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BOW (pronounced " bo ")
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See also:BOW (pronounced " bo ") , a See also:common See also:Teutonic word for anything bent2 (O. Eng. bo3a; cf. O. See also:Sax. and O.H.G. See also:bogo, M.H.G. boge, Mod. Ger. bogen; from O. Teat. See also:stem See also:bug- of beugan, Mod. Ger. biegen, to See also:bend). Thus it is found in See also:English See also:compound words, e.g. " See also:elbow," " See also:rainbow," " bow-See also:net," " bow-window," " bow-See also:knot," " See also:saddle-bow," and by itself as the designation of a See also:great variety of See also:objects. The Old English use of " bow," or See also: It is with this last that the See also:present See also:article is solely concerned. Bow in See also:Music.—The See also:modern bow (Fr. archet; Ger. Bogen; Ital. arco) consists of five parts, i.e. the " stick," the See also:screw or " See also:ferrule," the " See also:nut," the " See also:hair " and the " See also:head." The stick, in high-grade bows, is made of See also:Pernambuco wood (Caesalpinia brasiliensis), which alone combines the requisite lightness, See also:elasticity and See also:power of resistance; for the cheaper bows See also:American See also:oak is used, and for the double-See also:bass bow See also:beech. A See also:billet See also:rich in colouring See also:matter and straight in the See also:grain is selected, and the stick is usually cut from a templet so as to obtain the accurate See also:taper, which begins about 4' in. from the nut, decreasing according to See also:regular proportions from $ in. at the screw to % at the back of the head. The stick is cut absolutely straight and parallel along its whole length with the fibre of the wood; it is then bent by See also:heat until it is slightly See also:convex to the hair and has assumed the elegant cambrure first given to it by See also:Francois Tourte (1747-1835). This See also:process requires the greatest care, for if the See also:fibres be not heated right through, they offer a continual resistance to the See also:curve, and return after a See also:time to the rigid 1 It is not likely that any remains of it now exist. 2 " Bow," the forepart or head of a See also:ship, must be distinguished from this word. It is the same word, and pronounced in the same way, as " bough," an See also:arm or See also:limb of a See also:tree, and represents a common Teutonic word, seen in O. Eng. See also:bog, Ger. Bug, See also:shoulder, and is cognate with Gr. 76Xu5, forearm. The sense of " shoulder" of a ship is not found in O. Eng. bog. but was probably borrowed from Dutch or Danish. " Bow," an inclination of the head or See also:body, though pronounced as " bough," is of the same origin as bow." to bend, straight See also:line, a defect often observed in cheap bows. The sticks are now of either cylindrical or octagonal See also:section, and are lapped or covered with See also:gold See also:thread or See also:leather for some inches beyond the nut in See also:order to afford a See also:firm grip. The length of the stick was definitely and finally fixed by Francois Tourte at 29'34 to 29.528 in. The centre of gravity in a well-balanced violin bow should be at 19 cm. (72 to 79 in.) from the nut;' in the See also:violoncello bow the hair See also:measures from 6o to 62 cm. (24 to 25 in.), and the centre of gravity is at from 175 to 18o mm. (7 to 71 in.) from the nut. In consequence of the flexure given to the stick, Tourte found it necessary to re-adjust the proportions and relative height of head and nut, in order to keep the hair at a satisfactory distance from the stick, and at the necessary See also:angle in attacking the strings so as to avoid contact between stick and strings in bowing. In order to counterbalance the consequent increased See also:weight of the head and to keep the centre of gravity nearer the See also:hand, Tourte loaded the nut with See also:metal inlays or ornamental designs. The screw or ferrule, at the cylindrical end of the stick held by the hand, provides the means of tightening or loosening the tension of the hair. This screw, about 31 in. See also:long, hidden within the stick, runs through the See also:eye of another little screw at right angles to it, which is firmly embedded in the nut. The nut is a wooden See also:block at the screw end of the stick, the See also:original purpose of which was to keep the hair at a proper distance from the stick and to provide a secure See also:attachment for the hair. The whole nut slides up and down the stick in a groove in See also:answer to the screw, thus tightening or relaxing the tension of the hair. In the nut is a little cavity or chamber, into which the knotted end of the hair is firmly fixed by means of a little See also:wedge, the hair being then brought out and flattened over the front of the nut like a ribbon by the pressure of a See also:flat ferrule. The See also:mother-of-See also:pearl slide which runs along a mortised groove further protects the hair on the outside of the nut. Bows having these attachments of ferrule and slide, added by Tourte at the instigation of the violinist Giovanni Battista See also:Viotti, were known as archets a recouvrements.
