Cello Instruments
Cello Instruments Fast Facts
There are fewer cellos in the orchestra than violins because a cello produces a larger volume of sound than a violin. Cellists sit either to the right of the conductor or, if the second violins are place there, in front of him. The cello being derived from the viola da gamba, which was supported by the leg, it appears to be clutched and supported by the knees; in fact the weight is taken to the floor by a spike. The compass of the cello is five octaves, and the strings are tuned an octave lower than those of the viola: C G D A. The first two strings are of gut and the others wound, although there is today a tendency to use metal for all four strings.
A Brief History of the Cello Instrument
The name violoncello is a diminutive of violone,
a larger instrument of somewhat uncertain history and purpose. The cello
did not gain instant success either as a solo instrument or as a member
of the orchestra. There was a long tussle for supremacy between gamba
and cello fanciers. The French thought the cello too noisy and in 1740
Hubert do Blanc pubished a book with the expansive title Defense de
la Basse de Viole contre les enterprises du violon et les pretensions
du violoncello, in which he expressed his deep disapproval of ‘the
thick strinds demanding exaggerated pressure of the bow, and a tension
that makes them shrill.’ But according to Roget North writing in 1728,
the cello had been ‘a very hard and harsh sounding Base and nothing so
soft and sweet as now.’ Music expressly for the cello was not written
until the latter part of the 17th century, and then only to double the
bass line. Beethoven was the first to exploit it as an individual voice
of the orchestra.
Each string of each instrument of the violin family has its own characteristic
timbre. With the cello, if there is too much crossing over from string
to string in the course of a passage it can sound choppy. Since the cello
is supported by a spike and not by the left hand, fingering can include
the thumb; thus more notes can be produced from one position on one string.
So although bowing, the ‘soul’ of playing, is the same as for the violin
and viola, fingering is not.
Apart from each string having a different timbre, opens strings sound different from stopped ones. The former have a somewhat inanimate sound partly because no vibrato can be produced from them, although a feeble reflection of this can be produced by doing vibrato on an adjacent string. Composers sometimes specify which string they want played, or if they want the particular sound of an open string.
Harmonics, which Rimsky-Korsakov considered ornamental but not essential, are impressive from a cello on account of the thickness of the strings and size of the body of the instrument. But if the spike of the cello were stuck in cotton wool there would be less resonance; the staging of a concert platform is often an acoustic resonator in itself and responds to a whole band of frequencies. Drums, the double bass and the cello are the only instruments of the orchestra that gain additional resonance from the floor.
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