[Illustration]
Here the pitch of the second is a fifth lower than the first.
Judenkünig’s pitch represents the tenor and that of Gerle the bass.
Agricola says in his “Musica instrumentalis,” regarding the height of
pitch for the lute:
“Zeuch die Quintsait so hoch du magst
Das sie nicht reist wenn du sie schlagst.”
(Draw up the fifth string as high as you may,
That it may not be broken when on it you play.)
And in Hans Neusiedler’s Lute-book (1535) it is said: “He who wishes to
learn how to tune the lute, let him draw up the Quint string, not too
high, and not too low, a medium height, as much as the strings will
bear.” Similar instructions are to be found in Gerle’s “Musica Teutsch.”
The capability of tension of the Quint string was consequently the
guide for the pitch in tuning the lute--beyond this there was as yet
no normal pitch--and in stringed instruments it was in every case so
maintained. In playing with wind instruments the stringed instruments
had, therefore, to adapt the pitch to them.
The “great violins” were, in the first half of the sixteenth century at
least, according to all appearance played in two ways. From the drawing
in Judenkünig’s treatise, a mode of handling is seen which requires no
further explanation. That the handling of the “great violin” represented
by Judenkünig without any explanation is treated of as not exceptional
appears also from the accompanying vignette of another publication of
that period.
[Illustration]
The bass viol performing with the two lutists represents the same
position and manner of playing as the woodcut in Judenkünig’s treatise,
with the sole difference that he is holding his instrument in the left
hand, whereas the peg-box of the instrument, bent sharply backwards,
of Judenkünig’s player rests on his shoulder. It is very evident that
in both cases scarcely more could be executed than the simplest bass
accompaniment. More, however, was eventually to be produced according
to the treatment of the “great violin” prescribed by Gerle. He says
regarding it: “When you have according to my instructions ‘beschriben’
(noted),[4] tuned and drawn up the violin, and wish to begin playing,
proceed thus: Take the neck of the instrument in the left hand and the
bow in the right, sit down and press the viola between the legs, that
you may not strike it with the bow, and take care when you play that you
draw the bow directly and evenly over the strings neither too far from
nor too near the bridge[5] on which the strings lie, and that you do
not draw the bow over two strings at once, but only over that which is
placed under the figuring in the Tablature, and this must be especially
attended to.”
It appears, according to Gerle’s instructions, that the instrument
of which he speaks was a so-called “Knee violin”--in Italian, “Viola
da gamba.” It seems, however, that in the sixteenth century this
description was not in common use. Hans Gerle, a native of Nuremberg,
born about 1500, had already received important consideration during
the first twenty years of the sixteenth century, not only as a skilful
performer, but also as a maker of lutes and viols. Yet the making of
these instruments, and especially of viols, had already been carried on
at a much earlier period by others. The oldest fiddle or viola maker
of whom we have any mention is a certain Kerlino, who, according to
Fétis’s account, lived and worked in Brescia. It is most probable that
he was a German, or at least of German extraction, for the name Kerl,
in every kind of variation, both as a common and individual or family
name, had been constantly in use among the German races. In the German
dictionary[6] of the Brothers Grimm are indicated the various forms of
the name “Kerl”: Kerle, formerly Kärle; Kerls, Kerles, Kerlis, Kerli,
Kerlin, Kerel, Kaerl, Kerdel, and Kirl. They are of German origin,
and are derived from middle or low German, whereas the Anglo-Saxon
equivalents are “Carl,” or “Ceorl.”
Originally the word “Kerl” (kerle), according to Grimm, was synonymous
with “Mann” (man), and also with Ehemann (husband). But it was also used
as a family or tribal name, as is proved from the names Jacob de Kerle
(sixteenth century), Joh. Kaspar von Kerll (also written Kerl, Kherl,
Cherle), born 1628, and Vitus Kerle (in the eighteenth century).[7]
Another form of “Kerl,” Kerlin, was, according to Grimm, used in the
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Who can doubt then that the
Brescian instrument maker Kerlino was of German origin?[8] He was,
evidently, originally called Kerl or Kerlin, to which name was added by
the Italians either the diminutive syllable “ino” or the vowel “o.” It
cannot be of Italian origin, for the Italian has no “k.”
Fétis informs us that Kerlino must be considered as the founder of the
school of Brescian viola makers which, as the oldest in Italy from the
middle of the sixteenth century, attained such a great reputation,
through Gaspar da Salò and his reputed pupil, Giov. Paolo Maggini. If
what appears so extremely probable has any real foundation, to a German,
or, at least, to a man of German extraction, must be justly conceded the
merit of having, in a measure, been the originator of the art of Italian
stringed instrument making which later on developed to the highest
point.
Further, we learn from Fétis that in the year 1804 a Parisian violin
maker, named Koliker, was in possession of a violin which had been
previously described by the French writer on music, de la Borde,
containing the inscription
“JOAN. KERLINO, ANN. 1449,”
and which originally had been a “Viola da braccio.” Doubtless this
remarkable instrument exists at the present time. Fétis, who saw it
himself, describes its quality of tone as “agreeably soft and faintly
subdued.” Among the composers who wrote for the viola, we must mention
Giov. Battista Bonometti, born at Bergamo about the end of the sixteenth
century. In 1615 he caused to be published in Vienna a collection of
trios for two violas and a bass.
After Kerlino there appeared in North Italy as noted lute and viola
makers the monk Pietro Dardelli, in Mantua about 1500; Gaspard
Duiffopruggar, in Bologna, 1510; Venturi Linarolli (Linelli), in Venice,
1520; Peregrino Zanetto, in Brescia in 1530; and Morglato Morella, in
Venice, 1550. Amongst these G. Duiffopruggar is evidently of German
birth,[9] and remarkable as having, as far as we can see, made the first
violins.
This artist was in 1515 summoned to France by King Francis I.; he at
first lived in Paris and then at Lyons. He made some excellent Bass
viols (Gambas), of which two fine specimens are extant in France. A
similar bass viol was represented by Raphael in his painting of St.
Cecilia. This splendid picture, in the Pinacothek at Bologna, existed in
1515.
After Duiffopruggar, Andreas Amati (1520 to about 1580), the founder of
the Cremona school, distinguished himself in the making of violas (as
well as violins). His instruments obtained such a great reputation that
Charles IX. of France, an enthusiastic amateur of music, had twenty-four
violins, six tenors, and eight basses made by him. Amongst the latter
there were several bass viols, like the viola da gamba. The instruments
made for Charles IX. by Andrea Amati were every one of them destroyed
during the French Revolution of 1792.[10]
Contemporaneously with Andreas Amati the manufacture of stringed
instruments was vigorously carried on by Gaspard da Salò, in Brescia.
In Germany, from the second half of the sixteenth century, LAUXMIN
POSSEN, in 1550, at Schongau, subsequently instrument maker for the
Hofkapelle at Munich; JOH. KOHL, who at the same time worked at Munich
and in 1599 was appointed Court instrument maker there, and also JOACHIM
TIELKE were successively celebrated. The latter lived, as Gerber informs
us, at Hamburg from about 1660 to 1730, and even made lutes of real
ivory and ebony, the necks of which were inlaid with gold and silver and
mother-of-pearl, but one especially with nine pegs of the most beautiful
tortoiseshell. Tielke, however, made also violins and excellent gambas.
One of these, a costly instrument which was formerly in the possession
of the Elector Joh. Wilhelm of the Palatinate,[11] was brought from
Mannheim to the Duke of Maxburg’s Museum at Munich, and thence into the
Royal Bavarian National Museum, where it is preserved as a treasure of
rare value. The peg-box, the fingerboard, the tail-piece, the sides,
and the back are all decorated with designs of flowers, foliage, and
tendrils, as well as symbolical and allegorical representations taken
from mythology, the subjects representing for the most part love and
music. These decorations and designs are inlaid work in tortoiseshell,
ivory, ebony, mother-of-pearl and silver.[12]
Another valuable specimen of a gamba made by Tielke in the year 1701,
which belonged to the famous cello virtuoso, F. Servais, has been
described and represented by A. J. Hipkins, of Edinburgh, in his lately
published work, “Musical Instruments: Historic, Rare and Unique.”[13]
During the second half of the sixteenth century there must have been a
considerable multiplication of the different kinds of violas then in
use, and especially of the bass viol, for Michael Prätorius mentions
in his “Syntagma musicum,” which appeared in 1614-1620, the following
examples:
1. Very large Bass Viol with four strings (corresponding to the modern
Contrabasso).
