Klarinet Archive - Posting 000610.txt from 2003/09
From: Anne Bell <bell@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Fretted and Unfretted "Bass Viols"
Date: Mon, 22 Sep 2003 15:03:30 -0400
Bear,
I am not sure from where your information comes- but the Bass viol comes
in two flavors and both are very much fretted instruments. Typically
they're 6 strings with tied gut frets. The tenor is NOT Cello range being
typically tuned with a low note of G- a 5th above the Cello's low C and up
in 4ths and a 3rd with a high note of G a 5th above middle C (or A-
depending on the tuning system in use...). The bass viol is most like the
Cello with a tuning begining with D- a step above the Cello's C, then
moving up in 4ths & 3rds to G, C, E, A and D (a step above middle C).
According to Groves (the earlier information comes from my playing
experience)- In the 17th century some basses had 7 strings- with variable
tuning for the last string and by the 18th century there were 5 string
instruments in France. Much of the rest of the information was
interesting. I do question the switch to the violin family being primarily
the function of tuning. While it may have been a factor I have always
considered the relative volume of the instruments to be important as the
venues changed. Then there was also a point where viols were the
instrument of the aristocracy and violins more representative of the
masses. Gut frets are also movable and pitches can be bent where necessary.
Perhaps your source confused the violone with the bass viol when
referring to Marais. The violone is an octave below the bass. The primary
reason that I mentioned this in the first place is not that I expect
everyone (or anyone really) to know this but that I do not expect the
comments of others to be rudely dismissed as in the earlier posting:
" So WHY do *** and ***
keep embarrassing themselves, by opening their
mouths, and saying stupid things, the further
prove the falsity of their expertise? I don't know.
Got problems? "
Particularly when none of us is without error....... Ad hominem attacks are
neither valid nor logical. The point was that viols _did_ play not only
Renaissance music but also that of the Baroque period, and more to the
point- fugues.
Best Wishes,
Anne
At 06:23 AM 9/19/2003 -0700, Bear Woodson wrote:
> Oops, yes and no.
>
> I had never heard of Marin Marais (1656-1728)
>before, but he is listed as being a respected virtuoso
>of the "Bass Viol", specifying it as another name for
>what we also call a "String Bass", "Double Bass",
>"Contra Bass", which players of Popular Music
>also call a "Bass Fiddle", "Bass Violin" or a "Stand-
>Up Bass". This is NOT a FRETTED Instrument,
>which was the case for the "Consorts of Viols", but
>grammatically it may seem like the Bowed Fretted
>Bass Instrument.
>
> A "Consort" was the Medieval and Renaissance
>word for "a Family of Several Sizes of the same
>Instrument", as in a "Consort of Viols" or a "Con-
>sort of Recorders". In the last 100 years we would
>say the "Violin Family" to specify "Violin, Viola,
>Cello and String Bass" to express a similar idea.
>
> However the "Viols" in the "Consorts of Viols"
>from the Late Medieval to Middle Renaissance
>Eras were sometimes also called "Da Gamba"
>["of the leg"] Viols and were specifically:
> FRETTED,
> bowed instruments,
> with the bow held Underhand,
> sitting upright between the legs of the player,
> with 2 "C" shaped holes on the front plate,
> usually with 6 strings tuned mostly in Perfect
> Fourths with a Major Third in the middle
> (akin to Guitar Tuning), but
> sometimes having only 5 strings, and
> usually available only in 3 sizes of:
> Treble, Tenor (Cello Range) and Bass.
>
> The "Consorts of Viols" or "Da Gamba"
>instruments had their peak in the 13th and 15th
>Centuries, and then began to fail, because the
>same Frets that made them easier to play in tune
>in earlier centuries, also limited them to remaining
>stuck in those Outdated Tuning Systems! The
>15th and 16th Centuries were the Beginning of
>Early Tertian (chords stacked in Thirds) Harmony
>underwent MANY changes in Tuning Systems
>for how to make the Thirds and Sixths sound
>good. (All of the Ancient Modal Folk Tunes like
>"Greensleeves" in Dorian, Flamenco Guitar music
>in Phrygian, etc., begin to emerge at this time, and
>so did the "Four Primary Chords" of I, vi, IV, and
>V, in "Tonality", which are still used in Popular
>Music today in 2003.)
