Trombas Marinas, Mathias Hornsteiner, Mittenwald, Germany, 1790.

The tromba marina was played with a bow close to the nut, the body of the instrument being supported with the left hand. The peculiar, trumpet-like sound emitted by the instrument is produced by the vibrating bridge, the free foot of which strikes the belly when the strings vibrate. [Also known as the "Nun's Fiddle."]

Martin Elste

Baryton by Hanns Kögl, Vienna, 1679.

The baryton or viola di bordone is a typical musical representative of this age. With its six or seven strings it belongs to the family of viols with sympathetic strings, these running accessibly behind the neck and fixed to a diagonally-mounted bridge; they were plucked by the thumb of the left hand. Most instruments had nine sympathetic strings, although this number, reflecting the capabilities of the player, could be increased to 27 or more. The instrument [on the left] shows all the typical features of the baryton. The instrument [was] popular in South Germany and Austria. Joseph Haydn, between 1766 and 1774 alone, wrote over 120 baryton trios for his master, the music-loving Prince Nikolaus Joseph Esterházy.

The baryton was universally acknowledged as having a very pleasing, gentle and sweet tone, although it could also sound melancholy and mournful. The golden age, so to speak, of the instrument was confined essentially to the 18th century.

Dagmar Droysen-Reber

Kits (Pocket Violins), makers unknown. Left, possibly 18th century; Right, probably 19th century.

In addition to the normal violin a number of small, often exquisitely decorated, violins (kits) have come down to us; these are in fact so light and slim that they can fit without difficulty into a coat pocket - hence the alternative description "pocket violin" ( in French, they are called "pochettes"; in German, "Taschengeigen"). To attribute a particular kit to any one instrument maker or school is very difficult, if not impossible, to do. It is said that Antonia Stradivari and Nicola Amati made kits, although this cannot be proved.

Right into the 19th century the kit, also known as the dancing-master's violin, was the teaching instrument of the maître de danse. At the same time as showing his students the necessary steps, the dancing-master could provide the melody and rhythm on his instrument. Kits can be found in many shapes and forms; e.g., in the form of miniature violins, elongated, faceted semi-cylinders, even trough-shaped violins.

Martin Elste

Bass viol by Barak Norman B, London, 1697

Viola da gamba (or viol) is the generic name of a family of Baroque stringed instruments with no standard musical compass. Ranging from the contrabass instrument (violone) on the one hand to the treble instrument on the other, the members of the viol family are usually played between the knees or held downwards on the lap. Many viols are lavishly decorated in ivory, mother of pearl and ebony, a testament, no doubt, to the wealth of their original owners.

A number of distinguishing features separate the viol from the members of the violin family: a body tapering towards the top, a wide fingerboard with stretched gut frets placed at intervals of a semitone and, usually, six strings tuned in a sequence of 4th, 4th, major 3rd, 4th, 4th. On account of this the viol was particularly suited to a chordal style of playing. A striking feature of some instruments is an ornately carved head in place of the scroll. From the 16th to the 18th centuries the viol was used in chamber music. Its origins are not entirely clear, the earliest examples surviving from the end of the 15th century.

The Museum possesses a number of particularly beautiful and characteristic viols by various celebrated craftsmen. Barak Norman is ranked among the finest representatives of the old English school of viol and violoncello making. He was active in London between 1700 and 1740. His bass viol of 1697 (left) is decorated with particularly instricate inlaid work: the central ornament on the belly consists of the intertwined initials of the maker himself. The richly decorated fingerboard and tailpiece originally belonged to a larger, probably late, English instrument.

Martin Elste

Bass Viol by Gergorius Karpp, Königsberg, 1693.

Little is known about Gregorius Karpp, except that he was active in Königsberg (present-day Kaliningrad) around 1700. The two instrument of his in the museum are decorated with a carved lion's head, a characteristic feature of his instruments. Remarkable are the soundholes in the shape of a "flaming sword." The belly, back and sides are made of birch wood. His bass viol (left) has seven strings.

Martin Elste

Violins. Left, by Jakob Stainer, Absam/Tyrol, 1654. Right, Antonio Stradivari, Cremona, 1703.

The violin is the soprano member of a family of musical instruments which, in the form we know today, were developed at the beginning of the 16th century in North Italy. Like its sister instruments, the viola and violoncello, the violin was not "invented" by any one person. An early iconographical source of around 1530 already shows the characteristic body shape, even if the detail do not all correspond to the instrument we know.

Around a hundred years later the violin as a musical instrument was so well known that Michael Praetorius, in his "Syntagma Musicum" (1619), could remark that it was unnecessary "to refer or write any more" about it, as it was "known to everyone." since that time, and up to the present, the violin has remained an essential orchestral instrument, and is, next to the piano, the most familiar instrument of western musical culture.

The standard features of instruments belonging to the violin family are as follows:
a. the characteristically rounded body-form and projecting "bouts"
b. a pronounced arching of the belly and back
c. a scroll at the end of the pegbox
d. two soundholes in the form of an "f"
e. the extension of the belly and back beyond the sides of the instrument
f. four strings tuned in fifths (violin=g, d', a', e")

One finds hardly any deviation from these features--unlike in the case of the viol, for example, where a great freedom of design is encountered.

Martin Elste