Described as "the smallest of the bass viols", one should consider that the consort bass was much larger in 17th century England than most bass viols nowadays (hovering between 78 and 80cm string length, while the division viol hovers around 76cm (30 inches according to Christopher Simpson). The lyra viol therefore is the "smallest" and according to James Talbot (end of the 17th century) is therefore 72cm string length. John Talbot's 17th century measurements for violsArchived 2016-03-22 at the Wayback Machine , The Orthodox viol sizesArchived 2016-03-28 at the Wayback Machine There is a large and important repertoire which was developed specifically for the lyra viol. Due to the number of strings and their rather flat layout, the lyra viol can approximate polyphonic textures, and because of its small size and large range, it is more suited to intricate and quick melodic lines than the larger types of bass viol.
The lyra viol has been favorably compared to both the lute and the violin, by Tobias Hume and Roger North respectively. The name lyra viol came into use because the playing style of bowed chords is similar to that of the lirone.[1]
Structure
The structure of the lyra viol has been fluid throughout its history. In seventeenth century England sympathetic strings were added, which according to John Playford was credited to Mr. Farrant. This use of sympathetic may have led to the development of the baryton, but it was not a lasting development for the lyra viol.[1] The most common lyra viols had six strings, but there were also viols with four, five or seven strings. John Playford describes the lyra viol as the smallest of three types of bass viol: the consort bass, division viol, and lyra viol. Christopher Simpson wrote that the strings on the lyra viol were lighter and the bridge flatter than those on the other bass viols. The strings were also closer to the fingerboard than they were on the consort bass. These modifications were probably in part to make playing chords easier. The first description of bowed polyphonic music for the viol is in a treatise by Johannes Tinctoris, and the first development of its repertoire can be traced back to Sylvestro di Ganassi dal Fontego in the mid-sixteenth century.[1] This technique of chordal writing with heavy use of ornamentation became integral with the French viol composers.
Despite these differences in structure, the lyra viol is not significantly different from other bass viols, and lyra viol music can be played on any bass viol. Although as we have seen during the 17th century builders made instruments specifically for this repertoire.[1]
Some of the most famous English composers of the seventeenth century wrote pieces for the lyra viol, or even entire anthologies. These composers include John Cooper, John Jenkins, Christopher Simpson, Charles Coleman, and William Lawes. The types of pieces written for the instrument range from single melodic lines, to lyra trios and duets, lyra with other instruments, and lyra as accompaniment for a song. Almost all music for the lyra viol is written in tablature, mainly French lute tablature, but also some Italian and a little bit of German lute tablature.[1]
Polyphonic music is idiomatic for the lyra viol. It is most similar to lute music, as the number of voices can change within a piece, unlike harpsichord music where the number of voices tends to stay consistent. Since the lyra viol is bowed, all chords must be formed using adjacent strings. This leads to very close harmonic voice leading, which may also be the reason for the frequent unison double stops in lyra viol music, perhaps also intended to imitate the double course of strings on the lute. Since all the chords must be formed using adjacent strings, scordatura tunings are the rule rather than the exception. Almost 60 different tunings from the seventeenth century have been found. They tended to be formulated so as to put the most important notes on open strings, and were composed in sets of pieces, so that players would not have to retune too frequently.[1]
Another technique for the lyra viol was the ornament or grace known as the "thump", where the player plucks the open strings with the fingers of the left hand. This may have been the forerunner of the technique of plucking the sympathetic strings on the baryton. The viol may also have sometimes been held in the lap and played lute-style. The first reference to this practice is in Tobias Hume's The First Part of Ayres (1605), which was written a number of years before Claudio Monteverdi's Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda (1624) which is frequently cited as the earliest source of pizzicato. Hume's work also discusses playing col legno on the lyra viol.[1]
Many manuscripts of lyra viol music survive showing the level of interest this style enjoyed. The last published collection of music for solo lyra viol John Playford published in 1682. In all, Playford published 5 collections of solo lyra viol music forming the largest published collection (1651, 165[5], 1661, 1669, and 1682). Dating Playford's second collection is difficult given that the few surviving volumes lack the final number in the date. Some sources date this collection to 1652. More recent scholarship by Pullens suggests a date of 1655.