2. Great Bass Viol de Gamba in three different tunings, with five and
also six strings (also like the Contrabasso).
3. Small Bass Viol de Gamba, five different examples with six, four,
and three strings (answering in tone, in some measure, to the modern
Violoncello).
4. Tenor and Alto Viol de Gamba, in two different pitches, with six,
five, four, and three strings (answering partly to the Violoncello and
partly to the modern Tenor).
5. Cant Viol de Gamba (Violetta piccola), four different kinds with six,
five, four, and three strings (the tone also partly answering to the
Tenor and partly to the Violin).
6. Viol Bastarda, in five different pitches, with six strings (the tone
corresponding to that of the Cello).
7. Viola de Braccio, four different examples, with five and four strings
(corresponding in tone partly to the Violoncello and partly to that of
the Tenor).
Moreover, Prätorius mentions, under the heading “Viole de Braccio
Viols,” the “Discant Viol” (our modern Violin), the small “Discant Viol”
(tuned a fourth higher than our Violin), and two “very small Viols with
three strings,” of which the lowest string of the first is a ninth and
of the second an octave higher than the G String of the Violin.
Of the multitude of these different kinds of Viols then in use, which
later on by manifold improvements were gradually reduced to a smaller
number, until they resulted in the modern Violin and Tenor, as well as
the Violoncello and Contrabasso, we must keep in view, for the object of
the present work, the “Viola da Gamba” only, which must be regarded as
the precursor of the violoncello. Prätorius gives a sketch (annexed) of
the so-named instrument.
A comparison of these gambas with the sketches of viols by Judenkünig
and Gerle shows what substantial alterations the stringed instrument in
question underwent in the course of the second half of the sixteenth
century. The neck had assumed a more modern and more convenient form
for the technique of the left hand and the sounding-board had acquired
more elegant and attractive outlines. At the same time the sound-holes,
corresponding to the curves of the belly, were turned round and placed
in a position more agreeable to the eye.
Prätorius expresses himself regarding the Viola da Gamba as follows:
“Violas, viols, and violuntzes[14] are of two kinds--1. Viole de gamba;
2. Viole de braccio (or de brazzio)--and the former is so called from
having been held between the legs; for gamba is an Italian word and
means a leg; le gambe, the legs. And since they have much larger bodies
and, on account of the length of the neck, have strings of a much longer
tension, they produce a mellower resonance than others, ‘di braccio,’
which are held on the arm. The two kinds are distinguished by town
musicians: the viole de gamba by the name of violas: the viole ‘di
braccio’ (among which Prätorius includes violins) by the name of fiddles
or pollish fiddles....
[Illustration]
“The Violes de Gamba have six strings and are tuned in fourths and in
the middle a third, exactly like the six-stringed lute. Englishmen
when they play them alone sometimes tune them a fourth, sometimes a
fifth lower, so that the lowest strings are tuned--the bass to D, the
tenor and alto to A, and the canto to E. On other occasions each one
(reckoning by the chamber-pitch)[15] a fifth lower--as, for example,
the bass to G G, the tenor and alto to D, the canto to A; and tuning in
this manner produces much more agreeable, grander, and more majestic
harmonies than when the instruments are at the usual pitch.”
What Prätorius says regarding the mode and way of English viol-tuning
is supplemented by Mersennus in his “Harmonie Universelle” (1636-37).
This author says: “Il faut remarquer que les Anglois ioüent
ordinairement leurs pièces un ton plus bas que les Français, afin
d’entendre l’harmonie plus douce et plus charmante, et conséquemment que
leur sixiesme chorde à vuide fait le C sol au lieu que la nostre fait le
D re sol.”
The pitch then in England was a varying one, though the series of
intervals borrowed from the lute, to which the gamba like the bass viol
was tuned, were those which commonly prevailed.
In other respects, Mersennus gives no more explicit directions for the
handling of the Viola da Gamba than Prätorius. He does not use this
name for the instrument in question, but calls it “Basse de Viole.”
The French designation, “Viole de jambe,” corresponding to the Italian
name, appears consequently to have been in vogue later and to have been
generally little used.
Like Gerle’s “great fiddle” (Basso di Viola), the Viola da Gamba had
also as a rule seven frets on the fingerboard like the lute, for fixing
the tones and semitones.
The gamba was played in various ways, and used for a variety of musical
purposes, as a solo instrument, as well as in orchestral performances,
and as an accompaniment to singing. The way in which it was valued
during the first half of the seventeenth century as an obbligato
accompaniment to singing, may be seen from the preface to Heinrich
Schütz’s “Historia of the joyful and victorious resurrection of our
only Saviour,” and so on, published in 1623. It is there said, after
Schütz has named the instruments which are to accompany the parts of the
Evangelists: “But when it can be done it is better that the organ and
everything else should be left out and instead of these only four Viole
di Gamba (which must also be present), should be used to accompany the
parts of the Evangelists.”
“It will, however, be necessary that the four viols should be thoroughly
‘_practised_’ with the part of the Evangelist in the following manner:
The Evangelist takes his part to himself, and recites it straight
through without any fixed time, just as it seems correct to him, but
not holding longer on one syllable than is customary in ordinary slow
and distinct speaking. The violas must not mark any particular time,
but only pay attention to the words recited by the Evangelist, and to
their parts written below the ‘falso-bordone’ and so doing they cannot
go wrong. A viola may also ‘passegiren’ amongst the others, as is usual
with the falso-bordone,[16] and this gives a good effect.”
It appears from the explanation that the gambas were used to support the
harmonies of recitatives. The “passegiren” suggested by Schütz of one
of the accompanying violas was nothing else than the usual improvised
ornamental colorature or diminuendos used at that time and up to the
eighteenth century.[17]
For solo playing gambas were used not only for the execution of
monotone--viz., compositions of one part only; but also for several
parts, and especially for double-stops and chords.
The oldest French gambist of whom we have any account is a certain
Granier. Gerber says, concerning him, that he had been “in the service
of Queen Margaret of France,” and died, about 1600, in Paris, and that
he was the greatest artist of his time on the gamba.
Concerning the artistic use of violas, amongst which, as already said,
gambas were included, Mersennus writes as follows: “Encore que les
Violes soient capables de toutes sortes de musique, et que les exemples
que j’ay donné (_sic_) pour le concert,[18] des violons leur puissent
servir, néantmoins elles demandent des pièces, plus tristes et plus
graves, et dont la mesure soit plus longue et plus tardiue; de là vient
qu’elles sont plus propres pour accompagner les voix. Or l’on peut jouer
toutes sortes de pièces non seulement à cinq parties, comme l’on fait
ordinairement sur les Violons, mais à six, à sept, à douze et à tout
autant de parties que l’on veut.”
At the beginning of the above-quoted passage it is remarked, that
violas were used for every kind of music, but the use of these
instruments for solo playing is not expressly mentioned. In another
passage of his work Mersennus says, however, with regard to gamba
playing and the French performers of his time:--
“Personne en France n’égale Maugars et Hottman, hommes très habiles
dans cet art: ils excellent dans les diminutions et par leurs traits
d’archet incomparables de delicatesse et de suaveté. Il n’y a rien dans
l’harmonie qu’ils ne savent exprimer avec perfection, surtout lorsqu’une
autre personne les accompagne sur le clavicorde. Mais le premier exécute
seul et à la fois deux, trois ou plusieurs parties sur la basse de viole
avec tant d’ornements et un prestesse de doigts dont il parait si peu se
préoccuper, qu’on n’avait rien entendu de pareil auparavant par ceux qui
jouaient de la viole ou même de tout autre instrument.....”
It is here clearly expressed that solo playing on the gamba, and notably
in several parts, was much cultivated and highly appreciated.
The Maugars[19] here mentioned by Mersennus expresses himself regarding
his own performances as a gamba player in his “Réponse fait a un curieux
sur le sentiment de la Musique d’Italie écrite à Rome le premier
Octobre, 1639,” which was published either at the end of 1639 or the
beginning of 1640. After having spoken of his intercourse with the
artistic family Baroni during his residence in Rome, he relates:--
“In this worthy house, at the solicitation of these gifted people, I
was induced for the first time to exhibit in Rome the talent with
which God had endowed me. It happened in the presence of ten or twelve
of the most experienced people of Italy, who, after they had listened
to me attentively, bestowed on me some eulogiums; not, however, quite
ungrudgingly.
