The Violoncello, Viola Da Spalla and Viola Pomposa in Theory and Practice
The Violoncello, Viola Da Spalla and Viola Pomposa in Theory and Practice
The Violoncello, Viola Da Spalla and Viola Pomposa in Theory and Practice
I
n the opening paragraph of his article,1 Ulrich instrument sized like a large viola, but tuned in
Drüner noted that the discussion of the the cello range C-G-d-a-e'.
violoncello piccolo, viola pomposa and their • Bach Dokumente III, pp. 349-50. Forkel’s
relationship to the music of J.S.Bach has continued text (Göttingen, 1782) on Bach’s invention of
for half a century. Many authors have proposed the Viola Pomposa. The tuning is that of the
hypotheses about these instruments. What could common violoncello with an extra e'-string, the
be left to add? The present writer is a performer on same as given by Hiller.
the violoncello piccolo da spalla as well as a maker • Hiller, in 1784, cites Forkel’s text literally
of those instruments which were called violoncello, (p. 45, ‘Lebensbeschreibungen berühmter
viola da spalla, viola pomposa etc. It is likely that Musikgelehrten und Tonkünstler’), thus they
only a few of the earlier writers had access to agree regarding the tuning of the instrument.
practical experimentation with the instruments, but • Bach Dokumente III, pp.312-22. Köhler’s
this article combines the work of researchers with a reference to the instrument.
testing of theories in real concert situations. • Johann Nicolaus Forkel, Musikalischer
Almanach für Deutschland (Leipzig, 1781–8);
PREVIOUS RESEARCH AND PRIMARY SOURCES partially reprinted and trans. in Hans T. David
and Arthur Mendel, eds., The Bach Reader, rev.
There has been little agreement regarding the precise ed. (New York, NY: Norton, 1966), 261-2.
meanings of the following terms: viola pomposa, viola
da spalla and violoncello piccolo. The viola pomposa Since these sources have been widely quoted I omit
is referred to in several late-eighteenth century doing so here. According to these documents the
sources in connection with J.S.Bach. Unfortunately, viola pomposa was tuned in the range of a cello
no source from Bach’s immediate circle or time is C-G-d-a-e'. However, many later researchers reject
known to survive, nor is there any music from Bach’s this possibility and assume that the instrument had
hand containing such a designation. Eighteenth to be tuned in another way - higher than was given
century sources are listed below: in primary sources. Their mistrust of the sources
may be attributed to the short vibrating string
• Ernst Ludwig Gerber, Historisch-Biographisches lengths of surviving instruments (which have been
Lexikon der Tonkünstler, 1790-92, col. 90. classified as violas pomposa or violoncellos piccolo),
• Bach Dokumente III, pp. 186-87. Hiller’s report and the complete absence of any surviving original
on Pisendel’s visit to Leopold Weiß, during strings. The vibrating lengths of these instruments
which he accompanied the violinist Benda with are roughly comparable to those large violas which
his Viola Pomposa. He gives a description of an are sometimes referred to as tenors, but have the
1
Ulrich Drüner, ‘Violoncello piccolo und Viola pomposa bei Johann Sebastian Bach Zu Fragen von Identitat und
Spielweise disere Instrumente’, Bach-Jahrbuch vol 73 (1987), pp.85-112.
121
122 The Galpin Society Journal
normal viola tuning c-g-d'-a', an octave higher than tuned; only that it was quite sought after and that
violoncellos. Some scholars accept the tunings it was very often used for accompaniment, because
found in historical sources, other reject them and of its piercing tone. It was suspended from the right
consider the sources to be erroneous. There is also shoulder with a ribbon, which gave the instrument its
name. It is to be presumed that the viola da spalla was
a myth about Bach’s invention of the viola pomposa,
an approximate equivalent to our current violoncello,
which recurs from the early nineteenth century because one still finds village musicians who suspend
until the present, despite substantially documented the violoncello from the right shoulder with a strap,
refutations. whereas our artists hold it between the knees.4
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF PAST STUDIES So Kastner presumed the viola da spalla to be ‘an
approximate equivalent’ to the violoncello, which
The following quotations show the views of earlier in current French practice was suspended from the
authors. right shoulder. This contrasts with Leopold Mozart’s
In 1834, Georges Kastner2 accepted the late- statement (1756) that ‘In our days also the violoncello
eighteenth century myth about Bach’s creation of is kept between the legs.’5 If Kastner and Mozart are
the viola pomposa. He assumed that it was tuned in both correct, the violoncello was not always held
the cello range but played like a viola, as explained by between the legs, and the term violoncello did not
eighteenth-century writers, and that it was closely imply a particular playing position.
related to the violoncello at least in terms of its An encyclopedia of 1844 lists both viola da spalla
musical function. and viola pomposa. The invention of the latter is
VIOLA POMPOSA - This instrument was invented again attributed to J.S.Bach, but the practicality of
by the famous Johann Sebastian Bach. It was taller its tuning is not discussed. This suggests that such
and higher than the ordinary viola, but it was held it instruments were probably known for popular music-
in the same position as the viola; it had a fifth string making as reported by Kastner, if not in professional
in addition to the four strings of the viola, tuned to circles, and that octave-transposing strings were
E, which was also called the fifth. As the violoncello probably available:
was being perfected little by little and the artists ...the shoulder viola, while corresponding to the tenor
improving there day by day, the viola pomposa was all viola is so named because its dimension forced it to
the more easily forgotten since it was heavy, and thus, be placed on the shoulder while being fixed to the
inconvenient to manipulate. 3 chest by the means of a belt. There was also a viola
pomposa, whose invention was attributed to J.S.Bach;
Kastner also gives interesting information about it was tuned in fifth like violoncello, with a fifth string
the viola da spalla, and the da spalla tradition in above. 6
nineteenth-century France.
VIOLA DA SPALLA (shoulder viola) There is no Despite the fact that Bach did not explicitly indicate
information on the way that this instrument was violoncello in his basso continuo parts, it is generally
2
Patricia Jovanna Woodward, ‘Jean-Georges Kastner’s Traité Général D’instrumentation: a Translation and
Commentary’, Thesis Prepared for the Degree of Master Of Music (University of North Texas, May 2003).
3
Kastner, Traité, p.66: LA VIOLA POMPOSA - Cet instrument fut invente par le célèbre Seb. BACH. Il était plus
grand et plus haut que la viole ordinaire et pourtant on le tenait dans la même position; outre les quatre cordes de la
viole, il en avait encore une cinquième accordée en Mi, et qu’on appelait aussi la quinte. Le violoncelle s’étant peu à peu
perfectionné et les artistes y gagnant de jour en jour, on oublie la viola pomposa d’autant plus facilement qu’elle était
lourde et par cela même incommode à manier. (translation by Woodward, op. cit.)
4
Kastner, Traité, p.72-73: VIOLA DI SPALA (viole d’épaule) On ne trouve nulle part la manière dont on accordait
cet instrument; on raconte seulement qu’il était très recherché et qu’on s’en servait fort souvent pour accompagner, à
cause de son ton perçant. On le suspendait avec un ruban à l’épaule droite, ce qui lui a fait donner son nom. Il est à
présumer que la viola di spala était à peu près notre violoncelle actuel, car on trouve encore des musiciens de village qui
suspendent le violoncelle à l’épaule droite avec une courroie, tandis que nos artistes le tiennent entre les genoux.
5
Leopold Mozart, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, (Johann Jacob Lotter; Augsburg, 1756), p. xxii: ‘Heut zu
Tage wird auch das Violoncell zwischen die Beine genommen.’
6
Encyclopédie des gens du monde: répertoire universel des sciences, des lettres et des arts;..., (Librairie de Treuttel
et Würtz; Paris, 1844), p. 625: ‘... la viole d’épaule, répondant à la viole ténor et ainsi nommée parce que sa dimension
forçait à la placer sur l’épaule en la retenant fixée à la poitrine au moyen d’un ruban... Il y a eu aussi une viola
pomposa, dont l’invention est attribuée à Jean-Sébastien Bach; elle s’accordait en quinte comme le violoncelle, avec
une cinquiéme corde à l’aigu.’
Badiarov — Viola da Spalla 123
assumed that by Basso Continuo he meant a about 10¼ inches (26cm), and the depth of ribs
violoncello combined with a keyboard instrument. about 3 inches (8cm).
Like J. Rousseau, J.-R. A. Texier makes a link 2. Another example is in the Brussels collection
between the viola da spalla and basse-de-violon. (Allemagne, 1445). It was made by Hoffmann
Basse-de-violon. Ancient instrument which was also himself. Its dimensions accord closely with those
called a viola da spalla, because it was suspended at the of the Eisenach specimen: total length 31½ inches
shoulder by means of a belt. It served to accompany (80cm), maximum width about 10½ inches
the voice.7 (27cm), depth of ribs about 3 inches (75mm).
3. Two examples, also by Hoffmann, are in the
Charles Sanford Terry writes:
Heyer Collection at Leipzig. One is dated ‘1732’:
Bach’s violoncello was normally a continuo instrument.
For obbligato purposes he preferred the violoncello
total length about 30½ inches, body length about
piccolo... 8
18 inches, and depth of ribs about 3½ inches.
