Chapter XII: Front Matter (12)

DOSTOIEVSKY, FEODOR MIKHAILOVICH (1821-1881), Russian author, born at Moscow, on the 30th of October 1821, was the second son of a retired military surgeon of a decayed noble family. He was educated at Moscow and at the military engineering academy at St Petersburg, which he left in 1843 with the grade of sub-lieutenant. Next year his father died, and he resigned his commission in order to devote himself to literature--thus commencing a long struggle with ill-health and penury. In addition to the old Russian masters Gogol and Pushkin, Balzac and George Sand supplied him with literary ideals. He knew little of Dickens, but his first story is thoroughly Dickensian in character. The hero is a Russian "Tom Pinch," who entertains a pathetic, humble adoration for a fair young girl, a solitary waif like himself. Characteristically the Russian story ends in "tender gloom." The girl marries a middle-aged man of property; the hero dies of a broken heart, and his funeral is described in lamentable detail. The germ of all Dostoievsky's imaginative work may be discovered here. The story was submitted in manuscript to the Russian critic, Bielinski, and excited his astonishment by its power over the emotions. It appeared in the course of 1846 in the _Recueil de Saint-Petersbourg_, under the title of "Poor People." An English version, _Poor Folk_, with an introduction by Mr George Moore, appeared in 1894. The successful author became a regular contributor of short tales to the _Annals of the Country_, a monthly periodical conducted by Kraevsky; but he was wretchedly paid, and his work, though revealing extraordinary power and intensity, commonly lacks both finish and proportion. Poverty and physical suffering robbed him of the joy of life and filled him with bitter thoughts and morbid imaginings. During 1847 he became an enthusiastic member of the revolutionary reunions of the political agitator, Petrachevski. Many of the students and younger members did little more than discuss the theories of Fourier and other economists at these gatherings. Exaggerated reports were eventually carried to the police, and on the 23rd of April 1849 Dostoievsky and his brother, with thirty other suspected personages, were arrested. After a short examination by the secret police they were lodged in the fortress of St Peter and St Paul at St Petersburg, in which confinement Feodor wrote his story _A Little Hero_. On the 22nd of December 1849 the accused were all condemned to death and conveyed in vans to a large scaffold in the Simonovsky Place. As the soldiers were preparing to carry out the sentence, the prisoners were informed that their penalty was commuted to exile in Siberia. The novelist's sentence was, four years in Siberia and enforced military service in the ranks for life. On Christmas eve 1849 he commenced the long journey to Omsk, and remained in Siberia, "like a man buried alive, nailed down in his coffin," for four terrible years. His Siberian experiences are graphically narrated in a volume to which he gave the name of _Recollections of a Dead-House_ (1858). It was known in an English translation as _Buried Alive in Siberia_ (1881; another version, 1888). His release only subjected him to fresh indignities as a common soldier at Semipalatinsk; but in 1858, through the intercession of an old schoolfellow, General Todleben, he was made an under-officer; and in 1859, upon the accession of Alexander II., he was finally recalled from exile. In 1858 he had married a widow, Madame Isaiev, but she died at St Petersburg in 1867 after a somewhat stormy married life.

After herding for years with the worst criminals, Dostoievsky obtained an exceptional insight into the dark and seamy side of Russian life. He formed new conceptions of human life, of the balance of good and evil in man, and of the Russian character. Psychological studies have seldom, if ever, found a more intense form of expression than that embodied by Dostoievsky in his novel called _Crime and Punishment_. The hero Raskolnikov is a poor student, who is led on to commit a murder partly by self-conceit, partly by the contemplation of the abject misery around him. Unsurpassed in poignancy in the whole of modern literature is the sensation of compassion evoked by the scene between the self-tormented Raskolnikov and the humble street-walker, Sonia, whom he loves, and from whom, having confessed his crime, he derives the idea of expiation. Raskolnikov finally gives himself up to the police and is exiled to Siberia, whither Sonia follows him. The book gave currency to a number of ideas, not in any sense new, but specially characteristic of Dostoievsky: the theory, for instance, that in every life, however fallen and degraded, there are ecstatic moments of self-devotion; the doctrine of purification by suffering, and by suffering alone; and the ideal of a Russian people forming a social state at some future period bound together by no obligation save mutual love and the magic of kindness. In this visionary prospect, as well as in his objection to the use of physical force, Dostoievsky anticipated in a remarkable manner some of the conspicuous tenets of his great successor Tolstoy. The book electrified the reading public in Russia upon its appearance in 1866, and its fame was confirmed when it appeared in Paris in 1867. To his remarkable faculty of awakening reverberations of melancholy and compassion, as shown in his early work, Dostoievsky had added, by the admission of all, a rare mastery over the emotions of terror and pity. But such mastery was not long to remain unimpaired. _Crime and Punishment_ was written when he was at the zenith of his power. His remaining works exhibit frequently a marvellous tragic and analytic power, but they are unequal, and deficient in measure and in balance. The chief of them are: _The Injured and the Insulted_, _The Demons_ (1867), _The Idiot_ (1869), _The Adult_ (1875), _The Brothers Karamzov_ (1881).

