The Form of the Fiddle
by Otis Tomas The elegant proportions,
lines, and curves of a classic violin strike us with an
immediate sense of easy grace and timeless perfection. We
feel a harmony of design that we take in with our eyes as
well as our ears, and which hints to us of a music that is
deeper and more fundamental than that which our separate
senses can discern. The aesthetic traditions
from which the violin's design evolved, have roots that can
be traced back to some of the earliest expressions of our
civilization. In Ancient Greece, the idea of harmony
signified the joining together of separate elements into a
unified whole, and was given a simultaneously musical and
mathematical treatment by Pythagoras and his followers in
the sixth century B.C. They found the simple ratios that
describe the relationships between the lengths of strings or
weights of hammers that sounded the musical intervals, and
these they held as evidence of a deep and simple
mathematical harmony underlying the complexities of nature.
One hundred and fifty years later, Plato describes the
architect of the world bringing order out of chaos by
dividing it up and laying out the heavens and the earth in
proportion, according to the musical ratios; and the planets
sent humming in their spheres in accordance with the musical
geometry of this cosmic harmony.
continues below As the Renaissance began
to flower in Italy, a newly reinvigorated examination of the
early Greek writings infused the intellectual climate of the
times with a keen interest in the Platonic and Pythagorean
ideas on philosophy and aesthetics. The ancient musical
geometry, focussing on the classical idea of harmonious
proportion became an important element in the legacy of
renaissance art. Leon Battista Alberti, who wrote treatises
on both architecture and painting which were widely
circulated amongst the artists of the time, went into detail
describing the simple proportions of the intervals of the
musical scale as the key to the harmonious composition of
spaces in architecture and in painting. The luthiers and
violinmakers of the time participated in these ideas, and it
would have only seemed natural that an object designed to
create music in the worldly sense would incorporate the
classical principles whereby it would reflect also the
cosmic harmony that echoed throughout nature and society.
The early violin makers took as their starting point the
idea that the outward design of their instruments should
naturally reflect the inner musical voice, which in turn was
the reflection of Nature's original harmony, and to which
geometry was the key. With compass and
straightedge, the renaissance luthiers laid out the flowing
arcs and eloquent proportions of the violin, incorporating
the classical mathematical ratios such as the arithmetic and
harmonic means, by which the Pythagoreans had divided the
octave into the pure consonances of the fifth and fourth
(and similarly dividing the fifth into major and minor
thirds); and the "golden" mean, whose self replicating
proportions echo the whole within its parts --hinting at the
mystery of existence, of infinity in the world, and a deeper
harmony heard not with the ears but with the
soul. So the next time you see a
violin whose curves and proportions are especially
enchanting, stop for a moment to hear with your eyes and
with your whole being for a tune just out of
reach...
by
Otis
Tomas
last
upddate11/7/2000