THE CELLO HISTORY

THE CELLO HISTORY

It emerged in the first half of the sixteenth century as the bass of the family of violas da braccio. One of the first instruments that have survived dates from 1572 and was created by Andrea Amati.
Antonio Stradivarius achieved the best proportions and size, around 75 cm, from 1710. However, and in the first half of the eighteenth century there were experiments in instruments of short duration, such as the violoncello piccollo used by Bach in his cantatas of Leipzig or the five-string cello used by the same composer in the Suite for Cello No. 5.

During the Baroque, the cello played an essential role as a continuous instrument - along with other basses of rubbed string - and was replacing the tenor of viola da gamba both as a solo instrument and as a continuous instrument. Throughout the eighteenth century its presence in the orchestra as a section is stabilizing and increasing in number, and in the second half of the eighteenth century appears the first concert literature especially designed for the instrument, as in chamber concerts.
Almost simultaneously, sonatas, trios, cuartetos began to be written for him, and numerous virtuosos such as Luigi Boccherini emerged.

Initially he would touch himself standing, holding the bow with the palm of his hand facing upwards. In the eighteenth century the iconographic sources show us that the arch begins to grasp with the palm down, as befits an increasingly virtuous treatment, although still a quarter of its length. Throughout the mid and second half of the 18th century, the hand grabs the bow more towards its end, and its seated execution is imposed, with the instrument between the legs. From the beginning of the nineteenth century the use of the strut that fixes the instrument to the ground and offers more safety and resonance is spreading.

This evolution also affected the instrument itself, which grew somewhat in volume, while the greater inclination of the pegbox with respect to the resonance table resulted in a greater tension of the strings, and consequently, in more volume, more brilliance and some loss of harmonics.

The cello appears definitively installed as the second string instrument in a symphonic formation - at present, an orchestra can count on a section of cellos of between 10 or twelve instruments -, while consolidating its role as a relevant chamber instrument, both within the traditional trio or quartet, as in the most diverse instrumental possibilities. The concert production increases in the nineteenth century, which leaves some of the most paradigmatic samples of the genre, and even expands further in the twentieth century, with new creations of all kinds, some written especially for soloists as relevant as the Spanish Pau Casals or the Russian Mtislav Rostropovich.

-Form: High-resonance box with high shoulders, pronounced mid-section waist, domed torso, harmonic board with two tornavoces in F, neck with fretless tuning fork and pegbox with lateral pegs topped with a volute -or in the head formerly-.

-Size: total length: 1.55-1.56 m. • width: 0.76 m.

-Afination: four strings in fifths, Do (4), Sun (3), Re (2), La (1). [It is tuned one octave lower than the viola.]

Most of his music (score) is written in Fa key, unless there are notes or especially sharp passages, for which you can resort to the key of Do or Sun.

-Execution: the instrumentalist is seated, with the instrument, fixed to the ground by its strut, passes between the legs to create an angle against the chest, while being rubbed by an arch held by the right hand.