Introduction
When Denise Diderot published an article in 1751 about the basse de violon1 in his Encyclopedie ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers, this archaic bowed bass instrument had already for a long time been forgotten in France. In spite of its special qualities, this large instrument has not attracted much attention; little has been written about it compared to its relative, the violoncelle.
The lack of standardization of bass stringed instruments in the seventeenth century has created until now a lot of confusion and controversy among musicologists. Taking into account that, depending on the country, or even cities of the same country, the same type of instrument had been called different names, it is hard to state with certainty to which one of these different instruments they were referring. As Stephen Bonta, Suzanne Wijsman, Margaret Campbell, Barry Kernfeld, and Anthony Barnett explain in their article Violoncello in the Grove Dictionary of Music, in Italy alone we can find bass violins referred to as bassetto, bassetto di viola, basso da brazzo, basso viola da brazzo, viola, viola da braccio, viola da brazzo, violetta, violoncino, violone, violone basso, violone da brazzo, violone piccolo, violonzino, violonzono and, viola da brazzo.2
Before the appearance of the violoncelle in France in the eighteenth century, a considerable number of bowed bass string instruments from the violin family can be found named in several treatises and represented in paintings of the time.
The bass instrument this research will focus primarily on is the basse de violon that can be found depicted in the treatise of Marin Mersenne, Harmonie universelle, contenant la theorie et la pratique de la musique.3
Adding another dilemma that has created discrepancies between scholars comes from the lack of extant instruments that have survived, as many of them have disappeared due to the pass of centuries or have been converted into another instrument. Taking into account that this research concerns an instrument related to the violin family it is easy to understand why it isn´t possible to find so many of them intact. On the contrary to the viol family that has been well preserved as they were the family that was favored by the aristocracy, the violins and related instruments didn´t have such a privileged position and so they weren´t treated as carefully.
The main purpose of this research is to examine the development, zenith, and decline of the basse de violon during the seventeenth and eighteenth century in France.
The reasons why I decided to write this research were twofold. The first is because as a HIPP cello player, I believe that it is necessary to be aware of the historical developments of my instrument. The more I learn by reading different sources and the by playing this instrument, the more I understand the development of this instrument in practice I hope that sharing my research will generate renewed interest in the basse de violon.
The second reason is that when looking at scores of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries I was unsure to which instrument the word basso referred to.
Analysis on those basses bowed string instruments in France has been done through the study of organological treatises referring to the bass violins such as the treatise by Philibert Jambe de Fer, Epitome musical des tons, sons et accordz, scores using the term basse de violon such as the Trios de la Chambre du Roi, (LWV 35) by Jean-Baptiste Lully, iconography such as the drawing of a basse de violon in Marin Mersenne´s Harmonie universelle, contenant la theorie et la pratique de la musique, secondary sources such as the book from Mary Cyr, Style and Performance for Bowed Strings in French Baroque Music, and the study of one of the few extant basse de violon preserved in a fine state from 1715 built by Egidius Snoeck in Brussels. This instrument is owned by the Nationaal Muziekinstrumenten Fonds which I had the opportunity to perform on, and for which I am deeply grateful.
