![]() ![]() These comprised instruments of different sizes, some as large as the famous violoni as 'big as a man' mentioned by Prospero Bernardino in 1493. Pio asserts that it is implausible that the vihuela de arco (which possibly arrived in Rome and Naples after 1483–1487, since Johannes Tinctoris does not mention it before this time) underwent such a rapid evolution by Italian instrument makers – not Venetian (circumstances specifically excluded by Lorenzo da Pavia), nor Mantuan or Ferrarese (as evidenced by Isabella and Alfonso I d'Este's orders from luthiers from other cities) – so that a ten-year span brought the birth and diffusion in Italy of a new family of instruments (viola da gamba or viols). According to Pio, the viol (viola da gamba) had its origins and evolved independently in Venice. Stefano Pio argues that a re-examination of documents in the light of newly collected data indicates an origin different from the vihuela de arco from Aragon. ![]() Within two or three decades, this led to the evolution of an entirely new and dedicated bowed string instrument that retained many of the features of the originally plucked vihuela: a flat back, sharp waist-cuts, frets, thin ribs (initially), and an identical tuning-hence its original name, vihuela de arco arco is Spanish for "bow".Īn influence on the playing posture has been credited to the example of Moorish rabab players. Vihuelists began playing their flat-edged instruments with a bow in the second half of the 15th century. This image highlights the domestic amateur class of viol players. The theme is similar to the classic Music Lesson genre, and features a bass viol, virginal, and cittern (in the woman's hand, out of frame in this detail see full image). 1674, Elegant Couple (A Musical Interlude). ![]() It can therefore confuse if used in print where context does not indicate that a viol player is meant, though it is entirely unproblematic, and common, in speech.ĭetail from a painting by Jan Verkolje, Dutch, c. "Violist" shares the spelling, but not the pronunciation, of the word commonly used since the mid-20th century to refer to a player of the viola. A player of the viol is commonly known as a gambist, violist / ˈ v aɪ əl ɪ s t/, or violist da gamba. This distinguishes the viol from the modern violin family, the viola da braccio (it. ![]() "viol for the leg") was sometimes applied to the instruments of this family. All viol instruments are held between the legs like a modern cello, hence the Italian name viola da gamba ( it. Īll members of the viol family are played upright (unlike the violin or the viola, which is held under the chin). Īlthough bass viols superficially resemble cellos, viols are different in numerous respects from instruments of the violin family: the viol family has flat rather than curved backs, sloped rather than rounded shoulders, c holes rather than f holes, and five to seven rather than four strings some of the many additional differences are tuning strategy (in fourths with a third in the middle-similar to a lute-rather than in fifths), the presence of frets, and underhand ("German") rather than overhand ("French") bow grip. Early ancestors include the Arabic rebab and the medieval European vielle, but later, more direct possible ancestors include the Venetian viole and the 15th- and 16th-century Spanish vihuela, a six-course plucked instrument tuned like a lute (and also like a present-day viol) that looked like but was quite distinct from (at that time) the four-course guitar (an earlier chordophone). Viols first appeared in Spain in the mid-to-late 15th century, and were most popular in the Renaissance and Baroque (1600–1750) periods. Frets improve consistency of intonation and lend the stopped notes a tone that better matches the open strings. Frets on the viol are usually made of gut, tied on the fingerboard around the instrument's neck, to enable the performer to stop the strings more cleanly. The viol ( / ˈ v aɪ ə l/), viola da gamba ( Italian: ), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch of each of the strings. Problems playing this file? See media help. ![]()
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