Viola da braccio (from Italian "arm viola", plural ''viole da braccio'') is a

term Term may refer to: * Terminology, or term, a noun or compound word used in a specific context, in particular: **Technical term, part of the specialized vocabulary of a particular field, specifically: ***Scientific terminology, terms used by scient ...

variously applied during the

baroque period The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

to instruments of the

violin family The violin family of musical instruments was developed in Italy in the 16th century. At the time the name of this family of instruments was viole da braccio which was used to distinguish them from the viol family (viole ''da gamba''). The standa ...

, in distinction to the

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 ...

("leg viola") and the

viol family 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 pitch ...

to which the latter belongs. At first "''da braccio''" seems to encompass the entire violin family. Monteverdi's ''

Orfeo Orfeo Classic Schallplatten und Musikfilm GmbH of Munich was a German independent classical record label founded in 1979 by Axel Mehrle and launched in 1980. It has been owned by Naxos since 2015. History The Orfeo music label was registered ...

'' (printed 1609) designates an entire six-part string section "''viole da brazzo''", apparently including bass instruments held between the knees like the

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

bass violin Bass violin is the modern term for various 16th- and 17th-century bass instruments of the violin (i.e. ''viola da braccio'') family. They were the direct ancestor of the modern cello. Bass violins were usually somewhat larger than the modern cell ...

. His '' Selva morale'' (1641) contains a piece calling for "''due violini & 3 viole da brazzo ouero 3 Tronboni''" (2 violins & 3 viole da braccio or

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the Brass instrument, brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the Standing wave, air column ...

s), reflecting a general shift in meaning towards the lower instruments. Eventually it came to be reserved for the alto member, 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 ...

. A famous example is Bach's Sixth Brandenburg Concerto (1721), combining two viole da braccio with two viole da gamba. The German word for viola, ''Bratsche'', is a relic of this last use.

Differences from viola da gamba

The families of the ''viola da braccio'' and the ''viola da gamba'' differ in size and form, the string tuning (''viola da braccio'' in fifth tuning – ''viola da gamba'' in fourth tuning) as well as in the posture (''viola da braccio'' = arm position, exception: ''bass-viola da braccio'' – ''viola da gamba'' = knee position) as well as in the bow position (''viola da braccio'' = overbow grip – ''viola da gamba'' = underbow grip).

History and development

Over the centuries of history in the violin and viola da gamba families, there had been a constant development into the present form of the modern instruments known to us as violins, violas and cellos.Geschichte der Viola in The

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

, however, developed from both the

violone The term violone (; literally "large viol" in Italian, " -one" being the augmentative suffix) can refer to several distinct large, bowed musical instruments which belong to either the viol or violin family. The violone is sometimes a fretted i ...

and the ''bass-viola da gamba''.Geschichte der Bassinstrumente in The first instruments of the ''viola da braccio'' family were built in Italy about 1530. After an early form with three

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

, a four-stringed version without string frets was developed with tuning in fifths. In this family, there were also different sizes and tunings, with different names based on pitch. There were soprano, alto, tenor and bass ''viola da braccio''. The alto viola da braccio's tuning is comparable to today's viola. The tuning for this alto viola da braccio was first recorded in the 16th century first, but was later tuned lower and is now the same tuning as modern violas. The soprano viola's tuning corresponded to today's violin, and the bass viola's tuning is the same as a modern-day cello's tuning.

References

{{Authority control Renaissance instruments Italian inventions Violin family instruments

Differences from viola da gamba

History and development

See also

References