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13 � Violoncello and Violone marc vanscheeuwijck As bass instruments of the violin family (bass violins), violoncellos and violoni have been the object of much discussion and confusion in recent years, particularly since Stephen Bonta’s two articles in1977 and 1978.1 The latter, on the terminology of bass violins in seventeenth-century Italy, showed the enormous name diversity bass violins were given; the former article presented the hypothesis that violone was not necessarily a sixteen-foot double bass but could be an eight-foot bass of the violin family. According to Bonta, the difference between the violone and the violoncello—a term first encountered in a 1665 print with music by Bolognese organist Giulio Cesare Arresti2 —was that the violone was usually larger and that the violoncello was strung with at least one wire-wound gut string (a development in string making that occurred approximately in the same decade) and was considerably smaller, thus offering both a good sonorous low range and greater ease in playing more virtuoso passagework. On the other hand, since the beginning of the early music revival in the second half of the twentieth century, cellists interested in historical performance practice have adopted the general approach of using instruments that are—both organologically and in terms of playing technique—quite close to the modern cello. Indeed, the “Baroque” cello has roughly been characterized by (1) its violin shape; (2) its four (gut or wire-wound gut) strings tuned in fifths;3 (3) a slightly shorter fingerboard; (4) a flatter, differently shaped tailpiece and bridge; (5) the absence of an endpin; and (6) sometimes even a differently angled neck (often straighter). It is played in a da gamba position. The bows cellists have been using are most frequently short French-style sticks for seventeenth-century repertories; longer, though still convex or straight, bows for early eighteenth-century music; and so-called transitional bows for Haydn and Mozart. All are played rigorously with overhand grip. Moreover, since no treatises or methods before Michel Corrette’s 1741 Methode4 explain in sufficient detail how to play the instrument, modern Baroque cellists have largely based their technique on Corrette’s precepts on how to hold the instrument and the bow and how to finger the cello. In the end, cellists who 232 Wind, String, and Percussion Instruments took up the “Baroque” cello did not need to go too far out of their comfort zone in terms of equipment and playing technique. Yet I am convinced that what Corrette provided in his treatise was not a description of standard practice, but rather a groundbreaking innovation, both in playing technique and in the use of a (fairly recently adopted) semi-standardized ideal compromise instrument that offered the best features of both large and small types. In short, the “Corrette way” of performing on the cello came to be utilized for the repertories of the mid-eighteenth century, but also for those of the two preceding centuries. In this chapter, I propose a revision of such a standardizing approach and suggest a much larger diversity of possible instrument types, playing techniques, number of strings, and tunings, as they apply in various European regions (not yet nations!) for the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Since Corrette is our point of departure by necessity and by default, I will need to work my way back into the seventeenth century from the mid-eighteenth century, instead of adopting a simple chronological approach. The sources call for not only a fresher and more nuanced reevaluation of iconographic materials and documentary descriptions (which I can only briefly summarize here), but also and most importantly an open-minded questioning of the music itself and of a few extant instruments, though these are too often questionable because of nineteenth-century alterations or even forgeries. In sum, I want to emphasize that scholars and performers alike need to realize that all the term “violoncello” means is a small bass violin, literally a “small violone,” which can be a variety of organological types with different sizes, shapes, number of strings, tunings, and playing techniques. Bass Violins Large and Small In addition to the most standard terminology, we also have to deal with a few other terms, such as violoncello piccolo, violoncello (or viola) da spalla, and viola da collo.5 Although the first two are traditionally associated in modern terminology with slightly later types of smallish instruments (most often with five strings), I contend that in fact they are all members of the...

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