Cello natural harmonics

The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C₂, G₂, D₃ and A₃. The viola's four strings are each an octave higher. Music for the cello is generally written in the bass clef; the tenor clef and treble clef are used for higher-range passages.

Played by a ''cellist'' or ''violoncellist'', it enjoys a large solo repertoire with and without accompaniment, as well as numerous concerti. As a solo instrument, the cello uses its whole range, from bass to soprano, and in chamber music, such as string quartets and the orchestra's string section, it often plays the bass part, where it may be reinforced an octave lower by the double basses. Figured bass music of the Baroque era typically assumes a cello, viola da gamba or bassoon as part of the basso continuo group alongside chordal instruments such as organ, harpsichord, lute, or theorbo. Cellos are found in many other ensembles, from modern Chinese orchestras to cello rock bands.

Etymology

The name ''cello'' is derived from the ending of the Italian ''violoncello'', which means "little violone". Violone ("big viola") was a large-sized member of viol (viola da gamba) family or the violin (viola da braccio) family. The term "violone" today usually refers to the lowest-pitched instrument of the viols, a family of stringed instruments that went out of fashion around the end of the 17th century in most countries except England and, especially, France, where they survived another half-century before the louder violin family came into greater favour in that country as well.

In modern symphony orchestras, it is the second largest stringed instrument (the double bass is the largest). Thus, the name "violoncello" contained both the augmentative "''-one''" ("big") and the diminutive "''-cello''" ("little"). By the turn of the 20th century, it had become common to shorten the name to 'cello, with the apostrophe indicating the missing stem. It is now customary to use "cello" without apostrophe as the full designation. ''Viol'' is derived from the root ''viola'', which was derived from Medieval Latin , meaning stringed instrument.

General description

Tuning

Cellos are tuned in fifths, starting with C₂ (two octaves below middle C), followed by G₂, D₃, and then A₃. It is tuned in the exact same intervals and strings as the viola, but an octave lower. Similar to the double bass, the cello has an endpin that rests on the floor to support the instrument's weight. The cello is most closely associated with European classical music. The instrument is a part of the standard orchestra, as part of the string section, and is the bass voice of the string quartet (although many composers give it a melodic role as well), as well as being part of many other chamber groups.

Works

Among the most well-known Baroque works for the cello are Johann Sebastian Bach's six unaccompanied Suites. Other significant works include Sonatas and Concertos by Antonio Vivaldi, and solo sonatas by Francesco Geminiani and Giovanni Bononcini. Domenico Gabrielli was one of the first composers to treat the cello as a solo instrument. As a basso continuo instrument the cello may have been used in works by Francesca Caccini (1587–1641), Barbara Strozzi (1619–1677) with pieces such as ''Il primo libro di madrigali, per 2–5 voci e basso continuo, op. 1'' and Elisabeth Jacquet de La Guerre (1665–1729), who wrote six sonatas for violin and basso continuo. Francesco Supriani's ''Principij da imparare a suonare il violoncello e con 12 Toccate a solo'' (before 1753), an early manual for learning the cello, dates from this era. As the title of the work suggests, it contains 12 toccatas for solo cello, which along with Johann Sebastian Bach's Cello Suites, are some of the first works of that type.

From the Classical era, the two concertos by Joseph Haydn in C major and D major stand out, as do the five sonatas for cello and pianoforte of Ludwig van Beethoven, which span the important three periods of his compositional evolution. Other outstanding examples include the three Concerti by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Capricci by dall'Abaco, and Sonatas by Flackton, Boismortier, and Luigi Boccherini. A ''Divertimento for Piano, Clarinet, Viola and Cello'' is among the surviving works by Duchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel (1739–1807). Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart supposedly wrote a Cello Concerto in F major, K. 206a in 1775, but this has since been lost. His Sinfonia Concertante in A major, K. 320e includes a solo part for cello, along with the violin and viola, although this work is incomplete and only exists in fragments, therefore it is given an Anhang number (Anh. 104).

Well-known works of the Romantic era include the Robert Schumann Concerto, the Antonín Dvořák Concerto, the first Camille Saint-Saëns Concerto, as well as the two sonatas and the Double Concerto by Johannes Brahms. A review of compositions for cello in the Romantic era must include the German composer Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847), who wrote Fantasia in G Minor for cello and piano and a Capriccio in A-flat for cello.

