Viola da Gamba Viola da Gamba A flatbridged

Viola da Gamba

Viola da Gamba • A flat-bridged instrument with a bow. • Popular in the second half of the 15 th century. • 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 original plucked vihuela: a flat back, sharp waist-cuts, frets, thin ribs (initially), and an identical tuning—hence its Spanish name vihuela de arco (arco, meaning "bow"). • Inspired by another local instrument, the Moorish rebab, this new vihuela was usually held upright, either resting on the lap or held between the legs, similar to the playing posture of a cello.

Viola da Gamba • A gamba playing position was more suited to larger instruments than was the a braccio position of the modern violin. • The instrument was imported to Italy from Spain by the Borgia family. This gave rise to its Italian name viola da gamba, meaning "viol for the leg, " which also helped differentiate it from the early violin family, which the Italians called viola da braccio (lit. "viol for the arm"). and was played along with the crumhorn by Henry VIII.

• Viols most commonly had six strings, although many 16 th-century instruments had five or even four strings. • Viols were (and are) strung with (low-tension) gut strings, unlike the steel strings used by members of the modern violin family. Gut strings produce a sonority far different from steel, the former generally described as softer and sweeter. • Around 1660, gut or silk core strings overspun with copper wire first became available; these were then used for the lowest-pitched bass strings on viols, and on many other string instruments as well. • Viols are fretted in a manner similar to early guitars or lutes, by means of movable wrapped -around and tied-on gut frets. • A low seventh string was supposedly added in France to the bass viol by Monsieur de Sainte. Colombe (c. 1640– 1690), whose students included the French gamba virtuoso and composer Marin Marais.

Unlike members of the violin family, which are tuned in fifths, viols are usually tuned in fourths with a major third in the middle, mirroring the tuning employed on the vihuela de mano and lute during the 16 th century and similar to that of the modern six-string guitar.

Popularity of Viola da Gamba • Viols were second in popularity only to the lute (although this is disputed), and like lutes, were very often played by amateurs. • Affluent homes might have a so-called chest of viols, which would contain one or more instruments of each size. • Gamba ensembles, called consorts, were common in the 16 th and 17 th centuries, when they performed vocal music (consort songs or verse anthems) as well as that written specifically for instruments.

Popularity of the Gamba • Only the treble, tenor, and bass sizes were regular members of the viol consort, which consisted of three, four, five, or six instruments. • Music for consorts was very popular in England in Elizabethan times, with composers such as William Byrd and John Dowland, during the reign of King Charles I, John Jenkins and William Lawes. • The last music for viol consorts before their modern revival was probably written in the early 1680 s by Henry Purcell.

16 th century

In the 18 th century • The bass viola da gamba continued to be used into the 18 th century as a solo instrument (and to complement the harpsichord in basso continuo). • It was a favorite instrument of Louis XIV and acquired associations of both courtliness and "Frenchness" (in contrast to the Italianate violin).

Music for the Viola da Gamba • Composers such as Marin Marais, Johann Sebastian Bach, Antoine Forqueray, and Carl Friedrich Abel wrote virtuoso music for it. However, viols fell out of use as concert halls grew larger and the louder and more penetrating tone of the violin family became more popular. • In the last one hundred years or so, the viola da gamba and its repertoire were revived by early music enthusiasts.

Portrait of Carl Friedrich Abel, composer and viol master—Germanborn but residing in England most of his life—posed with his viola da gamba. By Thomas Gainsborough, c. 1765.

Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe (c. 1640 - 1700) • was a French composer and violist. • It is speculated by various scholars that Monsieur de Sainte. Colombe was of Lyonnaise or Burgundian petty nobility; and also the selfsame 'Jean de Sainte-Colombe' noted as the father of 'Monsieur de Saint Colombe le fils'. • This assumption was erroneous as proved by subsequent research taken on by Jonathan Dunford in Paris [1] In fact he was probably from the Pau area in southernmost France and Protestant; his first name was "Jean". His two daughters were named Brigide and Françoise. Sainte-Colombe was vastly celebrated as a veritable master of the viola da gamba, for he did not merely master the instrument, but also improved upon it: he is acclaimed as having added the seventh string (AA) on the bass viol.

