''Chest of viols'' is a term which was used primarily in the 16th and 17th centuries in England for either a

consort __NOTOC__ Consort may refer to: Music * "The Consort" (Rufus Wainwright song), from the 2000 album ''Poses'' * Consort of instruments, term for instrumental ensembles * Consort song (musical), a characteristic English song form, late 16th–earl ...

viol 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 ...

s, or the specialized

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

made to contain a small consort of viols, usually containing six: two treble, two tenor, and two bass viols, Taruskin, Richard (2009). ''Music in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries:The Oxford History of Western Music''. . Cites

Thomas Mace Thomas Mace (1612 or 1613 – c. 1706) was an English lutenist, viol player, singer, composer and musical theorist of the Baroque music, Baroque era. His book ''Musick's Monument'' (1676) provides a valuable description of 17th century musica ...

. or alternately two treble, three tenor, and one bass viol. According to

, "a good chest of viols" contained "six in number, 2 Basses, 2 Tenors, 2 Trebles, all truly proportionally suited." When the term refers to instruments, they are generally similar in make, tone, power, relative size (proportional), wood type, and color. In terms of size, the bass viol's string length should be exactly twice that of the treble viol's.Howard Meyer Brown and Ian Woodfield. "Chest of viols", ''

Grove Music Online ''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...

'', ed. L. Macy (accessed November 4, 2006)
grovemusic.com
(subscription access). The similarity required of the viols in a chest of viols usually meant that they were made by the same maker, and sometimes were ordered in sets. Similar viols were desirable because they would blend better, and also stay in tune with each other better than more disparate instruments. One enclosure is described by

Thomas Tudway Thomas Tudway (died 1726) was an English musician and Professor of Music at Cambridge University. He is known as a composer, and for his compilation of a collection of Anglican church music. Life Tudway was born probably before 1650, as he becam ...

in Hawkins's ''General History'' as "a large hutch, with several apartments and partitions in it; each partition was lined with green bays, to keep the instruments from being injured by the weather." These cases were sometimes expanded to house an expanding collection of instruments. As mentioned in the above quote, the purpose of the chest was not only to house the instruments, but also to protect them from changes in temperature and humidity, which can damage instruments. Many wealthy English families owned a chest of viols, which speaks to the popularity of consort music for viol in home music-making, as a private entertainment. In 1617

Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork Richard Boyle, 1st Earl of Cork (13 October 1566 – 15 September 1643), also known as the Great Earl of Cork, was an English politician who served as Lord Treasurer of the Kingdom of Ireland. Lord Cork was an important figure in the continuing ...

bought a chest of viols for £8 sterling. £8 sterling in 1600 would be worth about US$1550 in 2010.Eliasen, Alan. "Frink" (accessed June 15, 2010)

/ref> A similar grouping can be found in chests of lutes.

See also

References

Further reading