“In order to test me further the Signora Leonora (Baroni) induced me to
leave my viola at her house, and begged me to return the following day.
This I did, and as it was reported to me by a friend that it was said I
played studied things very well, on the second occasion I gave them so
many kinds of preludes and fantasias that they really granted me more
appreciation than the first time. The respect, however, of these worthy
people did not succeed in winning over the experts, who were somewhat
over-refined and reticent to concede applause to a foreigner. It was
told me they acknowledged that I played very well alone, and that they
had never heard such harmonised viola playing, but they doubted if I
were capable of extemporising a theme and playing variations on it. You
know, sir, that in this I am not a little successful. The same words
had been told me on the eve of St. Louis’ day in the French church,
while I was listening to the fine music then being performed there. This
determined me on the next day, excited thereto by the name of Saint
Louis, as well as for the honour of the nation and the thirty-three
cardinals who were present and taking part in the Mass, to ascend
into the gallery. When I had been greeted with applause, I was given
fifteen to twenty notes, in order to make myself heard after the third
Kyrie with the accompaniment of a small organ. This subject I treated
with such infinite variety that great satisfaction was shown, and the
cardinals caused me to be invited to play again after the Agnus Dei.
“I considered myself very fortunate that I had been able to afford this
little pleasure to so distinguished a company. I was given another
somewhat more cheerful theme than the first, which I treated with
so many variations and such a diversity of movements that they were
extremely astonished, and immediately came to me in order to requite me
with eulogiums. On account of the friendship which you cherish for me,
my dear sir, I am convinced you will not accuse me of vanity in this
digression. I have only made it in order that you may know that if a
Frenchman desires to gain a reputation in Rome he must be well armed;
and so much the more because it is thought here that we are not capable
of improvising on a given theme. In fact, whoever plays an instrument
deserves no extraordinary consideration, unless he shows himself equal
to such a demand, especially for the viola--to play on which, by reason
of its few strings and the consequent difficulty of playing in parts,
is always a thankless task--it is necessary to possess some individual
talent in order to be inspired by a subject and expand into beautiful
inventions as well as agreeable variations. The capacity to do this
requires two real and innate qualifications--viz., a lively and strong
imagination and skilful execution, in order promptly to carry out one’s
ideas.”[20]
The unlimited tribute of praise which Mersennus pays to the performances
of Maugars, renders credible the remarkable account given by himself.
Maugars’ gamba playing excited in Rome the greatest consideration,
because at that time neither there nor anywhere else in Italy was there
any prominent artist for that instrument. “As regards viola playing,
Maugars declares there is no one in Italy who is distinguished for it,
and in Rome it is very little cultivated. This has greatly astonished
me, as formerly they had a certain Horace of Parma who performed
wonderfully on this instrument, and left behind him some excellent
compositions, which some of our musicians cleverly made use of for other
instruments besides those for which they were composed. The father of
the great Italian, Ferabosco, was the first to make them known to the
English, who from that time have excelled all other nations.”
From the last words it is to be inferred that gamba playing in
England was much in vogue at the time of Maugars. The Ferabosco
(Ferrabosco)--with the christian name of Alfonso--mentioned by him, who
first made the English acquainted with this art, can be no other than
the composer of that name referred to by Fétis as born in Italy about
1515. He settled in London about 1540, and about the year 1587 appears
to have been in the service, as “gentilumo,” of the Duke of Savoy.[21]
Amongst English gambists of distinction must be named Thomas Robinson,
Tobias Hume, William Brade, and John Jenkins. Probably they were all
pupils of the elder Ferabosco.
Concerning THOMAS ROBINSON, who was born in the second half of the
sixteenth century, and lived and worked in the beginning of the
seventeenth in London, nothing further is known than that he published
a curious work under the title, “The Schoole of Musicke: the perfect
method of true fingering the Lute, Pandora, Orpharion, and Viol da
gamba. London, 1603.”
His contemporary, TOBIAS HUME, was an officer in the English army, and
spent much of his time in Sweden. He was reputed one of the cleverest
gambists of that period; he caused to be published, in 1605, a work
with the following title: “The first part of Ayres, French, Pollish,
and others together, some in Tabliture and some in Pricke song. With
Pauines, Galliards, and Almaines for the Viole di gamba, and other
Musicall Conceites for two Basse-viols, expressing five partes, with
pleasant Reportes one from the other; and also for two Leero-Viols, and
also for the Leero-Viole with two Treble Viols, or two with one Treble.
Lastly, for the Leero-Viole to play alone; and some Songes to bee sung
to the Viole with the Lute, or better with the Viole alone. Also an
Invention for two to play upon one Viole. Composed by Tobias Hume,
gentleman. Printed by John Windet Loud, dwelling at the sign of the
Cross Keyes, at Powles Wharfe, 1605.” It is evident that the composition
of arrangements for two instruments, which might also be played on one
only, was no invention of the Salzburg violinist, Joh. Hein. Biber.[22]
In 1607 he published another work, under the title “Captain Hume’s
Poeticall Musicke, principally made for two basse viols yet so contrived
that it may be plaied eight severall waies upon sundry instruments
with much facilitie. London.” This work, of which the British Museum
possesses a copy, was dedicated to Anne of Denmark. He was received into
the Charterhouse as a poor brother in 1629, and known as “Captain Hume.”
His mind seems to have given way, and he died there on April 16, 1645.
WILLIAM BRADE flourished about 1615, and spent much of his life out of
England. He was appointed violist to the Duke of Holstein-Gottorp and
of the city of Hamburg at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In
1619 he seems to have been Capellmeister to the Margrave of Brandenburg
and went subsequently to Berlin. He was esteemed a good performer on
the gamba, and published in 1609, 1614, and 1621 a number of Paduans or
Pavans, Gaillards, Canzonets, Volts, Courantes, in five and six parts
(Berlin, 1621). A great confusion exists regarding the bibliography of
his works, authorities differ as to their titles. They are of unusual
interest, as containing many English airs, some of which are mentioned
by Shakespeare. He is said to have died at Frankfort in 1647.
JOHN JENKINS, born at Maidstone in 1592, was one of the most celebrated
composers of music for viols. In early life he made choice of music as
a profession, and was appointed musician in ordinary to Charles I. He
lived in the family of Sir Hamon l’Estrange and instructed his sons in
music. In 1660 he gave lessons to the sons of Lord North at a salary of
£1 a quarter! Roger North in his autobiography calls him, “that eminent
master of his time, Mr. Jenkins, not conceited nor morose, but much a
gentleman.” He was appointed musician to Charles II., and spent the last
years of his life with Sir Philip Wodehouse, at Kimberley, in Norfolk,
where he died on October 27, 1678. He had for his time extraordinary
capacity on the lute, viol, and several bowed instruments, and wrote
a great number of compositions for viols, which were not printed; but
in 1660 he published “Twelve Sonatas for two violins and a bass, with
a thorough-bass for the organ or theorbo” (London, 1660), the first of
the kind produced by an Englishman. Indeed he is credited with having
been the earliest English composer of instrumental music. Most of
his compositions he called Rants or Fancies. He also wrote music for
“Theophila, or Love’s Sacrifice; a Divine Poem, by Edward Benlowes,
Esq., several parts thereof set to fit Aires by Mr. Jenkins” (London,
1652). Many of his MSS. exist at Christchurch, Oxford. Hawkins reports
that it was said of him, “he was a little man, but had a great soul.”
THOMAS SIMPSON is another Englishman who stands out conspicuously as
a violist and gamba player; in 1615 he was appointed violist in the
service of the Prince of Holstein-Schaumberg. He published: Opusculum,
Neuer Pavanen, Gaillards, Couranten und Volts (Frankfurt, 1610); besides
Pavanen, Volts und Gaillards (Frankfurt, 1611), and a “Tafel-Consort,”
containing all kinds of cheerful songes for four Instruments and a
Thorough-Bass (Hamburg, 1621).
