The Cipher for Viola da Gamba and Lute   Page 1   Page 2   Page 3  Page 4   Page 5   Page 6             Vihuela, Signorelli c.1500     There was one more trick the vihuela guitars were experimenting with that would later prove to be equally or even more important than simply adding frets. They were experimenting with ways of permanently embedding their frets (rather than using tied gut frets). The routine practice of embedding metal frets on European instruments may have happened first on instruments called citterns, and out of necessity. Citterns used courses of metal strings (bronze), and gut frets simply wouldn’t have held up, they would have been cut through quickly, sliced by the metal strings. Citterns were similar in some respects to vihuela guitars but one big difference is that many of them used diatonic fretting rather than chromatic. There were chromatically fretted citterns as well, and the two shown below are chromatic, but I just want you to know.       Cittern: 1570 Girolamo Virchi, Italian. [courtesy of Musée de la musique, France]       Cittern: chromatic, 1550, attributed to Augustinus or Franciscus Citaroedus, Urbino, Italy.           Below; just recently surfaced early cittern icon, Girolamo da Treviso, c.1530-40.       Below; an early example and image of a cittern, painted by Girolamo Dai Libri, at Church of St. Georgio, Verona, Italy, c.1520. Aside from it’s unusual shape, see the peg-head: nine pegs, 4 left, 3 right, and 2 dead center. Also note how the strings wrap over the bridge and terminate at the tail end. It is possible however that this simply an unusual 5 course vihuela-guitar, slab constructed, metal strung, on it’s was to becoming an orpharion.       Below; an earlier still cittern, looks full blown to me, by Giuliano da Majano. intarsia (inlaid wood), 1479-82, Italy, Ducal Palace at Gubbio.       Below; the very earliest cittern (cetra) I’ve found, pre-dating the dai Libri instrument by 85 years. Base-relief carving by Luca della Robbia, 1431-38. See the center pegs, small horns or wings at the body/neck joint, squared little tail extension. These might also have those odd tongue-depressor-like frets seen on some guitars circa 1460.       I’m begining to wonder though, if half of the pear shaped late medieval “gitterns” aren’t actually metal strung and cittern ancestors. There just seems to be too much redundancy in 14th century instruments  if all the small lutes and all of the guiternes are  gut strung and all tuned similarly. Here’s one for your concideration, some kind of gittern or guiterne. This is 1330 Spain, Master Juan Oliver, Cathedral at Pampelune. Note how the strings wrap over the tail edge of the instrument like all wire-strung instruments seem to do. Interesting too is chord voicing being grabbed by this player’s left hand -- this at a time when people were not playing chords (according to the “experts”). The shape of this instrument, if you ignore the smoke-screen of some of the 15th century cetra’s and other would-be cittern precursors, looks for all intents and purposes to be a cittern of 1530 vintage.  Anyhow, just a thought. For more Cittern info and iconography see Andrew Hartig’s Renaissance cittern site.         Below; guiterne, guitarra, or mandore, 1330 Spain, Master Juan Oliver, Cathedral of Pampelune       Another wire-strung and metal-fretted instrument even closer to vihuela-guitar-lutes, in both construction and tuning, is the Orpharion (or orpheoreon). These begin to appear at the late 1500s as six or seven course instruments using standard lute tuning. They were very popular and concidered a substitute or alternative to gut strung lutes and guitars. They would be analogous to modern 12 string guitars in fact (6 paired courses), steel strung, but their sound is a little more reminiscent of a harpsichord (to me), i.e. a thinner sound with faster decay. Some opharions had very angled bridges, fanned frets, and more courses. The festooned shape of the Italian 1550 Citaroedus cittern above looks to me to be well on it’s way to an orpharion. The dai Libri cittern (or metal strung vihuela) of 1520 may also be an early precurser to orpharions.     Below; orpharion and larger bandora, plate from Michael Praetorius’ Syntagma Musicum, 1620.       Below; surviving late 16th century orpharion by John Rose, said to have been a gift from Queen Elizabeth of England (who herself played lute) to Lord Tollemache..       Below; orpharion in a painting of a mixed or broken consort, David Vinckboon, 1610.       Below; detail of the orpharion in David Vinckboon’s 1610 painting.       Below; detail of another early orpharion in a painting attributed to Frans II LeJeune, c1581-1642.       Below; mixed consort, etchiing, Simon De Passe, 1612, including orpharion, cittern, bass viola da gamba, and violin (or possibly treble viol played on the arm), maybe a flute too, (the man in the background).       Below; orpharion or bandora, detail from a larger consort setting, Adriaen Pietersz, 1616.       Below; Orpharion (with simplified body contours, no festooning), Leonard Bramer, c.1630-40, Dutch       Below; Orpharion, Cornelis Norbertus Gijsbrecht, Kopenhagen, 1672.       Below; detail from the title page of Thomas Ford’s 1607 London publication; Musicke  of Sundrie Kindes in four parts -- for Lute, or Orpharion, or Bass Viol. In other words, fretted fourths, plucked or bowed, gut or wire strung.       Below, Arpeggione Bowed Guitar with embedded metal frets. First built in 1823 by J. G. Staufer. Pictured is a reproduction. Franz Schubert wrote a Sonata for it.         The earliest examples of embedded frets on Vihuelas that I’ve seen pictures of used either iron or ivory. Later they turned to brass (like the citterns and orpharions had already) and that’s still what we use today, a nickle/brass compound that looks silvery in color because of the nickel content, but it’s still mostly brass. Embedding frets would make all the difference in the world in the ultimate evolution of the line, the greater lute/vihuela/gamba/guitar line. If the Viols had lasted a mere 50 to 100 years longer, by the early 1800’s I suspect that they too would have been “modernized”, outfitted with more frets and embedded frets and been redesigned for greater reach up the fretboard, just like the Guitars (you can see this in fact on the “Arpeggione”, a bowed guitar made in 1823 by J. G. Staufer). Meaning, they would have kept up with youngsters (the youngsters would have taken over by then and left them no choice). So in the same way that the lute had already begun to add frets, the entire lute/viol world, had they survived, would have eventually migrated to fixed embedded frets, and you and I might not be having this discussion because we would have known about the Gambas all along. We would have grown up playing them. The plucked Lutes never really did die entirely. They became guitars. But the Gambas, the bowed guitars, went poof — or did they. As an aside, and a nice piece of poetry in action; When the six course viola guitars stepped aside in the early mid 1500’s, letting the classic lutes do that job (being content to survive as 6 string viols) baby lutes in the form of 4 course Renaissance guitars all of a suddenly appear. I’ve said earlier that the 4 course guitars came back to fill a void, provide simpler machines for the music making of the masses. Embodying the 4-3-4 tuning kernel, one might guess where they were headed and what they would again become. So here’s the poetry, at the very second that the fathers were to die, i.e. the six string viols in the late 1700’s, the baby lutes had just jumped from 5 course Baroque guitars to 6 course Romantic guitars. The little princes were now to become kings in their own right (again) in the 20th century, being the guitars you and I play today, the machines that essentially defined music from the 1950’s to present, 2004. Lest we forget the mother; the viola/vihuela/guitar lutes owed a good part of their existence (at least) to the classic bowl back lutes. Baroque lutes and theorbos also passed away in the mid 1700s, exactly at the time the guitars were maturing to 6 string. So both parents probably witnessed their babies coming of age, or at least well on the road to. So again, getting back to a historical pattern of Western musical and cultural influence, the long unbroken line of fourths tuned fretted strings, think what’s happen since 1850. Have we had Guitars (and Ukulele’s and Basses) present and prevalent ever since then, e.g. in 1900, 1920, 1940, 1960, 1970, 1980, 1990, 2000, 2003? And haven’t they continued to be a dominant force in Western music, popular music at least (and where it counts the most)? So that pop quiz at the top of this page applies to a virtually unbroken line from 1200 (in early vihuela guitars and lutes) to 2000. A primary if not dominant force and training ground in European music has been the fourths tuned fretted guitar