Compositions from the late 19th and early 20th century include three cello sonatas (including the Cello Sonata in C Minor written in 1880) by Dame Ethel Smyth (1858–1944), Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, Claude Debussy's Sonata for Cello and Piano, and unaccompanied cello sonatas by Zoltán Kodály and Paul Hindemith. Pieces including cello were written by American Music Center founder Marion Bauer (1882–1955) (two trio sonatas for flute, cello, and piano) and Ruth Crawford Seeger (1901–1953) (Diaphonic suite No. 2 for bassoon and cello).

The cello's versatility made it popular with many composers in this era, such as Sergei Prokofiev, Dmitri Shostakovich, Benjamin Britten, György Ligeti, Witold Lutoslawski and Henri Dutilleux. Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz (1909–1969) was writing for cello in the mid 20th century with Concerto No. 1 for Cello and Orchestra (1951), Concerto No. 2 for Cello and Orchestra (1963) and in 1964 composed her Quartet for four cellos.

Today it is sometimes featured in pop and rock recordings, examples of which are noted later in this article. The cello has also appeared in major hip-hop and R & B performances, such as singers Rihanna and Ne-Yo's 2007 performance at the American Music Awards. The instrument has also been modified for Indian classical music by Nancy Lesh and Saskia Rao-de Haas. ^/sup>

History

The violin family, including cello-sized instruments, emerged as a family of instruments distinct from the viola da gamba family. The earliest depictions of the violin family, from Italy , show three sizes of instruments, roughly corresponding to what we now call violins, violas, and cellos. Contrary to a popular misconception, the cello did not evolve from the viola da gamba, but existed alongside it for about two and a half centuries. The violin family is also known as the viola da braccio (meaning viola for the arm) family, a reference to the primary way the members of the family are held. This is to distinguish it from the viola da gamba (meaning viola for the leg) family, in which all the members are all held with the legs. The likely predecessors of the violin family include the lira da braccio and the rebec. The earliest surviving cellos are made by Andrea Amati, the first known member of the celebrated Amati family of luthiers.

The direct ancestor to the violoncello was the bass violin. ^{'unt. library''/sup> Monteverdi referred to the instrument as "basso de viola da braccio" in ''Orfeo'' (1607). Although the first bass violin, possibly invented as early as 1538, was most likely inspired by the viol, it was created to be used in consort with the violin. The bass violin was actually often referred to as a "''violone''", or "large viola", as were the viols of the same period. Instruments that share features with both the bass violin and the ''viola da gamba'' appear in Italian art of the early 16th century.}

The invention of wire-wound strings (fine wire around a thin gut core), in Bologna, allowed for a finer bass sound than was possible with purely gut strings on such a short body. Bolognese makers exploited this new technology to create the cello, a somewhat smaller instrument suitable for solo repertoire due to both the timbre of the instrument and the fact that the smaller size made it easier to play virtuosic passages. This instrument had disadvantages as well, however. The cello's light sound was not as suitable for church and ensemble playing, so it had to be doubled by organ, theorbo, or violone.

Around 1700, Italian players popularized the cello in northern Europe, although the bass violin (basse de violon) continued to be used for another two decades in France. Many existing bass violins were literally cut down in size to convert them into cellos according to the smaller pattern developed by Stradivarius, who also made a number of old pattern large cellos (the 'Servais').
The sizes, names, and tunings of the cello varied widely by geography and time. The size was not standardized until .

Despite similarities to the viola da gamba, the cello is actually part of the viola da braccio family, meaning "viol of the arm", which includes, among others, the violin and viola. Though paintings like Bruegel's "The Rustic Wedding", and Jambe de Fer in his ''Epitome Musical'' suggest that the bass violin had alternate playing positions, these were short-lived and the more practical and ergonomic ''a gamba'' position eventually replaced them entirely.