JOHN COOPER, born about 1570, was a most distinguished performer on, and
good composer for the Viol da Gamba. In his youth he travelled in Italy,
and returned with the Italianised name of Coperario. He was master to
the children of James I., who was himself not only very musical, but
had an excellent judgment on music. He is said to have played eight
different instruments, amongst them especially well the harp. Two of
Cooper’s pupils were the celebrated musicians, William and Henry Lawes.
The elder, William, besides his other numerous compositions, wrote his
“Great Consort,” consisting of six Suites for two treble viols, two
theorbos, and two bass-viols. Charles I. was also Cooper’s pupil and
played the gamba well, since he was able to perform the organ fantasias
of his master on that instrument. Cooper published a great number of
compositions, and among them were many for the Gamba. He died during the
Protectorate.
By far the most eminent English gamba player was CHRISTOPHER
SYMPSON[23] (or Simpson), who was born at the beginning of the
seventeenth century, and died in London between 1667 and 1670. He was a
follower of Charles I., and served as a soldier in the army commanded
by the Duke of Newcastle against the Parliament. After the defeat of
the Royalists, Sir Rob. Bolles, an important adherent of this party,
granted him a refuge in his house and entrusted to him the education of
his son, John Bolles, who was noted as a very clever musical dilettante
and player on the gamba; he died in Rome, 1676, where his mortal
remains were laid in the Pantheon. Christopher Sympson is the author
of several noteworthy instruction books on music, of which we shall
mention only those relating to the viol da gamba. The first of them has
the title, “The Division-violist, or the Introduction to the playing
upon a ground. Divided in two parts--the first, directing the hands,
with other preparative instructions; the second, laying open the manner
and method of playing, or composing division to a ground. London: John
Playford. 1659.”[24] The title of the second of Sympson’s works referred
to for the gamba is “A brief Introduction to the Skill of Music. In two
books. The first contains the grounds and rules of music. The second,
instructions for the viol and also for the treble violin.[25] The third
edition enlarged. To which is added a third book, entituled ‘The Art of
Descant or Composing Music in Parts,’ by Dr. Thom. Campion,[26] with
annotations thereon by Mr. Ch. Simpson. London, 1660.”
THOMAS BREWER was also a celebrated performer on the gamba, who was born
in 1611. He was admitted to Christ’s Hospital at three years of age, and
learnt the viol from his music master. He composed various fantasias for
his favourite instrument, besides airs, catches, rounds, as well as
Pavins, Courantes, &c., for which kind of composition he seems to have
been noted.
The English gambists of the first half of the seventeenth century must
then have had some considerable reputation abroad, for the Frenchman,
André Maugars, already mentioned, went about 1620 to London, lived
there for nearly four years, and perfected himself after the models
of the best gamba players. He does not seem to have had pupils. But
his compatriot and rival Hottmann[27] (or Hotteman) not only taught,
but distinguished himself especially by some charming compositions.
One of his most noted pupils was Marais (Marin), born in Paris on the
31st of March, 1656. At first a choirboy in the Sainte Chapelle, he
educated himself further under the direction of Hotteman, and then under
Sainte-Colombe, another excellent Parisian gamba player at that time.
Lully gave him instructions in composition. In 1685 Marais became solo
gambist at the Court Chamber Music Concerts, which position he held
until 1725. He died August 15, 1728.
Besides Sainte-Colombe there were at that time two able French gamba
players--namely, Desmarets and Baisson. Marais, however, excelled them
in artistic execution. He added to the six strings of the instrument
tuned in the accepted manner--
[Illustration]
also a seventh, the A of the “contra octave.”[28] This enabled him to
surpass in harmonised playing all his predecessors and contemporaries.
He was the first who caused the lowest strings of the gamba to be
cased in metal wire so as to give them greater tension and resonance,
a step in advance which was soon adopted for the two lower strings
of the violoncello. Besides some operas, Marais was the author of a
considerable number of gamba compositions which appeared in five parts.
The fifth of them, for one and two gambas with a bass, was printed in
1705.
Out of his nineteen children, three sons and a daughter devoted
themselves to the study of the gamba. Amongst them the most
distinguished for his performances was
ROLAND MARAIS. In the year 1725 he succeeded his father as solo
gambist at the Royal Chamber Music Concerts, the prospect of which had
been assured to him some years previously. Quantz, who heard him in
1726, reported him as a very skilful player. He published, in 1711,
a “Nouvelle méthode de musique,” and in the years 1735 and 1738 two
volumes of gamba pieces with figured bass.
The Sainte-Colombe mentioned above had, besides Marais, two noteworthy
pupils, ROUSSEAU and HERVELOIS. Jean Rousseau perfected himself as a
distinguished gamba player, and was actively engaged in Paris during the
second half of the seventeenth century. He also made himself more widely
known by the production of two “livres de pièces de viole,” as well as a
gamba school, “Traité de la viole.” The latter work appeared in Paris in
1687.
CAIX DE HERVELOIS, born about 1670, became, under the direction of
Sainte-Colombe, an excellent player, and after further study entered
the service of the Duke of Orleans. In Amsterdam he had two books of
his compositions published: “Pièces pour la basse viole avec la basse
continue.”
Another French gambist of distinction in the seventeenth century was
Antoine Forqueray. He was born in 1671 in Paris, and was one of the
performers at the chamber music Concerts of Louis XIV. Forqueray
received instruction from his father. At the age of five years he
already excited the astonishment of the king by his performances, who
called him “his little wonder.” In the year 1745, on June 28, he died at
Nantes, whither he had retired upon his pension.
His son, Jean Baptiste Antoine, born on April 3, 1700, in Paris, was
esteemed as the most able French gamba player of his time. He also at
five years of age was heard with such favourable result before Louis
XIV. that he later on became a member of the royal music society. He
again had a son, whose christian name was Jean Baptiste, born about
1728, who was also a gambist and published several books of compositions
for his instrument. He does not seem, however, to have made himself
conspicuous as a performer.
Gerber mentions in his musical Lexicon a Parisian gambist of the
eighteenth century of the name of Forcroix, or Forcroy, “whose
delightful playing Quantz, who was in Paris in 1726, admired.” Possibly
this artist may be identified as the A. Forqueray mentioned above.
The art of gamba playing was pursued in Germany with as great or perhaps
greater zeal than in England and France. While the pursuit of music by
the English and French was confined chiefly to London and Paris, there
were in Germany many courts who admired and cherished with fostering
care the art of music; and the result was, especially after the tumult
of the thirty years’ war had subsided, a widely-spread musical life
throughout the whole of the German nation.
Amongst the first German players to be mentioned is DAVID FUNK, born
about 1630, in the Saxon town of Reichenbach. Gerber says of him, he was
“an excellent musician and master of the violin, the viola da gamba, the
angelica,[29] the clavier, and guitar”; and then goes on: “Funk was in
every way a genius. His chief study, which he carried to no small degree
of perfection, was that of the law. He was, besides, a wit and a poet,
and was reckoned among the good German poets of that time. As a musician
he was not only a virtuoso on all the above-named instruments, but he
was also a composer, and won the applause of the public in a variety
of styles, for the church as well as for the chamber.... How and where
he had gained all these distinctions there is no account. He was first
known as a composer in the year 1670, by the publication of his work on
the gamba.” This enthusiastic account emanated, according to Gerber’s
report, from the precentor Joh. Martin Steindorf, of Zwickau, who was
personally acquainted with Funk.
In the year 1682 Funk gave up his appointment in Reichenbach and
accompanied the “East Friesland Princess” into Italy as secretary,
where he remained with his mistress seven years. After her death there
in 1689 he returned to his native land, and, driven by the necessity
of beginning again to earn his livelihood, he had no other choice but
to accept, at “Wohnsiedel (Wunsiedel?), the miserable post of organist
and girls’ schoolmaster.” Funk’s dissolute character led him to misuse
his office as teacher to immoral purposes with the girls entrusted to
his care, so that he was compelled “by night and fog to fly in order to
escape the rage of the parents.”
From that time Funk led a vagabond life. He next betook himself to
Schleitz, and remained three months at the Court there. Thence he
was obliged to decamp as he was rigorously pursued by the police of
Wohnsiedel. He made his way to Arnstadt, but did not reach that place.
He was found one day lying dead underneath a hedge.