family, and particularly including the nearly forgotten bowed chords, and singing melody lines contributed by the bowed guitars, the Gambas (the one time King of the greater guitar family) that whole time! Out of sight out of mind. Consider, than the majority of the music history texts you’ve ever read were produced within the short timeframe wherein the few remaining Viols in existence have been locked away in vaults or exhibited as museum curiosities, seen by few, let alone heard. And the people who have seen them and heard them have been who?, the violin doctors, violin archaeologists, and violin appreciation societies, not guitarists. And perhaps most importantly consider how few living people  have ever actually sat down and mapped out the fretboards and chord voicings of Lutes or Gambas in an appropriately illuminating graphic format (modern guitar grid fashion), and rarer still then compared those along side other fretted string instruments past and present, guitar specifically, and understood what they were looking at (or perhaps even cared if they did see a pattern). At any rate, perhaps a fundament part of our historical picture and understanding of the guitar line and guitar legacy has been missing because one of the fundamental players in the guitar line (the gambas) has been missing and out of (guitarists) sight for too long. Aside from their being one key player, the Gambas, missing from our line of sight, for some strange reason even the guitar archeologists seem to have gotten it wrong. They apparently don’t even know who their kin are. By this I mean, people (scholars) in both camps, violin and guitar, have been viewing the vihuela/guitar line as being different instruments from lutes. Further, until just recently, the physical vihuela-guitar and viol links (vihuela d’arco to viola da gamba) have either not been made or have not been widely publicized and shared in a manner that would catch enough radar to make an impact (the radar of the guitarists and the impact it might upon them). I for one, wrote 90% of this page and had it on line before I had even had the vihuela d’arco connection to the viola da gambas! Meaning, among other things, that I had already been convinced enough for myself that gambas were guitars, and that in fact all lutes, gambas, and guitars are related, related by tuning pattern alone (the fretboard pattern genetics drawings and the pop-quiz drawing at the top of the page) And that fact alone was strong enough for me to come to all of the conclusions you’ll read in a minute. The vihuela d’arco and viola sine arculo connections puts it way over the top. There’s no need to have to almost contrive connections, connections via tuning line, which instrument archeologists and organologists would not  recognize or value let alone find cause to rejoice in. The string instrument archaeologists are apparently most concerned with judging books more by their covers rather than for their content — chord voicings and what I’m calling fretboard genetics here. They have been using body shape (and construction techniques inherent in body shape) and geography of origin as the primary criterion and determinant (even though we know just from the silk road, Moorish Spain, and Crusades cultural exchanges that geography and ultimate origin mean little in the end). They could have been using a more biological approach, a or even genetics approach,  tunings and resulting chords, in determining who was in the family! A truly organological approach. The organs of a guitar, and the organs of a lute, in my eyes, are their chord voicings, and those chord voicings are the result of the potential inherent in their genetic code,  their tunings and markers (frets, chromatic frets). Meaning fourths tuning with frets is the first key. Fourths tuning works perfectly fine for chords up to a point, that point being (at least) to four strings. If you use all fourths on a shorter scale treblely 4 string or 4 course instrument you’ll have more than enough music and musical potential (and chords) to last you a  lifetime. But at some point, for the line to evolve and grow, to be able to add strings low or high and still have lots of nice pretty and easy to finger chordable voicings you need to add some new blood to the line. You need to insert a Major 3rd interval in the tuning pattern, you need to evolve the 4th 3rd 4th tuning kernel. And that, that tuning kernel (plus chromatic frets) is the key, the key link between Lutes and Guitars, Lutes and Vihuelas, Vihuelas and Viola da Gambas, Lutes and Viola da Gambas, Viola da gambas and Guitars. If you have that tuning kernel and all-4ths relationships in any additional strings added high or low then you’re in the family. Once you recognize that the rest will fall into place. You will know, see, and remember who’s related to whom. The idea and existence of the 4th 3rd 4th tuning kernel is not new to people (it’s not my discovery) but somehow people just haven’t been making the links. In a nut shell, from a fretboard genetics perspective, as a rule of thumb, if you can isolate a tuning pattern from within the 7 string Viola da Gamba’s tuning pattern you’re looking at the same family of instruments, the same gene pool, same influential family of music making machines and players. It’s all the same stuff, they are all the same instrument, and we who played them are all the same people.                     Below: “Violin Family” according to 1972 Harvard Dictionary of Music Those Viols do not belong there --  they are Guitars, they are not in the violin family.         Below, Michael Praetorius, 1619, Theatrum Instrumentorum: Plate XX Viola da Gambas Plate XXI Violin family Two plates, two different families. He knew, we forgot.        . . . show um how it’s done, ladies . . .                     Viola da Braccio -- the early history . . or . . The first 130 years of small viols; what they looked like, and how they were held and played As long as we’re talking about shapes, sizes, and configurations of bowed guitars, instrument iconography in general, and interpreting them; there’s one more item that’s been completely glossed over, largely ignored, by both violin and viol archaeologists alike (of the former you can be sure ;’), an item that’s been omitted from pretty much every book and every web site to date dealing with the history of viols and violins (check for yourselves, todays date is 4-22-05 but I’ve had this sketched out and online for 5 months already), namely the documented existence of a whole family of 4 string, fretted, lute tuned, viol fiddles (4-4-3 GCFA, and 4-3-4 CFAD), in Martin Agricola’s Treatise of 1529-45, Musica instrumentalis deudsch. The respective plates from that treatise are reproduced here below. These instruments (and all viols of any string count played on the arm) were  the original “viola da braccio”, members of the same plucked fretted viola family we’ve focused so much attention on here. These were 4 string, 4ths tuned (or lute tuned) fretted fiddles, one of a number of instruments that eventually merged in the early mid 1500’s to give us violins. [the other proto-violins being the small narrow-bodied, pear-shaped, three string, rebec-like, fretless, 5ths tuned bowed instrument, the Renaissance fiddle, and the lira da braccio. As those instruments merged into one, they still had to evolve sound-posts, and bass bars, and gut strings that could do consecutive 5ths across 4 strings without breaking before we get true violins. So all of these early instruments are in one way or another pre-violins.] Before we go any further, I want to get one part of our discussion out of the way by showing you some examples of lira da braccio, a type of fiddle that we’ll be avioding here, and the only real competition we’ll have when hunting through iconography for arm viols -- violins are barely even the running (as it turns out).       below; close up detail of a lira da braccio, Giovanni Bellini, San Zaccaria Altarpiece, 1505. This is the most common configuration, four or five strings on the fingerboard and two off the side, said to be used as drones. Liras have short, narrow, fretless, necks, long tails, thin ribs, and almost always have leaf or heart shaped peg-boxes.       below; as this anon 1515 Italian picture shows, liras usually, but not always, had leaf shape peg boxes. This instrument is four strings on, two off.       below; composite sheet of lira da braccio. The majority of these are circa 1500-1540.       Now that we‘ve got that out of the way, the instrument we’re not looking for, but most often comparing against, we’ll return now to small, fretted,  lute tuned, fiddles, viols (bowed guitars), played on the arm . . . The following three plates are from Agricola’s chapters 8, 9, and 10.  