4. The other is dated ‘1741’.
Terry was one of several twentieth-century scholars 5. Dr. Kinsky instances another example, also by
who feel there is insufficient evidence to establish that Hoffmann, dated 1732, and at present in the
Bach invented the viola pomposa. When discussing possession of Herr Albin Wilfer, violin-maker,
the violoncello piccolo he writes (pp.135-136): Leipzig, who claims that it can bear the c, g, d, a, e'
Bach certainly regretted the absence of an instrument tuning alleged by Gerber and Forkel.
of bass quality adequate for solo obbligati. The
violoncellist had not developed the necessary These are the instruments which the present writer
technique... But, as Dr. Kinsky observes, Bach’s agrees with Drüner, Smith, Smit and others who say
association with the instrument is mentioned by no they are tuned in the cello range which should be
writer during his lifetime. Moreover, its identification called violas da spalla or violoncellos piccolo. Terry
and quality are confused by nearly contemporary
obviously did not agree with Wilfer that instruments
writers, who, as is probable, miscall it ‘viola pomposa’.
...Bach’s so-called ‘viola pomposa’ was designed to like No.5 above can be tuned as a violoncello – but
make good the deficiencies of a bass instrument, why? The reason is the strings. It would be interesting
particularly in rapid and high-pitched passages. To to discover what sort of strings were used by Wilfer,
that end it had the violoncello stringing, with an and why apparently neither Closson nor Galpin had
additional fifth string sounding e'. access to those strings. It is not improbable that
adequate strings were available, but there are so
Terry questions the existence of an instrument ‘so many factors involved in appreciation of a novelty
named and strung‘ because Hiller did not describe that it is impossible to deduct what exactly caused
the viola pomposa as a new instrument in his their rejection. Thus, for Terry a viola pomposa was
report of Franz Benda’s visit to Dresden (just before an instrument sized between viola and violoncello,
Lent 1738), and because Bach never used the term it could be played on the arm and it was tuned an
‘viola pomposa’ in his scores. Unfortunately Terry octave above the tuning given in eighteenth-century
was misled by Galpin’s 1931 article (see below) sources; a violoncello on the other hand was wholly
and adopted his doubts of the correctness of late- different from a viola pomposa, being ‘10 inches
eighteenth century writers regarding the tuning of longer than the smaller instrument, some 7 inches
the viola pomposa, at least for the pieces by Telemann, longer from nut to bridge, and about 1 inch thicker
Pisendel and Lidarti. Extant examples of viola-violin in rib-depth’.
range pomposas are listed by Terry (p.137) as follows Terry assumes that an ‘authentic viola pomposa
[numbering is added]: varied in total length from about 29½ inches to 31½
1. The Bach Museum at Eisenach exhibits one (No. inches’ (c75-80cm) (p.137). He deduced that Bach’s
56), made ‘Mitte 18. Jahr.’, with the following violoncello piccolo must have been at least 10 inches
dimensions: total length about 30 inches (75cm.), longer, that is approximately 39½–41½ inches long
length of body about 18 inches (45.5cm), upper (c100-105cm).
breadth about 8¼ inches (21.5cm), lower breadth Manifestly such an instrument could only have been
7
Jacques-Rémi A. Texier, Dictionnaire d’orfèvrerie, de gravure et de ciselure chrétiennes (3. Encycl. théol., tom.27),
1857. p.170: ‘Basse-de-violon (inst.de.mus.). Ancien instrument qui portait aussi le nom de viole d’épaule, parce qu’on
le suspendait à l’épaule droite au moyen d’un ruban. Il servait à accompangner la voix.’
8
Charles Sanford Terry, Bach’s Orchestra, (Oxford University Press; London, 1932), p.124.
124 The Galpin Society Journal
played between the knees. Equally certainly, its lower problem is identical to the problem I encountered
strings can have had little sonority. It is, therefore, not with my first piccolo (that is, viola pomposa = small
surprising that in the nine movements Bach wrote for viola da spalla, violoncello piccolo) - the strings. For
the violoncello piccolo the lowest string is needed in the first of four instruments I experimented with
only four (cantatas Nos, 41, 68, 115, 175).
strings on a large student-grade viola, whose bridge
I placed closer to the tail-piece in order to obtain
We can disagree with both these assertions: ascribing
the necessary string-length, 42.8-43cm (not 45cm
the instrument to a da gamba position, and that the
as incorrectly reported by Galpin in the quotation
lower strings had little sonority. That a violoncello of
above). These experiments suggested that Closson
c100cm can be held on the arm may be seen in several
tried common cello strings, or something similar.
pictures (see below). However, practical experiments
Predictably, these would not work because they are
show that Bach solos, even the relatively simple ones
too light for a string-length of c43cm. These small
in cantatas, are not playable on an instrument with
instruments are definitely not optimized to match
a string-length longer than those of Hoffmann-type
the physical characteristics of strings including the
instruments (c43cm), and in any case, not using
range of tensions within which they work effectively,
the diatonic fingering given by Bismantova in 1694.
and their inharmonicity. Consequently, the
Analysing the notation and performance materials of
acceptable range of use is very narrow for common
several cantatas, Terry correctly concludes that the
strings. This conundrum needs a solution. Of the
violoncello piccolo parts in cantatas Nos. 41, 49 and
many string makers I contacted, only three found
85 notated in the treble G-clef were played by the first
effective solutions, and this only after a discouraging
violin rather than by a violoncellist. The same applies
number of unsuccessful trials. Some string makers
to cantata No.6, where the piccolo part was first
declined even to try, believing such a string was
written in the first violin part, and only later given to
physically impossible and denying the existence of
the viola. Terry nonetheless assumes that the players
instruments that required it in the past. If Closson’s
would have to play the violoncello vertically: ‘Both
contemporary stringmakers thought such strings
players, however, would be more inconvenienced
were inconceivable, he would have had no access
than a violoncellist by the ‘à gamba’ position.’ (p.139)
to working strings. This impelled him to conclude
It is the present author’s opinion that we should not
that the instrument was tuned F-c-g-d'-a', in
exclude da gamba as one of the possibilities, since
contradiction to the eighteenth-century evidence. In
today we have violinists who mastered equally well
addition, Closson was skeptical about the possibility
both playing postures, but Bach’s musical evidence
of playing such an instrument on the arm like a
talks in favour of da spalla approach to playing on
modern viola (p.356):
instruments of Hoffmann’s type.
His friend, M.Jadot - the talented viola player -
On the basis of erroneous practical experiments pronounced also that the instrument could not have
reported by Galpin, Terry denied that these been held artistically on the arm... he preferred playing
instruments could be violoncellos piccolo. Galpin it between the knees.
bases his conclusions largely on the following
experience (p.356): Consequently Galpin assumed that the instrument
Meanwhile M.Closson, the Curator of the Museum of can be tuned neither to C-G-d-a-e' nor to Closson’s
the Royal Conservatoire de Musique at Brussels, has F-c-g-d'-a'. He criticised Mendel (1870-83), Sachs
been experimenting with the large viola by Hoffmann
(1913) and Rielmann (1929) for identifying this type
in that collection (No. 1445, labeled by the late
V.Mahillon as a viola pomposa). of instrument with the violoncello piccolo:
The length of the vibrating strings from bridge to Mendel in his M.-Conversations Lexikon (1870-
nut is on this instrument 17¾ in. (45cm.), the greatest 83) treats the viola pomposa as a ‘Bass Viola’, tuned
depth of the ribs is 3 inches (75mm.). On stringing and e'adGC, and later writers have either avoided the
tuning it as a violoncello with an additional e'-string he subject or taken for granted that the instrument was
found it lost all sonority; on stringing and tuning it a identical with the violoncello piccolo as, for instance,
whole octave higher (like the violino pomposo) he had Curt Sachs in his Real Lexikon (1913) and Handbuch
the unpleasant experience of continually breaking the der Musikinstrumentenkunde (1920); whilst the
little e''-string, which, owing to the vibrating length, editor of Rielmann’s Musik Lexikon (1929) boldly
would not stand above e'', as was to be expected.9 places the misleading ‘Viola Pomposa’ under the
heading ‘Violoncello Piccolo’ and states that Bach’s
This passage needs comment because Closson’s
Sixth Violoncello Suite was really written for this
9
Francis Galpin, ‘Viola Pomposa & Violoncello Piccolo’, Music & Letters, Vol.XII (1931), p.354-365.
