Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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626 SOUND-HOLES SOUND-HOLES
with paper, with the result that the tone was
immediately diminished, and the note given by
the contained mass of air was flattened. A
similar effect is produced when the holes are
too small ; but when they are too large the
vibratory note of the air rises. Practically the
proportions of the ff holes must depend upon
the dimensions, thickness, height, etc., of the
instrument, and they must be cut in strict
relation to these conditions.
Although an established form and position of
the sound-holes did not exist until the latter half
of the 16th century, still there are evidences
that sound-holes were employed in very early
times. The monochord attributed to Ptolemy
{circa a.d. 139) was apparently provided
with a circular sound-hole, like some of the
guitars depicted in ancient Egyptian frescoes,
which show small sound-holes pierced in the
upper table, on either side of the strings. Today
those presumptive descendants of the
original inhabitants of Egypt— the Berbers
monopolise a musical instrument called the
' kissar,' considered to be of very ancient origin,
which has a circular sound-hole placed in the
now generally adopted position. In the 9th
century we find a figure from the MS. found by
Gerber in the Monastery of St. Blasius in the
Black Forest, and copied by him, which shows
(Fig. 1) C-shaped sound-holes well placed, but
from that time to the ^—..
16 th century pictorial
CCi\
and sculptural repre-
>T/'
sentations afibrd evidence
that the various
small predecessors of
the viol properly so
called depended entirely
upon the whim
of their makers for
the shape of their
sound-holes. Some of
the viol's forerunners
had as many as six
sound -holes pierced
in .their diminutive
bodies, others had
four, and others two,
but none among them
approached the/ form
finally adopted by the
violin - makers proper.
At the beginning of
the 16 th century,
Fia. 1.
makers began to show
more dexterity in cutting the sound -holes,
and even in the previous century some Italian
makers had already come very near to realising
their correct position. A glance at Fig. 2, reproduced
from an early woodcut representation
of a seven-stringed viol which oi'naments the
front page of the First Book of Songs by
' '
' Aurelius Augurellus Ariminensis ' (Verona, I
1491), a copy of which is in the library of the
British Museum, will corroborate this statement.
During the
first half of the 16th
century the woodcut
illustrations of bow
instruments which
appeared in theworks
of Sebastian Virdung
{Musica getutscht,
1611), of Martin
Agricola (Musica Instrwmenialis,
1528),
and of Hans Gerle
{Musica Teusch,
1632), show rebecs
with the C - shaped
sound-holes on either
side of the strings
sometimes turned inward
and sometimes
outward ; also viols
with a ' rose ' in the
centre and the 0-
shaped sound - holes
set high up in the
upper bouts. Far in
Fig. 2.
advance of the German
work was that of the contemporary
Italians as revealed by Ganassi del Fontego
(Venice, 1542), in his Begola Riibertina,
wherein graceful viols with large /-shaped
sound-holes appear, and later in the century
the still more elegant curves portrayed in
Fio. S.
Domenichino's bass, in his picture of St.
Cecilia (Fig. 3). Another form of sound-hole
prevalent among viol-makers and extensively
employed by them for the viola da gamba is that
shown in Fig. 4, known as the 'flaming sword.'
Generally speaking, the ti-ue era of the /-shaped
sound-hole began with Andreas Amati (Cremona,
about 1520-80) and Gasparo da Sal6 (Brescia,
1542-1609),and was the outcome of the ceaseless
pursuit of perfection which marked the period