In chapter 9 he introduces his . . . “second type of large or small fiddles, which are found only with four strings (and frets), and how they should be tuned.” For context; the first type of fiddles (geigen) Agricola discusses are the 5 and 6 string fretted viols in lute tuning. His third and final type of small fiddle only are: three string, 5ths tuned, fiddles -- which, it should be noted, he takes extra pains to advise should be learned using frets first. Later, if desired, the frets might be cut off. I have a particular fondness for Agricola, if only for the frank no-nonsense attitude and language he uses in his treatise when addressing at least some of his learned colleagues, things like this, for example, opening his chapter eight, and in reference to his there to be introduced and discussed innovation and proposed practice, that of adapting lute tablature to viols (what a stretch!, and for that he must defend his actions beforehand from the likes of any probable and anticipated detractors. My, how history repeats itself ;’)  . . . Martin wrote; “Since I have spoken about the lute, and have set down a second tablature arranged adroitly for the neck of the lute, I have reflected even further that I could apply this tablature appropriately to fiddles without causing an uproar. But it would not proceed simply, for I must receive some censure for it, although I expect it not from skilled people but from uneducated, lazy good-for-nothings who do not know what things mean. Off to the rubbish-heap with these people! Why should I waste many useless words? They will only laugh themselves to death at them.” Martin is my kind of man! ;’)           Martin Agricola plate of 1529             Four string lute tuned fretted fiddles, Martin Agricola plate of 1529       Martin Agricola plate of 1529       detail of tunings of four string viols, open strings}         Please let there be no question about the tunings of these instruments. This is one of the keys to the history of 16th century bowed string instruments, distinguishing viol family from violin family instruments. [In his ground breaking book, Four and Twenty Fiddlers, page 22, Peter Holman describes the tunings documented in these plates as being “four strings tuned in fifths, fourths, and a third”. Sorry Peter, not so.]  Running left to right, the open string tunings for three sizes of four string lute tuned fiddle instruments (viols) are given : Martin Agricola, 1529: Bass   GCFa =  4-4-3 Tenor  CFad =  4-3-4 Treble Gcfa =  4-4-3   We get much the same from Ganassi as well, in his Book II: titled "Lettione Seconda" (Venezia, 1543) Chapter 22: four string fretted lute tuned viols: Bass   FADG =  3-4-4 Tenor  CEAD =  3-4-4 According to most all current sources, books and web sites, you’d think there was no such thing as four string viols! For hundreds of years this notion  has been at the foundation, a key-most defining distinction, between viols and violins. Actually, there’s three things: four strings,  anything played da braccio (on the arm), and thin ribs, are the supposed distinguishing definers that have allowed violin, viola, and cello enthusiasts to declare they have no shared ancestory, and are not descendant, in any way shape or form, from viols. This is what they have been trying to do and prove for the last 150 years. And they have succeeded at least in part because of these three key missing bits of evidence to the contray (that viols ever had four strings, were ever played da braccio, or ever had thin ribs). This is what has allowed all four string bowed instruments seen in 16th century iconography to be classified as violin family, and a big part of the assumptions that have allowed  the recent declaration of so called early sets or consorts of violins needed and present in the early and mid 1500s -- see the book “Four and Twenty Fiddlers”. I think we might have reason revise quite a few definitions, books, and websites that deal with the history of string instruments. These viola da braccio that I’m about to show you were four (five, or six) string bowed guitars, not violins. They also coincide with plucked four course Renaissance Guitars -- which were also tuned 4-3-4 ;’) And it’s not only the four string viols that were played da braccio. Five string treble and alto viols were also played da braccio, and often (the pictures, iconography, will show). So armed with this interesting tidbit, that of 4 string fretted lute-tuned fiddles, large and small, keep them mind the next time you see an instrument in the iconography which most would assure you were violins or bass “viola da braccio” violins tuned in 5ths. Is that sooo? hummm. Below I’ll offer some contenders for these instruments, early viola-family viola da braccios or simply guitar-family “fiddles” in general. Understand that 99% of the time you hear or see the phrase “viola da braccio” it is used as a synonym for the baroque violin family or it’s immediate predecessor, i.e. early violins in general: four-string frettless 5ths tuned instruments. Yet the same writers are then cautious to add that viola da braccio and violins are two different things. So what the frell were viola da braccios? They usually avoid putting  a face to them. They apparently just were. Here I’ll take the term literally, as arm viola (da braccio) rather than leg viola (da gamba) yet still being of the same family, bowed viola lutes, and see what we can come up with. Similarly, these could be thought of as arm vihuelas or vihuela da braccios, vihuelas played at the arm (guitar-fiddles, of any string count, remembering of course that all viola da gambas are also literally and definately guitar-fiddles). I’ll also include here instruments that are bowed 4 string fretted regardless of size or position of playing. Origianlly, I wrote here; “the more I think about this, and the more iconography I see, this is in some ways a dead end -- because we know what happened in the end.” By around 1550-60, we have 4 string, 5ths tuned, fretless, early violins. Meaning; the small, fretted, 4 string, 4ths tuned, waist-cut, arm violas, did not last long in any event (perhaps a 75 year window?). Five string, 4ths tuned, waist-cut, arm violas, however, were also common, and lasted quite a long time. Thus, we have more opportuinty and likelyhood of seeing those.  But now, almost two months later, I can report that this has been a very fruitfull hunt indeed, much has been recaptured, I believe. All we really need to find in the iconography is two examples of small arm viols at the beginning of the time-line, two at the end, and two somewhere in the middle, to know without question that these instrumetns and playing posture existed. I’m about to give you 50 to 60 examples (possible, probable, or definate) to choose from. If you can find six example therein that satisfy you, well  there you go, it was worth the effort. That said, we still don’t know much about 4 and 5 string Renaissance Fiddles, an immediate earlier instrument, having C-holes, and without waist cuts, and a body contour that can best be described as vihuela-like, smooth-curved figure-eight-ish. Most of those instruments have more than four strings, usually 5, sometimes with one string hanging off the side of the fretboard as a drone or thumb plucked, and they are usually fretted. The lira-type  instruments with 5, 6, or 7 strings (with one or two strings off the fretboard), commonly called lira da braccio today, go all the way back to the Catigas de Santa Maria instruments (1260 Spain) and reach into the early 1600s. But of the four string Renaissance fiddles, we do have one very interesting bit of evidence, the U.C. Berkeley manuscript dating from the mid-1300s, giving the tunings for 4 course gittern-lute and 4 string fiddle or veile, being, respectively, 4-4-4, and 2-4-4. That is to say, fiddles existing just 100 years before 1475  tuned largely in 4ths. This manuscript has largely been ignored by musicologists (since being alreted to it 25 years ago), hence Jerome tuning is all most people have ever heard about. One thing we can say with good confidence is that any four string fiddle existing prior to 1550 (or there abouts) was not tuned in 5ths, and those existing between 1475 and 1550 were the original viola da braccio (i.e. small viols played on the arm). In Jerome tuning there may have been one or two 5ths somewhere in the tuning pattern, but never two 5ths in succession. Straight 5ths tuning was the sole domain of the 3 string Rebec, transfered to 3 string viola-violin body shapes and construction sometime in the early mid 1500s, and finally to 4 strings in 5ths by the mid 1500s. What ever these instuments I’m about to show you are (and their true identity is now clear), most of them have fallen between the cracks because they’re not easily classified or have no ready names (that is, ready names that haven’t been userped by the violin enthusiasts). Violin archiologists and enthusiasts only want to see violins everywhere they look, and hear only of 5th intervals existing in any tuning, and to see no visable frets. So