We recall that Shakespeare in his rollicking comedy of Twelfth Night makes someone say of the silly knight, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, that “he plays o’ the viol de gamboys.”
In every wealthy home in England, as well as on the Continent, there was, as we have seen, a collection of musical instruments for impromptu concerts. The collection consisted first of lutes and viols of all sizes and, at a later period, of violins, violas and violoncellos. Music was one of the entertainments and amusements of society; and it was considered just as necessary to have instruments of all kinds and all sizes to suit the visitors as it is to have a piano in the home to-day. In the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries public concerts were unknown. It was in the churches and cathedrals and in the homes of the rich that artistic music was heard.
The viola da gamba was at this time a favorite instrument for ladies; and it seems strange to us that the more delicate violin was not yet considered suitable for them while this awkward, and, to our way of thinking, rather unfeminine viola da gamba was thought to be a lady’s instrument. However, the viola da gamba was not so hard for them to play as the modern violoncello, because the strings were much thinner and a bold, strong tone was not required.
FIRST VIOLONCELLIST, SYMPHONY SOCIETY OF NEW YORK
Engelbert Roentgen
The viola da gamba was often made artistic to look at with rich carving and inlay. A beautiful specimen belonging to the University of Edinburgh is shown facing page [60]. It once belonged to the violoncellist Servais (see page [61]). The back is of rosewood inlaid with ivory. The neck, scroll (carved in the shape of a woman’s head with elaborately dressed hair) and the tail-piece (in the shape of Mercury’s caduceus) are of ivory. This exquisite instrument is of later date than the Viola d’amore facing page [50], for the crescent-shaped sound-holes are of a later period than the “flaming-sword” sound-holes. The viola da gamba is rarely met with even in museums; for when the violoncello came into fashion, many people had their violas da gamba converted into violoncellos.
Johann Sebastian Bach was the last great composer to write for the viola da gamba.
It seems that the violin is responsible for the development of the violoncello. The Italians, always so quick to perceive artistic needs and fitness, soon found out that the newly perfected violin required a more powerful accompaniment than the viola da gamba could provide; and so the instrument-makers worked away until they produced the violoncello. This new instrument was mounted with much thicker strings than the viola da gamba. It seemed just the thing to the musicians of that time to accompany the very piercing and penetrating tones of the violin, which, although very far from having the resonant qualities of the violin that we know to-day since the development of the bow, seemed very loud indeed to ears that had been accustomed to the sounds of “a concert of lutes, or viols.”
The people of the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries understood all the varieties of tinkle rather than of tone. They liked lovely, soft, gentle music, and they liked instruments such as the viola da gamba, and viola d’amore strung with “sympathetic strings” set into vibration when the top strings were touched with the bow and that consequently gave forth gentle echoes, like those of the Æolian harp.