Viol

A drawing showing viols of different sizes, from Michael Praetorius'Syntagma musicum(1618)

Theviol(rhymes with "mile" ) is a string instrument that is played with abow.The viol was a popular instrument from the15thto the18th century.Small viols are held on the lap, and the larger ones are held between theknees,which gave them the name of "viol da gamba", meaning a leg viol.The bow is held with the palm of the hand facing upwards: the other way round from today's bowhold forviolins,violasorcellos.The viol is a gentle-sounding instrument. When the violin family became popular in the17th centuryand people started to go to concerts in largeconcert halls,and tooperas,the viols became less important.

Description

Viols are made of wood, and are similar to the violin family. Most viols have six strings, although this number did vary during the centuries. The strings were made ofgut,and are not as tight as on a violin.The fingerboard has frets like aguitar,except that they were also made of gut.They were tied around the fingerboard, and could be moved for tuning.These frets help the player to find the exact place to put their fingers. Sometimes the top of the scrolls on the fingerboard were beautifully decorated.The instruments have sloped shoulders and a flat back.The viol, like thevihuela,from which it developed, has abridgethat is flatter than the bridge of a modern violin. This makes it easier to play chords. The bow was convex in shape, where a violin bow is concave.

Sizes

Viols were made in different sizes. A set of viols of different sizes - perhaps four or five instruments - were sometimes kept together in a chest (large box) which is why they were called a "chest of viols". When they were played together people talked of a "consort of viols". A consort would normally have at least one treble, tenor and bass instrument. A "broken consort" meant a mixture of different instruments: viols,recordersetc.Luteandbass violwere often played together. They were tuned in fourths, with a major third in the middle.

The strings of a bass viol (equivalent to the cello in the modern violin family) are tuned (from the lowest note, nearly two octaves below middle C, upwards) to D - G - C - E - A -D. The tenor viol was often called a viola da gamba (literally: "viol of the leg" ). It was the most popular size for solo music and many composers wrotesonatasfor the viola da gamba. The biggest viol is called theviolone.It developed into the moderndouble bass.This is why the double bass is a little different in shape from the violin, viola and cello. Some double bass players today hold the bow with the palm (inside) of the hand facing upwards, like viol players.

History

Violoneorgreat bass viol.Painting by SirPeter Lely,c.1640,Dutch-born English Baroque era painter. The instrument is very big, quite Italian in shape and it has square shoulders and modern F-holes.

The viol was popular in the houses of rich people, and in the royal court. During thereignofElizabeth Iand, later,King Charles Icomposers such asWilliam Byrd,John Dowland,Orlando Gibbons,John JenkinsandWilliam Laweswrote viol music. Solo sonatas were written by many composers includingMarin Marais,Johann Sebastian Bach,andKarl Friedrich Abel.Some of the last and greatestfantasiesfor viol consort were written byHenry Purcell.

After the mid-18th century people forgot about the viol until the20th centurywhen there was a new interest inearly musicand people likeArnold Dolmetschstarted making them again so that Renaissance and Baroque viol music could be played. Today there are many societies for people who are interested in playing the viol.

There are now many societies for people with an interest in the viol. One of these, The Viola da Gamba Society has a worldwide membership. Some modern composers have also written for the viol e.g.John Tavener,Sally Beamish,Thea Musgrave,Tan DunandPoul Ruders.There is a group calledFretworkwhich perform viol music.

Other websites

• The Viola da Gamba SocietyArchived2008-12-29 at theWayback Machine