they cherry-pick and exhibit only the most violin-looking instuments from the early iconogrophy, and only those tunings that contain at least one 5th interval in them, and discard and discount everything else. I, on the other hand, want to see guitars, so I see guitar shapes, frets, and 4ths tunings. I cherry pick those -- and low and behold they are there. And that approach was indeed fruitful enought to recalim viols as the guitars they truly are, i.e. the approach provided more than enough validation. And, as you’ll see below, it has now proved out again,  as the guitarists can now reclaim at least one kind of early viola da braccio as theirs as well. The history of string instruments gets murky very quickly from around 1475 back, but there’s probably still be more to reclaimed and recaptured for the guitar enthusiasts, e.g. all those guitar-like instruments, plucked and bowed, seen carved in stone on countless medieval cathedrals. If you don’t see frets in stone-work that doesn’t mean they weren’t there. It just means they were too hard to carve (a deep-relief checker-board on every neck) in stone, and not worth the time and effort. So,  to recap, here I’ll take the term viola da braccio literally, as arm viola (da braccio) rather than leg viola (da gamba) yet still being of the same family, viola lutes, and see what we can come up with ;’) Fiddles that are not violins -- or -- Early Viola da Braccios were also Bowed Guitars ;’)     I think we’ll begin as early as possible, looking for likely suspects (i.e. bowed lutes played da braccio). Below is a Renaisance fiddle of a sort. It’s unusual in many respects, and looking very much akin to the lute it’s here mated with. I’ve seen enough small lutes or gitterns bowed da braccio in 15th century iconography to believe that’s where it all started, just proir to jumping to waist-cut viola bodies and to much larger sized instruments in general as well. This image is a detail of an illumination in an anonymous 15th century French manuscript.       Below; this would really be pushing our luck, but this is c.1400, Mariotto di Nardo, Italian. It just seems to me that there’s a very frequent pairingg of instruments in 15th century pictures, a lute and a bowed da braccio instrument, the later alway seeming to take extra pains to distinguish itself visually from other types of fiddles, and always seeming to give a deliberate nod to the lute it’s there mated with. The round rosette(s) in particular might be the most telling feature, the association that’s being evoked, perhaps intentionally, not by accident. As I said, it’s puching our luck, including something of such an early vintage, but there you go. If nothing else, it’s pretty to look at ;’)       Below; here’s another example of lute and “something” being linked in some way, with the bowed “something” appearing again to give a nob to the lute it’s mated with. Benedetto Bembo, Castle Sforzesco, Milan, Italy, 1462. I think? I can see frets on this one too, not sure. Is it just coincidence, in these first three pictures, the mating and feature nods being given to lutes and guiterns by these bowed instruments?       Below; unidentified mid 15th century picture       Below; vihuela-viola (I have to assume, but it’s extremely early), Arion (Arione) and the Dolphin, Andrea Mantegna, fresco, 1467-74, Wedding Chamber (Camera degli sposi) Ducale Palace, Mantova, Italy. This is an extremly rare and unusual image, both the date (very early) and shape of the instrument.       Below; larger sample context detail from whch the above was taken -- Andrea Mantegna, fresco, 1467-74, Wedding Chamber -- Arion is at lower left       Below; Base Relief sculpting by Augustin Di Duccio, in Church of Saint Francisco, Rimini, Italy 1450-55. One plucked and two bowed lutes.       Below; betail of bowed lutes, base relief by Augustin Di Duccio, in Church of Saint Francisco, Rimini, Italy 1450-55. These are 4 string or course, flat back, lute bridges and tails, lute style peg boxes, round rosettes, apear to have two standard lute-rib sides.       below; bowed-gittern da braccio, single course, 6 string?, Stefano da Verona, lived 1375-1451, Italy.       below: the Muse Cleo, French manuscript, 15th century I believe, with bowed lute.       BINGO! Below; 15th century Italian, viol played on the arm. I don’t have an exact date on this picture, but it’s at the perfect time, place, and shape. I’d guess c.1460-80. See all the small vihuela guitars further down on this page for size and shape comparsons. P.S. This image came late to me, on 11-28-05, months after I had essentially wrapped-up this arm-viol section and associated hunt. A nice little surprise ;’)       Below; c.1490, Italy, detail from an illuminated “Sforza” Book of Hours (another new find, 9-2006, almost a year later), again pointing to parity amoung a bowed and plucked instument, both being of the same size and particulars, lute-like smallish oval bodies, clearly fretted necks, one at least (bowed on the arm) has a flat back, the other may too.       Below; from the same manuscript as the above, the Sforza Book of Hours, c.1490 Italy, a composite of three details from three differnent plates therein, three iterations of the exact same instrument (and there are two or three more similars that I haven’t included here as well): small, thin ribbed, waist-cut viola, fretted, four string, played on the arm, two pegs to a side. Arm viols or viola da braccio, descant size of the viol family but “viola” in size or string-length relative to modern-day instruments.       Below; small viol and it’s bow (lower left), Garofalo, Italy, c.1490-1510. Interesting pointed shoulders and short wide neck. I believe this picture matches another Garofalo fresco, show at the bottum of the next page, a picture containing an instrument many assume is an early violin, but it may be a small four string viol.       Below, supposedly the oldest known viol (and only recently declared so by the folks at the Orpheon in Austria), from a fresco in Valencia Spain, c.1475-85. It’s a five stringer. Understand though, that people have latched on to this picture because it’s what moderns want and need to see; thicker ribs and held vertically, waist-cuts too, etc. Also understand that all dating of these early pictures is probably on the conservative side, and that many of the other early guitars/violas/vihuelas shown below, plucked and bowed, could actially be more like 1460-80, but people are conservatively dating them at c.1500. Point being, there’s simply too much, too many specimens and varriation types that are all being dated c.1500 (I believe). The fresco from which this image comes has also only recently been very heavily restored (the state shown below reflects the restorations). The original state was extremely deteriorated. Note too on this instrument; it has a leaf-shaped peg-box with pegs inserted perpendicular to the neck. One such red-dart peg is visible in the blow-up. Keep this in mind when anyone tells you the viols never used leaf-shape peg boxes and  therefore any instrument seen anywhere anytime that did have them could not have been a viol but was something else, a lyra for example.       Ok, so now (9-2-06) I have to come back to this picture yet again and question it some more, it’s dating that is. The problem is, this instrument does have “all the right stuff” for a later instrument. But there is no precedant for any of it’s design features and construction particulars in any well and firm date-documented instrument plucked or bowed! Orpheon states “around 1475-85”. 1475 is out of the question, 1485 is still very wishfull thinking I believe. Either this picture’s recent dating is wrong, or the dating of everything else, all other pictures of plucked and bowed string  instruments in Spain and Italy c.1450-1510 is wrong (the dates of many pictures would have to be moved back to c.1460, which BTW might help explain a few other things). In 2004, a new picture surfaced, a bit of iconoraphy, evidence, a fresco hidden for the last 300 years behind a false ceiling in the Valencia cathedral, firmly date as being exicuted between 1472 and 1481. This fresco contains many musician angels, among them a very exciting, early,  and unique, plucked waist-cut vihuela/viola (the painters were Italian). That instrument stands now, as far as I can tell, as being the oldest plucked waist-cut vihuela on record. It shows the in pieces or slabs technique of vihuela construction itself fully developed (again, being the earliest well-dated graphic documantation we have of it so far, I believe). Raphael’s small viol of 1510 (35 years later) for example exhibits a state of perfection in vihuela/viola constructiuon technique now clearly visible in the newly discovered Valencia cathedral waist-cut plucked vihuela/viola -- 35 years earlier. The Borgia apartment waist-cut plucked viola-vihuela  of 1492 is another and earlier fine example of the state of the art. But our new plucked instument from Valencia is at least 15 years earlier still than the Borgia apt specimen.       