Badiarov — Viola da Spalla 125
unfortunate instrument, tuned as above. (pp.355-6) This division is artificial and contrary to numerous
sources. As the viola pomposa was tuned in the
However, Closson’s F-string did not vibrate cello range, the term might have been used as a joke
satisfactorily at that pitch, and Galpin came up with by J.S.Bach, but in scores it was invariably called
a completely new tuning and a new interpretation a violoncello piccolo. Bach’s violoncello piccolo /
of the term, on the basis of the results of Closson’s viola pomposa is an instrument of a type made by
misleading experiments and on his analysis of Hoffmann, tuned in the cello range, as referred to
compositions for Viola pomposa o violino by by Forkel and Gerber, and most likely identical with
Telemann, Lidarti and Graun.10 He concluded that Speer’s fagottegeige. Fagottegeige, on the other hand,
the instrument was tuned d-g-d'-g'-c'', admitting is yet another colloquial expression for instruments
that the viola pomposa could have been played on the like the viola pomposa which have a particular
arm without the chin-support, albeit awkwardly, and sound. The lower register of the instruments I
agreed with Koch, who attributed the disappearance made resemble the sound of a bassoon, regardless
of the viola pomposa to its playing posture: the type of strings used. Viola da spalla is probably
The question, therefore, has been raised whether so
one of several professional jargon terms used by the
large an instrument could have been played ‘on the
arm’, yet, as Dr.Kinsky informs us, the Fagottegeige,
Italians in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
tuned an octave below the viola, was so played and but violoncello was the most common and formal
an arm-violoncello is not known. But we should also term used by publishers and composers.
recollect that, up to the middle of the eighteenth Arthur Mendel writes that Adlung: ‘...in his
century and later still, these instruments, as other Anleitung zur Musikalisches Gelahrheit (1758,
bowed instruments, were held really ‘on the arm’, and pp.690ff), tells the story as he claims it was told
not ‘under the chin’... Players, however, even in Bach’s him by Bach’.11 While this concerns the meeting of
day, evidently found it awkward, and Koch, as we Louis Marchand with J.S.Bach at Dresden in 1717,
have seen, attributed the disappearance of the viola
the whole anecdote suggests that the young organist,
pomposa to this fact; but it could also be held ‘in front
of the breast’ - to modern players a still more difficult
composer and organ-builder Jakob Adlung, at that
undertaking. (p.362) time only 18 years old, might have met Bach when he
wrote: ‘Violoncello is also called Viola di Spala’.12
Historically-evidenced tuning requires particular The idea that Bach’s invented the viola pomposa
strings, but many contemporary string-makers still survives into the twentieth century, for example
consider them to be impractical to make. Together Theodore Finney writes that the instrument was
with the views of Galpin, Closson and Terry invented rather than adopted by Bach.13
described above, this helps to explain why such Similar trends are reflected in the literature
tuning is commonly rejected. In the second quarter intended for general public. Such are the articles
of the twentieth century Galpin had no alternative by Merzanoff and Dolejsi. Mertzanoff associates
but to separate the viola pomposa, violoncello viola da spalla with a large viola ‘suspended from a
piccolo and violoncello a cinq cordes into three strap over the right shoulder’, hence, tuned in the
different size categories: the total length of a viola viola range.14 In the same publication Robert Dolejsi
pomposa was considered to be 75-80cm, violoncello writes that the Viola di Fagotto had various tuning
piccolo 99-105cm, and violoncello a cinq cordes systems and sizes, which sounds credible, but also
124cm. As an example of a five-stringed cello Galpin that one of the smaller members was possibly the
cites a Stradivari instrument dated 1684 (p.364.)]. forerunner of the viola d’amore, which is now known
10
The three surviving compositions for viola pomposa are written in the violin G-clef. This could be transposed for
an instrument tuned C-G-d-a-e', but some undesirable harmonic inversions would result. Additionally, an instrument
known as quinton, tuned c-g-d-a'-e'', ‘a five-stringed compromise between the violin and the viola, achieved some
degree of popularity during the eighteenth century’ (Stowell, The Early Violin and Viola: A Practical Guide, (Cambridge
University Press, 2001), p.177.) If Lidarti or Teleman wanted a viola pomposa tuned an octave higher, they could have
used one of these.
11
Arthur Mendel, ‘More for the Bach Reader’, The Musical Quarterly, Vol.XXXVI, No.4, October 1950, pp.485-510
at p.503.
12
Jakob Adlung, Anleitung zu der musikalischen Gelahrtheit, 1758, (Erfurt, 2nd edition, 1783; facsimile Kassel,
1953), p.599: ‘Violoncello heiß auch Viola di Spala’.
13
Theodore M. Finney, A History of Music, (New York, 1935) . Reprint 1947, p.354, Footnote 9.
14
C. E. Mertzanoff, ‘Large Violas’, Violins & Violinists, December 1943.
126 The Galpin Society Journal
to be false. He also suggests that the viola da spalla
15 The Viola Pomposa was a small Cello to which a
was slightly smaller than the viola pomposa and that fifth top-string, or chanterelle, had been added. It is
the viola pomposa has a total length of 30½ inches probably the ‘Violoncello Piccolo’ of Bach’s 6th Solo
(77.5cm). The source of his extremely questionable for the Cello, and is said to have been either invented
or suggested by him.19
information is unclear.
Wolf describes both viola da spalla and viola
The work which makes a considerable advance in
pomposa independently from previous research and
our understanding of the issue is that of Dreyfus. He
documents and with surprising details:16
Viola da spalla - The large-sized viol of lower tenor writes that the viola pomposa is tuned in the cello
range, having six strings. The name derives from the range, and follows Schrammek in describing the
fact that it was played upon the knee or suspended violoncello piccolo and the viola da spalla as related
across the chest, the head of the instrument being to each other, though distinct in their morphology.
placed over the left shoulder. Smaller than the viola da Both Schrammek and Dreyfus deduced that the
gamba, it ultimately developed into the viola. viola pomposa must have been played more or
less on the shoulder, probably with a chinrest, and
Viola pomposa - a bowed-string musical instrument of therefore must have had considerably lower ribs
Europe; the name given by Bach to a large viol having
than a violoncello:
five strings. It has been entirely obsolete for more than
As far as organology is concerned, Schrammek
a century, although compositions for it, said to have
maintains, there can be no doubt that the two
been written by Bach, are extant.
instruments, although related to each other, are
wholly distinct. While both are tuned like a cello with
The story of Bach’s invention, or more likely his an added fifth string ascending to e', the height of the
participation in the invention, of the Viola pomposa ribs of the viola pomposa must be considerably less
is likely to impress the minds of music-lovers for (around 3 to 4cm) so that it can be held on the arm.20
a long time to come. In Bodky’s Interpretation of
Bach’s Keyboard Works, we read (p.32): However, this is not supported by practical
We know well what a keen observer of all advances experimentation with the high-sided instruments
in the construction of musical instruments Bach of the Hoffmann type. The height of their ribs does
was; indeed, it is reported that he consulted with not impede holding the instrument on the arm,
instrument makers on problems of the viola pomposa
on the contrary, it is helpful. There are numerous
and the lute-clavecymbal.17
ways of holding such an instrument on the arm,
although only a few are convincing. Dreyfus accepts
Confusion arises from conservative approaches
Bach’s participation in the development of the viola
to playing large, high-held instruments and from
pomposa, though he limits it to the addition of the
the lack of practical experimentation with them.
fifth string:
Schweitzer offered a practical ‘solution’ to these
Assuming that Bach indeed invented this viola
seemingly unsurmountable problems: pomposa, his achievement was to have added a fifth
The viola pomposa and the violoncello piccolo can string to an instrument of this type that was already
easily be dispensed with. Bach employed them to bring known: the so called viola da spalla or shoulder viola,
out the bass more clearly. This can be done in other which was also tuned like a cello.
ways; it is partly secured, indeed, by the perfection
to which the contrabass has now been brought. The
violoncello piccolo solos can be played by any good This is not impossible because Drüner’s instruments
cellist on his own instrument; when necessary they 2 and 6 (see table 1) are essentially large tenor violas
can be divided between the cello and the viola.18 with an extra e'-string, presumably, in accordance
with Dreyfus’ hypothesis, added by Bach to
Forsyth is considerably more cautious in her wording instruments with 3-4cm high ribs. However, there
(p.302): is another possibility: Bach might have suggested
15
Robert Dolejsi, ‘What Size Viola? Viola Experimenta’, Violins and Violinists, December 1943.
16
Martin L. Wolf, Dictionary of the Arts, (Philosophical Library; New York, 1951), pp.761-2.
17
Erwin Bodky, The Interpretation of Bach’s Keyboard Works, (Harvard University Press, 1960).
18
Albert Schweitzer, J. S. Bach, (Dover Publications, 1967), p.431.
19
Cecil Forsyth, Orchestration, (London, 1914; 2nd edition London, 1935; here cited from Dover Publications, 1982).
20
Laurence Dreyfus, Bach’s Continuo Group, Players and Practices in his Vocal Works, (Harvard University Press,
1987), pp.172-3.
Badiarov — Viola da Spalla 127
mounting ordinary tenor violas with octave- informal name for the violoncello piccolo. A viola da
transposing (double-wound21) strings which would spalla is an instrument tuned in the same range, but
enable them to sound an octave lower.22 If, according of any size between approximately 70-124cm or even
to Dreyfus, the violoncello piccolo is distinguished larger; it does not necessarily have double-wound
from the viola pomposa by its higher ribs, then the strings. A fagottegeige is an instrument held on the
Hoffmann instruments in Leipzig and Brussels are arm, tuned like a violoncello, and probably mounted
violoncellos piccolo and not violas pomposa. Dreyfus with double-wound strings to which it owns its
therefore concludes that Bach’s solos for violoncello bassoon-like sound; morphologically it is closely
piccolo were played on the arm, but: related to the violin family. Baroque composers,
...Bach actually intended his solo parts labeled including Bach, did not concern themselves with
violoncello piccolo to be played on the viola pomposa. how instruments were held, or what size they were.