At the same time as Funk, the virtuoso August Kühnel was at work--born
August 5, 1645, in the little town of Delmenhorst, in Oldenburg. From
1695 to 1700 he lived at Cassel, holding a position at the Court. During
this time he published “Sonatas or Parts for one or two Viole da gamba,
together with a bass, 1698.” According to Gerber, several of his works
should be in the Museum at Cassel. In composition, Kühnel was a pupil
of Agostino Steffani during his residence in Hanover. His successor in
office appears to have been a certain Tielke,[30] for he was from 1700
to 1720 gambist in the Cassel chapel.
Another gambist of the name of Kühnel (Johann Michael) lived in the
second half of the seventeenth century, and was engaged at the Berlin
Court. From here he went, in 1717, to Weimar, and later on to Dresden,
in the service of Field-marshal Flemming. He seems to have ended his
life in Hamburg. Of his compositions there appeared at Rogers’s in
Amsterdam, “Sonates à 1 et 2 Violes de gamba.”
One of the most important gamba players of Germany at the end of the
seventeenth and beginning of the eighteenth century was Johann Schenk.
As he appears to have had his second work, “Konst œffeningen,” printed
at Amsterdam in 1688, consisting of fifteen sonatas for the gamba and
bass, it may be concluded that he was born about the middle of the
seventeenth century. Towards the end of it he was chamber musician in
the Elector Palatine’s service, which post however he must have given
up at the beginning of the eighteenth century, for he is said to have
settled in Amsterdam about that time. Whether he remained there to the
end of his life is doubtful, for on the title-page of his sixth work,
“Scherzi musicali, per la viola di gamba con basso continuo ad libitum,”
he calls himself “Chamber Commissary and Chamberlain of the Elector
Palatine.” On the other hand, Mattheson informs us that he (Schenk) was
named inspector of the fish market, because he had played the gamba so
well! On the whole, he published eight works, chiefly pieces and sonatas
for the gamba, as well as for the violin with a bass; a copy of the
one, of which the title is mentioned above, is preserved in the Royal
Library at Sondershausen. This comprehensive collection, consisting of
101 musical pieces, is dedicated to the Elector Palatine Prince William,
consequently to the same art-devoted Prince to whom Corelli, in the year
1712, dedicated his “Concerti Grossi.”[31]
The title-page of the “Scherzi musicali” bears no date, but it maybe
assumed that they appeared between 1692 and 1693, for Schenk published
his Op. 3 in the first and his Op. 7 in the latter year, and the
collection in question, as already observed, bears 6 as the number of
the work. The compositions which it contains are grouped after the
manner of “Chamber Sonatas” or “Suite.” It is true that the author has
made use of neither of these terms, but the keys chosen by him leave
no manner of doubt as to the description of instrumental compositions
to which these “Scherzi musicali” belong. We know that it was usual
for all the subjects of a suite at that period to be in the same key.
Looking from this point of view at Schenk’s work for the gamba, it is
apparent that it contains twelve suites or chamber sonatas, of which
some indeed are unusually long. For example, the second suite (F major)
and the fourth (A minor) consist of fourteen pieces. Dances, such as
Allemandes, Courantes, Sarabandes, Gigues, Gavottes, and Minuets, make
up by far the greater portion of the volume. There are also a couple of
Bourrées; but then the composer gives also Chaconnes and Passacailles
with variations, which in some cases are of great length, as well as
Rondos and “Arias.” The fourth sonata contains moreover a Canzone and
an “Allabreve”; the ninth, a Fugue; the eleventh, the same[32] and
an Overture. The greater number of the suites begin with a Prelude,
though, on the contrary, the second begins with a Fantasia, the fourth
with a “Sonata con Basso obligato,” and the eighth with an “Overture,”
the ninth with a “Capriccio,” and the twelfth with a “Caprice.” The
mode of writing alternates from one to several parts, and the chords,
by frequently doubling the intervals, are extended to five notes
struck simultaneously. For the notation Schenk required four different
keys--viz., bass, alto, discant, and treble, by which means the compass
extends from [Illustration] to [Illustration] We conclude from this
that Schenk, like the French gambist Marais, used a gamba with seven
strings, and, indeed, the highest of them must have been tuned up to
the one-lined G. Schenk must have gone considerably above the seventh
fret of the fingerboard in order to reach the twice-lined B flat. With
regard to the artistically musical quality of Schenk’s compositions for
the gamba, they are mediocre; they bear no comparison with the violin
compositions of Corelli of the same period. He succeeded best in the
dances, compared with which the more elaborate productions appear poor
and are in some measure incorrect. Especially is this true of the two
so-called fugues, which do not rise above feeble attempts at fugues. It
is, however, interesting to know what position Schenk took as one of the
best reputed gamba virtuosos at that time with regard to composition,
for his productions give an average idea of the executive capabilities
of his contemporaries. At the same time, Schenk’s works prove very
surely what double-stoppings, chords, and figures were possible on the
gamba, and in this respect reveal a remarkable richness in various
styles of playing.
Opposed to this by its simplicity in a technical point of view is a
“Sonata a Cembalo Obligato col Viol da Gamba,” by Handel. Double-stops
and chords are altogether omitted. It is true that he has quite another
object in view, for Handel treated the gamba not like Schenk, as a
solo instrument, but as subsidiary only to carry out a musical idea,
thus placing it on a level with the clavier. He chiefly uses also the
middle positions of the gamba in the alto key throughout. Otherwise this
Sonata,[33] though solid in form, is of small importance, and gives the
impression of a composition quickly thrown off for some special
occasion.
Handel’s great contemporary, Joh. Seb. Bach, treated this instrument,
in his three sonatas composed for it and the clavier, in quite another
manner. It is true that with rare exceptions he makes no use of the
scored and harmonised technique for the gamba; but the artistic and
complete mode of working out by which all his instrumental works are
more or less distinguished is also peculiar to the gamba sonatas just
mentioned, of which the most important are the first in G major and the
third in G minor.
Charmingly and with characteristic effect did Bach employ the gamba in
his Passion Music from the Gospel of St. Matthew and St. John, as well
as in some of his Cantatas. One has only to recall the splendid, deeply
touching alto aria “It is finished,” in the Passion Music of St. John.
Now at the performance of this sublime work the gamba part in the aria
referred to is played by the violoncello, which does not quite express
the deeply melancholy, pathetic tone that Bach’s music was designed
to express. But there is no more appropriate substitute in the modern
orchestra for the gamba than the violoncello.
One peculiarity of Joh. Seb. Bach is that, with a rare knowledge of art,
he made use for his purpose of all the instruments current in his time
which adapted themselves in any way to the representation of a special
effect. But he further conceived the idea of enriching the choir of
instruments by an invention of his own. During his work at Köthen he
constructed the “Viola Pomposa,” a stringed instrument of the cello
kind, though, like the violin, for the hand, which had five strings
tuned to C, G, d, a, ē--
[Illustration]
Gerber remarks concerning it: “The limited way in which the violoncello
in Bach’s time was handled compelled him, for the quick basses in his
works, to the invention of the so-called viola pomposa, which, rather
longer and higher than a tenor, had a fifth string, e, in addition to
the four lower strings of the violoncello, and was placed on the arm.
This convenient instrument enabled the player to execute more easily the
high and rapid passages which occurred.”
It may be seen from Bach’s Suites for Violoncello Solo, which were
originally written for the viola pomposa, the compass of this instrument
extended from the great octave C [Illustration] to the thrice-accented
G [Illustration] However, the “Viola pomposa” did not attain to general
use. It scarcely survived its inventor, and disappeared, as it seems,
even before the gamba, out of the musical sphere.
Bach’s eldest son, Philipp Emmanuel, also wrote for the gamba. Amongst
other things a sonata in three movements, with the clavier, in G
minor,[34] which was apparently composed about 1759. The three-part
movement in this is solid, though somewhat meagre and dry.
Amongst the gamba compositions of the previous century, which have
lasted up to our time, there is also to be noted an unpublished Concerto
by Joseph Tartini, the famous founder of the old Paduan violin school,
with accompaniment for four stringed instruments and two horns.[35]
Possibly Tartini wrote it during his three years’ residence in Prague
(1723-1726) for a German gambist, as about that time the gamba was
still cultivated in Germany with great enthusiasm, though it had been,
in Italy, thrust into the background of music by the violoncello. The
Concerto bears all the marks of the author’s manner of expression, but
it is in the main quite as antiquated as all his violin concertos.