Below left; the newly discovered plucked and waist-cut vihuela-viola from the Valencia cathedral fresco, firmly dated as painted between the years 1472-81. At right is S. Virdung’s bowed vihuela-viola illustrated in his 1510 treatise. Here, we have a believable progression, an evolution, it makes sense.       Now concider what the instrument above (our supposed oldest viol in iconoraphy) includes and contains in that one picture and one instrument, all of the developements it embodies (and each and every one of them essentially out of the blue!): - vihuela construction techniques fully developed already (and out of nowhere, out of the blue!) - waist-cut vihuela construction fully developed (let alone without waist-cuts) and again out of the blue, no precedance. - an already developed single-string bowing technique and desire/need for it -- note the bridge is high, wide, and very arched, string spacing. - fully developed arched bowing bridge - full and complete sucess and development at porting “lute-ness” (fretted 4ths) to a bowed string instrument - already has a very large sized body, deep ribbed body, AND played upright or vertical to boot. it’s too good, something is missing -- many things are missing. It doesn’t fit within the surrounding existing evidence and time-line (as things are currently dated that is). Below; vihuela de arco, stone carving on Spanish Cathedral, mid-late 1400s. A bow in his right hand is indicated. The overall size, proportions, and configuration of this instrument is the thing to note (returning now to our arm-viol investiations). It wouldn’t be much of a trick to throw this instrument up on your shoulder, or put it’s but end up into your solar plexus, or left or right shoulder or forearm. Also note that this instrument makes sence as existing in c.1475. It concievably and believably fits (where-as the above claimed “oldest viol” does not).       below; another early guitar to compare with some of these early viols. Vihuela de penola (= Viola de penola) late 1400s Valencia Spain, detail from "Virgen con nino y angeles musicos", Retablo/Alterpeice, Colegiata de Xativa.       below, is that Toledo Cathedral instrument again. I don’t have a date for it, but I’ll guess late 15th century. In any event, the more I look at it I think it might be a small four string bowed viol, not a plucked viola. I’ve never seen “S” holes on a plucked viola and the right hand is out in the air, so it may originally have held a bow. The kind of tail this instrument has is further indication of the type of instrument it might have been. Compare it to the other Spainish Cathedral viol seen two pictures up, and also with the instruments in the next three images.       Below; Gerard de Saint Jean, Virgin in Glory, Dutch, 1490. Lute-fiddle, vihuela d’arco da braccio. Note the bend-back lute-style peg-head, long narrow neck, lute-style tail bridge glued to face. Most would call this a Renaissance Fiddle -- which takes us into murky waters. [full image here]           Below, for comparison with the above; small, four string, small bodied, shallow ribbed,  fretted, bowed viola, bent back lute-style peg-head Sardinia Italy c.1500.       late 1400s, Vihuela d’arco, Valencia Spain, bent-back lute-style peg-head, 4 string       Below; far right top, Vihuela de Arco (da braccio), 1496, Franchinous Gaffurius Practica Musicae (cover page of), Milan, Spain. In this famous work and rendering, the small bowed arm viola/vihuela clearly has lute-style peg-box and bridge.             below; viol (vihuela d’arco, ), Spanish, sculpture, c.1500, Valencia Cathedral. Compare it’s overall proportions to the above. This instrument no doubt had the same bent-back lute style peg-box, (now broken off).       below; vihuela de arco (da braccio), 6 string, with bent-back lute-style peg box, round rosette and C holes. I don’t have a date or place for this picture but I’ll assume it’s mid 15th century Spain or Italy. There were somewhat similar looking instruments in the late 14th century, with a variety of string-counts (single strings, paired courses, or lira-like), neck lengths, and peg-box designs, but this one apears to be of a later evolution. This instrument is very reminiscent of the person, place, and time, of the painter Sano di Pietro, Sienna, Italy, born 1406, died 1481. See the picture directly following this one.       below; painting by Sano di Pietro, Marriage of the Virgin, Sienna, Italy, born 1406, died 1481. This instrument is 5 string, very similar to the one above. This one apears to have perpendicular fret-lines on the upper neck near the nut.       Here’s an interesting and unavaiodable juxtaposition; instruments plucked and bowed, of the smooth-curved figure eight or peanut body shape, c.1470 to 1500, and all with bent-back lute-style peg-boxes and round rosette sound holes. There are so many differenent ways of approaching this it almost makes my head spin sometimes ;’)       Below; a later find, a plucker, which predates the earliest of the above instruments by as much as 30 years. From a French illuminated manuscript dated 1440-50. To my knowledge, asside from the Salamanca viola, this might now be the oldest 15th century guitar-like instrument on record.       viola da braccio,  Peter Le Jeune Vischer, the muse Clio. Vischer lived from 1460 to 1529, so this could be very early, say 1490-1525. Has lute/guitar style bridge and peg-head.             below; Marco Palmezzano viola, bowed lute, played da braccio. Unusual in that the instrument has no waist-cuts. Can’t tell if it’s bowl-back or flat-back, I suspect the later. Detail from Madonna enthrowned with Saints, 1510. [full image]       Below; similar instrument also from Marco Palmezzano, bowed lute-shaped vihuela-viola played da braccio, 1537? the year he died.       below; another Marco Palmezzano viola, with waist-cuts, played da braccio, Coronation of the Virgin, detail. Notice that narrow thin ribs are present. We’ll be highlighting this feature more as we go -- it’s key, but has been overlooked.       Below; close-up of the Marco Palmezzano Coronation of the Virgin viola, with waist-cuts, played da braccio.       Below; and Glory be! another of the same by Marco Palmezzano (found many months later, on Jan 1st 2006), Chiesa dei Minori Osservanti. This is what at least some vihuela d’arco and viola cum arculo really looked like, and how they were really held and played.       below; yet another Marco Palmezzano, 1537, Virgin Enthroned with three Saints and Archangel Raphael with Tobias.       Below; rotated close-up of the Marco Palmezzano, Virgin Enthroned, viola, 1537. Now you can see this instrument has a large sickle-shaped peg box with animal head finial. Also note this viola has a single cut only, i.e. a wider lower bout.       Below; here’s a similar sized and shaped small plucked viola-vihuela, same single cut too, I believe  --  Girolamo Dai Libri, detail from Virgin and Child Enthrowned with St. Anne, Verona, Italy, c.1510-15       Below; here’s what I mean by single-cut and wider lower bout, a larger and long-necked vihuela, an Intarsia (rendering via wood, inlayed or marquetry), c.1507. Nice horse head too! Thin ribs to boot.       below; consort of viols, all five stringers, with da braccio viola, Goldegg Castle, fresco, Germany, 1536       below, detail of five string da braccio viola, Goldegg Castle, fresco, Germany, 1536         Below: plucked vihuela and 4 string vihuela de arco / viola da braccio, aka bowed guitar (that’s not a violin, I don’t believe). This instrument is too early, c.1500-1510 (Fresco, anon, Ferrara Italy), and too big, to be a violin.       Peg head detail of the above. Squint your eyes a little and you should be able to make out 4 pegs, two per side. Again, there were no four string violins in existance yet, it’s doubtful there were even  three string violins in existance yet, and this instrument is huge in size.       Update, 12-17-2006. We have a good color image to work from now and it’s clear this instrument is fretless (out of the running for our purposes) but very intersting no less because it does in fact have four strings fretless (at this early date, 1510-15).       for quick comparison with the above image (for shape, size, body depth, peg head, etc.), see this ealry viol; Madre de Deus Retable, very early 1500s, Spain or Portugal If you flipped this instrument up so that it’s butt was on your chest it would be nearly the same as the one in the preceeding image. And remember, there were no violin players around yet to tell people that da braccio playing is not allowed because that will be reserved for violins alone ;’). But wait, there is a violin in this picture, the rebec da braccio on the far right (we’ll see this occurance repeatedly as we examine more pictures here).       