The Musical Myths and Facts (Vol. 1&2) - Engel Carl

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and collector of old violins, hunted over all Italy and other European countries for old fiddles. To avoid the high custom dues which he would have had to pay on the old instruments, he took them all to pieces, as small as possible, and carried the bits about him in his pockets and in a bag under his arm. So thoroughly was he acquainted with his acquisitions that, having arrived at the place of his destination, he soon restored them to their former condition, assigning to each fragment its original position. Tarisio made his first appearance in Paris, in the year 1827, with a bag full of valuable débris from Italy; and he continued his searches for nearly thirty years. During this time he imported into France most of the beautiful violins by Antonius Stradiuarius, Joseph Guarnerius, Bergonzi, Montagnana, and Ruggeri, which are of highest repute, and the greater number of which have afterwards found their way into England.

      In Germany we meet with several collections of interest. The Museum of Antiquities, at Berlin, contains, among other musical curiosities, well-preserved lyres which have been found in tombs of the ancient Egyptians. The Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde ("Society of Lovers of Music"), at Vienna, possesses a collection of antiquated instruments, among which are noteworthy: a viola di bardone by Jacobus Stainer, 1660; a viola di bardone by Magnus Feldlen, Vienna, 1556; a viola di bardone by H. Kramer, Vienna, 1717; a viola d'amore by Weigert, Linz, 1721; a viola d'amore by Joannes Schorn, Salzburg, 1699; a tromba marina (marine trumpet) by J. Fischer, Landshut, 1722; a lute by Leonardo Tieffenbrucker, Padua, 1587; a theorbo by Wenger, Padua, 1622; a theorbo by Bassiano, Rome, 1666; a Polish cither by J. Schorn, Salzburg, 1696; a large flute made in the year 1501; an old German schalmey (English shalm or shawm) by Sebastian Koch; an old German trumpet by Schnitzer, Nürnberg, 1598; an oboe d'amore, made about the year 1770, etc.

      A curious assemblage of scarce relics of this kind is also to be found in the Museum of the Germanic Society at Nürnberg. The most noteworthy specimens in this collection are: two marine trumpets, fifteenth century; a German cither with a double neck (bijuga-cither) sixteenth century; a German dulcimer (hackbret), sixteenth century; a lute by Michael Harton, Padua, 1602; a viola da gamba by Paul Hiltz, Nürnberg, 1656; a viola d'amore, with five catgut strings, and eight sympathetic wire strings, seventeenth century; an arpanetta (harpanetta, German spitzharfe) mounted on one side with brass wire, and on the opposite side with steel wire, sixteenth century; a clavecin with finely painted cover, by Martinus van der Biest, Antwerp, 1580; two German zinken (cornetti) sixteenth century; two specimens of the bombardo, viz., a German alt-pommer and tenor-pommer, by J. C. Denner, seventeenth century; some specimens of the cormorne (German krummhorn) of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries; a trumpet made by J. C. Kodisch, Nürnberg, anno 1690; a splendid brass trombone (German bass-posaune) ornamented with the German eagle and imperial crown, made by Friedrich Ehe, in Nürnberg, anno 1612; a Polish bagpipe, seventeenth century; a syrinx of reeds covered with black leather, sixteenth century; eight military pipes, made by H. F. Kynsker, in Nürnberg, seventeenth century; a small portable organ (regal) with two rows of keys, sixteenth century. The regal has become very scarce. There are only a few specimens known to be in existence; one, of the sixteenth century, is in the possession of the Chanoinesses de Berlaimont, at Brussels; another, made about the middle of the seventeenth century, belongs to the Duke of Athol, and is at Blair Athol, in Scotland; another, which belongs to Mr. Wyndham S. Portal, Malshanger, Basingstoke, is in the shape of a book, and its pipes have reeds, or vibrating tongues of metal. This regal, which probably dates from the sixteenth century, is of the kind which was called in German Bibelregal, because it resembles a Bible in appearance.

      If the lumber-rooms of old castles and mansions in Germany were ransacked for the purpose, some interesting relics of the kind would probably be brought to light. In the year 1872 Dr. E. Schebeck, of Prague, was requested by Prince Moriz Lobkowitz to examine the musical instruments preserved in Eisenberg, a castle of the Prince, situated at the foot of the Erzgebirge, in Bohemia. Most of them had formerly been used in the private orchestra kept by Prince Josef Franz Maximilian Lobkowitz, the well-known patron of Beethoven, to whom the composer has dedicated some of his great works. The present Prince Lobkowitz, who seems to have inherited his parent's love for music, wished to have an examination of the instruments, with the object of making a selection of the most interesting ones for the great Vienna Exhibition in 1873. Dr. Schebeck found, among other rarities, violins by Gaspar di Salo, Amati, Grancino, Techler, Stainer, and Albani; a violoncello by Andreas Guarnerius; a scarce specimen of a double-bass by Jacobus Stainer; two precious old lutes by Laux Maler, who lived at Bologna during the first half of the fifteenth century; a lute, highly finished, and apparently as old as those of Laux Maler, with the inscription in the inside "Marx Unverdorben a Venetia;" a lute, with the inscription "Magno Dieffoprukhar a Venetia, 1607." There can be no doubt that we have here the Italianised name of the German Magnus Tieffenbrucker, who lived in Italy.[5]

      Fortunately for musical antiquarians the collection of rare instruments in the Conservatoire de Musique at Paris has been preserved uninjured during the recent disasters in that city. Among the instruments may be noticed, a small and beautiful musette with drones of ivory and gold, which belonged to Louis XIII.; a German regal, or portable organ, sixteenth century; a pochette by Stradiuarius; a courtaud, an early kind of bassoon, dating from the fifteenth century; several bass-flutes, and other rare old wind instruments; Boïeldieu's pianoforte; Grétry's clavichord; a "Trumpet of Honour," which was made by order of Napoleon I., and which has the name of "T. Harper" engraven on its silver rim. M. Victor Schœlcher has presented to the Conservatoire de Musique about twenty rather primitive instruments of uncivilised nations obtained by him during his travels in Western Africa and South America, among which may be noted several Negro contrivances of the harp and guitar kind.

      An interesting catalogue of the instruments in the Musée du Conservatoire National de Musique has recently been published by Gustave Chouquet, the curator of the museum. It comprises 630 instruments, or portions of instruments, each fiddle-bow, mute, etc., being separately numbered. On the whole, the Paris collection, though large, is far less valuable than that of the South Kensington Museum.

      One of the most valuable private collections ever formed of ancient musical instruments was that of M. Louis Clapisson in Paris. During a course of more than twenty years M. Louis Clapisson succeeded in procuring a considerable number of scarce and highly decorated specimens of instruments of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The collection has been dispersed since the death of its owner; a large portion of it is now incorporated with the collection of the Conservatoire de Musique at Paris, and some of its most valuable specimens were secured for the South Kensington Museum. It was, however, so unique that the following short survey of its contents will probably be welcome to the archæological musician.

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