjustor, made from metal and reinforced nylon, designed to withstand the increased tension of modern synthetic strings. Finally, the fiddles used at the museum are stored and carried in antique wooden violin cases with brass fittings, authentic to the time period.
If anyone has any questions, I would be delighted to try to answer them, as this has been a passion of my life for over twenty five years.
There have been many questions about "period" violins in the forums. I would like to give some information, adapted from an article I wrote about a year for distribution at Old Bethpage Village Restoration, a living history museum of the mid-19th century, where I have worked for 24 years as music historian and performer.
The term "period" instrument or "historically accurate" instrument refers to the fact that at Old Bethpage Village Restoration, since we are a living history museum, just as much care is given to re-creating the authentic appearance and sound of nineteenth century instruments as is given to other aspects of daily life. As with the tools and materials of other crafts and occupations, such as farming, broom-making, hat-making, blacksmithing, etc., thorough research has been done in order to recreate as closely as possible historically accurate musical performances with authentic instruments. This is true with the antique rotary-valve cornets, horns and tuba, and rope-tension drums of our eleven piece brass band, as well as our string instruments.
The violins ("fiddles) used at the museum are antique instruments which have been restored to the characteristics of the mid-nineteenth century. We currently have five of these violins in use at the museum, of both European and American manufacture. They differ from modern violins in several ways. The most visible difference is the lack of a chin rest, this being a later addition to the violin. However, of even more significance is the dramatic contrast in the sound, or tone quality, between the nineteenth-century instrument and the modern one. The sound of the period violin is more mellow and delicate, with more overtones, and lacks the bright "metallic" edge and increased volume of the twentieth-century fiddle that you may be more used to. This is because the modern violin uses strings made from synthetic materials, such as nylon and perlon -- polyamide plastics developed by the DuPont Company in the 1930's -- along with steel, aluminum and other metal alloys. These materials came to be utilized in string manufacturing during the twentieth century in order to increase the brilliance and volume of the instrument, responding to the changing tastes of the listening public and the need to be heard in the increasingly larger concert halls of the twentieth century. The nineteenth-century fiddle, on the other hand, is quieter, with a more complex though less brilliant tone, or timbre, because it is strung with "catgut" strings, (actually sheepgut). These gut strings are wound more loosely, with less pressure on the belly of the instrument. Other string instruments, such as the guitar and banjo, also used gut strings in the nineteenth-century. The pitch of the period instruments varies somewhat from the standardized pitch adopted in the twentieth-century -- about a half tone lower, sometimes even more. Alternate tunings (scordaturas) were also more commonly used during the nineteenth-century and are frequently employed on our period instruments as per the writings and transcriptions of Willam Sidney Mount, Stony Brook (Long Island) fiddler, painter and music historian (1807-1868).
You may also notice that the period violin does not have metal fine tuners inserted onto the tailpiece, as these were only added during the twentieth-century in order to help keep modern metal strings in tune. The strings, bridge and tailpiece are all held in place by tension to the belly of the violin by a natural tailgut, a cord of dyed sheepgut stretched between the tailpiece and the end button at the bottom of the instrument. The modern violin instead uses a heavier attachment, a tailpiece adjustor, made from metal and reinforced nylon, designed to withstand the increased tension of modern synthetic strings. Finally, the fiddles used at the museum are stored and carried in antique wooden violin cases with brass fittings, authentic to the time period.
If anyone has any questions, I would be delighted to try to answer them, as this has been a passion of my life for over twenty five years.
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