The introduction and _Finale_ are in G; the “Grave” between the two
movements is in D minor. The single part theme of the solo, with the
exception of a few double-stoppings and chords, is throughout written
in tenor and bass clef. It is worthy of remark that all the pieces are
provided before the full close with cadences, written at full length,
for the solo instrument, after Tartini’s usual manner in all his violin
concertos.
As a contemporary of Schenk, the War Minister of Hesse-Darmstadt, ERNST
CHRISTIAN HESSE, who was born on the 14th April, 1676, in the Thuringian
town of Grossengottern, distinguished himself. Gerber says of him,
that he was the first and most famous gambist of his time in Germany.
Having spent his school years at Langensalza and Eisenach, he entered
the Darmstadt chancery service as supernumerary and followed the Court
of his new master in 1694 to Giessen. At the Academy there he continued
his work and also his legal studies. In 1698 he had permission from the
Court to go to Paris in order to perfect himself there on the viol da
gamba, which he had already begun to study in early life. He remained
there three years and had instruction at the same time from the two
famous masters, Marais and Forqueray. As privately they were at enmity
with each other he was compelled to give his name to one as Hesse and
to the other as Sachs. Both were delighted with his skill and progress,
and severally boasted of the excellent pupil whom he had taught. At last
they challenged each other to put to the test, in a concert arranged
for that object, the proficiency of their pupil. But what was their
astonishment on Herr Hesse’s appearance to find he was the pupil of
both! He did his two masters, each in his own manner, special credit,
but immediately after the occurrence left Paris.
After his return to the Darmstadt Court, in the year 1702, Hesse was
named Secretary of the War Department and Foreign Office. In the
following year he married.
In the year 1705 Hesse travelled through Holland and England, and
two years later he betook himself to Italy, in order to increase his
knowledge in the art of composition. Everywhere his gamba playing
excited the greatest admiration. On his return journey from Italy he
visited Vienna and was heard at Court, together with Hebenstreit,
famous in his time as the inventor of a dulcimer-like instrument,
called Pantaleon. The Emperor was so charmed with his playing that he
presented him with a gold chain and his portrait. In the year 1713 he
lost his wife. About the same period the vacant post of Kapellmeister
at the Darmstadt Court was given to him _ad interim_. He then married
his second wife, the famous singer, Johanna Eliz. Doebbrecht (Döbricht),
and in 1715 he was promoted to the post of War Commissary and eleven
years later to the dignity of Minister of War. “In 1719,” says Gerber,
“Hesse made another musical tour with his wife to Dresden, to the
famous festivals held in honour of the Elector’s marriage and where
several operas by Lotti and Heinichen were represented. They both
gained extraordinary honour and abundant appreciation. From this time
he devoted himself quietly to the Court until his eighty-sixth year,
and died May 16, 1762, after he had participated in every kind of good
fortune. Besides the airs which he arranged for the church during the
time that he filled the Kapellmeister’s vacancy, he left behind him many
Sonatas and Suites for the Viola da gamba, which fully bring out all
the possibilities of this instrument.”
Hesse had twenty children, only eight of whom, however, survived him.
His eldest son, Louis Christian, became, under his father’s tuition, a
clever gambist, and entered as such into the service of the Prince of
Prussia in 1768.
Besides his son, Hesse formed the excellent gamba player, JOH. CHRIST.
HEXTEL, born 1699, in the Swabian town of Oettingen. His father, who was
Kapellmeister to the Prince of Oettingen, and then worked in the same
capacity at the Ducal Court of Merseburg, wished that the boy should
study, and entered him, in 1716, at the University of Halle. Here he
occupied himself by preference with music, and when he returned home he
gained his father’s permission to devote himself exclusively to the art.
The Duke of Merseburg announced his willingness to grant him the means
of pursuing his studies either in Paris, under Marais and Forqueray, or
at Darmstadt, under Hesse’s direction. The young Hextel himself decided
for Hesse, who took him as a pupil under exceptional conditions. After
two years’ study he left Darmstadt, performed at concerts at the Courts
of Eisenach, Merseburg, Weissenfels, Zerbst, and Köthen, and accepted a
post in the Eisenach Kapelle. During the years 1723-27 he was travelling
in Germany and Holland; played in 1732 before Frederick the Great at
Ruppin, while he was still Crown Prince; and then undertook the post
of Concert Director at Eisenach. When, after the death of its prince
(1742), the Eisenach band was dissolved, through the recommendation
of Franz Benda he was appointed Concert Director at the Court of
Strelitz. He filled this place until 1753, and died a year after. Of his
numberless compositions only six sonatas for violin “solo e continuo,”
1727, were published at Amsterdam.
As noteworthy German gambists belonging to the first half of the
eighteenth century must be mentioned--
EMMERLING, HARD, and BELLERMAN. The former of these, born at Eisleben,
was in the year 1730 Chamber Musician and Viola da Gambist to the
Margrave Louis of Brandenburg, and also, as Gerber says, instrumental
composer.
JOH. DANIEL HARD, born May 8, 1696, in Frankfurt on the Main, remained
at the outset of his musical career for five years in the service of
King Stanislaus during his residence at Zweibrücken, and then was
Chamber Musician to the Bishop of Würzburg and the Duke of Franken, Joh.
Phil. Franz von Schönborn. After four years he gave up this service
and took a post as Chamber Musician at the Wurtemburg Court. Later on
he again became Concertmeister and finally Capellmeister to the Duke
Carl Eugene. He still filled this office at Stuttgard in 1757. Further
accounts of him are wanting.
CONSTANTINE BELLERMAN, “Imperial Crowned Poet” (poet laureate), as
Gerber calls him, studied as amateur gamba player. He was born in 1696
at Erfurt, there studied law, and also pursued music theoretically and
practically, playing the lute, gamba, violin, and flute. He was called
to Münden as Cantor, and then, in 1741, as Rector of the School there.
Of his many unpublished compositions, there are amongst them Church
pieces, Cantatas, an Opera, Suites for the lute, Concertos for the Oboe
d’Amour and the Flute, Clavier Concertos with violin, and Overtures;
here only six Sonatas for Flute, Gamba, and Clavier will be noticed. The
year of his death is unknown.
Amongst the German gambists of the first half of the eighteenth century
a lady held a prominent position, DOROTHEA V. RIED, one of the five
daughters of the Austrian musician, Fortunatus Ried. Johann Frauenlob
says of them, according to Gerber, in his Essay on Learned Women: “That
although two of them were still very young--one was scarcely eight years
old--their father had brought them on so well in music that with their
two brothers they had given at Vienna, Prague, Leipsic, Wittenberg, and
other places such evident proofs of their talent as to have excited
universal admiration, for people thought they heard heavenly rather than
earthly music.”
Here also must be mentioned a royal personage--namely, the Elector
MAXIMILIAN JOSEPH, born March 28, 1728; died December 30, 1777. He
played the violin and the cello, but was especially an excellent
gambist. Burney, who heard him in 1772, says that he needed not to
be a great prince in order to discover that his skill, his rendering
of adagio, and his accuracy in time were perfect. Maximilian also
composed. His teacher for composition was Bernasconi.
Finally, CARL FRIEDRICH ABEL must also be mentioned as a gambist of
the first rank. He was born at Köthen, 1725, where his father held
the appointment of gamba player in the Hofkapelle. “The young Abel,”
says Gerber, “seems to have had instruction, as Thomas’ scholar, at
Leipsic, from the great Seb. Bach; then came in 1748 to the Hofkapelle
at Dresden, where, during the more flourishing period of Hasse’s life,
and for nearly ten years, he found time enough to form his taste.[36]
His small salary and a split with the director Hasse caused him to leave
that Court, according to Burney, in 1758, with three thalers in his
purse. In order to increase this capital, he went on foot to Leipsic,
laden with the MS. of six symphonies, where, through the generosity of
the publisher of these symphonies, he became six ducats richer. He now
went from one German court to another, and, by repeated good receptions
and applause, he regained not a little confidence. Finally he turned to
London, in 1759, where he found a great patron in the lately deceased
Duke of York, who supported him until the formation of the Queen’s Band,
to which he was appointed in the capacity of chamber musician, receiving
an annual payment of £300.
