Review: Mysteries of the Early Double Bass

Author(s): Ephraim Segerman

Review by: Ephraim Segerman
Source: Early Music, Vol. 27, No. 4, Luca Marenzio (1553/4-99) (Nov., 1999), pp. 660-661
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3128768
Accessed: 03-04-2015 03:42 UTC

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in the processof transmissionand performance.Invoking

MargaretBent ('Editingearlymusic:the dilemmaof translation', Early music, xxii (1994), PP.373ff.),he concludes
that 'transcription ... into modern notation cannot be
a proper basis for understanding its musical content,
since the manuscriptis a transcriptionin itself'. These are
good points, well made, but it should be noted that the
complexityof the manuscript'stablaturetogetherwith the
relativelyfew attemptsto 'translate'it into modern score
hardlycombine to makethe repertoryaccessibleto a wider
circleof potentialperformersor scholars.
The volume would certainly have been enriched had
it included more detailed discussion of the problems of
realizing its contents in performance, even if this had
involved varying degrees of (acknowledged)speculation.
Paul Whittaker'sdescription (and reconstruction)of the
Iolo Morganwg Manuscript (London, British Library,
Ms. Add. 14970) suggests that such an approach could
have been fruitful.His use of modern (printed) tablature
alongsidefacsimilesof the manuscripthelps to clarifythe
grammar and structure of the originals-which include
Cwlwmbachary go gywair,a composition listed by Robert
ap Huw as one copied by him elsewhere.This coincidence,
together with orthographicand notational similaritiesto
Ms. Add. 14905,leads Whittakerto wonder whether the
lost originalof the Iolo MorganwgManuscriptcould also
have been copied by Robert ap Huw. If this were so, it
would give credenceto the claim that Robertservedfor a
while as a court harpist,since Medle (one of the four Iolo
Morganwgcompositions) is a version of ]honson'sMedley
from the FitzwilliamVirginalBook.
This is an important publicationthat fills a significant
gap in our understandingof oral traditions and the dissemination of repertory.Although the actual music may
still seem illusory, the book paints a vivid picture of the
musical cultureof the other Tudors. Robertap Huw himself emergesas a strongand influentialfigure.It is much to
Sally Harper'scredit that she has combined her editorial
overviewof the volume with writingtwo outstandingcontributions.The texts throughoutare duplicatedin English
and Welsh, and there is an excellent glossaryof technical
terms which readers would be well advised to consult
before embarkingon the studiesthemselves.

660

EARLY

MUSIC

NOVEMBER

EphraimSegerman
Mysteries of the early double bass
Alfred Planyavsky,TheBaroquedoublebassviolone,
trans. JamesBarket(Lanham,MD: ScarecrowPress,
1998), $55

The modern double bass functions as a member of the

'violin family' in spite of a tuning and usual appearance
more like a viol. In early-musicperformancesa four-string
'double bass' can play next to a six-string 'violone', the
former often using a tuning that is historicallyunknown,
and the latterusuallyhavinga tuning that was used mostly
on a larger instrument. Historically,there was no such
distinction in name. Playershave tended to make up their
own traditions with little regardto history. Alfred Planyavsky'sfirst book, Geschichtedes Kontrabasses(Tutzing,
1970;2/1984)outlined the history of these instruments.In
1989he expandedthe earlychaptersof that book into Der
Barockkontrabass
Violone,which is what JamesBarkethas
now translated.
Planyavskytraces the double bass back to large viols
developedaround1500in Spanish-dominatedItaly,but he
offers no historicalcontext for them. They were doublesize versions of the original viol (tuned like a lute). Soon
after these appeared,the Italiansmade intermediatesizes
to form sets in four sizes and three tunings, all called
violoni ('large viole'). They also then developed sets of
small viole called violette('small viole') or viole da braccio
('arm-held viole')-tuned in 5ths, usually played without
fretsby professionals,and the ancestorsof modernviolins.
None of these conforms to Planyavsky'sfirst criterion
for a violone, which is that it reaches into the sub-bass
region. Not before late in the 16th century (when more
elastic bass strings became available)did any viol tuning
go below C. Duringthe 16thcenturythe sizes in many viol
sets (all in Englandand France,and many in Italyand Germany) becameabout 20 per cent smaller.The smallerviols
were then called just viole or viole da gamba, while the
original bass size kept the old name violone. Many of his
'violone' illustrationsfrom later in the 16th and the 17th
century, particularlythose from France,appearto depict
bass viols.
His discussion of the violone in 17th-centuryItaly and
Germany is much more convincing. The names violone
grande,violonedoppioand violonecontrabassorefer to an
instrument largerthan the usual violone; the contrabasso
di viola was the same type of instrument since it had six