(p.173) The acoustic and symbolic properties of instruments
And: and their tessitura were given absolute priority over
The anomalous continuo part for violoncello piccolo
the way they were handled by performers, which was
dating from Bach’s later Leipzig period ... may therefore
left up to the personal preferences of the players.
have been played by the viola pomposa. The part could
have been shared with an organist, since the viola Viola pomposa and fagottegeige have yet another
pomposa player could stand next to him and still see colloquial term, albeit much less known; the viola da
the music. (p.174) collo. According to Eleanor Selfridge-Field:
The contradictions [in assigning parts to particular
Experiments have shown that, despite Dreyfus’ instruments] that can occur are illustrated by the
existence of multiple materials for Palavicino’s famous
doubts, instruments with ribs higher than 3-4cm
opera La Gerusalemme Liberata, which was given in
are quite convenient for playing on the arm or across Venice near the end of 1687 and in Dresden early in
the shoulder.23 Nevertheless, while Hoffmann’s 1688. ... Of the five string parts preserved in Dresden
violoncellos piccolo are not wider or longer than (Saxon State Library MS 1813-F-2), the three highest
ordinary tenor violas, they have double the volume were clearly made in Dresden, but the two lower,
of air in their bodies due to their higher ribs (>7cm), emended here and there, are equally clearly Venetian
which is advantageous for the tuning an octave lower. in origin. In this group the lower instrument is
Dreyfus also adds the further interpretation: designated a viola da collo [my italics]; its lower note
It may seem odd that any part called “violoncello” is E. Although its exact identity is open to question, it
should be played on an arm-held instrument da undoubtedly belonged to that class of unfretted bowed
braccio; yet Walther’s description of the shoulder instruments that played nimbly and in a generally
viola, the viola da spalla, occurs under the entry higher range than the violone.24
Violoncello. Evidently he considered the low range
of the instrument a more important feature than the Viola da collo (neck-viola) is an Italian term for a
position in which it was held. (p.258, endnote 86) bass instrument held against the player’s neck must
have been one of many flavours of viola da spalla,
We should conclude from the contradictory violoncello, fagottegeige. Most likely, the term was
information reported above that we are trying to not written out in the player’s part by Palavicino
draw a distinction where there was never any clear himself, therefore the creation of the term–joke is
line, and that this is why we are so uncomfortable out of performer’s wit, drollery of the moment.
with the terminology and concepts of instruments. The evidence and analysis collected so far suggests
According to the primary sources the viola pomposa that much of the ‘cello’ repertory, from the second
is an instrument tuned in the cello range and held on half of the seventeenth century until the first half of
the arm; it requires double-wound strings in order to the eighteenth century can be effectively performed
function satisfactorily. Viola pomposa is probably an by violists or violinists on a relatively large, arm-
21
The practice of double-winding might have been known in the seveteenth century, although I know of no reference
to it before Tolbeque, 1903. See Patrizio Barbieri, ‘Roman and Neapolitan Gut Strings 1550-1950’, GSJ 59, pp. 147-182
at p.176, Table 12.
22
In this case, instruments with the double volume of air have an undeniable acoustic advantage over “pompose”
tenor-violas with its ribs conceived for a higher pitch.
23
It is notoriously difficult to describe this playing posture unambiguously. Refer to the figures of this article.
24
Eleanor Selfridge-Field, Venetian Instrumental Music from Gabrieli to Vivaldi, 3rd edition (Dover publications,
1994), p.298.
128 The Galpin Society Journal
held instrument. The appropriate size of instrument instrument at the time, to be applied to an instrument
is chosen by the players according to the technical which almost always had a different name. Kory’s
demands of the piece to be performed. Although tenor violin was usually called a bass violin and was
Italian archives give the names of those who played used as such.(p.181)
on arm-held bass instruments, the repertory they
This instrument, held with the back against the right
played can be performed equally well on much shoulder, was called ‘viola da spalla’ in the eighteenth
larger instruments than Bach’s violoncello piccolo.25 century. It had four or six strings. With six strings
Selfridge-Field gives the names of some of these it was tuned like a bass viol, presumably for playing
players in her Appendix ‘Maestri de’ Concerti and chords in continuo more easily. Lewis’s bass violin
instrumentalists. Basilica of San Marco’: mentioned in the Talbot MS (c.1694) could have been
• Rossi, Lorenzo, viola da basso, 6.7.1648, paid 15 a version of it. (p.182)
ducats, left in 1675
• Valletta, Francesco detto Serina, Viola da braccio, The careful choice of words by Ulrich Prinz on
23.04.1685, departed after 1708, paid 15 ducats. the subject of viola pomposa and violoncello
• Caldara, Antonio, viola da spalla, violoncino and piccolo reflects the condition of the contemporary
contralto, 29.04.1688... scholarship on this subject:
• Tonini, Bernardo(?), cello 19.01.1689, viola da Viola pomposa. A string instrument resembling a
spalla 11.1.1692, violone 19.1.1689 large viola, played on the arm. At least six documents
dating from 1766-90 refer to J. S. Bach as the inventor
• Moro, Francesco, viola da spalla, 2.10.1689, paid
of the viola pomposa... Five-string instruments by
15 ducats, left after 1694 Bach’s friend J. C. Hoffmann have survived, two of
• Trachiero, violoncino 15.2.1694 them dated 1732 and 1741 (in the Musikinstrumenten-
• Tanesche, Gasparo viola da braccio, 15.7.1720 Museum, Leipzig) and one undated (in the Musée
paid 25 ducats, left after 1729 Instrumental, Brussels). Equating the viola pomposa
• Trevisan, Francesco, viola da braccio, 15.7.1720 with the VIOLONCELLO PICCOLO has given rise to
(p.335-346) many misunderstandings and controversies, especially
as the latter is named in the Bach sources, while the
It is important to remember that ‘viola da braccio’ viola pomposa is not.29
in Italy generally stood for any member of the
violin family, but in Venice after 1620, it meant an Dilworth gives an illustration of a five-stringed
alto, tenor or bass violin.26 A viola da or di spalla, violoncello piccolo attributed to Antonino and
according to Selfridge-Field was a shoulder violin or Hieronimus Amati, Cremona c1615-20, and writes
a smaller-than-normal cello with an optional fifth that the violoncello piccolo and the five-stringed cello
string. She seems uncertain as to whether it was held are possibly the same instrument. A five-stringed
horizontally or vertically: ‘Its name may have derived instrument needs to be smaller than an ordinary
from its being rested on the shoulder or hung by a violoncello in order to bear an e'-string, but there
shoulder strap in processions.’ (p.355) is also a possibility of a four-stringed violoncello
Kory’s article on the Tenor Violin 27 describes what piccolo (omitting the e'-string). Instruments similar
is essentially a bass-violin smaller than a cello, which to the Amatis illustrated by Dilworth were also made
can be played either on the shoulder, or against the by British makers:
This [the Amati violoncello piccolo – D.B.] may have
chest, or da gamba. However, a fundamental aspect
been the prototype for other such instruments made
of Kory’s work has been challenged by Segerman:28 elsewhere - notably the extant English examples by
There is a major problem of terminology in Agnes William Baker (dated 1682), Barak Norman... and
Kory’s article... It seems rather inappropriate for Edmund Aireton (as late as 1776). All that can be said
a name that almost always applied to a different with certainty about the role of such instruments is
25
Archival documents, especially lists of payments to instrumentalists, can be frustratingly vague and even
misleading when scribes and notaries who had no particular knowledge of music or interest in the details of organology
entered incorrect names for instruments in their account books or arbitrarily chose the name of an instrument
simply to indicate that instrumentalists were paid. See the article at http://sscm-jscm.press.uiuc.edu/jscm/v8/no1/
Kurtzman_I.html
26
Selfridge-Field, op.cit., p.355.
27
Agnes Kory, ‘A Wider Role for the Tenor Violin?’ Galpin Society Journal XLVII, 1994, pp. 123-153.
28
Ephraim Segerman, ‘The Name “Tenor Violin”’, Galpin Society Journal XLVIII, 1995, pp.181-187.
29
In Malcolm Boyd (editor), John Butt (consultant editor), J.S. Bach, (Oxford University Press, 1999), p.492.
