During the epochal 1895 Czechoslavonic Ethnographic Exhibition, the musicologist Otakar Hostinský described folksong as “one of the most significant and simultaneously most noble expressions of the people’s spiritual life.” In this chapter, the discourse is explored that gave rise to Hostinský’s statement by analyzing the relationship between Czech folk and art music– and the dialectical interdependence of those two terms– through the case studies of Bedřich Smetana’s operas Dvě vdovy (1874, rev. 1877) and Hubička (1876). These operas, and the reception of Smetana’s music more generally, were crucial components in the larger process of institutionalizing folk music as one of, if not the primary resource for musical nationalism in the toolbox of Czech composers. If we are to appreciate the fullness of Czech composers’ oeuvres in all their complexity, it behooves us to understand, and to dismantle wherever appropriate, the dominant narrative of their reliance on folksong.

Chapter 9 interrogates ways in which violin culture meshed with ideologies of nation, whether the political territory of Britain or any of its constituent countries (England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales). The first of four case studies analyzes how journalism sustained an imagined sense of a string-playing community across Britain. The second suggests that during World War I violin culture contributed to the idea of a united Britain through efforts to supply stringed instruments to troops for recreational use and an advertising campaign that encouraged the purchase of British-made violins at home. The third section unpacks overlaps and fusions between violin culture and traditional fiddle playing, before discussing how traditional tunes from the Four Nations were appropriated by violin culture for domestic consumption and pedagogical benefit. The final section foregrounds the repertoire of newly composed classical works for string orchestra that were conceived as expressions of national identities. Arguing that this creativity was a by-product of violin culture’s growing vitality, the chapter demonstrates how suited stringed instruments were for raising consciousness of nation(s). (172)

Who in 1890s Britain could have failed to notice a surge of interest in learning and playing the instruments of the violin family, and especially the violin? Rife in metropolitan areas, the phenomenon drew considerable public attention, and notions of a “violin craze” circulated. In 1894, a journalist for the Literary World (1894) observed the large number of “coffin-shaped boxes one is privileged to knock one’s knees against now-a-days when travelling up and down on suburban [railway] lines.”1 In another magazine a writer claimed that not only had clothing fashions changed the look of London streets since 1880 but pedestrians were now carrying different articles of portable property, and highlighted the “enormous increase in the number of music portfolios and fiddle-cases carried.”2 He also noted that while the ranks of professional string players were growing, the center of the activity was “en amateur.”3

This chapter, which pairs with Chapter 7, examines the nature, spread, and function of small-scale recreational string playing in private spaces, the values that people attributed to it, and the meanings it held in individuals’ lives. Emphasis is on instrumental chamber music in the conventional sense of the term, which locates much of the discussion in middle- and upper-class homes, but the chapter also addresses other types of small-ensemble music-making, including activities in working-class culture. The chapter foregrounds the challenges of writing about a private-sphere activity that at first blush seems largely invisible in the historical record, while presenting evidence and arguments for a rich subculture of recreational string playing that contributed to and perpetuated violin culture’s vitality. The ensuing discussion establishes, among other things, that while domestic string playing was valued as a mechanism for reinforcing family ties, it helped many people strengthen relationships with friends and develop networks of personal and professional acquaintances. The chapter also finds beneficial interconnections between public concert life and recreational chamber music.

This chapter complements Chapter 6’s investigation into recreational music-making, with an examination of amateur symphony orchestras – a significant nationwide phenomenon from the 1890s – which were predicated on having adequate numbers of string players. It begins by surveying organizational structures, showing that while orchestras initially operated as subscription clubs for men, they soon admitted women string players, some of whom were highly accomplished. Women’s presence often transformed standards, particularly where a conductor had experience of training strings. The chapter also examines one woman’s contributions to a regional amateur-orchestra circuit, as well as the popularity of all-women string orchestras. It then engages concepts of musical community, asking what amateur string players valued about their orchestral activities and highlighting the social cohesion and team spirit forged by playing alongside others with shared musical interests to prepare works for performances. It also argues that amateur orchestras produced thousands of string players whose knowledge of symphonic music led them to support orchestral concerts throughout their lives. (161)