Let’s insert Raphael’s viol of 1514 for shape and size refernce too.       I’ll insert Callisto Piazza’s viol as well, The Concert, 1528-30, Italian.       below; vihuela de arco, Mary, Valencia, Spain, late, 1400s       Below; viola bowed da braccio (arm viola), detail from The Breviary of Duke Rene II of Lorraine, c.1490,  French. Now that we have a decent version of this image we can see a second small lancet sound port near the end of the neck (a feature found on many bowl-back lutes of the period), and notice that the ribs of this instrument (it’s body depth) appear fairly shallow. This instrument also has a very definate bent-back right-angle lute-style peg-box. And it sure looks like a guitar to me ;’)       I can even make out fret-lines in the blowup.         Update 5-10-2005: As long as we’re in France, same time period, we now have the mate of the Gonesse Organ case painted instruments at Abbey Eglise Saint Pierre Saint Paul, 1508, France, we saw on page two of this essay. [if you recall, it’s mate was also the cap-stone viola sine arculo plucker viola lute-guitar. This then is a viola cum arculo (with bow), tenor or alto of the same set, played da braccio, and from the very start. Combine any of these early documented instruments with the two (or three) Gilling castle freize viols played da braccio (discused later on page 4) and we now can say, declare, with confidence, conclusively, that for at least 100 years, say 1485 to 1585 (essentially all of the 16th century), small viols, alto and treble, were played da braccio. Now we just have to fill in the gaps. [ I knew there were more viols and violas in those organ case panels ;’) ]       Below; viola da braccio / viola cum arculo; Gonesse Organ case painted instruments at Abbey Eglise Saint Pierre Sain tPaul, 1508, France       below, it’s larger plucked mate       Below, vihuela d’arco da braccio, Osma Master, Spanish, Castilian, c.1500, detail from Saint Anne Enthroned with Virgin and Child. Note leaf shaped peg box, narrow ribs, short tail, long neck, round rosette, waist-cuts, etc. This does not appear to be a lira da braccio.       blowup of the Osma Master instrument peg box, appears to be 3 side-mounted pegs on the viewable side, maybe only 2.       Below, anon, Apollo at Parnasus, 1507. Transitional hybrid with older Renaissance fiddle body and long lute neck, large instrument, well populated peg box,  tenor viol, played da braccio.       below; two more long-necked plucked viola/vihuela guitars, one with waist cuts, one without -- just to show you the variety amoung both the plucked and bowed versions of the instrument in the early 16th century.Both of these have fairly small bodies and thin-ish ribs as well.       Below; viola-vihuela de penola, 1567, German       while we’re at it, below is a long neck lute, 1536-38, Gregorio Lopes, detail from Virgin with Angels, Portugal.       Below; viola da braccio (appears to be 4 string), Ornamental detail, Giovanni Pietro da Birago, 1505-1515,  Italy. A few interesting features on this instrument to note: again this is an early transitional hybrid configuration, has a butt design similar to Durer’s small viola of the same period (also seen on one line of Renaissance fiddles), the waist-cut decoration is very much like that of the vihuela da braccio at the Toledo Cathedral (but 40-50 years earlier), and  a long narrow lute-style bridge like the Grunewald arm viola. This one is odd with lute bridge plus separate tail piece running on top of it (maybe a conversion, or maybe a confused draftsman ;’). At this date, if it has more than three strings it’s not a violin.       Matthias Grunewald, Isenheim alterpiece, North German, arm viola, c.1510-15       zoom in, string count       below; a more detail of the tenor viol from the Isenheim alterpiece       below; right on time, viola played da braccio, French tapesty, c.1500, The Concert at the Fountain.       detail       Below; 1524, viola da braccio, four string viol, from The Book Hours, Jehan de Luc. Note how this viola even mirrors exacly the shape and contours of the instruments depicted in all early treatices, right down to the bent-back lute-style peg-head and angel-wing waist-cuts (which we’ll talk about on page 4), e.g. Martin Agricola’s 1529 treatice which we opened this section with (and even earlier treatices, like Sebastian Virdung’s of 1511, show this shape). This is the best, closest visual match, I’ve ever seen [full image here].       Below, Garofalo (Benvenuto Tisi) St. Cecilia (undated but probably around 1500-20). Small viola da braccio, very narrow and tapered, waist-cuts. Blow-up detail shows at least 4 strings. This is a rather rare occaision example where a leaf-box style peg-box is not indicative of a lira da braccio. Frets seem indicated.             detail of Garofalo viol       below; viola da braccio, Master Evora (Maître d’Evora). Virgin with Angel Musicians, c.1490-1510. A transitional shape from the earlier Renaisance fiddles but exhibiting clear differences, e.g. wide arched bridge, large well-populated lute-style peg box, round sound-hole in addition to the C holes, much shorter tail, wider neck, etc. Narrow ribs are present. [full image here]       below; painting by Correggio,  c.1520, Italy, detail from Madonna and Child in Glory. This is obviously not a violin, and I don’t think it’s a lira da braccio either (although it could be). Part of the total neck width of this instrument is obscured, but if you extarpolate it out, that’s a very wide neck for a lira da braccio, and peg-head design means little in the end (even though I’ve tried to steer away from most leaf-shaped peg-boxes as much as possible here to aviod any problems). We may as well collect all probables first, and then knit-pick later. i.e. rather than automatically give the benefit of doubt to some other instrument every time.       Below; while we’re at it then, I’ll insert this unidentified picture and instrument. I’d ballpark this picture at around 1480 plus or minus 15 years. Here again, it’s possible that this instrument is a lira da braccio, but that’s an awfully wide (and long) neck. That curvatious shape is also not typical of lira da braccio. I see five strings in any event. For now, we can just file it away as a “maybe”, a good candidate though.       Below; update 11-21-05, good guess Rog, picture is now identified, artist is Benedetto Bonfigli, 1455-65, Italy, Madonna and Child with Musical Angels. This picture shows a bit more of the neck length but we still can’t see the peg box. Grrrr ;’) That is indeed a very long neck in any event.       below; for a quick reality check, here’s a contemporary picture of Jordi Savall playing a treble viol. Just note the general size, shape, and proportions of the instrument, and regardless of playing posture (he too grew up seeing mostly 17th century pictures of viols, and was raised  the 20th century werein most viol revivalists thought all viols, of all sizes, were always and only played da gamba, never da braccio). This is a 6 string viol (patterned or pastiched after some late 15th or early 16th century instrument(s), so the neck would get narrower with fewer strings still, 5 or 4.  [Jordi is another person you’ll come to know if you start looking into viola da gamba recordings -- and all Early music recordings in general for that matter].       below (next two); another likely suspect (of a small vihuela d’arco), detail, Luca Signorelli, Paradise, San Brizio, 1499-1502, Italy [full image here].       below; further detail of the above picture. The razor sharp edges and flat planes of this instrument, top and sides, also seem to  indicate vihuela-like or slab construction techniques.       So far, we’ve focused primarily on long-necked waist-cut viola-vihuela-guitars, plucked and bowed, but here below are two small smooth-curved and short-necked plucked vihuela guitars, c.1467, to add to the mix. As a matter of routine here I’ll be going back and forth between plucked and bowed versions of these instruments so you can see the huge amount of variation that existed, and then still be able to make connections and comparisons no matter what might be thrown your way. Both of the images below are from tarot decks (Italian tarocchi cards), and both depict the muse Terpsichore (of Greek Mythology).             and one more for good measure; below, small guitar, detail from 15th century enameled glass bowl, Venice, Italy. Note the peg head and “up high” (on the arm) playing posture. I don’t know what to make of the frets on these three instruments -- they look like tongue depressors ;’) . Note; I’ve been told since writting this that the three instruments seen here are suspected by some to be some kind of early cittern/cistern and possibly wire strung.       Below; small vihuela-guitar, wall painting inside the Church (or Cathedral?) of San Segundo, Avila, Spain, 15th century.       