>
> From 800 AD to 1400 AD, all the harmony
>was Quartal (chords stacked in Perfect Fourths,
>Fifths and Octaves) for use in singing Organum.
>There are a few rare scores surviving from the
>Late 12th Century of singing in Parallel Thirds,
>but that didn't really catch on until the 1380's in
>Britain, and finally by the 1440's in much of
>Western Continental Europe. As Tertian harmony
>spread across Europe in the 15th Century, the
>"Consorts of Viols" still built with Frets in older
>tuning systems, sounded out of tune with the
>singers and wind instruments, that made the
>Thirds and Sixths sound better.
>
> The Unfretted Violin Family arose to greater
>popularity in the 15th Century, and flourished
>in the hands of great master builders like the
>Amati, Montagnana, Stradivari and Guareri
>families in the 16th and 17th Centuries. Ironically,
>while this caused the death of the Fretted Consorts
>of Viols in Continental Europe by the Early 17th
>Century, the Fretted Viols remained popular in
>Britain until the End of the 17th Century.
>
> By the Mid-17th Century in Continental Europe,
>only the middle sized, Cello-Ranged "(Tenor) Viola
>Da Gamba" was left in COMMON usage. Yes,
>there are some exceptions, and there were also
>Experimental Sizes of Unfretted Violin Family
>Members, as well as among the Fretted Viols.
>
> In the Fretted Viol Family there are several
>works by Bach for the "(Tenor) Viola Da Gamba",
>including the 3 gorgeous "Da Gamba Sonatas",
>nowadays played by cellists, as they also play in
>the Brandenburg Sixth Concerto (with its brilliant
>Canons at the Unison, Third, Sixth and Octave).
>(The respected Cello Virtuoso, Paul Olefsky, has
>been a friend since 1976, when he Premiered a
>virtuoso work of mine. He is also a big advocate
>of the (Tenor) "Viola Da Gamba" and "Viola
>d'Amore".)
>
> Jean-Marie Leclair, 'l'aine' (1697-1764) was the
>Head of the French School of Violin Playing,
>which was battling the Italian School Players. The
>String Bass Virtuoso Marin Marais (1656-1728)
>was a forerunner of Leclair's by helping establish
>the French Style of Unfretted Bowed String
>Playing, well before the conflict between French
>and Italian Styles even got started. That was a
>result of friction between string students of
>Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) and Archangelo
>Corelli (1653-1713), choosing either to remain
>loyal to the Italian Style or to invent a French
>Style, just to spite them.
>
> The kind of Unfretted, Bowed String Bass
>that Marais played is questionable, because the
>design of the Bass kept undergoing changes
>until the Early 19th Century. I've had Professors
>of the String Bass tell me that there were even
>3-Stringed Basses being played in Beethoven's
>lifetime! Obviously in the 20th Century, adding
>a "C Extension" or Fifth (Low C) String has
>become common. It is likely that Marais played
>a number of kinds of Unfretted String Basses
>AS WELL AS the Fretted (Tenor) "Viola Da
>Gamba" at least some of the time, as he did
>write a number of Tenor Da Gamba works.
>
> The development of the "Arpeggione" in 1823
>was an attempt to re-introduce a Tenor Viola Da
>Gamba type of instrument, that never caught on.
>All we have left is the gorgeous Sonata by
>Schubert, which I've heard soloed by cello, viola,
>clarinet and even flute!
>
*********************************************************************
Anne Bell bell@-----.net
Bayside HS Orchestra Director
ABC Index: http://www.anne-bell.sneezy.org/ MUSIC LINKS!
*********************************************************************
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Klarinet is supported by Woodwind.Org, http://www.woodwind.org/