Badiarov — Viola da Spalla 129
that they seem to fit the requirements of Bach’s sixth The fact that such an instrument resembles the
cello suite (BWV1012). 30 bassoon so evidently suggests to me that the terms
viola di fagotto and fagottegeige were colloquial
The New Grove entry for viola da spalla suggests, names for a smaller Viola da spalla or violoncello and
based on Mattheson and Majer, that in Bach’s violoncello piccolo. It also suggests that the many
circle the violoncello, and certainly the violoncello seventeenth century Italian publications which
piccolo, which depending on musical context may call for either violoncello or bassoon, may call, in
be interchangeable, was played primarily on the effect, for a small shoulder- or leg-held violoncello of
shoulder, and could also be held between the legs: suitable size: somewhat larger for bigger ensembles
Johann Mattheson followed Tevo’s usage [1706], but and simple parts, tutti and continuo, or somewhat
added considerable details - including the playing smaller for smaller ensembles and more elaborate
position and the use of a strap to keep the instrument
solo parts or continuo in chamber settings. This
in place - in his account of the viola da spalla, which
he described along with the violoncello and bassa requires further research.
viola as small bass violin. J.F.B.C.Majer, Museum New Grove very conservatively describes the
Musicum (1732), added that the viola da spalla, taken viola pomposa as: ‘A five-string viola, tuned
now as an equivalent of the cello, may also be held either e-g-d'-a'-e'' i.e. like a regular viola with an
between the legs. 31 additional e''-string, or possible d-g-d'-g'-c'' as
Galpin suggested.’34 The attribution of the invention
Following this, we read that the viola di fagotto is: of the instrument to J.S.Bach is acknowledged
A bowed string instrument of south German/Austrian to be erroneous, and the viola pomposa and the
origin, in use from 1670-1782. It was probably the bass violoncello piccolo which ‘J.Ch.Hoffmann of Leipzig
equivalent of the treble schalmei geige ... and most likely made for Bach’ are held to be wholly distinct. The
was also the viola piffero encountered in instrumental
following surviving music for the viola pomposa is
pieces by J.H.Schmelzer. Its gut strings were wound
with silver or copper wire, thereby producing a buzzing listed, although it needs to be re-assessed whether
sound like a bassoon, an effect most probably caused the viola pomposa parts in these pieces are written
by the strings striking the fingerboard when bowed. out in octave transposition, as is the case in several
Leopold Mozart wrote that some people inaccurately violoncello piccolo parts by J.S.Bach.
called the instrument Handbassel (apparently the • two duets for flute and viola pomposa or violin by
same as Viola da spalla). 32 G.P.Telemann (from Der getreue Music-Meister)
• double concerto by J.G.Graun
This needs comment because we have seen that the • two sonate da camera by J.G.Janitsch
reconstructed Hoffmann type of viola pomposa / • solo sonata with continuo by C.J.Lidarti.
violoncello piccolo strongly resembles a bassoon
in the lower register without any buzzing resulting Stowell takes account of recent studies in considering
from the wire striking the fingerboard, despite the that the viola da spalla was ‘a small cello with four
description of the instrument given by Daniel Speer or six strings and held across the player’s chest by
in 1687:33 a strap over the shoulder’ and the viola da fagotto
welche ... hernach im Streichen schnurren, und werden was ‘a viola with the tuning range of a cello but
solche Violen, um dieser schnurrenden Saiten halber, played on the arm’, but for the viola pomposa he
Violae di Fagotto tituliret.
relies on Galpin: ‘a five-stringed instrument used
which may be translated approximately as
c.1725–70 and tuned either c–g–d1–a1–e2 or possibly
those [instruments] .... which schnurren [?purred/
buzzed] when bowed, were called Violae di Fagotto d–g–d1–g1–c2, as Galpin suggested.’35
because of the strings. The idea of a viola pomposa tuned in the cello
range is once again resurrected by Boyd:
30
John Dilworth in Robin Stowell (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to the Cello, (Cambridge University Press,
1999), p.13.
31
Gregory Barnett in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, (2001), p.700.
32
Howard M. Brown and Stephen Bonta, ibid.
33
G.D.Speer, Grundrichtiger ... Unterricht der musicalischen Kunst, Ulm 1687, p. 91; here quoted from U.Drüner,
op.cit. p. 86.
34
Howard M. Brown in The New Grove Dictionary of Music & Musicians, (2001), p.701.
35
Robin Stowell, The Early Violin and Viola, op.cit., p.177.
130 The Galpin Society Journal
Spitta (ii, 100) states that this suite was composed for specifying what these reasons are and adding:
the viola pomposa ... and instrument said by Franz Whether the five-string cello for which Bach wrote his
Benda to have been invented by Bach. Benda described sixth unaccompanied suite (BWV 1012) was this same
it as somewhat larger than a viola, tuned like a cello violoncello piccolo or simply a normal-sized cello with
with an extra e' string, and fitted with a supporting an extra e’ string is difficult to determine. 38
strap so that it could be held ‘in front of the chest’ and
‘on the arm’. 36 Wolff too rejects Galpin’s vision of the viola pomposa,
identifying it as a small bass instrument:
Boyd hypothesises that if ‘Bach did invent the His [Bach’s] estate catalog lists no fewer than eight
instrument it was after he wrote the cello suites’, but harpsichords, one pedal harpsichord, two lute claviers,
he does not cite any instance when Bach or another one spinet, two violins, a piccolo violin, three violas,
composer first wrote some music and subsequently a Bassetchen (viola pomposa), two cellos, a viola da
sought suitable instruments. gamba, and a lute. 39
Late twentieth-century research has not resolved
all these issues. For example, Little and Jenne write: Elson’s equation of the viola pomposa with a large
As for Suite VI (BWV 1012), scholars are not certain viola does not help to clarify matters:
whether it was intended for the ‘viola pomposo’, He [Bach] wrote also sonatas and other works for
the violoncello piccolo, or some other similar violin, flute, or viola da gamba (large 'cello-like viol),
instrument. (p.107) with clavier, as well as similar pieces for violin, viola
and: pomposa (large viola), or 'cello alone.40
The sixth cello suite (BWV 1012) is problematic
because scholars are still debating what instrument Jackson is content with Galpin’s interpretation of the
Bach intended it to be performed on. Instrument viola pomposa:
specialist Klaus Marx believes that it could have been Viola pomposa (eighteenth c.). String instrument
either a violoncello piccolo or a normal-sized cello sometimes confused with a violoncello piccolo, but
with an extra e' string. 37 (p.59) actually tuned about an 8ve above it, c-g-d'-a'-e'' (in
5th) or d-g-d'-g'-c'' (in 4th. It was presumably played on
These authors may have adopted Marx’s mis- the arm. Telemann composed two duets for flute and
viola pomposa that have incorrectly been attributed to
interpretation or possibly a misunderstanding of
Bach [by Galpin 1931].41
gut’s physical limits, because it is well known that
a cello of normal size cannot hold an extra e'-string.
Moreover, Jackson proposes a progressive idea of the
There is also an inherent acoustic problem with
violoncello, which could have been of a smaller than
the e'-string, which is always thin even on large
the modern size:
violoncellos piccolo, with the result that the sound Tenor violin (16th-eighteenth c.)... Corelli’s first three
is too harsh in comparison with the lower strings. concertos in his op.6 may have had a concertino
In contrast, the problem of the e'-string is effectively consisting of two violins and a tenor violin (rather
solved on the Hoffmann type of instrument, where than a cello), considering the virtuosity required in
the string length is c43cm and the gauge of the the lower part. Bach sometimes called not only for a
e'-string is c1.04-1.08mm - nearly twice the thickness cello but for a violoncello piccolo, i.e., a tenor violin.
of strings used on conventional violoncellos piccolo. (p.386)
What Marx (referred to by Little and Jenne, above)
had written in the previous edition of Grove was One of the most complete accounts of the small bass
that there are ‘good reasons not to confuse it [viola instruments in J.S.Bach is based on a wide range
pomposa] with the violoncello piccolo’, but without of publications, most of which have been referred
36
Malcolm Boyd, Bach, (Oxford University Press, 1983). Reprint 2001, p.95, Footnote 14.
37
Meredith Little and Natalie Jenne, Dance and the Music of J. S. Bach, (Indiana University Press, 1991). Here
quoted from the reprint of 2001.
38
Klaus Marx, ’Violoncello‘ in The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, ed. Stanley Sadie (London:
Macmillan, 1984).
39
Christoph Wolff, Johann Sebastian Bach: The Learned Musician, (Oxford University Press, 2002), p.411.
40
Arthur Elson, The Book Of Musical Knowledge: The History, Technique, and Appreciation of Music, Together with
Lives of the Great Composers, for Music-Lovers, Students and Teachers, (Boston and New York, Houghon Mifflin Co.,
1927), p.73.
41
Roland John Jackson, Performance Practice: A Dictionary-Guide for Musicians, (New York, London; Routledge,
2005), p.447.
Badiarov — Viola da Spalla 131
to above. While he attends closely to eighteenth
42
group comprises wide but low-sided violas pomposa,
century documents, Drüner views the probability some of which are nearly identical to certain tenor-
of Bach’s contribution to the creation of the viola violas. The second group contains violoncellos piccolo
pomposa in a new, non-literal, sense: that is, Bach suitable for music by J.S.Bach, such as the Suites and
took what was available and adapted it according to all of the violoncello piccolo parts, which are similar
his specific needs. It is unclear what adaptations could to violas pomposa but have considerably deeper ribs.
have been carried out on Bach’s instruments, but it The last group brings together violoncellos piccolo
is not impossible that Bach showed inventiveness da gamba. Drüner assumes that a violoncello piccolo
in his comments to makers, probably including to with a string length above 43.1cm and body length
Hoffmann, which helped the latter to improve his above 46cm can not be played on the arm. However,
instruments. Among the instruments whose form there are pictures of instruments considerably bigger
contributed to Bach’s improved Viola pomposa than Hoffmann’s being played on the shoulder.