Collections exist from France, Germany, and Sweden. Works for multiple lyra viols also exist. This style influenced the works of France's bass viola da gamba virtuosos of the late Baroque period.
The solo lyra viol music during the 17th century was identified as lessons. Generally, these works are either dance music, patriotic music (mainly loyalists), purely instrumental (preludium and symphony), or vocal music of a secular nature, often being transcriptions of popular songs of the day. Musicians were free to improvise upon a piece, often using ornaments, divisions, polyphonic textures, or adding their own music.
Lyra viol music frequently contains ornaments. However, ornamental signs were not consistently used even within a single publication or manuscript. This problem was never fully settled during the 1600s and is still one of the more vexing issues for lyra viol players and editors.
Even into the 20th century, lyra viol music was often misidentified in library catalogs. Some catalogs still retain these misattributions. Differentiating between tab for lute and lyra viol music requires careful examination of the music by an expert. Broken chords, and strings marked below the tablature lines are clear indications the music is not suitable for the lyra viol. Additionally, some catalogs lump lyra viol music with division music. Though this is a minor point, lyra viol music is traditionally set in tablature. Division music is traditionally set in staff notation.
With the revival of lyra viol performing, some composers have written works using tablature. Among these composers are Martha Bishop, Carol Herman (student of Dr. Frank Traficante), and Peter H. Adams (student of Carol Herman). Both Martha Bishop and Carol Herman have authored publications to assist musicians to learn to play lyra viol music. Peter H. Adams is publishing new editions of historic collections and composed over 100 lessons for solo lyra viol.
Research is still underway to answer basic questions such as how many lyra viol lessons currently exist; how many compositions can be ascribed to any one composer; and can we identify the composer of anonymous lessons. To that end, Gordon Dodd published "The Thematic Index of Music for the Viola da Gamba." This online index is a massive database that can only be searched by visually examining this multi-authored index. The database is not limited to lyra viol lessons. The database encompasses all historic music for viola da gamba. The Index is hosted by the Viola da Gamba Society of Great Britain.
A lute is any plucked string instrument with a neck and a deep round back enclosing a hollow cavity, usually with a sound hole or opening in the body. It may be either fretted or unfretted.
The viol, viola da gamba, or informally gamba, is any one of a family of bowed, fretted, and stringed instruments with hollow wooden bodies and pegboxes where the tension on the strings can be increased or decreased to adjust the pitch of each of the strings. Frets on the viol are usually made of gut, tied on the fingerboard around the instrument's neck, to enable the performer to stop the strings more cleanly. Frets improve consistency of intonation and lend the stopped notes a tone that better matches the open strings. Viols first appeared in Spain and Italy in the mid-to-late 15th century, and were most popular in the Renaissance and Baroque (1600–1750) periods. Early ancestors include the Arabic rebab and the medieval European vielle, but later, more direct possible ancestors include the Venetian viole and the 15th- and 16th-century Spanish vihuela, a six-course plucked instrument tuned like a lute that looked like but was quite distinct from the four-course guitar.
The vihuela is a 15th-century fretted plucked Spanish string instrument, shaped like a guitar but tuned like a lute. It was used in 15th- and 16th-century Spain as the equivalent of the lute in Italy and has a large resultant repertory. There were usually five or six doubled strings.
John Playford (1623–1686) was a London bookseller, publisher, minor composer and member of the Stationers' Company. He published books on music theory, instruction books for several instruments and psalters with tunes for singing in churches. He is perhaps best known today for his publication of The English Dancing Master in 1651.
The baryton is a bowed string instrument similar to the viol, but distinguished by an extra set of sympathetic but also pluckable strings. It was in regular use in Europe until the end of the 18th century.
