A great many special effects can be produced from violins. The manner of drawing the bow across the strings has much to do with them. For instance, bowing close to the bridge of the instrument produces a rough, metallic sound, while bowing over the finger-board evokes a soft, veiled tone. There is even a difference in the sound of a tone produced by the pushing of the bow upward and that given out when it is drawn downward. The use of the toe or the heel of the bow also makes a difference. The toe is best employed for a delicate touch, while the heel is used for short, vigorous notes. All possible gradations between a smooth, fluent cantilena and the sharpest staccato are possible to the violin, and can be employed in the orchestra with excellent effect.
Rapid alternating strokes of the bow upward and downward produce the tremolo effect, which is very common in orchestral music. Berlioz notes, with his customary accuracy in regard to instrumental effects, that the tremolo of violins expresses great agitation when played by many violins not far above the middle B flat, while a forte on the middle of the first string is stormy and violent. Wagner’s “Flying Dutchman” overture affords admirable examples of both these effects.
The saltato is sometimes employed. This is a performance of rapid successions of notes by causing the bow to jump on the strings by its own elasticity instead of drawing it smoothly. The direction col legno, sometimes seen in orchestra scores, means that the violinists are to use the backs of their bows instead of the hair. This produces a harsh, grotesque kind of staccato, and it is a method employed only in music with something of grim humor in it. Some of the best instances of its employment are to be found in Wagner’s “Siegfried,” where it is used in the music accompanying Mime’s betrayal of his gleeful expectations of Siegfried’s death.
Pizzicato is a term used to express the plucking of the strings with the fingers. This is a very familiar musical effect. In earlier times it was employed very little, and confined chiefly to the basses. It is very common in modern music, and sometimes whole movements are directed to be played in this manner. The familiar pizzicato movement of Delibes’s “Sylvia” ballet is an excellent example.
Sordines are little contrivances of wood or brass with teeth which can be pressed down over the strings so as to deaden their vibrations. You will often, if you are observant, see the players take them out of their waistcoat-pockets and place them over the strings of their instruments just in front of the bridges. These sordine, or mutes, give the tone of the instrument a veiled sound, which adds to the mournfulness of pathetic music, and to the mystery of anything weird or strange. In the “Queen Mab” scherzo of Berlioz’s “Romeo et Juliette” symphony, for instance, the use of the sordines adds to the suggestion of the supernatural world, while in “Asa’s Death” in Grieg’s “Peer Gynt” suite they deepen the impression of crushing sorrow. For the benefit of those who read orchestral scores it must be added that the direction to use the mutes is con sordini, and the words senza sordini signify that their use is to be discontinued. The use of the bow after a pizzicato passage is directed by the words col arco, or simply arco (the bow).
Violins in the orchestra are divided into two bodies, first and second. A friend once asked me: “What is the difference between a first and a second violin?” The question amused me and I repeated it to my friend, Philip Hale, the brilliant music critic of the Boston Journal. He promptly answered: “There is no difference except in the price.” That is quite true. Violins are all alike, but a first-violin player is sometimes paid more than a second. The reason for dividing the instruments into two bodies is that the middle voices of the harmony may be properly filled out. If there were no second violins, the violas, which we shall presently consider, would have to play continually in their upper register in order to fill what may be called the contralto part of the harmony. Then the ’cellos would have to be pushed up into the tenor register, and there would be a big gap between them and the low-toned double-basses. On the other hand, if the violas were kept down, there would be a gap between them and the violins. But by dividing the violins into two bodies, the second violins are available for the notes of the harmony lying between those sounded by the first violins and those given out by the violas. First and second violins can frequently play the same notes, when the harmonic support is confided to the wind-instruments, and thus a double amount of power is attained. Indeed, it is not uncommon to write a melody for all the violins, violas, and ’cellos to sing together, with wind accompaniment. First and second violins, on the other hand, are often subdivided into four or more parts. So are all the other stringed instruments. This is an effect which we shall consider more in detail when we come to the extended examination of the separate choirs.
THE VIOLA
This adorable instrument always reminds me of Shakespeare’s Viola—“She never told her love, but let concealment, like a worm i’ the bud, prey on her damask cheek.” The viola speaks often enough, but no one recognizes her voice. She is unknown to the average concert-goer. Kept in the background by the position of the players, who sit behind the violins, and by the unskilful employment of the earlier composers, this beautiful and expressive member of the viol family is almost a stranger to lovers of music. The viola is nothing more or less than a larger violin with a deeper compass. The violin is tuned, as we have already seen, thus:
