Books › The M. Steinert collection of keyed and stringed instruments. With various treatises on the history of these instruments .., 1893 › scan 148
Scan 148
The M. Steinert collection of keyed and stringed instruments. With various treatises on the history of these instruments .., 1893
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 144. See the scan on archive.org.
1not easily overcome, and as every forte note produces a perfect shower of concords and harmonics, all notes which will not bear a major third must be very lightly touched. The Viola de Gamba with sympathetic strings was first called the Viola Bastarda, but after undergoing many mechanical improvements in its sympathetic apparatus, it became the well-known Barytone, the favorite instrument of the musical epicures of the last century. Leopold Mozart, father of the great Mozart, considered it one of the loveliest of instruments. Haydn made it his favorite instrument and composed not less than 175 pieces for it.
3It may be well to repeat here that the Viol family consists of the following instruments: the Treble or discant, Tenor Viola de Braccio, Bass called the Viola de Gamba, and Double Bass called the Violone. The viola has a flat back sloping off at the top, and is strengthened internally by cross bars and a broad centre piece on which the sound post rests. The shoulders curve upwards, joining the neck at a tangent instead of at right angles as in the violin. The neck is broad and thin and the number of strings five, six or even seven. The peg is usually surmounted by a curved head. The sound holes are usually of the C pattern. Unlike the Violin it was tuned by fourths and thirds. Its tone is rather penetrating than powerful.
5The Viola de Gamba, or Knee Violin, as distinguished from the Viola de Braccio, to be played on the arm, is held between the knees, is the predecessor of the violoncello. It is about the same size as the latter, but has a flat back like the double bass. The openings in the belly are not S shaped, but are variously cut, generally representing a thin crescent. Originally the finger-board was provided with frets, but this was afterwards discontinued. The Viola de Gamba was for a long time the most popular of all bowed instruments in Holland and Germany, and especially in England. Shakespeare, in his "Twelfth Night," mentions as a special accomplishment of Sir Andrew Aguecheck "he plays o' the viol de gamboys." In the pictures of Gerard Dow Terburg
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