Chapter 2 examines, often through the eyes and voices of aspirant learners, the varied paths that adults and children from a range of social classes took to learn stringed instruments, and the nature of the instruction they obtained. Through discussion of the violin trade, it addresses the affordability of instruments and accessories, arguing also that commerce powered the spread of violin culture geographically by creating a functional infrastructure. The chapter’s major concern is with the role of inexpensive group instruction in widening participation among the working classes through opportunities for learning in adult-education institutes in major cities, and in elementary schools, where the commercial “Maidstone” teaching program reached remarkable numbers of children. It highlights the persistence of Victorian values in these projects and reveals that group instruction subsequently became embedded nationally in many lower-profile string-teaching initiatives run by private teachers or as small academies. It further posits that the Maidstone movement had an impact on the subsequent development of classical-music audiences in Britain.

Chapter 5 augments existing scholarship on the music profession by providing a wide-ranging discussion of what piecing together a freelance living as a string player entailed, decentering the success stories of high-profile violinists to examine the unglamorous, often mundane, work that most string players undertook. The chapter develops two interrelated themes. One concerns string players’ expectations and strategies for finding employment and achieving stable earnings in an overcrowded market, including the practice of “double jobbing.” The other considers how the new women players negotiated the social, economic, and institutional constraints of the patriarchal workplace and its gatekeepers. The chapter also illuminates how the job market changed and diversified in response to the new mass entertainment, retail, and catering industries, and highlights the commercial benefits that ensued from attracting consumers with live music, especially string sounds. These openings in turn brought violin culture into public earshot, raising awareness of its ubiquity.

This chapter sets the scene for readers of the book by defining British violin culture and placing it in historical perspective. It traces the culture’s arc in time by tackling questions of numerical extent, patterns of activity, and related historiographical issues. It also discusses the societal positioning of string players c. 1870 and outlines the socioeconomic factors that triggered the initial surge in learning and playing, including the new availability of cheap instruments and crumbling assumptions about violin playing being out of bounds to women and girls. It ends by tracking Victorian values and activities that persisted from the 1870s into the 1920s – including socioeconomic aspiration, self-betterment, and beliefs in classical music as a meaningful leisure pursuit – to underline the coherence of the book’s periodization. The chapter counters assumptions that the popularity of violin playing was limited to the 1880s and 1890s and further argues that violin culture’s class composition resists generalization.

Chapter 8 examines the instruments of the violin family in the cultural imagination, addressing why they captivated so many people, what associations became attached to both the instrument and the person who handled it, and the underlying social currents those associations suggest. Two main topics are treated: the veneration around the instruments of Stradivari and others from the Cremonese School and the concomitant idealization of old artisanal craftsmanship; and how contemporary writers and illustrators sought to understand the instruments’ allure for players, especially women. The discussion assesses the idealization of old instruments in the context of industrialized violin making and broader social anxieties about the modernizing world. Building on scholarship about the gendering and sexualization of stringed instruments, the chapter also considers depictions of people’s responses to them through the lens of sensory and sensual perception, arguing that the prevalence of such material reflects attempts to make sense of the violin family’s powerful hold on British society.

Chapter 4 considers routes that advanced string players took to prepare for entering the workplace, and the changing socioeconomic and gender constraints that shaped their options. It begins by unearthing informal modes of training and “ways in,” including private or family instruction and unpaid work experience in theater orchestras, and it ends with an examination of what British conservatoire education could offer those who could afford to attend such institutions. Both sections draw on testimonies of individuals. A middle section provides a close examination of diplomas that engages scholarly conversations about musicians’ quest for professionalization and the credibility of qualifications. College of Violinists’ diplomas emerge as reputable qualifications and the exams of choice for less affluent players who wanted to teach. The chapter argues that by increasing the supply of certified teachers and competent performers for both the professional and amateur scenes, conservatoire instruction and reputable diploma certification ensured the robust continuation of violin culture in Britain beyond 1930.