The first instance of a violoncello attracting attention is in 1691, when Domenico Galli of Parma, a famous wood-carver, made a superb violoncello which he presented to Francisco II, Duke of Modena, with a treatise on violoncello as a solo instrument and the art of playing it. Two other Italians in the first half of the Eighteenth Century, Antoniotti of Milan and Lanzetti,[12] violoncellist to the King of Sardinia (1730-1750), brought out compositions which are the first that recognize the capacities of this instrument. The Italians were, therefore, the earliest to develop the violoncello and also the art of playing it.
Andreas Amati (1520-1577)[13] was to the violoncello very nearly what Stradivari was to the violin. He transformed the viola da gamba into the violoncello. As early as 1572 Pope Pius V sent Charles IX, King of France, a present of thirty-eight bowed instruments, eight of which were bass. These were all made by Andreas Amati and on the back of each were painted the arms of France and other devices and the motto, Pietate et Justitia. In 1790, when the mob broke into Versailles during the Revolution, all these instruments were destroyed except two violins and one violoncello. This is still in existence and is known as “The King.” Once it was owned by Duport.
The first big solo violoncellist was Franciscello (1713-1740), of whom little is known except that he played in all the important European cities. He took his name from his instrument. It was a new thing for the violoncello to appear in such a conspicious rôle.
Corelli and Tartini,[14] the first great violinists, often had their accompaniments played on a violoncello; and it is supposed that from associating with the violin, the assisting instrument became ambitious and tried a little virtuosity for himself.
Then the French took it up. They did a great deal for the violoncello. First came Berteau, who died in 1756; and, after him, the still more important Jean Louis Duport (1749-1819), who worked out a system of fingering and bowing and a methodical manner of “shifting” from position to position.[15] Duport’s Essay on the subject made an epoch in violoncello playing. Duport was a very fine performer. It seems that he was inspired by the playing of the violinist, Viotti,[16] who visited Paris in 1782 and who astonished everybody. This started Duport thinking, just as Paganini’s playing a half century later set Liszt thinking. Duport’s idea was to imitate the agility and grace and charm of the violin upon his own violoncello. Ever since Duport’s time the violoncello has been considered practically a bass violin as far as technique is concerned; and great performers have constantly added some new idea with regard to playing it, until now the violoncello in the hands of a Pablo Casals can be as airy and light as a violin even if its voice is heavier. The violoncello has now learned to sing. Duport would be astonished if he could hear our violoncellists to-day, though he was one of the best (if not the very best) of his time. Beethoven thought so much of Duport that to him he dedicated his first two Violoncello Sonatas, op. 5.
VIOLA DA GAMBA
We can get an idea of the way a violoncello was regarded in the Eighteenth Century by the compliment that Voltaire paid Duport when the latter played for him in Geneva. Voltaire was perfectly astonished by his performance. When Duport laid down his bow Voltaire said: “Monsieur, you make me believe in miracles. You know how to turn an ox into a nightingale!”
Duport was delightfully modest, although everybody acknowledged his greatness and every violoncellist studied his famous Essay on Fingering and Bowing the Violoncello. In this he said: “Everybody knows the kind of bowing called martelé (hammered), or staccato. It is an affair of tact and ease. There are some players who get it at once; others never learn to get it perfectly: I am one of those.”
Then came Adrien François Servais (1807-1866), called “the Paganini of the ’cello.” He was a native of Brussels. Then Nicholas Joseph Platel (1777-1835), called by Rossini “the King of ’cellists and the ’cellist of Kings.” Platel is thought to have invented the peg as a convenient rest, for he was very stout and found his instrument difficult to hold. Then Alfredo Piatti’s lovely Amati ’cello and the way he played it are still remembered by many old American concert-goers, who heard him abroad.