Baroque-era cellos differed from the modern instrument in several ways. The neck has a different form and angle, which matches the baroque bass-bar and stringing. The fingerboard is usually shorter than that of the modern cello, as the highest notes are not often called for in baroque music. Modern cellos have an endpin at the bottom to support the instrument (and transmit some of the sound through the floor), while Baroque cellos are held only by the calves of the player. Modern bows curve in and are held at the frog; Baroque bows curve out and are held closer to the bow's point of balance. Modern strings are normally flatwound with a metal (or synthetic) core; Baroque strings are made of gut, with the G and C strings wire-wound. Modern cellos often have fine tuners connecting the strings to the tailpiece, which makes it much easier to tune the instrument, but such pins are rendered ineffective by the flexibility of the gut strings used on Baroque cellos. Overall, the modern instrument has much higher string tension than the Baroque cello, resulting in a louder, more projecting tone, with fewer overtones. In addition, the instrument was less standardized in size and number of strings; a smaller, five-string variant (the violoncello piccolo) was commonly used as a solo instrument and five-string instruments are occasionally specified in the Baroque repertoire. BWV 1012 (Bach's 6th Cello Suite) was written for 5-string cello. The additional high E string on the five-string cello is an octave below the same string on the Violin, so anything written for the violin can be played on the 5 string cello, sounding an octave lower than written.

Few educational works specifically devoted to the cello existed before the 18th century and those that do exist contain little value to the performer beyond simple accounts of instrumental technique. One of the earliest cello manuals is Michel Corrette's ''Méthode, thèorique et pratique pour apprendre en peu de temps le violoncelle dans sa perfection'' (Paris, 1741).

Modern use

Orchestral

Cellos are part of the standard symphony orchestra, which usually includes eight to twelve cellists. The cello section, in standard orchestral seating, is located on stage left (the audience's right) in the front, opposite the first violin section. However, some orchestras and conductors prefer switching the positioning of the viola and cello sections. The ''principal'' cellist is the section leader, determining bowings for the section in conjunction with other string principals, playing solos, and leading entrances (when the section begins to play its part). Principal players always sit closest to the audience.

The cellos are a critical part of orchestral music; all symphonic works involve the cello section, and many pieces require cello soli or solos. Much of the time, cellos provide part of the low-register harmony for the orchestra. Often, the cello section plays the melody for a brief period, before returning to the harmony role. There are also cello concertos, which are orchestral pieces that feature a solo cellist accompanied by an entire orchestra.

Solo

There are numerous cello concertos – where a solo cello is accompanied by an orchestra – notably 25 by Vivaldi, 12 by Boccherini, at least three by Haydn, three by C. P. E. Bach, two by Saint-Saëns, two by Dvořák, and one each by Robert Schumann, Lalo, and Elgar. There were also some composers who, while not otherwise cellists, did write cello-specific repertoire, such as Nikolaus Kraft, who wrote six cello concertos. Beethoven's Triple Concerto for Cello, Violin and Piano and Brahms' Double Concerto for Cello and Violin are also part of the concertante repertoire, although in both cases the cello shares solo duties with at least one other instrument. Moreover, several composers wrote large-scale pieces for cello and orchestra, which are concertos in all but name. Some familiar "concertos" are Richard Strauss' tone poem ''Don Quixote'', Tchaikovsky's '' Variations on a Rococo Theme'', Bloch's '' Schelomo'' and Bruch's '' Kol Nidrei''.

In the 20th century, the cello repertoire grew immensely. This was partly due to the influence of virtuoso cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who inspired, commissioned, and premiered dozens of new works. Among these, Prokofiev's '' Symphony-Concerto'', Britten's '' Cello Symphony'', the concertos of Shostakovich and Lutosławski as well as Dutilleux's '' Tout un monde lointain...'' have already become part of the standard repertoire. Other major composers who wrote concertante works for him include Messiaen, Jolivet, Berio, and Penderecki. In addition, Arnold, Barber, Glass, Hindemith, Honegger, Ligeti, Myaskovsky, Penderecki, Rodrigo, Villa-Lobos and Walton wrote major concertos for other cellists, notably for Gaspar Cassadó, Aldo Parisot, Gregor Piatigorsky, Siegfried Palm and Julian Lloyd Webber.

There are also many sonatas for cello and piano. Those written by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Chopin, Brahms, Grieg, Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Fauré, Shostakovich, Prokofiev, Poulenc, Carter, and Britten are particularly well known.

Other important pieces for cello and piano include Schumann's five ''Stücke im Volkston'' and transcriptions like Schubert's '' Arpeggione Sonata'' (originally for arpeggione and piano), César Franck's Cello Sonata (originally a violin sonata, transcribed by Jules Delsart with the composer's approval), Stravinsky's '' Suite italienne'' (transcribed by the composer – with Gregor Piatigorsky – from his ballet ''Pulcinella'') and Bartók's first rhapsody (also transcribed by the composer, originally for violin and piano).