The hair is chosen from the best See also: The particles of rosin cling to the scales of the epithelium, thus accentuating the projections and the See also:energy of the attack or " bite " upon the strings. With use, the scales of the epithelium See also:wear off, and then no matter how much rosin is applied, the bow fails to elicit musical sounds—it is then " played out " and must be re-haired. The organic construction of horsehair makes it necessary, in hairing the bow, to See also:lay the hairs in opposite directions, so that the up and down strokes may be equal and a pure and even tone obtained. Waxed See also:silk is See also:wound See also:round both ends of the hair to form a strong knot, which is afterwards covered with melted rosin and hardens with the hair into a solid See also:mass. The head, I in. long and in. wide at the See also:plate, is cut in one piece with the stick, an operation which requires delicate workmanship; otherwise the head is liable to snap at this point during a sforzando passage. The head has a chamber and wedge contrivance similar to that of the nut, in which the other end of the hair is immovably fixed. The hair on the See also:face of the head is protected by a metal or See also:ivory plate. The See also:model bow here described, elaborated by Francois Tourte as long ago as between 1775 and 178o according to Fetis,4 or between 1785 and 1790 according to Vidal,' has not since been surpassed. ' See F. J. Fetis, See also:Antoine See also:Stradivari, pp. 120-121 (See also:Paris, 1856). 2 Fetis, op. cit. p. 123. , J. Ruhlmann, See also:Die Geschichte der Bogeninstrumente (See also:Brunswick, 1882), p. 143. Fetis, op. cit. p. 119. ' Antoine Vidal, See also:Les Instruments a archet (Paris, 1876-1878), tome i. p. 269. That the violin and the bow form one inseparable whole becomes evident when we consider the See also:history of the forerunners of the See also:viol family: without the bow the ancestor of the violin would have remained a See also:guitar; the bow would not have reached its present See also:state of perfection had it been required only for instruments of the See also:rebec and See also:vielle type. As soon as the possibilities of the violin were realized, as a See also:solo See also:instrument capable, through the agency of the bow, of expressing the emotions of the performer, the perfecting of the bow was prosecuted in See also:earnest until it was capable of responding to every shade of delicate thought and feeling. This accounts in a measure for the protracted development of the bow, which, although used long before the violin had been evolved, did not reach a state of perfection at the hands of Tourte until more than a See also:century and a half after the See also:Cremona See also:master had given us the violin. The question of the origin of the bow still remains a matter of
conjecture. Its See also:appearance in western See also:Europe seems to have coincided with the See also:conquest of See also:Spain by the See also:Moors in the 8th century, and the consequent impetus their See also:superior culture gave to arts and sciences in the See also:south-See also:west of Europe. We have, however, no well-authenticated See also:representation of the bow before the 9th century in Europe; the earliest is the bow illustrated along with the See also:Lyra Teutonica by See also: J. Fetis,10 Antoine Vidal," See also:Edward See also:Heron-See also:Allen,12 and others have given the question some See also:consideration, and readers who wish to pursue the matter farther are referred to their See also:works. There is thus no See also:absolute See also:proof of the existence of the bow in primitive times. The earliest bow known in Europe was associated with the See also:rebab (q.v.), the most widely used bowed instrument until the 12th century. The development of this 8 .De See also:Cantu et Musica Sacra (1774), tome ii. pl. xxxii. No. 18; the MS. has since perished by See also:fire. ' See, for an See also:illustration of the bowed instrument on one of the sides of a Byzantine ivory See also:casket, 9th century, in the Carrand Collection, See also:Florence, A. Venturi, Gallerie Nazionali Italiane, iii. (See also:Rome, 1897), plate, p. 263 ; and Add. MS. r9, 9,352, British Museum, See also:Greek Psalter, dated 1066. 