“This salary was considerably increased by the music dealers giving him
a stipulated sum of £150 for six symphonies. His duty at the Queen’s
Concerts was generally to play the tenor on his gamba, and now and
then, in the absence of Bach,[37] to accompany on the piano. For some
years he lived in Paris during the summer, where he found in the house
of a _fermier-général_ not only a friendly reception, but also what he
liked better than all, the best of wine. On his first appearance in
London, his discretion, his taste, and his pathetic manner of expression
in the rendering of his adagios so captivated the young virtuosi that
they very soon followed his school, with less expenditure of notes and
with more successful result. His taste and knowledge especially made
him the umpire on all contested points, so that he was looked upon in
all difficult cases as an infallible oracle. With his dexterity on the
gamba he also possessed the talent, like many other older virtuosi,
of exciting the astonishment and admiration of his hearers by free
fantasias and learned modulations. And although he had considerably less
power on the harpsichord, yet he knew how to modulate in arpeggio with
consummate skill and in endless changes.”
“Abel remained in London until 1782, in which year the desire of
once more seeing his brother and his country induced him to return
to Germany. It was on this journey that he displayed, both at Berlin
and Ludwigslust, the greatness of his talent, his wonderful power of
expression, the richness of his tones, and his stirring execution on the
gamba. The present king, then Crown Prince of Prussia, before whom he
performed in Berlin, presented him with a costly casket and 100 louis
d’or. A few years later he stayed some time in Paris on account of the
disordered condition of his finances. But he returned again to London
and died there on June 22, 1787, after a three days’ lethargy, without
the least suffering. Shortly before his death he played a recently
finished solo which astonished his warmest admirers. His cadences
especially were excellent.”
It is remarkable that, amongst Abel’s numberless published works, which
consist partly of concertos and orchestral pieces and partly of chamber
music, there are no compositions for the gamba. This must be explained
by the fact that the zenith of gamba-playing had been reached, and the
art was on its decline, at the beginning of the second half of the
eighteenth century. It went out of fashion, and with it also gamba
music, and in its place only violoncello compositions were in request.
In many ways this change was as much lamented as was the case at the
banishment of the lute to cabinets of curiosities or the lumber room.
After Abel there were no German gambists of conspicuous importance
to mention. From the middle of the last century the gamba was more
and more neglected, in consequence of the violoncello being brought
forward, and the younger geniuses devoted themselves by preference to
this instrument, which approached more nearly to the violin, then at the
summit of all instrumental music.
Amongst stringed instruments, which had shared the same fate as the
gamba, belong the Viola bastarda and the Viola di Bordone (English,
Barytone). The first instrument was in shape somewhat thicker than
the gamba and was provided with six or seven strings.[38] In order to
increase the resonance, as many steel strings were introduced under the
fingerboard and bridge, which were tuned to the same pitch as those
above, like the Viola d’amore. Another variety of the gamba was the
barytone, which was cultivated in the last century.
In Leopold Mozart’s violin tutor is found the following description
of it: “This instrument has from six to seven strings like the gamba.
The neck is very broad and the back part hollow and open, down which
nine or ten brass or steel strings are run beneath, which are touched
and pinched by the thumb; so that, at the same time as the principal
part is played with the bow on the upper cat-gut strings, the thumb by
striking the strings stretched under the neck of the instrument can play
the bass; and therefore the music must be arranged specially for it.
Moreover, it is a most agreeable instrument.” From this description it
is evident that the barytone was a bass instrument resembling the Viola
d’amore. The barytone in its time was much liked in Austria. Several
Austrian composers, as Cybler, Weigl, and Pichl, and at their head
Joseph Haydn, composed for this instrument. The latter was incited to
it by his benefactor, the Prince Esterhazy, who looked with particular
favour on the barytone. Haydn wrote no less than 175 pieces for it.[39]
The tuning of the strings on the fingerboard of the barytone was on the
same principle as that of the gamba.
The Viennese, ANTON LIDL, who was born about 1740, was much esteemed
as a most distinguished barytone virtuoso. Gerber says of him, “that
he rendered still more perfect his instrument, which had been invented
about the year 1700. It is in shape like the Viola da gamba, except
that it has brass strings at the back, which are played at the same
time with the thumb. These lower strings he increased to twenty-seven
and the semitones were played with them.” He must have been an
extraordinary artist on this instrument. The author of the _Almanack_
of 1782 says: “His performance united the most charming sweetness to
German vigour, the most surprising syncopations with the most harmonious
melody.” According to Burney, Lidl was no longer living in 1789. Up to
1783 he had published, in Amsterdam and Paris, Duets, Quartets, and
Quintets--altogether seven works. His compositions for the gamba were
not published.
The barytone disappeared with the gamba, in the course of the second
half of the last century, from musical practice.
The same change took place in Italy about the same time or somewhat
earlier, when a lively interest in the violoncello was aroused there
by Franciscello, of whom we shall speak farther on. It appears,
indeed, that in the land of the arts, as the quotations already given
from Maugars’ papers inform us, no predilection had prevailed for the
higher study of the gamba, either for the reason that among stringed
instruments the cultivation of the violin--which from the seventeenth
century had decidedly usurped the first place in the study of music--was
chiefly pursued, or that the Italian composers did not specially concern
themselves with the gamba. As a matter of fact, so far as can be
perceived, with the exception of Tartini, no noteworthy Italian composer
considered it worth his while to bring it into the field of creative
activity. Besides Ferabosco, of whom mention has already been made,
there are amongst famous Italian bass violin players and gambists to be
named: Allessandro Romano with the cognomen “della Viola,” and Teobaldi
Gatti. ROMANO was born about 1530 at Rome, and in 1560 was a singer in
the Papal (Sixtine) Chapel. He later became a monk of the monastery of
Mount Olivet, under the name of Giulio Cesare. But he did not find his
sojourn there agreeable, for he was at strife and contention with one or
other of the monks of his order through incompatibility of temper. His
compositions, published between the years 1572-1579, consist of “Canzone
alla Napolitana” for five voices and a book of Motets in five parts.
TEOBALDI GATTI, born at Florence about 1650, not only distinguished
himself as a gamba player, but also made himself known in his time as
an operatic composer. In the latter respect he was influenced by Lully,
whose first opera-overtures so impressed him that he resolved to go to
Paris in order to do homage to his illustrious countryman. Lully, who
was flattered, showed his gratitude for this attention by making Gatti a
member of the Parisian Opera orchestra, which post he filled for nearly
fifty years uninterruptedly.[40] He died in 1727, in Paris. There were
published in 1696 twelve “Airs Italiens” by him, two of which are duets.
As skilful Italian gambists are conspicuous also MARCO FRATICELLI and
CARLO AMBROSIO LUNATI,[41] of Milan, with the cognomen “Il gobbo della
Regina.” The latter came to England during the reign of James II.
Nothing further is known concerning either of these instrumentalists. It
is worthy of remark in this place that the famous Italian singer, Lenora
Baroni, born about 1610, was, according to Maugars’ testimony, a clever
theorbo and gamba player. As such she was in the habit of accompanying
herself in singing.
It has already been pointed out that the viola da gamba, which for
nearly three hundred years (for the “Basso di viola,” or Gerle’s
“great violin,” was, in fact, a gamba, although as yet of a somewhat
primitive form) had played an important part both as an orchestral and
solo instrument, was replaced by the violoncello in the course of the
eighteenth century. Subsequently when the violin as a leading instrument
in melody usurped the place of the cornet (Zinken), and the discant
viola (French par dessus de viole), it became necessary to provide an
equivalent for the bass part of string quartets, as the tone of the
gamba in _ensemble_ playing proved too weak and thin in proportion to
the violin.
Mattheson says of it, in his “Neu eröffneten Orchestre,” which appeared
in 1713: “The plaintive Viola da gamba (Fr., Basse de Viole, properly
so called) is a beautiful delicate instrument, and he who wishes to
signalise himself on it must not keep his hands long in his pockets....
Its chief use in concerts is only for the strengthening of the basses,
and some indeed pretend to execute a ‘Thorough Bass’ on it, of which, up
to now, I have never seen a good attempt.”
