Viola da Gamba

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Viola da Gamba
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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 tuninghence 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.

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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.

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• 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
  Sainte-Colombe (c. 16401690), whose students
  included the French gamba virtuoso and composer
  Marin Marais.

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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.
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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.

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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.

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16th century
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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).

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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.

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Portrait of Carl Friedrich Abel, composer and
viol masterGerman-born but residing in England
most of his lifeposed with his viola da gamba.
By Thomas Gainsborough, c. 1765.
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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.

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• 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 seven-string 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.

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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 master-pupil
  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.

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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.

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• 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
  (1686-1725) 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.

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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).

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Marais
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Pascal Quignard writer about Sainte Colombe

• Novels written about Colombe
• Le Salon du WürttembergThe 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

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Pascal Quignard about Colombe

• Knows nothing of his death
• Discovered Colombe in 1976on a vinyl
  discTombeau Les Regretswork was discovered in
  Geneva in 1966
• Quigard writes this about Colombe harsh, humble,
  free, prudish, evasive, quick-tempered, refined,
  cunning, subtle, abrupt, mysterious

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The 17th century /Paris/Louie XIV A Depiction
of the Time

• Quignard put together 2 peopleMarais
  (1656-1728)the student and Sainte-Colombe (d.ca.
  1691) the teacherto show an inner struggle of
  the timemoral, spiritual, social, political,
  economic and aesthetic.
• Court music of surface illusion and entertainment
  versus rigorous and severe music .

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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

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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

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The Calvinists
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Une Jeune FilletteA 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.

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Music in Paris

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

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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

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Aspects of Music

• Equal temperament
• Idiomatic Styles
• Embellishment/ornamentation
• Improvisation
• Cadenzas

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Three Musicians ca. 1618 by Valzquez
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A theorbo
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Le concert by Nicholas Tournier
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San Marco (1496) by Gentile Bellini
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Nicolas Poussin (1594-1665), Saint Cecilia
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A string Band Grand Duke Ferdinand de' Medici,
ca. 1685, by Antonio Domenico Gabbiani
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Chateau of Versailles of the Place d'Armes and
the Stables, 1688