Viola ( Italian viola ) is a family of stringed stringed musical instruments .
| Viola | |
|---|---|
| Vihuela, Fidel | |
 Viola family (illustration from Michael Pretorius ’s treatise Syntagma musicum ) | |
| Classification | String bowed musical instrument , chordophone |
| Related tools | Vihuela , Lute |
In the modern sense, viols refer to the family of instruments that existed in the musical practice of Western Europe of the 16th — 18th centuries, but by the beginning of the 19th century was almost extruded from academic music. At the beginning of the 20th century, a professional performing school was revived on the basis of interest in early music, and in recent decades the viol has also attracted the attention of professional composers, which gives reason to regard them as modern instruments.
Content
History
The first stringed instruments in Europe were related rebags , which penetrated into Spain with the Arab conquest, and the Byzantine lira . On their basis, by the 13th century, purely European Rebec and Wiela (fidel) were formed, first described in the Treatise on Music by Jerome Moravsky (c. 1275). At the same time, a new way of playing bowed appeared in Europe, in which the instrument was located on the performer’s shoulder, and not on his feet, as before. Initially, both methods existed in parallel and did not depend on the type of instrument. Later, with the development of polyphony in professional music, there was a need for instruments of lower registers with a large body, the game on which was possible only in an upright position. In Italy, this way of playing began to be called da gamba (from gamba - leg, leg), as opposed to horizontal - da braccio ("on the arm").
Among the huge variety of stringed instruments of various shapes and sizes by the beginning of the 16th century in Italy, the dominant position was taken by the “big Spanish viol”, brought by Rodrigo Borgia, elected in 1492 by the pope under the name of Alexander VI.
Viols were widely distributed in Western Europe during the Renaissance as ensemble and solo instruments. The standardization of the instrument took place simultaneously with the violins in the workshops of the early Italian casting - Andrea Amati, Gasparo da Salo. The performing school of viols at that time was developing faster than the violin, and the earliest examples of virtuoso viol music exceeded their contemporary violin in technical difficulties. In the Baroque era, these tools were used mainly in the aristocratic environment. By the second half of the 18th century, their popularity was gradually fading. The last outstanding violist was Haydn's contemporary and colleague Carl Friedrich Abel. After his death, the violas disappeared from the professional stage for more than a hundred years, continuing to be used among fans of early music. At the beginning of the 20th century, viols returned to the concert scenes in the hands of Christian Deberainer, Paul Grummer and the Dolmechey family. Thanks to the activities of August Wentinger, the professional performing school is being revived, and today the viola class is represented in many conservatories in Europe and North America.
Build
Viols were mainly of four types: treble, alto, tenor and bass. In the XVI — XVIII centuries. As a solo, ensemble and orchestral instrument, the tenor viola - viola da gamba was especially widespread. Since in the ensemble it performed the function of bass, it was often called the bass viol. Among the composers who wrote for her are JS Bach , G. F. Telemann , F. Kuperin , and also gambist virtuosos H. F. Abel in Germany, M. Mare and R. Mare in France.
Corps
Bow
Differences in the design of the bow of different instruments and traditions depend on the method of tension of the hair, which in turn determines the position in the game. There are three ways to stretch:
- Manual tension - hair loosely attached to the cane and stretched with your fingers while playing. Such bows are used in traditional instruments of Asia.
- Tension with a cane - the hair is attached to a cane bent under tension like a bow of a bow. Therefore, in most European languages, the bow is called - bow ( Italian. Arco , English bow , fr. Archet , German. Bogen ). It is used in the violin family of instruments, and in some others.
- Combined tension - hair stretches and a cane, and fingers when playing. This method is used in most instruments of the viol family, with the exception of the viola d'amore and double bass.