Viola d'amore

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Viola d'amore
Violaamore.jpg
classification Chordophone
string instrument
range Range viola damore.png
(Normal mood)
Sound sample Speaker Icon.svg Ariosti: The Stockholm Sonatas for Viola
d'amore Vol. II
Related instruments

Gamba , viola , violin , violino d'amore , Hardanger fiddle , viola all'inglese

Musician
List of violinists
Category: Violinists
The viola d'amore by Füssener Raphael Möst from 1643 is considered the oldest surviving instrument of the genre

The viola d'amore is a historical string instrument . It is a little longer and wider than the viola , but is held the same while playing. Usually it has five to seven playing strings and about the same number of sympathetic strings .

Design and sound

The oldest surviving mention of the name Viola d'amore, dates from 1649, when the Hamburg musician Johann Ritter mentioned it in a letter.

Outwardly, the viola d'amore differs from the viola by its ornate body shape and the number of strings and their tuning . The body is structurally closer to that of the viola da gamba family, i.e. That is, like this one, it has blunt C-arms, C-holes instead of F-holes, hanging shoulders and usually a smooth base, which is also curved on some instruments.

The playing strings of the viola d'amore usually consist of gut, the lower strings are usually wound. These give the instrument a bright and silvery sound, which in the 17th and 18th centuries, as the name of the instrument expresses, was characterized as "lovely". This is how Johann Mattheson describes the instrument in his Das neu-opened Orchester (1713) with the words: “Die amliebte Viola d'Amore, Gall. Viole d'Amour, takes the dear name with the deed / and wants to express a lot of languissantes and tendres ... its sound is argentine or silver / dabey extremely pleasant and lovely ... ". Leopold Mozart writes about the viola d'amore in his violin school : "It is a special type of violin that sounds lovely, especially in the quiet of the evening." The sympathetic strings also contribute to the sound , if there are any. The older, northern German instruments (e.g. Joachim Tielke , Hamburg; Christoph Meyer, Danzig ) lack these, while they are a typical feature of the mostly younger, southern German instruments .

The tuning of the strings was never completely uniform and usually depends on the piece of music at hand. Mostly, however, the instrument was tuned in D major (Adad′-fis′-a′-d ″), but also d-f sharp-ad′-fis′-a′-d ″. To simplify the game, scordature is often used, i.e. the tuning is adapted to the key requirements of the piece being played.

The sympathetic strings made of brass or steel are located below the fingerboard and give the viola d'amore a silvery-bright sound that reverberates longer than a violin.

After a heyday from the 17th century to around the end of the 18th century, it was increasingly forgotten. Some instruments were even converted into violas .

Violino d'amore

The violino d'amore is a historical string instrument ; it is the smaller edition of the viola d'amore. The instrument differs from the violin in its design, tuning and especially its sympathetic strings , which cause the notes to resonate for longer.

Works for viola d'amore (selection)

At the beginning of the 20th century there was a small renaissance of the viola d'amore.

In some operas the viola d'amore is used in stage music, so in

There are also works for viola d'amore by modern composers:

There are bibliographies of literature for viola d'amore by Heinz Berck and Michael and Dorothea Jappe, the North German type of the instrument is mainly described by Kai Köpp in his publications.

Online scores

literature

Web links

Commons : Viola d'amore  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tiroler Landesmuseum ( Memento from May 8, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Retrieved January 28, 2010
  2. ↑ Erich Valentin : Handbuch der Musikinstrumentenkunde. Gustav Bosse, Regensburg 1954, p. 426.