8 See Jean Cledat, " Le Monastere et la necropole de Baouit," in Mem. de l'Inst. See also:franc. d'archeol. orient. du Caire, vol. xii. (1904), See also:chap. xviii. pl. lxiv. (2) ; also Fernand Cabrol, Dict. d'archeol. chrelienne, s.v. " Baouit." For an illustration, see Sonnerat, Voyage aux Indes orientales (Paris, 18o6), vol.i. p. 182. 10 Op. cit. pp. 4-10. " Op. cit. vol. i. p. 3 and pl. ii. 12 Edward Heron-Allen, Violin-making as it was and is (See also:London, 1884), pp. 37-42, See also:figs. 5-1o.
instrument can be traced with some degree of certainty, but it is quite impossible to decide at what date or in what See also:place the use of the bow was introduced. The bow See also:developed very slowly in Europe and remained a crude instrument as long as it was applied to the rebab and its hybrids. Its progress became marked only from the time when it was applied to the almost perfect guitar (q.v.), which then became the guitar See also:fiddle (q.v.), the immediate forerunner of the viols.
The first improvement on the primitive arched bow was to provide some sort of handle in a straight line with the hair or string of the bow, such as is shown in the MS. See also:translation of the See also:Psalms by Labeo Notker, See also:late loth century, in the University library, Leipzig.' The length of the handle was often greatly exaggerated, perhaps by the See also:fancy of the artist. Another handle (see Bodleian Library MS., N.E.D. 2, 12th century) was in the form of a hilt with a knob, possibly a screw-nut, in which the arched stick and the hair were both fixed. The first development of importance influencing the technique of stringed instruments was the See also:attempt to find some See also:device for controlling the tension of the hair. The contrivance known as cremaillere, which was the first step in this direction, seems to have been foreshadowed in the bows drawn in a See also:quaint MS. of the 14th century in the British Museum (See also:Sloane 3983, fol. 43 and 13) on See also:astronomy. Forming an obtuse angle with the handle of the bow is a contrivance shaped
Drawn from the ivory See also:cover of like a See also:spear-head which presumably the See also:Lothair Psalter, by permission served some useful purpose; if it of See also:Sir See also: 1) occurs on a carved ivory plate ornamenting the binding of the fine Carolingian MS. Psalter of Lothair (A.D. 825), for some time known as the See also:Ellis and White Psalter, but now in the library of Sir Thomas Brooke at Armitage See also:Bridge See also:House. The carved figure of King See also:David, assigned from its characteristic pose and the treatment of the drapery to the 11th century, holds a stringed The artist has added a bow with cremaillere attachment, which is startling if the See also:carving be accurately placed in the 11th century. The earliest representation of a cremaillere bow, with this exception, See also:dates from the 15th century, according to See also:Viollet-le-Duc, who merely states that it was copied from a See also:painting.3 Fetis (op. cit. p. 117) figures a cremaillere bow which he styles " Bassani, 1680. " See also:Sebastian Virdung draws a bow for a tromba marina, with the hair and stick See also:bound together with waxed See also:cord. The hair appears to be kept more or less tense by means of a wedge of wood or other material forced in between stick and hair, the latter bulging slightly at this point like the string of an archery bow when the arrow is in position; this contrivance may be due to the fancy of the artist. The invention of a movable nut propelled by a screw is ascribed to the See also:elder Tourte (fig. 2); had we not this See also:information on the best authority (Vuillaume and Fetis), it might be imagined that some of the bows figured by See also:Mersenne,4 e.g. the bass viol bow KL (p. 184), and another KLM (p. 192), had a movable nut and screw; the nut is clearly drawn astride the stick as in the modern bow. Mersenne explains (p. 178) the construction of the bow, which consists of three parts: the bois, bdton or See also:brin, the soye, and the demi-roue or hausse. The See also:term "half-See also:wheel" clearly indicates that the See also:base of the nut was cut round so as to fit round the stick. In the See also:absence of any allusion to such ingenious