• In accordance with the celebrated aloofness of Monsieur de Sainte. Colombe, he is claimed to have performed only occasional concerts and exclusively at his home, in consort with his two daughters, whom he had trained. Aside from them, Sainte-Colombe's students included the Sieur de Danoville, Desfontaines, Méliton, Jean Rousseau, and, most notably, Marin Marais, who wrote, Tombeau pour Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe in 1701 as homage to his instructor. • Amongst the extant works of Sainte-Colombe are sixty-seven Concerts à deux violes esgales, and over 170 pieces for solo sevenstring viol, making him the most prolific of French viol composers before Marin Marais. • In 1991, Alain Corneau directed a film inspired by the life of Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe entitled Tous les matins du monde, with Jean-Pierre Marielle as Sainte-Colombe and Gérard Depardieu as the aged Marin Marais.

Sainte Colombe • Musicologists know very little about Monsieur de Sainte Colombe (he is called "monsieur" because his Christian name is not known) and it is indeed difficult to find any details about him. This is certainly due to his modesty which distanced him from honors and to his totally intimate conception of the musical art. • One of the most renowned viol players of his time, he wrote a number of works for bass viol which have contributed to its revival in modern times. We know in bits and pieces some information about him, and in particular that he added a seventh string to the instrument, giving it greater fullness of sound and greater potential for contrast. • It was an anecdote reported by Titon du. Tillet presenting one aspect of the masterpupil relationship linking Sainte Colombe and Marin Marais which served as a starting point for the scenario of Pascal Quignard. • We know that he was jealous of his art but some commentaries taken from other writings also specify that he was a great amateur of the music of his time and on occasions arranged concerts in his own salons.

Marin Marais (31 May 1656, Paris – 15 August 1728) • A French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for 6 months. • He was hired as a musician in 1676 to the royal court of Versailles. He did quite well as court musician, and in 1679 was appointed "ordinaire de la chambre du roy pour la viole", a title he kept until 1725.

• He was a master of the basse de viol, and the leading French composer of music for the instrument. • He wrote five books of Pièces de viole (16861725) for the instrument, generally suites with basso continuo. These were quite popular in the court, and for these he was remembered in later years as he who "founded and firmly established the empire of the viol" (Hubert Le Blanc, 1740). • His other works include a book of Pièces en trio (1692) and four operas (1693 -1709), Alcyone (1706) being noted for its tempest scene.

Marais • As with Sainte-Colombe, little of Marin Marais' personal life is known after he reached adulthood. Marin Marais married a Parisian, Catherine d'Amicourt, on 21 September 1676. They had 19 children together. • Marais and his music is featured in the film Tous les matins du monde (1991), an atmospheric, meticulously imagined life of Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe. Marais' music figured prominently in that film, including his longer work Sonnerie de Ste-Geneviève du Mont-de-Paris (1723).

Marais

Pascal Quignard – writer about Sainte Colombe • Novels written about Colombe – Le Salon du Württemberg—The Salon in Wurttemberg – published in 1986 – La Lecon de Musique – 1987 – Tous les Matins du Monde (All the Mornings of the World – 1990 – Terrasse à Rome - 2000

Pascal Quignard about Colombe • Knows nothing of his death • Discovered Colombe in 1976—on a vinyl disc —Tombeau Les Regrets—work was discovered in Geneva in 1966 • Quigard writes this about Colombe: harsh, humble, free, prudish, evasive, quicktempered, refined, cunning, subtle, abrupt, mysterious

The 17 th century /Paris/Louie XIV A Depiction of the Time • Quignard – put together 2 people—Marais (1656 -1728)the student and Sainte-Colombe (d. ca. 1691) the teacher—to show an inner struggle of the time—moral, spiritual, social, political, economic and aesthetic. • Court music of surface illusion and entertainment versus rigorous and severe music.

The writer of All the Mornings of the World • It was both an aesthetic and a religious struggle of the 17 th century in Paris— • “All is one, all is diverse. ” writes Quignard • “How many natures are contained in human nature. ” says Quignard

What is it about? • • • The Palace of Versailles versus the countryside The Jesuits vs. the Calvinists The Court nobility Opera Ballet de cour Jansenism, legalism, the growth of bourgeoisie

The Calvinists

Une Jeune Fillette A Pretty Young Maid • A pretty, sweet young maid of noble heart and of great worth endowed, was sent against her will to be a nun. Such is not her pleasure and so she lives a life of sorrow.

Music in Paris • People of the time – Lully – Rameau – Moliere – Couperin/harpsichordist • Tragedie lyrique • Divertissement • French Overtures • Lute Music

Aspects of the Music • • Modality vs. tonality Basso continuo Doctrine of affections Treble-bass polarity Concertato Medium Harmonically driven counterpoint Regular rhythm – spinning out Chords, dissonance and chromaticism