(Fr. mentionnière; Ger. Kinnhalter; It. mentoniera).
A device clamped to the lower part of the violin or viola (or similar instrument played on the arm), generally at the left side of the tailpiece. The chin rest serves to separate the chin from actual contact with the instrument and at the same time gives the player a firm grip with the chin. In his Violin-Schule of 1832, Spohr claimed that he had invented what he called a ‘fiddle holder’some ten years earlier, with the aim of helping violinists in the frequent changes of position required by the modern style of playing. Spohr argued that it enabled the violin to be held securely and unconstrainedly, thus emancipating the left hand and (by avoiding the risk of moving the instrument in shifting) ensuring ‘tranquillity of bowing’. Spohr pointed out also that the chin rest removed pressure of the chin on the belly or tailpiece, and in this way no longer obstructed the vibrations of their parts, improving the quality and volume of tone. Curiously, Spohr’s chin rest (see illustration) is placed directly over the middle of the instrument, and not to the left side of the tailpiece, despite the fact that most writers from L’abbé le fils (1761) onwards recommended that the violin should be held with the chin on the G string side of the tailpiece.
DAVID D. BOYDEN/PETER WALLS