From 1865, when he settled in St Petersburg, Dostoievsky was absorbed in a succession of journalistic enterprises, in the Slavophil interest, and suffered severe pecuniary losses. He had to leave Russia, in order to escape his creditors, and to seek refuge in Germany and Italy. He was further harassed by troubles with his wife, and his work was interrupted by epileptic fits and other physical ailments. It was under such conditions as these that his most enduring works were created. He managed finally to return to Russia early in the seventies, and was for some time director of _The Russian World_. From 1876 he published a kind of review, entitled _Carnet d'un ecrivain_, to the pages of which he committed many strange autobiographical facts and reflections. The last eight years of his life were spent in comparative prosperity at St Petersburg, where he died on the 9th of February 1881.

His life had been irremediably seared by his Siberian experiences. He looked prematurely old; his face bore an expression of accumulated sorrow; in disposition he had become distrustful, taciturn, contemptuous--his favourite theme the superiority of the Russian peasant over every other class; as an artist, though uncultured, he had ever been subtle and sympathetic, but latterly he was tortured by tragic visions and morbidly preoccupied by exceptional and perverted types. M. de Vogue, in his admirable _Ecrivains russes_, has worked out with some success a parallel between the later years of Dostoievsky and those of Jean Jacques Rousseau. Siberia effectually convinced the novelist of the impotence of Nihilism in such a country as Russia; but though he was assailed by ardent Liberals for the reactionary trend of his later writings, Dostoievsky became, towards the end of his life, an extremely popular figure, and his funeral, on the 12th of February 1881, was the occasion of one of the most remarkable demonstrations of public feeling ever witnessed in the Russian capital. The death of the Russian novelist was not mentioned in the London press; it is only since 1885, when _Crime and Punishment_ first appeared, in English, that his name has become at all familiar in England, mainly through French translations.

A complete edition of his novels was issued at St Petersburg in
fourteen volumes (1882-1883). Two critical studies by Tchij and
Zelinsky appeared at Moscow in 1885, and a German life by Hoffmann at
Vienna in 1899. (T. SE.)

DOUAI, a town of northern France, capital of an arrondissement in the department of Nord, 20 m. S. of Lille on the Northern railway between that city and Cambrai. Pop. (1906) town, 21,679; commune, 33,247. Douai is situated in a marshy plain on the banks of the Scarpe which intersects the town from south to north, and supplies water to a canal skirting it on the west. The old fortifications, of which the Porte de Valenciennes (15th century) is the chief survival, have been demolished to make room for boulevards and public gardens. The industrial towns of Dorignies, Sin-le-Noble and Aniche are practically suburbs of Douai. Of the churches, that of Notre-Dame (12th and 14th centuries) is remarkable for the possession of a fine altarpiece of the early 16th century, composed of wooden panels painted by Jean Bellegambe, a native of Douai. The principal building of the town is a handsome hotel de ville, partly of the 15th century, with a lofty belfry. The Palais de Justice (18th century) was formerly the town house (_refuge_) of the abbey of Marchiennes. Houses of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries are numerous. There is a statue of Madame Desbordes Valmore, the poet (d. 1859), a native of the town. The municipal museum contains a library of over 85,000 volumes as well as 1800 MSS., and a fine collection of sculpture and paintings. Douai is the seat of a court of appeal, a court of assizes and a subprefect, and has a tribunal of first instance, a board of trade-arbitrators, an exchange, a chamber of commerce and a branch of the Bank of France. Its educational institutions include a lycee, training colleges, a school of mines, an artillery school, schools of music, agriculture, drawing, architecture, &c., and a national school for instruction in brewing and other industries connected with agriculture. In addition to other iron and engineering works, Douai has a large cannon foundry and an arsenal; coal-mining and the manufacture of glass and bottles and chemicals are carried on a large scale in the environs; among the other industries are flax-spinning, rope-making, brewing and the manufacture of farm implements, oil, sugar, soap and leather. Trade, which is largely water-borne, is in grain and agricultural products, coal and building material.

