Viol reference 1775

[Jeff DeMarco]

Here is an interesting discussion on the musicality of speech, made
more interesting by a reference by the writer of a 1775 document to
mimicking the sounds of speech by removing the frets on his viol. 1775
seems a bit on the late side for viols, but apparently people were
still using them at that time.

http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3421

Jeff DeMarco

[John Howell]

Hi, Jeff, and why would you question that? Carl
Friederich Abel--who jointly produced the
Bach-Abel concerts in London with Christian
Bach--is often described as the "last great gamba
player in Europe" and was still concertizing on
viol until his death in 1787.

Just because fashions change, people who have
been playing certain instruments don't put them
away and adopt new instruments overnight. It
takes about a generation or so.

People get off track by considering viols to be
the ancestors of the violin family. They were
not! The two families co-existed from the early
16th century until the late 18th, about 2 1/2
centuries. We still see the results in our
string bass sections today, some having the
sloping shoulders and flat backs of the viol
family and others the round shoulders and rounded
backs of the violin family.

John

--
John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
Virginia Tech Department of Music
School of Performing Arts & Cinema
College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
290 College Ave., Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0240
Vox (540) 231-8411 Fax (540) 231-5034
(mailto:John....@vt.edu)
http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html

"Machen Sie es, wie Sie wollen, machen Sie es nur sch�n."
(Do it as you like, just make it beautiful!) --Johannes Brahms

[howard posner]

On Sep 10, 2011, at 1:10 PM, John Howell wrote:

> Hi, Jeff, and why would you question that? Carl
> Friederich Abel--who jointly produced the
> Bach-Abel concerts in London with Christian
> Bach--is often described as the "last great gamba
> player in Europe" and was still concertizing on
> viol until his death in 1787.

I suppose he'd think 1775 was on the late side for viols because Abel is often described as "the last great gamba player in Europe."

[Jeff DeMarco]

Hi John,

I didn't realize Abel was still playing that late. However, it was
more the casual nature of the reference (which I still think is an
interesting one that I hadn't encountered previously) suggesting viols
were still somewhat commonplace.

There was no intention on my part to imply that viols were ancestors
to the violin family. That honor goes to rebecs, vielles, lyras da
braccio and the such like.

Jeff DeMarco

On Sat, Sep 10, 2011 at 1:10 PM, John Howell <John....@vt.edu> wrote:
> At 11:22 AM -0700 9/10/11, Jeff DeMarco wrote:
>>
>> Here is an interesting discussion on the musicality of speech, made
>> more interesting by a reference by the writer of a 1775 document to
>> mimicking the sounds of speech by removing the frets on his viol. 1775
>> seems a bit on the late side for viols, but apparently people were
>> still using them at that time.
>>
>> http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=3421
>>
>> Jeff DeMarco
>

> Hi, Jeff, and why would you question that?  Carl Friederich Abel--who
> jointly produced the Bach-Abel concerts in London with Christian Bach--is
> often described as the "last great gamba player in Europe" and was still
> concertizing on viol until his death in 1787.
>

> Just because fashions change, people who have been playing certain
> instruments don't put them away and adopt new instruments overnight.  It
> takes about a generation or so.
>
> People get off track by considering viols to be the ancestors of the violin
> family.  They were not!  The two families co-existed from the early 16th
> century until the late 18th, about 2 1/2 centuries.  We still see the
> results in our string bass sections today, some having the sloping shoulders
> and flat backs of the viol family and others the round shoulders and rounded
> backs of the violin family.
>
> John
>
>
> --
> John R. Howell, Assoc. Prof. of Music
> Virginia Tech Department of Music
> School of Performing Arts & Cinema
> College of Liberal Arts & Human Sciences
> 290 College Ave., Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0240
> Vox (540) 231-8411  Fax (540) 231-5034
> (mailto:John....@vt.edu)
> http://www.music.vt.edu/faculty/howell/howell.html
>

> "Machen Sie es, wie Sie wollen, machen Sie es nur schön."