There are pieces for cello solo, Johann Sebastian Bach's six Suites for Cello (which are among the best-known solo cello pieces), Kodály's Sonata for Solo Cello and Britten's three Cello Suites. Other notable examples include Hindemith's and Ysaÿe's Sonatas for Solo Cello, Dutilleux's ''Trois Strophes sur le Nom de Sacher'', Berio's ''Les Mots Sont Allés'', Cassadó's Suite for Solo Cello, Ligeti's Solo Sonata, Carter's two ''Figment''s and Xenakis' '' Nomos Alpha'' and ''Kottos''.

There are also modern solo pieces written for cello, such as Julie-O by Mark Summer.

Quartets and other ensembles

The cello is a member of the traditional string quartet as well as string quintets, sextet or trios and other mixed ensembles.
There are also pieces written for two, three, four, or more cellos; this type of ensemble is also called a "cello choir" and its sound is familiar from the introduction to Rossini's William Tell Overture as well as Zaccharia's prayer scene in Verdi's Nabucco. Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture also starts with a cello ensemble, with four cellos playing the top lines and two violas playing the bass lines. As a self-sufficient ensemble, its most famous repertoire is Heitor Villa-Lobos' first of his Bachianas Brasileiras for cello ensemble (the fifth is for soprano and 8 cellos). Other examples are Offenbach's cello duets, quartet, and sextet, Pärt's Fratres for eight cellos and Boulez' '' Messagesquisse'' for seven cellos, or even Villa-Lobos' rarely played ''Fantasia Concertante'' (1958) for 32 cellos. The 12 cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (or "the Twelve" as they have since taken to being called) specialize in this repertoire and have commissioned many works, including arrangements of well-known popular songs.

Popular music, jazz, world music and neoclassical

The cello is less common in popular music than in classical music. Several bands feature a cello in their standard line-up, including Hoppy Jones of the Ink Spots and Joe Kwon of the Avett Brothers. The more common use in pop and rock is to bring the instrument in for a particular song. In the 1960s, artists such as the Beatles and Cher used the cello in popular music, in songs such as The Beatles' " Yesterday", "Eleanor Rigby" and "Strawberry Fields Forever", and Cher's " Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)". "Good Vibrations" by the Beach Boys includes the cello in its instrumental ensemble, which includes a number of instruments unusual for this sort of music. Bass guitarist Jack Bruce, who had originally studied music on a performance scholarship for cello, played a prominent cello part in "As You Said" on Cream's '' Wheels of Fire'' studio album (1968).

In the 1970s, the Electric Light Orchestra enjoyed great commercial success taking inspiration from so-called "Beatlesque" arrangements, adding the cello (and violin) to the standard rock combo line-up and in 1978 the UK-based rock band Colosseum II collaborated with cellist Julian Lloyd Webber on the recording '' Variations''. Most notably, Pink Floyd included a cello solo in their 1970 epic instrumental " Atom Heart Mother". Bass guitarist Mike Rutherford of Genesis was originally a cellist and included some cello parts in their ''Foxtrot'' album.

Established non-traditional cello groups include Apocalyptica, a group of Finnish cellists best known for their versions of Metallica songs; Rasputina, a group of cellists committed to an intricate cello style intermingled with Gothic music; the Massive Violins, an ensemble of seven singing cellists known for their arrangements of rock, pop and classical hits; Von Cello, a cello-fronted rock power trio; Break of Reality, who mix elements of classical music with the more modern rock and metal genre; Cello Fury, a cello rock band that performs original rock/classical crossover music; and Jelloslave, a Minneapolis-based cello duo with two percussionists. These groups are examples of a style that has become known as cello rock. The crossover string quartet Bond also includes a cellist. Silenzium and Cellissimo Quartet are Russian (Novosibirsk) groups playing rock and metal and having more and more popularity in Siberia. Cold Fairyland from Shanghai, China is using a cello along with a pipa as the main solo instrument to create East meets West progressive (folk) rock.

More recent bands who have used the cello include Clean Bandit, Aerosmith, The Auteurs, Nirvana, Oasis

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