repertoire but also the manner of presentation of the beggars differed from those of these two players. This is supported by the report that songs were composed for La Roze and Janot which "dans le caractere de la Vielle jouée par les Aveugles", of which two begin with the words: "Je vis content avec ma Vielle" and "Dieu qui fait tout pour le mieux" [fn][trans SB: "in the style of the hurdy-gurdy played by the blind," "I live in contentment with my hurdy-gurdy", "God who makes all for the best".]. It cannot be established where the two musicians came from. Their repertoire of dances as well as their presentation of them, which was distinguished from the monotonous performance of the beggars, indicate that they came from the country. They probably arrived in Paris as wandering musicians and played there for various occasions, especially however for dances, as the other hurdy-gurdy players of this time also did: "Les vielleurs vont joüer de porte en porte pour faire danser les servants, les enfants, les paysans" [fn] [trans: SB: "The hurdy-gurdy players go from door to door to make the servants, the children and the peasants dance".]
A reference to the different manners of presentation between beggars and dance musicians is given by Jean Baptiste Lully. In 1661 he included two hurdy-gurdy players in the "Ballet de L'Impatience", without causing any excitement in a public accustomed to the sound of the bagpipes. It is true that the composer used the hurdy-gurdy also as an instrument of the blind [fn] and displayed it in this way to a public which had long been familiar with this.
The interest aroused in the hurdy-gurdy by La Roze and Janot was only short-lived, and once again the instrument was entrusted to the folk musicians and to the blind,
before it achieved a longer lasting success in society [fn]. This quickly fading interest had several causes. The sound of the instrument was quite nasal since at this time it still had the third melody string, the "voix humaine" (see page 156). Also many of the French hurdy-gurdies at the beginning of the 18th century the almost square shape of the beggar and country instruments [fn]. In this form however the hurdy-gurdy did not yet possess the fullness of sound of the later "vielle en guitare" and "vielle en luth". Also, Louis XIV's favorite instrument was the guitar, and he could never come to like the hurdy-gurdy, and it was forbidden for a court member to have a taste different from that of the king [fn].
During the regency the Versailles lute-maker Bâton began to convert guitar (1716) and lute bodies (1720) into hurdy-gurdies (see page 158), giving the instrument a more pleasing tone. Bâton further improved the exactitude of the keys so that the notes sounded even clearer in playing melodies [fn] and beautified the instruments with carved heads which finished off the pegheads and by decorations on the hurdy-gurdy's body. In the course of the years the hurdy-gurdy received even further improvements, but in form and tonal range it remained essentially as Bâton introduced it.
[rest of page 309, all of p. 310 missing.]
B. The Hurdy-gurdy Compositions Which Have Been Preserved
The hurdy-gurdy found itself quite quickly in the hands of many ladies and gentlemen of polite society. This society however was not familiar with the usual folk music for the hurdy-gurdy and could therefore not turn to an already available repertoire. If the instrument was to really serve for their entertainment, new music was to be written. The teachers from whom the aristocrats learned to play the hurdy-gurdy usually composed for this instrument as well. Johan Friedrich Agricola, the royal composer to the Prussian Court, expressed his amazement in a remark about the vielle in France: "Es gibt dort sogar Compositionen dafür." [fn] [" There are for this even compositions there".]
In their compositions the authors catered to the instrument and their pupils, in that they limited themselves mostly to very simple melodies and at the same time acknowledged the taste of the period, which called for short dance movem