In opposition to this last somewhat sarcastic remark of Mattheson
is what Gerber states a hundred years later (Vol. I., p. 6, of his
“New” Musicians’ Lexicon) concerning the gamba. He there says: “It is
remarkable in the history of music that his (Abel’s) instrument was
buried with him in the year 1787 in total oblivion: the indispensable
gamba, without which for a hundred years neither church nor chamber
music could be arranged, which in all public and private concerts had
the exclusive right to be heard before all other instruments from the
beginning to the end, and which therefore, like caskets, must not only
be exquisitely finished in every size, large and small, but was also
ordered, bought, and paid for adorned with the most costly artistic
carving--ivory, tortoiseshell, gold, and silver--then available. In the
course of time there will be no vestige left in the whole of Europe of
this instrument, once so universal and admired; henceforth it will have
to be sought for amongst the old woodcuts in Prätorius, or specimens
of it, stringless and worm-eaten, in a royal music chamber. Another
sad proof how greatly Apollo is overruled by the goddess Fashion. The
taste of our forefathers for these soft, modest, humming viola tones
is also remarkable; they were a quiet, contented, peace-loving people!
In the present time the instruments for our musicians cannot be chosen
sufficiently high and shrill.”[42] It is plain that although Gerber
himself played the cello, this instrument was also known to him, and he
had not only remarked the disproportion between the tone of the violins
and those of the gambas in the orchestra with regard to strength,
but also the circumstance that, by the creative faculty of Haydn and
Mozart in the region of higher instrumental music, the gamba had become
wholly superfluous. The superior qualities of the violoncello to the
gamba as a solo instrument had escaped him, although the conspicuous
success of cello players in the second half of the last century could
not have remained unknown to him. It seems, therefore, as if Gerber had
a special predilection for the gamba--a taste which only a few of his
contemporaries shared with him.
Gerber’s[43] confident assertion that the French priest, Tardieu, of
Tarascon, had invented the violoncello “in the year 1708,” is simply
to be relegated to the region of fable, for the instrument had already
existed long before in Italy.[44]
Fétis remarks (p. 47) in his article “Antoine Stradivari” (Paris, 1856):
The violoncello had already been mentioned by Prätorius in his “Syntagma
Mus.” (1614-1620), which is a mistake, for the work referred to contains
neither the name nor the illustration of this instrument.[45] But the
violoncello must already have been in use about this time in Italy,
for (according to Rob. Eitner)[46] it is mentioned in a publication
of the year 1641, and then in a work of Freschi’s, which appeared in
1660 as “Violoncino.” In Arresti’s Sonatas in two and three parts, of
the year 1665, it is called “Violoncello.” It was of great importance
for the Italian instrument makers to produce a bass instrument of
the violin type which had already been in use from the middle of the
sixteenth century, and this certainly happened towards the end of that
period. This is proved by the Brescian Gaspard da Salò[47] (1550-1612).
Whether Andreas Amati, the founder of the famous Cremona school (born
1520, died 1580), constructed similar instruments appears doubtful.
Apparently the gamba as well as the violin served as guides for the
proportions in the construction of the violoncello. From the violin were
borrowed the outlines of the soundbox, the arched back, which the more
ancient gambas, whose backs were flat, did not have; also the F holes
and the fingerboard without frets. From the gamba were taken the large
proportions of the violoncello. It was at first constructed like the
gamba, in smaller and larger dimensions, until Stradivarius established
a standard size. Whether the most famous German violin maker, Jacob
Stainer (born 1621, died 1683), made violoncellos is much doubted by
experts. It is, however, certain that he made gambas, which were often
converted into violoncellos.
According to Eitner’s previously mentioned assertion, it appears that
the last-named instrument was at first called “Violoncino,” and a
little while after “Violoncello.” The Italian affixes “ino” and “ello”
have a diminutive meaning, and therefore both names have an identical
signification. As violino is the diminutive of viola, violoncino and
violoncello are the diminutives of “violone.” The tenor of our day,
which also at that time sprang from the alto or tenor viola, after the
pattern of the violin, received the name of Viola da braccio, which
means “arm viola.” Besides the Viola da braccio there was also a “Viola
da Spalla,” which was not placed beneath the chin, but rested on the
left shoulder. Concerning this bass instrument Mattheson remarks: “The
Viola da spalla, or shoulder-viola, has a particularly grand effect in
accompaniment from its penetrating and pure tone. A bass can never be
more distinctly and clearly brought out than by this instrument. It is
fastened by a ribbon to the chest and thrown over the right shoulder,
but has nothing which can stop or prevent in the smallest degree its
resonance.”
To return to the violoncello. It offered the player two very important
advantages over the gamba. First, the finger technique was wholly
unlimited because the fingerboard had no frets, which, in regard to runs
and cadences, as well as change of positions, opposed a substantial
hindrance to the gamba player. Then the player on the violoncello could
obtain more tone than on the gamba, by drawing the bow more forcibly
over a single string. The upper edge of the bridge of the gamba,
over which the strings passed, was so flatly cut for harmonised or
part-playing that it was necessary to avoid a strong tone, lest the
neighbouring strings should be thereby sympathetically affected. But
the bridge of the cello, on the contrary, was of a more convex form,
whereby playing in parts was indeed precluded. As is known, on the cello
as on the violin, only double stops and chords are possible, and the
last only broken up. In this manner the violoncello was used formerly
at the performances of operas and oratorios as solo accompaniment of
recitatives, for which of course it was requisite that the player should
have a thorough knowledge of music theoretically, as he had to execute
at sight figured basses.
Corrette gives already in his violoncello tutor (1741) instructions for
accompanying recitative. These directions are, however, by no means
exhaustive; such are first found in the cello tutor compiled for the
Paris Conservatoire by De Baillot, Levasseur, Catel, and Baudiot, which
appeared in print in 1804. Therein it is said:
“In order to accompany well a recitative, a complete knowledge of
harmony and of the violoncello is necessary; one must be intimate with
figured basses, and know how to execute them readily. He who can do
this has reached the summit of art; for it presupposes a great deal of
necessary information, and still more the power of judging how to turn
it to account.
“If the bass player is not certain of the resolutions of discords, if
he is unable positively to indicate to the singer when he is to make a
complete or a broken cadence, if in his concords he does not know how
to avoid forbidden fifths and octaves--he is in danger of confusing the
singer, and in any case he will produce a most disagreeable effect.
“As in good compositions, a recitative always follows a well-defined
progression and adapts itself to the character of the part, to
the situation portrayed, and to the voice of the singer: in the
accompaniment--1. The strength of the tone must be regulated according
to the effect to be produced, for the accompaniment must sustain and
embellish the singing and not spoil and drown it. 2. The chord must not
be repeated, except when the harmony changes. 3. The accompaniment must
be quite simple, without flourishes or runs. Good accompanying always
has in view the best rendering of the subject, and when the player
allows himself to fill up certain gaps with a short interlude, this must
only consist of the notes of the chord. 4. The chord must be played
without Arpeggio, ordinarily in the following manner”--[48]
[Illustration]
Baudiot in his violoncello tutor, which appeared later than the above,
makes the following remark concerning the accompaniment of recitative:
“It sometimes happens that the actors linger on the scene without
reciting (speaking), be it that they have forgotten the text of what
they have to recite, or that for some other reason they are silent.
At times their appearance on the boards is delayed. In such cases,
the accompanist (_i.e._, the cellist) can perform short preludes and
embellishments at his pleasure. But he must be modest about it, and
employ his ornaments at the right moment, and always with taste.”[49]
To the art of violoncello making the same applies as to the violin. The
productions of the Italian makers surpass those of all other nations.
Amongst them, those manufactured by Nicholas Amati, Stradivari, and
Gius. Guarneri del Gesù are most to be preferred and justly so.[50]
Stradivari and Amati made their cellos of two different sizes; the
larger one was formerly called “il Basso,” while the smaller was
distinguished as the Violoncello proper. The latter is the more
preferable as being more manageable; in these days it is used as a
valuable model.
As to the violoncello bow, which had the following form in the first
half of the eighteenth century,[51] its progress went hand in hand with
that of the violin bow. The improvements which were successively made on
the latter were effected on the former. The greatest perfection reached
by the bow was the work of a Frenchman, François Tourte. To this day he
has never been excelled in this department. (See Appendix A.)
[Illustration]
The fabrication, however, of good violin and cello bows has latterly
become very general; and especially in Markneukirchen the manufacture of
bows as well as instruments has received a great impulse.[52]