Violoncello da Spalla or Fagottgeige

An insight from our friend Kate Walpole, musicologist in Dresden.

Leopold Mozart in his Violinschule’s instroduction mentions the Fagottgeige, an instrument a bit smaller than the Handbassel

Why is the Violoncello da Spalla sometimes called a ‘fagottgeige’? Well, our fagotty friend Katherine Walpole has a theory on this. Here is what she has to say.

Hi everyone, I’m Katherine. I am a bassoonist and musicologist researching the role of the bassoon in the orchestral bass group in the eighteenth century. I am a research fellow at the Saxon State Library, called Sächsische Landesbibliothek – Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek in German or SLUB for short. When I came to visit Daniela last summer, she showed me the most beautiful instrument that she made during the corona lockdown under the financial support of the city of Bolzano.

The instrument looks like an average string instrument about the size of a viola but with a very short neck and it has wider ribs. It has five strings, just like the strings of a cello with an extra e string on top. The shape of it makes it possible to play on the shoulder like a violoncello da spalla or even between the legs, like a viol. The short neck and extra string means that one can play almost three octaves all in first position. The register is the same as an eight foot cello. What a practical instrument; it doesn’t require a highly skilled player to play it in tune, it can be easily transported, and it can be played by a cellist or a violinist.

Last July, Kate in Meltina playing on Daniela’s “Wagner”. Kate also studied a bit of cello so she is more comfortable with the usual cello position.

And so what is this versatile and curious instrument called? It is called a Violoncello da Spalla, a Violoncello piccolo, simply a Violoncello, a Viola da spalla, a Handbassel, a Bassetto, … and also a ‘fagottgeige’. I fell in love with it even more after hearing it was called a bassoon violin. Why so many names and why ‘fagottgeige’?

So many names is one of the most challenging aspects of my musicological research. It is all to do with nomenclature (that is the choosing of names) and terminology standardisation. As technology advanced throughout history, so did mankind’s ability to travel and relay information. Today we can transmit information worldwide in seconds. This means the world has needed to standardise terminology and the names of things, so that we all know what we are talking about. In the eighteenth century, what things were called was not so important, and so musical instruments often had more than one name. I have seen in autograph scores of Jan Dismas Zelenka the word ‘basson’ used at the beginning of the score, but by the final movement of the same piece, Zelenka uses the word ‘fagott’. It makes historical research very challenging.

Now we come to the reason why I wanted to share my ideas. Why is it called a ‘fagottgeige’? Is it because it sounds a little reedy like a bassoon? I think not, becuase it sounds beautiful like a cello. This is my hypothesis.

I have now researched the role of the bassoon col basso, that is, the use of the bassoon as a generic instrument in the bass group of eighteenth century ensembles. Of course we don’t know which instruments actually played in the basso continuo, because composers only wrote ‘basso’ on the music. The musicians of the day knew which instruments best suited each performance scenario best, the composer or copyists did not need to write that down on the score or on treatises. So much mystery and as many myths remain on the subject. I have studied primary source materials including music manuscripts, administrative documents like orchestral pay rolls, eyewitness accounts of concerts, engravings of performances and personal correspondence between musicians, copyists and audience members. I wanted to destroy the myth that the bassoon only plays when other winds play, and begin to understand what the practice actually was. My research to date has well and truly busted the ‘bassoon accompanies oboes’ myth, and I have found evidence that that bassoon was used a great deal as a bass instrument, probably as much as the cello and the violone or double bass. Joseph Haydn even said that his preferred bass group is one cello, one bassoon and one violone; but if money is short, leave out the cello. Charles Avison wrote in the preface of his Op. 3 concerti grossi for violins the following text;

As to the wind instruments, these are all so different in their tone and register from those of the stringed kind, besides the irremediable disagreement of their rising in their pitch, while the others are probably falling; that they shou’d neither be continued too long in use, nor employ’d [sic] but in such pieces, as are expressly adapted to them; so that in the general work of concertos for violins, etcetera they are almost always improper; unles [sic] we admit of the bassoon, which if performed by an expert hand, in a soft and ready tone, and only in those passages that are natural to it, may then be of singular use, and add fulness to the harmony.

And so with this and more evidence which you can find in my publications, I feel strongly that the bassoon was used frequently as a generic instrument in the basso of many musical ensembles in the eighteenth century. This beautiful instrument made by Daniela, I believe is called the fagottgeige for the simple reason that it is an instrument which fulfills the bass role normally played by a bassoon, yet it can be performed by a violinist.

How beautifully practical that if the bassoon player ‘fagott’ to come to the gig, the bass could be played by a violinist. Because we all know that the show cannot go on without the bass.

Kate and Daniela in Mölten at the Knödelbuffet!

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Updates from our workshop

Next week we will exhibit at Cremona Mondomusica!

Come and visit us at booth 131: you will find 3 Violoncello da Spalla with 3 different string setups, and two surprises we still cannot tell about, only show😉! Come and check out by yourselves!

Next issue will be very special, with an exciting surprise that will add sparkle to the world of the cello da spalla! But because it will be so extraordinary, and because we will be in Cremona until the 29th, for sure we will be a few days late posting it. So please be patient, but be with us and check your inbox!

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Further readings:

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Featured videos of the week

I know it’s not the first time I share this video, but as Kate loves Bach and also loves Sigiswald, I couldn’t find a best fit than this.

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Not spalla, but Mozart, and beautifully played by Sergey Malov, with Mozart’s violin and in Mozart’s house

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