Drüner cites the Fagottegeige and the Viola da These seem to be unfit for the technical complexity
spalla. Both of these were tuned in the cello range of Bach’s parts, in the experience of the present
and were held on the arm. Based on reports of Speer writer when attempting to perform the Suites on an
and Mattheson, Drüner concludes that they had ‘no instrument with a body length over 49cm. However,
particularly noble sound’.43 this does not exclude the possibility that some
What did Speer mean by the buzzing strings of the players would be able to overcome the problems
fagottgeige? In my experience, double-wound strings posed by the excessive size of the body as well as by
do not buzz unless there is a mechanical problem with the extremely large stretches of the fingers of the left
them, for example the gut core may dry up or the wire hand. Drüner’s classification of the viola pomposa
winding is not tight enough. However, these strings is somewhat artificial, for there is no reason to
do have a peculiar tone quality which some might list the Nos. 3-5 separately from the violoncellos
describe as ‘buzzing’. A viola da spalla, particularly piccolo of Bach. Nos. 2 and 6 are essentially tenor-
a large one, might have had either single-wound or violas, though, exceptionally, with five strings.
double-wound strings; a smaller instrument is more Unfortunately, it is impossible to confirm that the
likely to have double-wound strings and therefore to rib-height of Nos. 2,3 and 6 is unaltered, which is as
sound like a bassoon. Drüner draws attention to the true for other instruments in the list (see Table 1).
fact that a modern ‘violin’ and ‘viola’ are expected to I have added nine instruments to those cataloged
be held on the arm, while a ‘violoncello’ is invariably by Drüner, including some from Russian collections.
held between the legs. This expectation, however, The Moscow example is probably the only known six-
did not exist from the seventeenth to the first stringed instrument which, as Segerman suggested
half of the eighteenth centuries. Drüner therefore without referring specifically to it, was most likely
suggests that the organologic names of bowed tuned as a viol.44
instruments include no implications about the way The most recent work about the violoncello da
the instruments are to be held, but only about their spalla in the Italian tradition, previously discussed
morphology. Composers never seemed to concern by Barnett (1998), is that of Wissick.45 His work is
themselves with mechanical aspects of playing; their not only musicological but is also based on practical
scores never specified the sizes of instruments or the experimentation with playing seventeenth-century
ways they should be held, and technical details of north Italian repertory on a large violoncello, as can
performance were left to performers. be seen some Italian pictures in Crema and Venice.46
Drüner lists 24 surviving instruments, which he However, being a violoncello da gamba player Wissick
classifies into three groups (see Table 1). The first does not actually perform da spalla in concerts.
42
Ulrich Drüner, ‘Violoncello piccolo und Viola pomposa bei Johann Sebastian Bach Zu Fragen von Identität und
Spielweise disere Instrumente’, Bach-Jahrbuch vol 73 (1987), pp.85-112. On p.85 he cites: Kinsky, Galpin, Arnold,
Terry, Husmann, Borighieri, Schrammek, Prinz and Smith.
43
Drüner, op.cit., p.86: ‘...keinen besonders edlen Klang gehabt haben’.
44
Segerman, ‘Tenor Violin’, op.cit., p.182.
45
Brent Wissick, ‘The Cello Music of Antonio Bononcini: Violone, Violoncello da Spalla, and the Cello “Schools” of
Bologna and Rome’, Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music 12, no. 1 (2006); http://www.sscm-jscm.org/jscm/v12/no1/
wissick.html. I am grateful to L.Smit for drawing my attention to this work.
46
See Figure 10 Andrea Celesti’s The visit of papa Benedetto III to the monastery, The church of St.Zaccaria in
Venice, ca.1684, and Figure 11 Sanctuary of Madonna delle Grazie, Gian Giacomo Barbelli, ca.1641-43.
132 The Galpin Society Journal
you don’t need the thumb for Bach’s Suites. It is just a
Smit (who played an important part in stimulating question of how to relax, stretch and bend.
the present study and making several instruments)
combined a traditional analysis of original sources Another argument used by Smit against the use of
with practical study of Bach’s music.47 He is one of thumb technique and in favour of Hoffmann’s type
the few players who can play these instruments. He of violoncello piccolo is the following:
concluded that the appropriate type of violoncello It is hardly likely that Bach would have kept to this
for Bach’s suites is that made by Hoffmann, and that upper limit when writing for his Violoncello for no
particular reason, since he generally made use of the
the number of unavoidable shifts is no more than
entire compass of instruments; for example, he uses
average for baroque music: ‘We would find that the the whole range of the violin, right up to a tenth or
number of unavoidable shifts of position is limited, eleventh above the top string. (p.45)
even in Suite IV.’ (p.49) This is true, but some of
Smit’s ideas are more questionable. As one of his However, neither Bach nor any of his contemporaries
arguments in support of Hoffmann’s violoncello, including Pietro Locatelli (who occasionally climbed
Smit assumes that thumb technique was not used to the highest positions of the violin, for example,
in Bach’s time. This is probably correct, as there in the compositions such as Capriccio, prova
is little evidence of use of the thumb technique at dell’intonazzione from the Sonata op.6, no. 12, where
Bach’s time although it was used extensively later Locatelli reaches b6 in the 22nd position),‘generally
by Boccherini and Duport. Nonetheless, the thumb made use of the entire compass’ in every piece they
technique is mentioned by Corrette, in 1741 in the wrote. On the contrary, they mainly stayed within the
first cello treatise, and another source is Martin middle range of instruments. When Bach requires
Berteau (1708-71) who: high positions on the violin or the violoncello, it
composed violin and cello sonatas; six of the latter, seems that he does it for musical reasons rather than
first published under the pseudonym ‘Sgr. Martino’ in
to explore the technical, virtuosic potential of the
1748, make particular use of thumb technique, chords
and harmonics.48 instrument; virtuosic and richly musical content are
always intermingled in his music. As for the Suites,
According to the violoncellists Hidemi Suzuki and whenever he goes up to the higher positions, he does
Rainer Zipperling,49 the occasional use of the thumb so according to the logic of harmonic progression.
is such an obvious matter that the cellists (da gamba) This is what happens in the Suite I, Prelude, bars 37-
would have used it without talking about it. Thus, 39; in the Suite VI, Prelude, bars 19-22, 25-32, 59-69
according to Zipperling: ‘the 2nd book of Barrière (f- and 70-83.
sharp minor) 1733 and Lanzetti op.1 1736 (f-sharp
minor) are NOT playable without digit. So are some
gamba pieces by the way...’. Zipperling adds that THE PROPOSITION
if a cellist has ‘big hands like mine’, the thumb is
needed less, though it is so comfortable to use that Consideration of the evidence and studies presented
he considers it possibile that ’musicians just used it above suggests the following analysis: Viola pomposa:
and never talked about it’. Suzuki’s hand is decisively a colloquial term for the violoncello piccolo of a type
smaller than Zipperling’s. He writes: made by Hoffmann. It is effectively a large viola; it
I hardly use the thumb for Bach’s suites except where has double the normal volume of air because the
I cannot reach due to my ‘exceptionally small’ hand. ribs are roughly twice the normal height. Due to its
The stretchy spots are in the middle of 3rd prelude short vibrating string length, the C, G, and possibly
where the organ point appears, and the 2nd Bouree of d-strings must be double-wound. Such strings in
the 4th suite, beginning of the second half. The rest, combination with an unusually deep body (for a
even with my child-size hand, I can manage without. viola) and short vibrating string are responsible for
My cellos string length is between 68 and 69cm, which the bassoon-like sound. Reflecting this, the viola
is supposed to be a sort of normal. If I had not 2cm, but
pomposa is sometimes called fagottgeige. It is held
just a centimeter longer fingers, as so many players do
including you, I would have been a happy witness that across the chest.
47
L.Smit, ‘Towards a More Consistent and More Historical View of Bach’s Violoncello’, Chelys 32 (2004), pp.45-58.
48
Julie Anne Sadie, Companion to Baroque Music, (Oxford University Press, 1998), p.107.
49
Personal correspondence, 20/08/2006 and 19/08/2006.