Douai, the site of which was occupied by a castle (_Castrum Duacense_) as early as the 7th century, belonged in the middle ages to the counts of Flanders, passed in 1384 to the dukes of Burgundy, and so in 1477 with the rest of the Netherlands to Spain. In 1667 it was captured by Louis XIV., and was ultimately ceded to France by the treaty of Utrecht in 1713. Historically Douai is mainly important as the centre of the political and religious propaganda of the exiled English Roman Catholics. In 1562 Philip II. of Spain founded a university here, in which several English scholars were given chairs; and in connexion with this William Allen (q.v.) in 1568 founded the celebrated English college. It was here that the "Douai Bible" was prepared (see Vol. III. p. 901). There were also an Irish and a Scots college and houses of English Benedictines and Franciscans. All these survived till 1793, when the university was suppressed.

See F. Brassart, _Hist. du chateau et de la chatellenie de Douai_
(Douai, 1877-87); C. Mine, _Hist. pop. de Douai_ (ib. 1861); B. Ward,
_Dawn of the Catholic Revival_ (London, 1909); Handecoeur, _Hist. du
College anglais, Douai_ (Reims, 1898); Daucoisne, _Etablissements
britanniques a Douai_ (Douai, 1881).

DOUARNENEZ, a fishing-port of western France, in the department of Finistere, on the southern shore of the Bay of Douarnenez 15 m. N.W. of Quimper by rail. Pop. (1906) 13,472. Its sardine fishery, which is carried on from the end of June to the beginning of December, gives occupation to about 800 boats, and between 3000 and 4000 men, and the preserving of the fish is an important industry. Mackerel fishing, boat-building and rope and net making also occupy the inhabitants. There is a lighthouse on the small island of Tristan off Douarnenez.

DOUBLE (from the Mid. Eng. _duble_, the form which gives the present pronunciation, through the Old Fr. _duble_, from Lat. _duplus_, twice as much), twice as much, or large, having two parts, having a part repeated, coupled, &c. The word appears as a substantive with the special meaning of the appearance to a person of his own apparition, generally regarded as a warning, or of such an apparition of one living person to another, the German _Doppelganger_ (see APPARITIONS). Another word often used with this meaning is "fetch." According to the _New English Dictionary_, "fetch" is chiefly of Irish usage, and may possibly be connected with "fetch," to bring or carry away, but it may be a separate word. The Corpus Glossary of the beginning of the 10th century seems to identify a word _faecce_ with _maere_, meaning a goblin which appears in "nightmare." "Double" is also used of a person whose resemblance to another is peculiarly striking or remarkable, so that confusion between them may easily arise.

DOUBLE BASS (Fr. _contrebasse_; Ger. _Kontrabass_, _Gross Bass Geige_; Ital. _contrabasso_, _violone_), the largest member of the modern family of stringed instruments played with a bow, known as the violin family, and the lowest in pitch. The double bass differs slightly in construction from the other members of the family in that it has slanting shoulders (one of the features of the _viola da gamba_, see VIOLIN); that is to say that where the belly is joined by the neck and finger-board, it has a decided point, whereas in the violin, viola and violoncello, the finger-board is at right-angles to the horizontal part of a wide curve. It is probable that the shoulders of the double bass were made drooping for the sake of additional strength of construction on account of the strain caused by the tension of the strings. The double bass was formerly made with a flat back--another characteristic of the viol family--whereas now the back is as often found arched as flat. The bow is for obvious reasons shorter and stouter than the violin bow.

The technique of the double bass presents certain difficulties
inherent in an instrument of such large proportions. The stretches for
the fingers are very great, almost double those required for the
violoncello, and owing to the thickness of the strings great force is
required to press them against the finger-board when they are
vibrating. The performer plays standing owing to the great size of the
instrument.

