Violino piccolo
| Violino piccolo |
|---|
| Engl .: + Italian .: Violino piccolo |
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| classification |
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Chordophone string instrument |
| Related instruments |
| Gamba , viola , violin |
The violino piccolo , also known as treble violin , quarto violin or violino alla francese , is a violin variant that is a third or fourth above the normal tuning of the violin . The body and scale are correspondingly smaller.
chronology
As early as 1596, an inventory from Ambras Castle (Tyrol) listed one “discant” and two “small discant” under the “viol de braz”. There are also two treble violins of different sizes among the instruments in Freiberg Cathedral from around 1593.
Claudio Monteverdi used in the instruments of his opera L'Orfeo violini piccoli francese with a circumference of c 'to it. "This term is not understood. The assumption that it were octave higher instruments such as those of Michael Praetorius three-stringed described Pochette that he in the octave g mood 'and a' indicates the notation can be made in normal Diskantschlüssel not occupy Praetorius mentioned. Syntagma musicum a "treble-Geig a fourth higher" (c 'g' d '' - a He also writes in Chapter 22 of a “treble violin which is called Violino, or Violetta piccola or also Rebecchino .” It seems very likely that this refers to the Violino piccolo.
In 1677 Johann Jacob Prinner recommended the same tuning for the “cool half violin or half violin” as with Praetorius and advises that the highest string should only be tuned to g “for sound reasons and because of the risk of breaking. Daniel Speer made the same statement in 1697.
Johann Sebastian Bach used the violino piccolo in the first Brandenburg Concerto and in two cantatas : in Wachet up, calls us the voice, BWV 140 as well as in a later performance by Herr Christ, der Gottessohn, BWV 96 , where he has the flauto piccolo , a Sopranino recorder , replaced.
In all three works the instrument has the tuning b-f'-c "- g". The parts are notated transposing , so that the score and application can be read like on an ordinary violin . This peculiarity has already been described by Prinner. The silvery-bright sound asserts itself effortlessly in the Brandenburg Concerto and also in the fully occupied choral movement at the end of the cantata.
The reason for the popularity of the small instruments is probably the easily accessible height. This led to the ambiguous term "octave violin". This is not entirely correct, since the instruments were not tuned an octave higher, but were only played an octave higher.
Further works for violino piccolo are by Johann Joseph Fux (Rondeau in C major for violino piccolo, bassoon, strings and B. c.), Johann Pfeiffer , Karl Heinrich Graun , Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf , Philipp Heinrich Erlebach and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger .
For Leopold Mozart , the “quart and half violinists” are only of use “for very little boys”. He also mentions that concerts were previously composed for this purpose and that this was used “strangely in musical night pieces”.
Popular variants of the violino piccolo also existed. During the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, Central European folk music played increasingly on the Bohemian bagpipe and a violin that accompanied it. In order to enable playing in the first position with empty accompanying strings , regardless of the key (this copied the bordu character of bagpipe music ), the violins were often either capodastrated with cords or built smaller. The stringing often only had three strings.
Instruments of this type can be found from Upper Austria via Bohemia to Poland. In Upper Austria, the "Heohgeign" (= high violin) instrument was called in Bohemia and the Sorbs country there is the term "husličky". In contrast to the short-necked violin , the popular violini piccoli retained the fifths tuning.
construction
In the later 18th century it is difficult to decide whether instruments of the corresponding dimensions were intended as violini piccoli or children's violins. A neck and fingerboard with normal dimensions that are not suitable for children's hands can provide a clue . The lengths are often between 25 and 28 cm.
| Manufacturer |
Body length in cm |
Ceiling thickness in cm |
vibrating string length in cm |
Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Paul Klemm Randeck around 1593 | 24.2 | 24.1 | 24 | Freiberg , Saxony, cathedral |
| AH. Amati , Cremona 1613 | 26.6 | 15.3 | 26.8 | Vermillion (South Dekota) , Shrine to Music Museum |
| Michael Praetorius 1620 (calculated, approx.) | 26th | 13.6 | 22.5 | Michael Praetorius 2, Sciagraphia , plate XXI |
| Rudolf Höß Munich 1690 (?) | 23 | 12.3 | 25th | Berlin, SIM PK, Musical Instrument Museum , No. 4130 |
| Michael Platner Rome 1738 | 27.5 | 15.3 | 26.8 | Privately owned |
| Pietro Antonio Cati , Florence | 26.2 | 13.8 | 25.2 | Museum for Musical Instruments of the University of Leipzig , No. 756 |
| Leopold Widhalm Nuremberg 1769 | 28.2 | 15.3 | 28.2 | Nuremberg, Germanisches Nationalmuseum , MI 26 |
| YES. Gagliano | 24.3 | 12.8 | 25.8 | Privately owned |
| Georg (II) Klotz, Mittenwald 1780 | 33.3 | 14.7 | 29.8 | Privately owned |
| Anonymous, England ca.1750 | 30.1 | 14.4 | 29.4 | Privately owned |
literature
- Margaret Downie Banks: The Violino Piccolo and Other Small Violins. In: Early Music , Vol. 18, No. 4, Oxford University Press, November 1990, pp. 588-596