Badiarov — Viola da Spalla 133
Fagottegeige: a colloquial term for both viola considerable freedom in choosing mediums for their
pomposa and violoncello piccolo of the smallest performance. There is a repertory which performers
possible size, the type made by Hoffmann. It is a bass and musicologists can explore for whether these
instrument mounted with double-wound strings, instruments are practical, musically convincing and
which contribute into its bassoon-like sound. It is historically justifiable (see Wissick). For example,
held across the chest. The type of violoncello piccolo Giuseppe Jacchini played the violoncello da gamba,
made by Hoffmann was played on the arm or across though his pupil Carlo Buffagnotti played it on the
the chest and is the type of violoncello which is arm, across the chest. The list of composers with
suitable or expected for Bach’s suites. Its double- apparent links to the da spalla tradition is limited:
wound strings make it sound like a bassoon. Because Giovanni Battista Vitali, Domenico Gabrielli,
it is held on the arm, across the chest, the left hand Giuseppe Jacchini, Giovanni and Antonio Maria
position resembles that of a lute or guitar player, and Bononcini, Antonio Caldara. There are facsimile
the fact that the string length is greater than on other editions by Marc Vanscheeuwijck of Gabrielli and
braccio instruments (violin, viola) does not impede some Jacchini. A-R editions published the cello
the performance. sonatas by Antonio Maria Bononcini, edited by
The precise form of such instruments deserves Lowell Lindgren. Those pieces are wildly virtuosic.
a separate article, so it will not be discussed here, Apart from Jacchini, Op. 1 & 3, there are duets for
except to mention that it has been a pleasure to violin and cello (without continuo) from the late 1680s
discover how intelligently such instruments were and 1690s that treat the cello as an equal partner to
conceived by their original makers. the violin and, in a few cases, contain cello sonatas:
New and satisfying aspects of music by J.S.Bach Giuseppe Torelli, Op. 4; Bartolomeo Laurenti, Op.
are revealed by the use of this instrument which was 1; Attilio Ariosti, Op. 1; Tomaso Pegolotti, Op. 1;
been known in Bach’s circle, and for which he wrote. Giacomo Cattaneo, Op. 1. Also, some of Giovanni
The response of its small body is fast and accurate. Bononcini’s Op. 3 sinfonie (1685) contain obbligato
The dynamic range is greater than a large violoncello, cello parts. 50
especially at the piano end although, while the Just one instance linking the violoncello piccolo
instrument is capable of powerful forte, it is not and da braccio is known to me. Both violoncello
absolutely as loud as a large violoncello. A player can piccolo and violoncello da braccio appear together in
rapidly become accustomed to the fingering, which a catalogue of Breikopf which lists 27 compositions,
is almost identical to that of the violin. The right- all of which are now lost, for: ‘Violoncello Piccolo
hand technique is more challenging; it requires & Violoncello da Braccia’. 51 This catalogue includes
the avoidance of near-vertical movement for up- two sonatas by anonymous composers, and
and down-bows in which the weight of neither the compositions by Beyer, Schachhofer, Foerfter, Speer,
arm nor the bow are in balance with the rest of the Graun, Tartini, Hering, Riedel, Goerner, Schwalbe,
player’s movements. Rondinelli and Wiedner.
REPERTORY
MODERN CELLO
There are two ways to approach the repertory that is
appropriate for these instruments. The modern cello is ordinarily held between the
1. Focus exclusively on works, which specify legs like a bass viol. As has been shown above, in the
‘violoncello piccolo’. With this method repertory seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (at least until
narrows to the few masterpieces by Bach - the nine c1762, Drüner suggests) this was not the only possible
cantatas BWV 6, 41, 49, 68, 85, 115, 175, 180 and 183, hold. Bonta52 has shown that the word violoncello,
and the six suites for unaccompanied violoncello at least in eighteenth-century Italian, is explained
BWV 1007-1012. by the Vocabulario degli Accademici della Crusca,
2. The second approach is more complex, where violone is defined as ‘a large low-pitched viola,
reflecting the fact that baroque performers enjoyed which is also called basso di viola, and violoncello
50
I am thankful to Gregory Barnett for this introductory information on these composers and editions.
51
Catalogo delle Sinfonie, che si trovano in Manuscritto Nella Officina Musica di Giovanno Gottlob Immanuel,
Vol. 1 (Breitkopf, Leipzig 1762), p.44-5.
52
Stephen Bonta, ‘From Violone to Violoncello: A Question of Strings?’ JAMIS III, 1977.
134 The Galpin Society Journal
means that such instruments cannot properly be
designated ‘children’s cellos’. He draws a parallel
with the development of the double-bass which is
known to have evolved into smaller ‘solo basses’ and
larger ‘tutti basses’. 54
Walden, supported by the evidence of Quantz and
Mozart, comes to the conclusion that the eighteenth
century knew two categories of instruments of
various size and type of stringing, namely that it
was required to use smaller instruments strung with
thinner strings for solo parts, and larger ones with
thicker strings for the orchestra. She also observes
that Henry Burnett55 came to the same conclusion
with the viol family. 56
It is apparent from pictures and from playing
instructions that techniques of violin-playing were
not standardised in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries. As Tarling writes: ‘There is no area where
the “methods of practitioners” differ more than in
the manner of holding the instrument’, 57 citing no
less than eighteen sources 1556 - 1761, including
violin-playing treatises (pp.64-67), which are far
from consistent.
Due to its variable size and playing technique (as
was the case with the violin), large bass instruments
were held in at least three distinct ways:
Figure 1. Bernard Picart, Print of a Musician, 1701
1. Suspended vertically with the aid of a belt, scarf
(detail). The instrument in this picture is clearly smaller
or a rope
than a full size modern cello, and as Drüner explains, the
picture means that such instruments cannot properly be 2. Supported vertically against the floor, or a stool,
designated ‘children’s cellos’. The full print is illustrated in near or between the legs with or without a spike
Maurice Riley, The History of the Viola, vol.1, (Ann Arbour, or an end pin.
1993), p.96. 3. Suspended horizontally against the shoulder or
when of smaller size.’53 Pictures, writings, and across the chest, usually with an aid of belts,
surviving instruments show that early violoncellos buttons or other devices, though these devices are
were made in different sizes, ranging from the size not always mentioned.
of a large viola to the modern full-sized violoncello.
Unlike the present day, when small instruments 1. Suspended vertically.
1556 Jambe de Fer. The Italians call this instrument the
are made only for the use of children, these smaller
violone, or violon da braccio because it is supported by
instruments were played by professionals. This was the arm, although some people use scarfs, cords, and
noted by Drüner who cites a picture by Bernard other things to aid in holding them. (Tarling p.64)
Picart that he calls ‘Violoncello player’ (Figure 1).
The instrument in this picture is clearly smaller The bass [member of the violin family] is very difficult
than full size, and as Drüner explains, the picture to carry because of its weight, for which reason
53
Vocabulario degli Accademici della Crusca, 4th ed. (Florence, 1729), V, 281: ‘Violone, Viola grande di tuono grave,
che si dice anche Basso di Viola, e Violoncello, quando e di minor grandezza.’ quoted by Bonta, footnote 81.
54
Drüner, op.cit. p.91, footnote 19.
55
Henry Burnett, ‘The Bowed String Instruments of the Baroque Basso-Continuo (ca. 1680-ca.1752) in Italy and
France.’ Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society of America, 8 (1971), 36-37.
56
Valerie Walden, One Hundred Years of Violoncello. A History of Technique and Performance Practice, 1740-1840,
(Cambridge UP; Cambridge, 1998), p. 50.
57
Judy Tarling, Baroque String Playing for ingenious learners, (Hertfordshire; Corda Music Publications, second ed.
2001), p. 63.
Badiarov — Viola da Spalla 135
it is sustained with a small hook in an iron ring or stopped by the fingers of the left hand, partly however,
other thing, which is attached to the back of the said owing to its weight, it is attached to the button of the
instrument... (Tarling p. 70) frockcoat [...] It is tuned like a Viola. 60
2. Supported vertically (the most familiar hold). Mattheson’s description is clearer than Walther’s:
An instrument held while resting on a stool can be The excellent Violoncello, the Bassa Viola, and the
seen in Figure 1. Viola di Spala are small bass violins in comparison
with the larger ones with five or six strings, upon
3. Suspended horizontally. which one can play all manner of rapid things,
variations, and ornaments with less work than on
Rousseau’s report of the basse de violon in Italy may
the larger machines. Additionally, the Viola di Spala,
indicate that it was held horizontally: or Shoulder-Viola produces a great effect when
One cannot say that the Basse de Violon which is
accompanying because it cuts through strongly and
presently played in Italy is a true Basse de Violon, of
can express the notes clearly. A bass [line] cannot
the same type as that which is played in France, since
be brought out more distinctly and clearly than on
in Italy it is held in one way, which is here the lower
this instrument. It is attached by a band to the chest
part and with the Italians the upper part, because
and thrown at the same time on the right shoulder,
they hold it on the arm as opposed to in France one
and thus has nothing that in the least holds back or
rests in against the ground. 58
prevents its resonance. 61
Bismantova’s violoncello, which was probably but not
necessarily smaller than Rousseau’s Basse de Violon, Barnett notes that German writers simply copied
was held horizontally, hence his use of the term Mattheson’s use of da spalla to mean ‘shoulder-held’
‘Violoncello da spalla alla moderna’. 59 Bismantova’s more or less faithfully for the violoncello, bassa viola
diatonic fingering chart for the instrument suggests and viola da spalla.62
that the vibrating string length was 45cm or less . Brossard (1705), though quite imprecise in his
We can assume that Walther’s violoncello was wording, echoes other documents by drawing
held horizontally, because it was played ‘like a violin’ similarity between a large viola, tenor-viola, and
and the violin was always played horizontally: the violoncello: ‘VIOLONCELLO, this is properly
The Violoncello is an Italian bass instrument speaking our Quinte de Violon or a small bass violin
resembling a Viol; it is played like a violin, i.e. it is with five or six strings’.63 The entry on the Viola
partly supported by the left hand and the strings are enables us to deduce that Quinte de Violon is a viola.