1999

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strings and was much largerthan any double bass played

today (examples survive in the Brussels museum). The
usual violone, at about modern double-bass size, had a
tuning rangeof G'-g, allowingmusic up to d' to be played
at pitch, and music from G to d" to be played an octave
lower. The advicefor amateursquoted by Planyavskysuggests picking the lower option wheneverpossible, though
advancedplayerssurelychose more resourcefully.
There were more such instruments.The name violone
da bracciooccasionally appeared, and da braccioalways
meant instruments tuned in 5ths. The usual basso da
braccio,tuned an octavebelow the violin, was not a violone
by Planyavsky'sdefinition;but the large five-string basso
da bracciowith a low C, largerthan a cello and illustrated
by Praetorius, would qualify, as would a French basse
de violon. 'Violone' apparentlyjust meant 'large bowed
continuo bass'.
This createsan opening that has been exploited. Many
writers since the 19th century have claimed that a part
marked 'violone' (or 'Violon' in German sources) was
usually played on a violoncello. 'Violone' could mean the
usual violone or any member of the violone category.If
they claimedthat the five-stringbassoda bracciowas sometimes used, there would be no argument.But they claim
more, that at least in some musical centres the usual
violone actuallywas a cello. Thereis no documentaryevidence for this proposition,but it is hard to marshalspecific
evidenceagainstit. Planyavskydoes as good a job as can be
done. A theory in historical scholarshipshould be about
the probable,with supportingevidence, not just the possible, existing in niches between the surviving evidence.
That most of the music can readilybe playedon the cello is
not evidencethat it usuallywas.
The Germans used the names Violon and Bass-violon
as well as violone. In French the name violon meant a
member of the fiddle family, implying a tuning in 5ths.
The cello advocatesattemptto interpretViolonto have the
French meaning. Planyavskyshows clearly that all the
evidence indicates that in Germany, Violon meant the
same as violone.
The large bassoda bracciobecame a professionallyused
instrument after the middle of the 17th century, when a
metal-wound C stringbecame available,giving a low-note
projection that could do the job of the violone in the
churchand theatre.With the top e' stringoften dropped,it
was called 'little violone' or violoncello, and the prints
then specifiedit. Addinga metal-woundlowest bass string,
and shifting the other strings over, could also convert an
ordinaryviolone into a contrabasso.There is evidence for

this happening, but not for most ordinaryviolones. The

same thing was done to the 17th-centurybass viol so that it
could be tuned like the ordinary violone. It often just
shared the violone name, but it was also called a small
violone.
New four- and five-stringvariantsof the violone were
developed before the end of the 17th century, either on
larger instruments, or with a metal-wound lowest string
on a violone of the normal size. The five-stringone was
tuned an octavebelow the highest four stringsof the ordinary one, with the fourth string either a note lower at E'
(resultingin the tuning that laterbecame standardon the
double bass), or a note higherat G'.The five-stringversion
was initially tuned to F'-A'-D-F#-B, with the highest
string later lowered to A. These reduced-rangetunings
abandon most of the 8' pitch capabilityof the violone to
concentrateon its 16'function.
Planyavsky'sdiscussion of violones in the 18thcentury
is good. Earlyon, six-stringviolones still predominated,
some with a low C' string (probablymetal-wound). The
use ofviolones with four and five stringsgrewsteadily,and
these replacedthe six-stringviolones by the second half of
the century.The five-stringtuning with mostly 3rdsflourished mainly in Vienna, and was the type used by Mozart
and Haydn. Late in the century, a three-string violone
aroseand became prominentin the 19thcentury,when the
two leading virtuosos (Dragonetti and Bottesini) used it.
Tuningsusuallywere G'-D-A (called'French')or A'-D-G
(called 'Italian').It used the ordinarysize instrumentand
octave transpositionto play in a most constrictedrange.
One advantagewas to be able to dig into notes without
touching other stringswhile bowing not necessarilyclose
to the bridge.Another advantagewas of not needing any
metal-woundstring,so it consistentlyprovidedthe fundamental-richfoundation note for an orchestrathat a thick
all-gut string provides. As the music of late Romantic
composers demanded lower notes, three-string basses
were abandonedin the 2oth century.
Planyavsky'sbook is full of very valuableinformation.
Now that it is availablein English there is no longer an
impediment keeping players of these large instruments
from learningabout their history.

EARLY

MUSIC

NOVEMBER

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1999

661