Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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628 SOUND-POST SPAGNOLETTI
of about a quarter of an inch. As a general
rule, when the vibrations of the back of an
instrument are sluggish and require to be
accelerated before the highest quality of tone
of which it is capable can be produced, the
sound-post should be brought nearer the bridge ;
in a contrary condition of things it should be
moved fartheraway ; and high-built instruments
require the sound-post nearer the bridge than
do those of flatter model.
The interesting series of experiments made
in connection with the sound-post by Mons.
Savart, and later by Sir William Huggins, have
proved the following axioms :
(1) That thesound-post conveys the combined
vibrations of the belly and sides to the back
of the instrument, controlling the action of
these parts, and bringing them into unison and
equilibrium with the contained mass of air in
the body of the instrument.
(2) That the material of which the soundpost
is made influences the tone of the instrument,
as was evidenced by Sii' W. Huggins's
introduction of lead, and of sealing-wax, into
the centre of the post, whereby the volume of
tone was diminished greatly. A sheet of
india-rubber firmly wedged in at the upper and
lower end of the sound-post, when in position,
influenced the tone in a still more disastrous
manner.
(3) That the sound-post placed directly under
the right foot of the bridge diminished the
intensity of tone, rendering it as meagre in
quality as it is when the sound-post is dispensed
with ;
placed under the left foot of the bridge,
on the same side as the bass -bar, similarly
unsatisfactory results were produced.
The object of the sound-post, therefore, is not
so much to convey the vibrations of any of the
sections of the violin one to another, as to
render the vibrations regular and consonant,
and experiment has proved that these results
are best obtained by placing the sound-post
slightly behind the right foot of the bridge.
This conclusion has been borne out by the fact
that trial has shown the fallacy and ineSicacy
of all innovations such (to name but a few) as
M. Petizeau's hollow glass sound-post (brought
before the Academy of Sciences in Paris a few
years ago) ; Haussel's broad, flat, thin soundpost
(described in the Allgemevne Miisikalisehe
Zeitung, 1881 (p. 75) ; and Mr. P. Davidson's
sound-post with drilled holes, together with
such patents as David Herring's sound -post
made elastic, so as to double the amplitude of
the vibrations (No. 18,028) ;
Simoutre's roundlegged
or oval sound-post (No. 11,936), and
others to be found in the Abridgements of Specifications
relating to Music and Musicallnstruments,
published by the Commissioners of Patents.
Huggins, Sir W., LL.D., F.R.S., On the
Function of the Sound-post (1883) ; Savart,
Felix, Memoire sur la Construction des Instru-
Tiients a Archet ; Migge, Otto, The Secret of the
Celebraied Italian Violin-makers ; Gallay, J.,
Les Zuthiers Italiens; Maugin, J. C, Manuel
de Zuthier ; Davidson, P., The Violin; Heron-
Allen, Violin-making. E. h-a.
SOUPIR (a sigh). The French name for a
crotchet rest. A quaver rest is called un demisoupir
; a semiquaver ditto, un quart de soupir,
and so on. a.
SOURDINE. An obsolete instrument of
wood, with a small cylindrical bore, played with
a double reed. The larger instruments of this
family had two parallel tubes arranged much in
the same way as those of the bassoon, and were
furnished with several keys, as well as six fingerholes.
[For Sourdine in the sense of Mute see
Sordino.] d. j. b.
SOUSA, John Philip, popular bandmaster
and composer, especially of marches, was born
in Washington, D.C. (U.S.), on Nov. 6, 1856.
In 1877 he was a violinist in the orchestra
which Offenbach led on his visit to the U.S.,
and soon after became conductor of travelling
troupes. In 1880 he enlisted in the service of
the U.S., and was appointed leader of the band
of the United States Marine Corps, developing
great proficiency among the musicians and laying
the foundations for the eminence which he
achieved throughout America and in European
lands with his own organisation later. He resigned
from the service and organised his band in
1892. Facilities which his official post brought
him enabled him to compile a useful collection
of musical pieces entitled ' National, Patriotic
and Typical Airs of All Countries,' which he
dedicated to the Secretary of the Navy.
He is
the composer also of a number of comic operettas,
some of which had considerable vogue, though
his reputation rests on his marches. H. E. K.
SPACE, The stave is made up of five lines
and four spaces. The spaces in the treble stave,
counting upwards, make the word face, which is
useful as a memoria technica for beginners. G.
SPAGNOLETTI, P. This violinist, who
held the post of leader of the King's Theatre
orchestra for nearly thirty years, was born at
Cremona in 1768 (not, as the Quellen-Lexilcon
says, in 1761), and died in London on Sept. 23,
1834. No complete biographical notice of
Spagnoletti has apparently appeared hitherto,
but according to some MS. notes sent by the
late Mr. George Bently—who was acquainted
with some of Spagnoletti's relatives—to Dr. T.
Lamb Phipson in 1877, this artist's real name
was Paolo Diana. At the age of twelve he was
introduced to the Director of the Naples Conservatorio
as a very promising pupil, whereupon
the director placed an elaborate composition
before the young aspirant, who, it is said,
astonished his auditors by glancing at the
printed sheet for a few moments, and then playing
the piece through with the music tiumed
upside down before him. About 1802 he was