58
‘...on ne peut pas dire que la Basse de violon dont on jouë présentement en Italie ne soit une véritable Basse de
Violon, de la mesme espece que celle dont on jouë en France, quoy qu’en Italie on la tienne d’une maniere, que ce qui
est icy la Partie Inferieure, est chez les Italiens la Partie Superieure, parce qu’ils la tiennent sur le bras, au lieu qu’en
France on l’appuye contre terre’, J.Rousseau, Traité de la Viole, (Paris, 1687), p.9.
59
Bartolomeo Bismantova, Compendio Musicale, MS, (Ferrara, 1677), facsimile edition, (Florence: Studio per
Edizioni Scelte, 1978). The chapter on the violoncello was added in 1694. G.Barnett, ‘The Violoncello da Spalla:
Shouldering the Cello in the Baroque Era’, JAMIS XXIV (1998), pp.81-106. p.83).
60
Johann Gottfried Walther, Praecepta der Musicalischen Composition, Weimar, den 13 Marty Anno 1708, reprint
in Jenaer Beiträge zur Musikforschung, 2 (Leipzig, 1955), p.161: ‘Violoncello ist ein Italiaenisches einer Violadigamba
nicht ungleiches Bass-Instrument, wird fast tractiret wie eine Violin, neml. es wird mit der lincken Hand theils
gehalten, und die Griffe formiret, theils aber wird es wegen der Schwere an des Rockes Knopff gehänget [...] Wird
gestimmet wie eine Viola’.
61
Johann Mattheson, Das Neu-Eröffnete Orchestre, (Hamburg: Benjamin Schiller, 1713), 285: ‘Der hervorragende
Violoncello, die Bassa Viola und Viola di Spala, sind kleine Bass-Geigen / in Vergleichung der grössern, mit 5 auch
wol 6. Saiten / worauff man mit leichterer Arbeit als auff den grossen machinen allerhand geschwinde Sachen /
Variationes und Mannieren machen kan; insonderheit hat die Viola di Spala, oder Shulter=Viole einen grossen Effect
beim Accompagnement, wiel sie stark durchneiden und die Tohne rein exprimiren kan. Ein Bass kan nimmer disticter
und deutlicher herausgebracht weden als auff diesem Instrument. Es wird mit einem Bande an der Brust befestiget,
und gleichsam auff die rechte Schulter geworffen / hat also nicht / daß senem Resonanz im geringsten auffhält oder
verhindert.’
62
G.Barnett, op.cit., p.89, n. 23 cites Majer, 1732; Walther, 1732; and Eisel, 1738.
63
Sebastien de Brossard, Dictionaire de Musique, Contenant une explication des Termes Grecs, Latins, Italiens, &
François, les plus usitez dans la Musique... Seconde Edition, Conforme à celle In-Folio, faite in 1703, (Paris: Christophe
Baliard, 1705), p.221: ‘Violoncello. C’est proprement nôtre Quinte de Violon ou une Petite Basse de Violon à cinq ou
six Chordes.’ His Quinte de Violon is a viola. Ibid. p.219.
136 The Galpin Society Journal
64
G.Barnett, ‘The Violoncello da Spalla: Shouldering the Cello in the Baroque Era,’ JAMlS XXlV, 1998, p.7, ‘Figure 7.
Sketch by Giovanni Pistocchi, c. 1669, in violino primo partbook of G.M.Bononcini, Op.3...’
65
Barnett, op.cit.; p.95, ‘Figure 6. Torelli Op.4, detail from violoncello partbook, page 1.’
66
I thank Federico Löwenberger, luthier in Génova, for this picture. Unfortunately its location is unknown.
Badiarov — Viola da Spalla 137
67
If one prints the Venetian picture and measures the distance between the eyes of the player, one discovers that
the width of the middle bouts is roughly three times the distance between the eyes. If we consider that the IPD,
interpupillary distance, is c.63mm, then the width of the waist is 189-190mm, whereas the waist of a typical modern
cello is c.24cm. In the same manner, though highly debatable, we can estimate the body length as 68-70cm. These
estimates are indeed lacking credibility, however the purpose of this calculation is to demonstrate that we do not know
what was the size of these large shoulder-held bass instruments, whether they were of the same size as the common
modern cello (body length 75-77cm) or if they were smaller.
Badiarov — Viola da Spalla 139
Figures 9a and 9b. Abraham Bosse, La Rhétorique des
Dieux, MS 78C12, Staatliche Museen, Preussischer
Kulturbesitz, Berlin, ca. 1652. ‘Mode Ionien’ (left, top)
and ‘Sous Ionien’ (left, bottom) (details). There are similar
instruments and postures in several of this series of
illustrations.
extremely simple continuo parts or, due to their size,
they were played only or mainly da gamba. There
are at least three French pictures, which suggest
that the da spalla approach did exist to some extent
in France (Figures 8, 9a, 9b and 10) as well as in
England, though, the identity of the instrument in
an English picture (it has variously been designated
a viol and a violin) is contentious (Figure 11).
Walther, who certainly knew and saw how
the violoncello was played, did not mention the
violoncello played da gamba, although it certainly
was played as such. The evidence cited indicates
that the cello was often played on the shoulder. No
surviving music calls specifically for the violoncello
da spalla apart from the Breitkopf catalog of 1762
cited above (assuming that violoncello da braccio
68
For these and other names see Bonta, ‘From Violone to Violoncello...’, op. cit.
Badiarov — Viola da Spalla 141
technically complex (including some Bach). Thus,
holding such an instrument on the left shoulder puts
the left wrist into such a position where one can not
cope with many of the large stretches in Bach solos,
unless one is lucky to have hands of a formidable size.
However with the posture as it is illustrated on the
Figure 12, the left hand fingers have more space to
stretch without effort. In that position, the length
of the vibrating string does not pose a problem. A
violinist can become accustomed to the string-length
in only a few weeks. The first CD using the illustrated
instrument was recorded in February 2006 with Bach
Collegium Japan.69 This will enable readers to hear
it in use and draw their own conclusions about the
arguments presented above.
I would like to express gratitude to Lambert Smit
for many invaluable comments, to Mia Awauters,
the curator of Brussels MIM, who provided access
to the violoncellos in that collection, and to Michael
Fleming who helped to make this article publishable.
Several string companies have provided assistance
with the development of the strings; some of them
succeeded in this complex task brilliantly. Mimmo
Peruffo of Aquila Corde Armoniche reconstructed
the first strings of the right type for the instrument,
closely followed by Damian Dlugolecki. The modern Figure 12. The playing posture as currently adopted by the
strings were developed by John Cavanaugh of author. A belt or rope attached at the tailpiece and neck
Cavanaugh Company. supports the instrument in a convenient position.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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Kassel, 1953).
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Publishing, 2005).
Bodky, Erwin, The Interpretation of Bach’s Keyboard Works, (Harvard University Press, 1960).
Bonta, Stephen, ‘From Violone to Violoncello: A Question of Strings?’, JAMIS III (1977).
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Boyd, Malcolm and Butt, John, J.S. Bach, (Oxford University Press, 1999).
69
J.S.Bach Cantata Bleib bei uns, denn es will Abend werden, BWV 6. Violoncello piccolo part in the choral Ach bleib
bei uns, Herr Jesu Christ, performed by the writer. Bach Collegium Japan, dir. Masaaki Suzuki. Due for release on the
BIS label probably in Summer 2007 (serial number not yet known). The author is recording four cello piccolo solos for
Bach’s cantatas BWV 68 (Also hat Gott die Welt geliebt), 85 (Ich bin ein gutter Hirt), 175 (Er rufet seinen Schafen mit
namen) and 183 (Sie werden euch in den Bann tun). An MP3 sound sample of Bach’s d-minor cello suite may be found
on the author’s website http://violadabraccio.com
142 The Galpin Society Journal
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Italiens, & François, les plus usitez dans la Musique... Seconde Edition, Conforme à celle In-Folio, faite in
1703, (Christophe Baliard, Paris, 1705).
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Breitkopf, in Lipsia, Parte Ima, (Breitkopf in Leipzig, 1762).
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Massachusetts, and London, England, 1987).
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Badiarov — Viola da Spalla 143
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Table 1. List of surviving instruments (from Drüner, op.cit.; pp.109-111, with additions by the author)
Viola Pomposa
1 Halle, Händel House MS.247 45.5 5
Probably Bohemian.
labeled A.Poluska, Roma 1753.
2 Nürnberg, German National Museum MIR.836 77 43.2 5.3-5.5 ca. 42 5
Bohemia, 2nd half of the eighteenth century.
3 Berlin, Institute of Music Research 2479 78.6 45.4 6.4-7.2 41.9 5 (?)
Germany, late eighteenth century.
4 Berlin, Institute of Music Research 4240 79.1 47.2 7.7 43.8 5 (?)
Saxony, around 1800.
5 Leipzig University Music Instrument Museum, 75.5 43.5 7 4
917
J.Ch.Hoffmann, Leipzig 1737.
6 Ex A.Wilfer 76.3 45.5 3.8 (?) 41.5 5
J.Ch.Hoffmann, Leipzig 1732.
70
I am grateful to Michael Uy of University of California, Berkley, for information about this instrument.