A Short History of the Cello

The violoncello, meaning, in Italian, a small violone, is generally known by the shorter name of ‘cello’, and is a string instrument an octave lower than the viola, its four strings tuned C-G-d-a. Its structure and form correspond to those of the violin, but the neck is relatively shorter and the sides deeper. The bow is somewhat shorter, but stronger than that used for the violin.

As the violin may correspond to the discant, and the viola to the tenor, so the cello was originally identical with the bass of the old viola da braccio family. It had a longer struggle than its two sisters to free itself from the gamba family. In 1740 there appeared in Amsterdam a treatise by Hubert Leblanc, a lawyer and music-lover from France, that throws a characteristic light on the importance of the violoncello in that time. The work is a vigorous defence of the viola da gamba against th