Dictionary of Music - Birding America

464 violefingerboard. Its name is thought to come from thefact that the scroll (at the top of the instrument) wasoften in the shape of a head of Cupid (or Amor), thegod of love. Very popular during the eighteenth century,with composers such as Vivaldi, Bach, and KarlStamitz writing for the instrument, the violad’amore virtually died out about 1800 but has beenrevived several times since then. It is called for in anumber of nineteenth-century orchestral scores (byMeyerbeer, Puccini, and others). In the twentiethcentury, Charles Loeffler gave it a prominent solo inhis tone poem La Mort de Tintagiles (“The Death ofTintagel”), and Paul Hindemith wrote both a sonataand a concerto for viola d’amore.violeAnother name for VIELLE.violin The most important of the orchestralstringed instruments. It is widely used, both as a soloinstrument and in ensembles, ranging in size fromthe string trio to the symphony orchestra. The smallest,highest-pitched of the modern stringed instruments,the violin is valued principally for its brillianttone and its wide range of expression.fig. 264 p/u from p. 486they form a hollow box, which acts as a resonator(strengthens the vibrations of the strings). Generallya hardwood, such as maple, is used for theback and ribs, and a softwood, such as spruce orpine, for the belly. The overall shape of the body iscurved, somewhat like the human body, so that itappears to have a waist. Inside the body are asoundpost and bass bar, which transmit the vibrationsof the strings. The neck consists of a long,narrow piece of wood called a fingerboard. At itsupper end are a pegbox, which holds the tuningpegs, and a small curved section called the scroll.Over the fingerboard and belly are stretched fourstrings made of gut. The strings, each woundaround a tuning peg, pass over a small piece ofwood called the nut, along the fingerboard, andover another piece of wood called the bridge andare attached to a third piece called the tailpiece,usually made of ebony and sometimes equippedwith small screw devices to help fine-tune thestrings. When a bow passes over a string, the stringis made to vibrate and hence to sound. The bridge,which touches the strings, is also made to vibrate,and its vibrations in turn pass to the belly and, to alesser extent, to the back. Cut into the belly aretwo sound holes, today usually in the shape of anF (and thus called F-holes); they serve to let outthe sound, and they also reinforce the vibrationsof the upper part of the belly (near the neck). SeeBRIDGE, def. 1, for a drawing showing a crosssectionof the body at the bridge. Violins today aremade in seven sizes, depending on the length ofthe player’s arm. The smallest size can be used byyoung children. (The accompanying illustration,however, shows the three different instrumentsof the violin family, violin, viola, and cello, forpurposes of comparison.)fig. 265p/u fromp. 487The violin consists of two main parts, a bodyand a neck, both made of wood. Both the top surfaceof the body, called the belly (or table top, orsoundboard), and the bottom, called the back, arecurved; together with the side walls, called ribs,The four strings of the violin are tuned G D AE. Three of them are always made of gut (speciallyprepared sheep intestines); the E string, thethinnest, is usually made of steel wire or someother metal, and so has a special tuner attached at