Below; small vihuela-guitar, Girolamo Dai Libri, detail from Virgin and Child Enthrowned with St. Anne, Verona, Italy, c.1510-15       Below; new picture as of 9-2006, showing a soprano vihuela, extremely small bodied instrument with fairly wide neck, anon Spanish painting, 16th cent.       Below, small vihuela-guitar, carving attributed to Peter Vischer the Younger, 1487-1528, St. Sebalus Church, Nuremberg, (Germany).       Below; small bodied long-necked vihuela, illustration from Luys De Narvaez’s vihuela book, published in 1538.       Below; small bodied vihuela-guitar, 16th century stone caving on Palace facade, Counts of Montarco, Cuidad Rodrigo, Spain.       One more quick detour. There was one other type of Renaissance fiddle to add to the mix, and our understanding of the early playing field. These fiddles are small, vihuela-like, usually 5 string (all being on the fretboard), and have frets. They were most prevelant circa 1460-1490, and the great majority of examples we find in the iconography come from the paintings of one man, Hans Memling. As far as tunings go, either Tinctoris’ (1490) or Jerome tuning (c. 1320) are typically suggested as possibles. I’m not certain, but I don’t think Tinctoris ever mentioned anything about frets, nor did Jerome, so this particular specie might be open for grabs or debate. In any event, their general configuration, size, shape, construction method, frets, string count, decoration, played on the arm, etc, is worth noting.       Below; Hans Memling, fretted “fiddle” (or is it actually a vihuela d’arco?)       Below; Hans Memling, fretted fiddle       Below; Hans Memling, fretted fiddle. note the four small rosette vihuela-esque decorations in the four corners of this instrument.       Below; Hans Memling, fretted fiddle. Again, note the sharp edge vihuela-slab construction, and fair amount of body depth.       Below; unidentified, fretted fiddle. This instrument is unique for it’s waist cuts. I assume that means it’s late in the scheme of things, i.e. late 1400’s or early 1500’s. Instrument has either 4 or 5 strings, fretted.       Below; juxtaposition of some of these instruments. I don’t think it’s too far fetched of an idea to entertain  that the fretted Renaissance fiddles of the late 15th century may actually have been vihuela d’arco -- just a thought. I can’t say, and noone can say, conclusively, one way or the other. I’m not prepared to bet the farm on it (just yet), but it’s worth concidering in any such review of origins, possible relationships, and overlapping time-lines.       Below; another viola da braccio to add to the above mix. Jan Provost, Virgin in Glory, 1524, Netherlands. This instrument has the combination of round and lancet shaped sound-hole rosettes and ports seen on many lutes. See peg-box detail below.       Peg-box detail from Jan Provost’s 1524 Virgin in Glory. At first look I thouht this was a round or leaf shape peg box with 4 or 5 pegs in the top face. But a closer look reveals that it might actually be a classic sickle-shape with carved bird or animal head terminus. I’m still not sure, but there ya go.       Below; campare two da braccio violas with round and lancet rosette sound ports: Left is Jan Provost, Virgin in Glory, 1524, Netherlands, and right is from Duke Rene II Lorraine, c.1490, French.       Below; and let’s not forget to include this beauty amoung the small smooth-curve vihuela-guitar group, plucked and bowed. 15th century Italian.       Below; another late-comer, stained-glass window rose, Sens Cathedral, France, made in 1516. There are 62 musician angels encircling Christ (at center) in this rose. Full large image here (400k). From this window I’ll isolate three instruments: a bass viol, and two small arm viols. This window is designed symetrically, having matching angels and instruments, a pair, one left and one right of center in the same spots. The bass viol is at dead-cented just below Christ. The two arm viols are mid-way above Christ at left and right center, forming a perfect equal-lateral triangle with the bass viol, amazingly -- a coincidence?             Below; bass viol detail from the Sens Cathedral rose. This instrument is very rectilinear, and very definately “as big as I”. He’s bowing at the point were the neck meets the body (quite high).       Below; small arm-viols, details from the Sens Cathedral rose (one from upper left, one from upper right, issolated and juxtaposed here). These instruments, like the bass viol, are very rectilinear, have square tails, and very wide necks. There are two other “fiddles”, of a form, in the window as well, but both of those have narrower necks. These necks match the bass viol’s neck width. Also note the definate bent-back lute-style peg-boxs on these two arm viols. The one on the right even has a definate line where neck meets the head-stock. Slight waist-cuts too might be visible on the right-hand instrument. These wide necks also jive with our friend the King (just previous). Their triangulation with the bass viol doesn’t hurt either ;’)       Below; an interesting comparison and corroboration, vihuela-guitar by Raimondi, ITALY, 1510. The instrument in this famous picture is actually quite long and rectilinear, square tailed, and has a very fat neck at the body joint, much like these, and like the King above.       Below; early vihuela guitar, anon. Note the size, thin ribs, and the four decorative details, one in each corner. You’ll see this latter detail on many early vihuela guitars, also mirrored in some fashion on many early viols as well, e.g. four small C holes, one in each corner. That feature is also present in most of Hans Memling’s instruments shown just previously.       below. another early vihuela guitar, Edebo Church, Uppland, Sweden, 1514. Note bent lute peg-box, thin ribs, decorative details, size, etc.       Below; vihuela/guitar, unidentified, apears to be early 16th century (judging by the costume).       Below; another early 16th century vihuela guitar, unidentified picture, woodcut.       Below; thin necked, sickle-shaped peg-box, vihuela-guitar, by Bartolomeo da Giovanni, Italy, 1490-1500, Courtship of . . . Here’s an instrument one might imagine 50-60 years later called “a guitar”  ;-)       Ok. That’s all for that particular specie. Below; Wow. Here’s a cool one (in fact two). We’d better give this one the honor of first double cut-away bowed guitar in history ;’) Herri Met de Bles, Flemish, Orpheus in the Underworld, 1525-50 [full image here]. The Ferrari viola (which we’ll have more to say about on page 4) comes to mind for some reason when I see this, same time period too.       Below; Full image -- Herri Met de Bles, Flemish, Orpheus, 1525-50       Below; detail 1 -- Bowed Guitar, Herri Met de Bles, Flemish, Orpheus, 1525-50.       Below; detail 2 -- 2nd Bowed Guitar (way in the distance), Herri Met de Bles, Flemish, Orpheus, 1525-50.       Below; viola da braccio, 4 string, lute-tuned, fretted, arm viol Hans Baldung Grien, The Three Graces, Dutch, 1539       Below; detail of 4 string fretted viola da braccio Hans Baldung Grien, The Three Graces, Dutch, 1539. See string count and number of frets as well. There are clearly four strings on this instrument. The Fourth tuning peg is obscured by the viewing angle and persective -- a feature to keep in mind when you see other instruments with only three visable pegs, instruments which violin enthusiasts will then automatically declare are violins.You have to think like an artist, a draftsperson, as well as a musical instrument researcher, when studying iconography, drawn and painted pictures.       Below; four-string fretted viol, c.1600, anon, Flemish, Love       detail of the above . . .       Below; set of three matched and sized violas played da gamba, but by size they could easily be played da braccio, 1516, French. Note the large round sound-holes and violin-esque shapes, that is to say, viola  guitar shapes. This is almost too early for violins let alone a consort of them (as some are now proposing). That said, there is a fourth instrument in the upper right, played da braccio, the smallest of the four, which does not seem to match the others. That could very well be a three string proto violin.       Below; 5 string viol, Albrecht Durer,  Dutch, 1519 pretty darn violin-esque shape for that early date. Note the shape of the peg head too, leaf shape, on a viol. One size smaller and you’d have a viola da braccio. In fact, this is the exact shape of many of the first 3 and 4 string violins, the so called viola da braccio violins, and there are even surviving 5 string viola da braccios (now of course with frets cut off and people are pretending they’re violins and in the violin family.       