| I read a(n old) book on the history of the viol da gamba, an it made a point of stating the fact that when the da gamba made its largest strides in the music at the time it was in direct competition with three other instruments.
the composers choice of which of the four to use as its bass instrument was based upon what feel they were going for.
The four instruments where: The Bassoon, The Cello, the Viol Da Gamba, and everyones favourite instrument: The Double bass.
Apparently the desired feel of each was:
Bassoon: Smooth underlying bass sound that flowed.
Cello: *Composers favourite* The loudest of the instruments and closest imitation of the singing voice.
Viol Da Gamba: Chosen for its massive tessitura.
And what was the DB used for? according to this book The DB only intentionally appeared under one set of circumstances in the baroque period: Hurricane and Tempest scenes. That's right, according to some viol da gamba historians Our favourite instrument was invented to mimic storms.
Last edited by sirero : 07-07-2010 at 09:06 PM.
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