The double bass sometimes has three strings tuned in England and Italy
in fourths; [1] in France and Germany to fifths.
Owing to the scoring of modern composers,
however, it was found necessary to adopt an accordance of four strings
in order to obtain the additional lower notes required, although this
entails the sacrifice of beauty of tone, the three-stringed instrument
being more sonorous. Some orchestras make a compromise dividing the
double basses into two equal sections of three and four-stringed
basses. The four strings are tuned in fourths:--.
Mr A. C. White, finding that an additional lower compass was required,
first tuned his double bass with three strings to afterwards adding a fourth string, the lower D. By this
accordance the third and fourth strings gain additional power and
clearness from the fact that the first and second, being their octaves
higher, vibrate in sympathy, obviating the necessity of making the
'cello play in octaves with the double basses to increase the tone
when the lowest register is used. In order to obtain equal sonority on
his double bass with four strings, Mr White[2] found it necessary to
have a wider bridge measuring about 5 in., so that the distance
between the strings should remain the same as on a double bass with
three strings, thus allowing plenty of room for vibration. The neck
was also widened in proportion. A five-stringed double bass was
sometimes used in Germany tuned either to or to
but such instruments have been almost superseded
by those with four strings. A somewhat larger double bass with five
strings by Karl Otho of Leipzig was introduced between 1880 and 1890
with the following accordance:--

The practical compass of the double bass extends from (real sounds) with all chromatic intervals. In order to
avoid using numerous ledger lines the music is written an octave
higher. The quality of tone is very powerful but somewhat rough, and
varies greatly in its gradations. The notes of the lowest register,
when played _piano_, sound weird and sometimes grotesque, and are
sometimes used instead of the kettledrum; when played _forte_ the tone
is grand and full. The lowest octave is mainly used as a fundamental
octave bass to 'cello, bassoon or trombone. The tone of the
_pizzicato_ is full and rich owing to the slowness of the vibrations,
and it changes character according to the harmonies which lie above
it: with a chord of the diminished seventh above it, for instance, the
_pizzicato_ sounds like a menace, but with the common chord calm and
majestic. Both natural and artificial harmonics are possible on the
double bass, the former being the best; but they are seldom used in
orchestral works. As an instance of their use may be cited the scene
by the Nile at the beginning of the third act of Verdi's _Aida_, where
harmonics are indicated for both 'cellos and double basses.

The technical capabilities of the double bass are necessarily somewhat
more limited than those of the violoncello. Quick passages, though
possible, are seldom written for it; they cannot sound clear owing to
the time required for the strings to vibrate. An excellent effect is
produced by what is known as the _intermittent tremolo_: owing to the
elasticity of the bow, it rebounds several times on the strings when a
single blow is sharply struck, forming a series of short tremolos. The
double bass is the foundation of the whole orchestra and therefore of
great importance; it plays the lowest part, often, as its name
indicates, only doubling the 'cello part an octave lower. It is only
since the beginning of the 19th century that an independent voice has
occasionally been allotted to it, as in the Scherzo of Beethoven's
Fifth Symphony in C minor:--

These opening bars are played _soli_ by 'cellos and double basses, a
daring innovation of Beethoven's which caused quite a consternation at
first in musical circles.

The remote origin of the double bass is the same as that of the violin.[3] It was evolved from the bass viol; whether the transformation took place simultaneously with that of the violin from the treble viol or preceded it, has not been definitely proved, but both Gasparo da Salo and Maggini constructed double basses, which were in great request in the churches. De Salo made one with three strings for St Mark's, Venice, which is still preserved there.[4] It was Dragonetti's favourite concert instrument, presented to him by the monks of St Mark, and, according to the desire expressed in his will, the instrument was restored after his death to St Mark's, where it is at present preserved. Dragonetti used a straight bow similar to the violoncello bow, held overhand with the hair slanting towards the neck of the instrument; it was introduced into England from Paris, and is a favourite with orchestral players. Praetorius gives an illustration of a sub-bass _viol da gamba_ or _gross contra-bass geige_[5] "recently constructed," which displaced the other large contra-bass viols; of which he also gives an illustration.[6]

Giovanni Bottesini (1822-1889) was the greatest virtuoso on the double bass that the world has ever known. It was not only the perfection of his technique and tone which won him artistic fame, but also the delicacy of his style and his exquisite taste in phrasing. (K. S.)

FOOTNOTES:

[1] The real sounds are an octave lower.

[2] _The Double Bass_ (Novello, _Music Primers_, No. 32), p. 6.

[3] See Kathleen Schlesinger, _The Instruments of the Orchestra_,