Below, another Albrecht Durer, 1521. This image is probably earlier than the famous “Madonna of  the Orange Trees” painting by Gaudenzio Ferrari (date esimates for Ferrari’s painting range from c.1520 to c.1530), it being reportedly the first and best image of a 3 string violin. The point here is the shape and size of this instrument, and the country of origin as well (not Itally, although Durer did visit Italy twice in his life, in 1494 and 1505). Both of these instruments also have the inturned shoulders and “angel-wing” upper-bouts and waist-cuts commonly seen in early vihuela and viols.             Below, note the similar tail detail in this German woodcut       Another even earlier Albrecht Durer, 1509.       detail of same       For comparison, see this viol, Castelsardo, c.1500, Sardinia, Retablo in the church of La Porziuncola. Point is what family it might belong to, and a petite treble version of it. The instrument below shows 7 tuning pegs. It could be double-coursed pairs of strings, like it’s parent plucked viola lute, but who knows.             and compare the similar period plucker below the bowed instrument above.       compare the above to Timoteo Viti’s viol, c.1500, Madonna, Italy       now see another of Raphael’s viols (Raffaello Sanzio) from a drawing relating to David and the Psalms. This appears to be a smooth curved figure eight guitaresque outline with no waist-cuts. Four strings I’d imagine. This drawing is undated but Raphael died in 1520. This one appears so narrow that the violiners might try to claim it. Who knows, but there’s a better than 50% chance it’s a small viol.             and below; another early guitar for scale. Anon Flemish fesco.       below; da braccio viola, Triumphzug Emperor Maximilian I, German, 1516-19       detail of viola. Four strings are clearly shown. There were no four string violins yet, but there were four string lute-tuned viols, large and small.       da braccio viola, Emperor Maximilian I, Music Room, German, 1509-16. This is likely the same instrument seen in the previous carriage image. Note the size,  about right for an early arm viola, certainly smaller than the large viola da gamba seen in the carriage grouping (at far left therein).       detail of music room viola. A minimum of five tuning pegs are visable, 3 and 2 (definate), and string count is also a minumum of 5. So these Maximilian instruments are not violins, they are viols played da braccio. In other words, they are bowed guitars, fretted fourths viola fiddles played on the arm.       Below; Intarsia (inlaid wood), c.1510-1515, Italy. Small viol appears to be propped up inside of a window frame. Judging by the ratio of bow-length to body-length and width, I’ll call it a small tenor viola or viola da braccio. [note; there’s probably another four inches of handle at the bottom end of the bow that’s either washing out or perhaps broken off. ]       detail of the above; appears to be 5 or 6 strings       Below; small fretted viol played on the arm. Marcantonio Raimondi, Orpheus, c.1508. Because of it’s leaf-shaped peg box, most people would put this in the Lira da Braccio catagory. I think there’s room for debate -- the smaller viols had to be somewhere, and quite a few of them are probably hiding out disguisted or miscatagorized as Lira soley because of their peg-boxs and playing position. Also see the  picture two below this one.       Below; I though I recognized the name from somewhere. The famous picture of the plucked vihuela below is also by Marcantonio Raimondi,c.1510. In other words these may well be vihuela de mana and vihuela d’arco, engraved by the same man and within two years of each other.       Viola/Vihuela da Braccio, Italian, 1522, Libro d'Amore chiamat Ardelia Baldassare, Olimpo Sassoferrato. This instrument is fretted and has smooth curved sides (no sharp waist-cuts).       Below; two small viols with leaf-shaped peg boxes on a Venician Tile dated 1510-35       Below; four string Renaissance fiddle/viol, Melozzo Da Forli, Itally 1438-1494. One of a series of Forli angel musician fresco fragments (only) housed at the Vatican.       Below; Four string viola bodied, Gaudenzio Ferrari, early 1500s. Hard to tell on this one because it looks like 3 pegs but four strings. In any event, it’s too early for four strings in 5ths.       Below; viola da braccio, Gilliard Dance, French, 1540 Again, at this date, that size, that shape, there’s no reason on earth to believe this is a violin of any string count. And don’t believe the hog wash that only violins were used for dance music, i.e. that dancing  too was the sole domain of violins.       detail of 1540 viola       Below; etching, one of a series, The Seven Liberal Arts, 1544, Italian. Small 5 string fretted viola -- viola da braccio       detail of 1544 viola, five strings and frets.       Below; Virgil Solis, German Engraver, 1514-1562, from 1581 edition of the Ovid, but draw much earlier (he died in 1562). The original first edition and drawing was probably 1540-50? This is a very definate short necker. The rather odd looking  stylized pegless back-flipped peg box is also fairly common in pictures of the period       below; viola da braccio, detail from Apollo Slays the Python, Master of the Die (is the artist) Italy, 1525–60. [Note, it’s possible that this is simply a plucked viola guitar (we’ll talk about this more on page 4). In any event thought, it’s not a violin.]       below; viola da braccio, Hans Holbein, drawing of Apollo and the Muses at Parnassus, 1533. See next image, also Holbein, note the shape. This instrument actually existed I believe, i.e. it wasn’t a flight of fancy, imaginary.       viola da braccio, or small viol in general, Hans Holbein, woodcut Initail letter D, c. 1525-40. Compare shape with the Apollo drawing above. We might call this the second double-cutaway bowed guitar in history ;’)       Plucked Vihuela and Vihuela d’arco / or viola played da braccio, Toledo Cathedral lecturn, Spain, 1565       below; All viols, guitars, and lutes, Apollo and the Muse,  Gaspar ab Avibus (Osella) or Giorgio Ghisi, 1557 Viola da braccio at top center is a 6 string tenor viol played da braccio (not a lira viol as some have speculated). Still ohers have speculated that the woman with back to us is playing a violin family so called bass viola da braccio tuned in 5ths. Sorry folks, not so. That’s a 6 string viol. Note again in Apollo’s viol and the viol in lower right corner the tell-tale four small sound holes, one in each corner.       detail of Apollo’s large 6 string viola da braccio       Below; update 12-18-2005, well, turns out there is a surviving painting that was the appearent model for the above etching. Apollo and the Muses at Parnassus, Fontainebleau (1st School) 1530-60, French.       Below; another unidentified image, but one that feels right to me. This particular peg box is showing up enough for me to believe it actually existed, and it seems only to appear on plucked or bowed vihuela-viola. The three lines (only) used to suggest the strings may simply be due to the medium used, stone. The peg box has at least four long dowels running across it, the tail design also looks early and low.       below; viola da braccio, Vincent Sellaer, Apollo and the Muses, 1538-1544, Flemish. This painting predates the etching shown above by 10 to 15 years, and I believe it was the image and composition that inspired many subsequent copiers. The seated woman  on the left with her back to us, bowing a tenor viol, is seen time and again in many later paintings and etchings. But on to the instrument Apollo is playing. Like the instrument in the above etching, I believe this is a viol, not a lira da braccio. Lira da braccios typically have short narrow necks, This one is very fat at it’s end, and the bridge is not particularly wide, not wide enough to hold the extra drone strings that would be hanging off the left side of the neck (on a lira). This picture is only one of two where I’ve made such a call, and for the same reason, the other is a drawing by Paolo Veronese (residing on page 4).             detail of Vincent Sellaer’s viola da braccio , 1538-1544             Page 1   Page 2   Page 3  Page 4   Page 5   Page 6     Below; If you haven’t yet seen 16th century bell-shaped guitars, you wiil. In the meantime, here’s their counterpart bowed guitar. Viol by Camillo Boccaccino, The Prophet David, 1530, Italy.                   Top           Index of The Cipher for fretted Viola da Gamba: Front page of The Cipher for Viols and Lute 3 Minute Introduction for Viola da Gamba Commonsense String Numbers, Viola da Gamba Five Degree Calculation Line for Viola da Gamba Demonstrations for Viola da Gamba Number formula translation tables: intervals, scales, and chords Pattern of Unisons and Octaves for Viola da Gamba Beginners open position chords for Viola da Gamba Triads on Viola da Gamba fretboard (two pages) Scales, Major and minor, parallel, Viola da Gamba or Lute fretboard, by string set Chord Progressions for Viola da Gamba and Lute (Triads of Major) Notes of Viola da Gamba and Lute fretboard spelled Free PDFs, Blank 6 and 7 string fretboard grid paper