The arpeggione is a six-stringed

musical instrument A musical instrument is a device created or adapted to make musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can be considered a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. A person who pl ...

fretted and tuned like a

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

, but with a curved bridge so it can be bowed like a

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

, and thus similar to the bass

viola da gamba The viol (), viola da gamba (), or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitc ...

. The instrument is sometimes also called a guitar violoncello. The body shape of the arpeggione is, however, more similar to a medieval fiddle than either the guitar or the bass viol. It is essentially a bass viol with a guitar-type tuning, ''E''–''A''–''d''–''g''–''b''–''e' .'' The arpeggione is especially suited to playing runs in thirds, double stops, and arpeggios. It enjoyed a brief period of popularity for perhaps a decade after its invention around 1823, by the

Viennese Viennese may refer to: * Vienna, the capital of Austria * Viennese people, List of people from Vienna * Viennese German, the German dialect spoken in Vienna * Music of Vienna, musical styles in the city * Viennese Waltz, genre of ballroom dance * V ...

instrument luthiers

Johann Georg Stauffer Johann Georg Stauffer (also Johann Georg Staufer; born January 26, 1778 in Vienna; died 24 January 1853) was an Austrian luthier and the most important Viennese luthier of his time. Life Stauffer was born in the Viennese suburb of Weißgerber, ...

and Peter Teufelsdorfer. The only notable extant piece for the arpeggione is a sonata with piano accompaniment by

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

, D.821, not published until 1871, when the instrument was long out of vogue. This sonata is now commonly played on the

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

, and many other instruments have received transcriptions as well. In the 21st century, a revival of interest in the arpeggione has led to the composition of a number of new works either for the instrument alone or within an ensemble. Composers who have written the largest number of works include the American Dov Joshua Rosenschein, France's Grégory Guéant, and René Mogensen from Denmark. Contemporary designs of viol-like instruments have similarities to the arpeggione, and at least one (the

GuitarViol The GuitarViol is an interpretation of the Arpeggione (bowed guitar) built by guitarist/luthier Jonathan Eric Wilson. It has six strings, 24 frets (a.k.a. “stopping points”), and is tuned E2–A2–D3–G3–B3–E4 (standard guitar tuning), ...

) was directly influenced by Stauffer's arpeggione.

References

* Aquino, F. Avellar de. "Six-Stringed Virtuoso". ''The Strad Magazine'', Harrow, Middlesex, UK, v. 109, n. 1297, p. 500–507, May 1998. About the arpeggione and Schubert's Sonata. * Geiringer, Karl. "Schubert's Arpeggione Sonata and the 'Super Arpeggione'." "Musical Quarterly", 65, no. 4 (Oct. 1979), pp. 513–523. * Sadie, Stanley, ed., ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', vol. 16, 6th. ed., London: Macmillan Press Limited, 1980. s.v. "Schubert, Franz" by Maurice J. E. Brown. * Schuster, Vincenz. "Anleitung zur Erlernung des . . . neu erfundenen Guitarre-Violoncells". Vienna: Diabelli. * Tree, Michael, "Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata". ''The Strad Magazine'', vol. 105, February 1994, p. 142. Master-Class on Schubert's Sonata.

External links

Nicolas Deletaille's webpage on the arpeggione
a lot of useful information on the arpeggione. (The last fairly trouble-free archive version of this page is a

)
Homepage of the "Arpeggione World"
Osamu Okumura, Japanese has restored OK-model and Anton Mitteisーmodel of Arpeggione making by himself.
Photo
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