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Viola da Gamba
Viola da Gamba
• A flat-bridged instrument with a bow.
• Popular in the second half of the 15th 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 16th-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 SainteColombe (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 16th 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 16th and 17th 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, and, 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 1680s by Henry
Purcell.
16th century
In the 18th century
• The bass viola da gamba continued to be used
into the 18th 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 SainteColombe 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 SainteColombe, 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 duTillet 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 17th 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 17th 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?
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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
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Modality vs. tonality
Basso continuo
Doctrine of affections
Treble-bass polarity
Concertato Medium
Harmonically driven counterpoint
Regular rhythm – spinning out
Chords, dissonance and chromaticism
Aspects of Music
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Equal temperament
Idiomatic Styles
Embellishment/ornamentation
Improvisation
Cadenzas
Three Musicians ca. 1618 by Valzquez
A theorbo
Le concert by Nicholas Tournier
San Marco (1496) by Gentile Bellini
Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), Saint Cecilia
A string Band
Grand Duke Ferdinand de' Medici, ca. 1685, by Antonio
Domenico Gabbiani
Chateau of Versailles of the Place d'Armes and the
Stables, 1688