Tobias Hume was a Scottish composer, viol player and soldier.
William Lawes was an English composer and musician.
A fantasia is a musical composition with roots in improvisation. The fantasia, like the impromptu, seldom follows the textbook rules of any strict musical form.
Bowed string instruments are a subcategory of string instruments that are played by a bow rubbing the strings. The bow rubbing the string causes vibration which the instrument emits as sound.
The lirone is the bass member of the lira family of instruments that was popular in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. It is a bowed string instrument with between 9 and 16 gut strings and a fretted neck. When played, it is held between the legs in the manner of a cello or viol.
Hille Perl is a German virtuoso performer of the viola da gamba and lirone.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603), English art and high culture reached a pinnacle known as the height of the English Renaissance. Elizabethan music experienced a shift in popularity from sacred to secular music and the rise of instrumental music. Professional musicians were employed by the Church of England, the nobility, and the rising middle-class.
The division viol is an English type of bass viol, which was originally popular in the mid-17th century, but is currently experiencing a renaissance of its own due to the movement for historically informed performance. John Playford mentions the division viol in his A Brief Introduction of 1667, describing it as smaller than a consort bass viol, but larger than a lyra viol.
Viola bastarda refers to a highly virtuosic style of composition or extemporaneous performance, as well as to the altered viols created to maximize players' ability to play in this style. In the viola bastarda style, a polyphonic composition is reduced to a single line, while maintaining the same range as the original, and adding divisions, improvisations, and new counterpoint. The style flourished in Italy in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. Francesco Rognoni, a prominent composer of divisions, stated that although works using the bastarda techniques could be played by a number of instruments, including organ, lute, and harp, the "queen" of bastarda technique was the viol because of its agility and large range.
The Harp Consort is an international early music ensemble directed by Andrew Lawrence-King, specialising in Baroque opera, early dance-music, and historical World Music.
The lira da braccio was a European bowed string instrument of the Renaissance. It was used by Italian poet-musicians in court in the 15th and 16th centuries to accompany their improvised recitations of lyric and narrative poetry. It is most closely related to the medieval fiddle, or vielle, and like the vielle had a leaf-shaped pegbox with frontal pegs. Fiddles with drone strings are seen beginning in the 9th century, and the instrument continued to develop through the 16th century. In many depictions of the instrument, it is being played by mythological characters, frequently members of angel consorts, and most often by Orpheus and Apollo. The lira da braccio was occasionally used in ensembles, particularly in the intermedi, and may have acted as a proto-continuo instrument.
In the years centering on 1600 in Europe, several distinct shifts emerged in ways of thinking about the purposes, writing and performance of music. Partly these changes were revolutionary, deliberately instigated by a group of intellectuals in Florence known as the Florentine Camerata, and partly they were evolutionary, in that precursors of the new Baroque style can be found far back in the Renaissance, and the changes merely built on extant forms and practices. The transitions emanated from the cultural centers of Northern Italy, then spread to Rome, France, Germany, and Spain, and lastly reached England . In terms of instrumental music, shifts in four discrete areas can be observed: idiomatic writing, texture, instrument use, and orchestration.
Bass violin is the modern term for various 16th- and 17th-century bass instruments of the violin family. They were the direct ancestor of the modern cello. Bass violins were usually somewhat larger than the modern cello, but tuned to the same nominal pitches or sometimes one step lower. Contemporaneous names for these instruments include "basso de viola da braccio," "basso da braccio," or the generic term "violone," which simply meant "large fiddle." The instrument differed from the violone of the viol, or "viola da gamba" family in that like the other violins it had at first three, and later usually four strings, as opposed to five, six, or seven strings, it was tuned in fifths, and it had no frets. With its F-holes and stylized C-bouts it also more closely resembled the viola da braccio.
Fronimo is a software program for engraving of tablature for lutes, archlute, theorbo and other plucked and bowed instruments.
Jonathan Dunford is an American violist specialising in the baroque repertoire.
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