Books › Chats on violins, 1905 › scan 55
Scan 55
Chats on violins, 1905
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 37. See the scan on archive.org.
1for the playing of madrigals alone that Viol parties were organised. Certainly not! It was for the earnest performance of those complicated pieces called "Fantasies." These were written for three, four, and six Viols, and were alone esteemed as "solid and good musik." They were "solemnly composed with much art and invention," and for their perfect performance chests of six Viols were generally to be found in the houses of most enthusiastic amateurs.
3A description of one of these chests of Viols is given by Purcell's friend, Dr Tudway, in a letter to his son at Cambridge:
5"A chest of viols was a large hutch with several apartments and partitions in it, each partition was lined with green baize to keep the instruments from being injured by the weather. Every instrument was sized in bigness according to the part played on it: the least size played the treble part, the tenor and all other parts were played by a larger sized viol; the bass by the largest size. They had six strings each, and the necks of the instruments were fretted. (The highest) note I believe upon the treble viol was not higher than G or A."
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