MFA Tromba |
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The following is an excerpt from: "ANCIENT EUROPEAN MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS, An Organological Study of the Musical Instruments in the Leslie Lindsey Mason Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston" by Nicholas Bessaraboff, published for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston by the Harvard University press, 1941. From the section: CHORDOPHONIC INSTRUMENTS OR CHORDOPHONES. Pages 317-319
#292. TROMBA MARINA - Italy, second half of the 17th century
Marine Trumpet. Nun's Fiddle. Monochord with fifty sympathetic strings. Long, hollow sound-box; back of five ribs of pine; open at the bottom. Sound-board of pine extending almost the entire length of the sound-box; the opening at the top providing access to the tuning pegs of the sympathetic strings and covered by a sliding door with open fret-work. Solidly constructed neck with integral peg-box, scroll, and 'top block' at the lower end. Single thick gut-string held by a large knot inside the sound-box at the lower end and fixed to a tuning pin at the upper end. Tuning pin of wrought iron with a square head and a ratchet-wheel affixed to it; pawl held by spring against the ratchet-wheel and fixed to a plate let into the left cheek of the peg-box, providing the bearings for the tuning pin. Ebony saddle-block at the bottom with a groove for the string. A trembling bridge of maple. Ebony nut. Narrow vertical strip of paper glued on the neck front with small cross-strips of white paper pasted over it for indication of the nodal points of the string.
Inside construction: 'top block' recessed for clearance space for the tuning pegs of the sympathetic strings; oak bridge, with a thin brass strip with spacing, notches; similar bridge below. Sound-board is reinforced by a wide bottom panel and four cross-strips, all fitted into recesses in the side ribs; bottom edges of ribs reinforced by oak moldings. The sound-board reinforced inside at the bottom by oak molding, serving also as a pin-board for small brass pins holding the fixed ends of the sympathetic strings. (See detail)
The tromba marina is one of the rarest instrumental types. Although now a museum curiosity, its significance in the development of the playing technique of modern bowed instruments can be appreciated by these facts:
'Harmonics' used in solo and orchestra playing were borrowed from the tromba marina, which used harmonics only.
The 'thumb technique' of violoncellos was also borrowed from the tromba marina.
The 'machine head' of modern double-basses, guitars, and mandolins was suggested by the ratchet-wheel mechanism of the tromba marina.
Our instrument is remarkable for its unusually large number of sympathetic strings (fifty), and its fine design and workmanship. It was found in an old farm-house in Cheshire, where it had been kept for many years. The instrument is played in an inclined position, with the neck held over the left shoulder. The string is just touched by the left-hand thumb at the nodal points and the sounds produced are 'harmonics' (more correctly, 'partial tones,' since each is a compound tone consists of harmonics and partials). The bow is held in the right hand, double-bass fashion, and applied to the string close to the nut and always above the point where the string is touched by the thumb.
The most peculiar part of the sound production on the tromba marina is its trembling bridge. (See detail) Its short leg is placed directly under the string and held stationary by powdered rosin. The long leg, when the string is attacked by the bow, produces a rattling noise by striking itself against the sound-board. Experiments with the Museum's instrument brought out several facts not usually mentioned. The trembling of the long leg of the bridge produces two effects. The first is similar to the percussive action of the snare on the snare drum. The second is similar to the function of the bridge on any string instrument, but with this difference. The sound produced acquires the tone color reminding one of that of the classical natural trumpet. The bridge has to be properly fitted, and produces its optimum effect only at a particular position. When the bridge is shifted out of this position, it produces only a percussive rattle but no trumpeting sound; also, the string sounds its open tone and 'harmonics' in a dull, lifeless fashion. Yet when the bridge is properly placed and the string tension is delicately balanced with respect to the mass of the bridge, then the sounds become surprisingly clear and loud; the timbre becomes so similar to that of the trumpet and the whole effect is so startling that it must be heard to be believed. The quality of fit between the contacting surfaces of the trembling bridge and the sound-board has a considerable influence upon the intensity of the sounds produced and the richness of their tone color. The number of higher partial tones having the trumpet quality, as well as the ease of their production, is also affected by the smoothness and precision of the fit. For the best results the string should be bowed at the nodal point immediately above the one being touched by the thumb; when bowed close to the nut, the sounds are not as clear and incisive. The tones playable on our tromba marina and having an acceptable 'trumpety' quality of tone, with the string tuned to C are as follows:
The open string sounds with a snarling resonance; the b'-flat, as on the trumpet or horn, is out of tune with the tempered scale; the safe limit on the Museum's instrument is c"; above that the nodal points come too close together and the sound loses its force and its trumpety quality. J. B. Prin's instrument described in his memoir had a much longer string, measuring 173.2 cm. (5 feet, 4 inches, pied du Roi, or the Paris foot; 1 inch equal to 27.07 mm.), as compared with the 150 cm. of the Museum's instrument. On a longer string the emission of higher harmonics would be, undoubtedly, more certain. The sympathetic strings are tuned in unison with the pedal tone.
