I must here thank Mr. Wasielewski for his kind permission to translate his valuable work, as well as Messrs. Breitkopf and Härtel for their courteous assistance. I beg Mr. George Herbert to accept my grateful acknowledgment for his most kind help and encouragement, and Mr. Heron Allen for the interest he has taken in my work. To Mr. Arthur Hill I am indebted for much kind advice, and to Mr. Nosèda of the Strand for his courteous permission to reproduce from his oil-painting the portrait of Robert Lindley as a Frontispiece.

THE TRANSLATOR.

CONTENTS.

Introduction.
PAGE
History of the Viola da Gamba (Basso di Viola)[1]
The Transition to the Violoncello[36]
The Art of Violoncello Playing in the Eighteenth Century.
I. Italy[48]
II. Germany[67]
III. France[87]
The Art of Violoncello Playing in the Nineteenth Century.
IV. Italy[109]
V. Germany[113]
VI. France, Belgium, and Holland[169]
VII. England and Scandinavia[189]
VIII. The Slav States and Hungary[198]
Conclusion[210]
Appendix[215]
Methods and Schools[217]
Viola da Gamba[217]
Violoncello Schools from the middle of the Eighteenth Century until the present time[217]
List of Names and Index[221]

INTRODUCTION.

Viol da Gamba.

The history of the Violoncello and Violoncello playing is connected in its early stages up to a certain point with that of the Viola da Gamba and its forerunner, “the Basso di Viola,” of the sixteenth century. This last-named instrument formed the bass in the string quartets of that time, to which also belonged, according to the Italian designation, the “Discant-Viola” or “Violetta,” as well as the “Viola d’Alta” and “di Tenore.” In Germany these instruments were called Diskant, Alto, Tenor, and Bass viols. The terms Viola and Violin,[1] were at that time consequently synonymous. From the foregoing remarks it will be perceived that it is a question not of one kind, but of a whole family of stringed instruments. Descriptions and illustrations of them are found in the following music-authors of the sixteenth century.