mechanism as that of screw and nut, we must infer that the drawing is misleading and that the very decided See also:button was only meant for an ornamental finish to the stick. We are informed further that la soye was in reality hairs from the See also:horse or some other See also:animal, of which from 8o to See also:loo were used for each bow. The up-stroke of the bow was used on the weak beats, 2, 4, 6, 8, and the down-stroke on the strong beats, 1, 3, 5, 7 (p. 185). The same practice prevailed in See also:England in 1667, when See also:Christopher See also:Simpson wrote the See also:Division Viol. He gives information concerning the construction of the bow in these words: " the viol-bow for division should be stiff but not heavy. The length (betwixt the two places where the hairs are fastened at each end) about seven-and-twenty inches. The nut should be See also:short, the height of it about a See also:finger's breadth or a little more " (p. 2). As soon as See also:Corelli (1653–1713) formulated the principles of the technique of the violin, marked modifications in the construction of the bow became noticeable. See also:Tartini, who began during the second See also:decade of the 18th century to See also:gauge the capabilities of the bow, introduced further improvements, such as a lighter wood for the stick, a straight See also:contour, and a shorter head, in order to give better See also:equilibrium. The Tourtes, See also:father and son, accomplished the See also:rest.
After Francois Tourte,thefollowing makers are the most esteemed: J. B. Vuillaume, who was directly inspired by Tourte and rendered an inestimable service to violinists by working out on a scientific basis the empirical taper of the Tourte stick, which was found in all his bows to conform to strict ratio; Dominique Peccate, apprenticed to J. B. Vuillaume; See also: 30. For an illustration of it see See also:Hyacinth Abele, Die Violine, ihre Geschichte and ihr Bau (See also:Neuburg-a-D., 1874), p1. 5, No. 7.
2 See See also:CROWD for fig. from the See also:Bible of See also: 125-128.
metal ; See also:Simon, See also:born 1808, who also signs his bows on the stick near the nut; See also: In 1817 he was sent, with two companions, to Kumasi on a See also:mission to the king of See also:Ashanti, and chiefly through his skilful See also:diplomacy the mission succeeded in its See also:object of securing British See also:control over the coast natives (see ASHANTI: History). In 1818 Bowdich returned to England, and in 18x9 published an See also:account of his mission and of the study he had made of the barbaric See also:court of Kumasi, entitled Mission from Cape Coast See also:Castle to Ashantee, &c. (London, 1819). His African collections he presented to the British Museum. Bowdich publicly attacked the management of the African See also:committee, and his strictures were instrumental in leading the British See also:government to assume See also:direct control over the Gold Coast. From 1820 to 1822 Bowdich lived in Paris, studying See also:mathematics and the natural sciences, and was on intimate terms with See also:Cuvier, See also:Humboldt and other savants. During his stay in See also:France he edited several works on See also:Africa, and also wrote scientific works. In 1822, accompanied by his wife, he went to See also:Lisbon, where, from a study of historic MSS., he published An Account of the Discoveries of the Portuguese in . . . See also:Angola and See also:Mozambique (London, 1824). In 1823 Bowdich and his wife, after some months spent in See also:Madeira and Cape Verde Islands, arrived at See also:Bathurst at the mouth of the See also:Gambia, intending to go to Sierra Leone and thence explore the interior. But at Bathurst Bowdich died on the loth of See also:January 1824. His widow published an account of his last See also:journey, entitled Excursions in Madeira and See also:Porto Santo . . . to which is added ... A Narrative of the Continuance of the Voyage to its Completion,' &c. (London, 1825). Bowdich's daughter, Mrs See also:Hutchinson See also:Hale, republished in 1873, with an See also:introductory See also:preface, her father's Mission from Cape Coast Castle to Ashantee. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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