(As with all pictures, click to see larger in a new window, click in new window to further enlarge.) Left: on folio 46v next to a viüela de arco. 1330, both in the Cantigas de Santa María, 1257–83. Two potential sightings of the fretless viüela de pénola mentioned by The identity of the viüela de pénola is uncertain, but the name suggests an unfretted plucked chordophone with an oval body like a fiddle, and just such an instrument appears twice in the Iberian Cantigas de Santa María, 1257–83 ( Códice de los músicos, Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Madrid, RBME Cat b-I-2), fretless in both depictions, as we see below. 1330, the citole and gittern were fretted, whereas the lute was unfretted and did not gain frets until c. He doesn’t say why, but the obvious explanation is that Arabian modes use quartertones, requiring either the freedom of an unfretted neck or a neck with more frets than appear on a western instrument. Ruiz lists instruments that are and are not suitable for playing Arabian music: the viüela de pénola (vihuela with plectrum) and the laud ( lute) are suitable, the çitola ( citole) and guitarra ( gittern) are not. 1330, by Castilian poet, Juan Ruiz, known as the Archpriest of Hita.
Other qualifying words for viola, vihuela, or its variants indicated in the medieval and renaissance periods that a particular instrument was not bowed, as we see, for example, in Libro de buen amor ( The book of good love), c. played vertically, resting on or between the legs.
played on the arm da gamba – with leg, i.e. One of these variant words, viola, and its shortened form, viol, was used in the renaissance and baroque periods, again to cover a variety of forms of bowed instrument, sometimes with a qualifying pair of words: de arco (or d’arco) – with a bow da braccio – with arm, i.e.
In the medieval period, the words vihuela and viola were variants that referred to the same type of instrument: vielle, viella, viola, viula, viuela, vihuela, videle, fedele, fidel, fithele, fidula, all denoted a gut-strung instrument played with a bow, usually referred to in modern writing as the medieval fiddle, of which there was a variety of shapes, string arrangements and tunings (which you can read about here). Played by Ian Pittaway on a vihuela/viola da mano by Paul Baker. We conclude with links to facsimiles of all 16 th century vihuela tablature prints.Ĭlick the picture to play the video, which opens in a new window.įantasia del quarto Tono by the Spanish vihuelist, Luys de Narváez,įrom his Los seys libros del Delphin de música de cifra para tañer Vihuela, 1538, A fourth video shows a viola da mano playing a recercare by Francesco Spinacino and Rossina by Hans Judenkünig. T o illustrate the process of intabulation (turning a polyphonic song into a polyphonic piece for plucked strings) there are three videos of Josquin des Prez’s Mille regretz ( A thousand regrets): for 4 voices for solo vihuela then for voice and lute. We begin with a video performance of fantasia del quarto Tono by Luys de Narváez on vihuela/viola da mano.
This article traces the vihuela/viola da mano through its medieval origins explains its relationship to the lute illustrates the connection between the bowed vihuela/viola and the plucked vihuela/viola describes the three surviving instruments shows, through iconography, the difference in plucking style between the Spanish vihuela and the Italian viola da mano and lute discusses the evidence for octave or unison stringing of courses outlines the available music and describes its use in mythological imagery. In 16 th century Italy, where the lute was dominant, the vihuela was called the viola da mano, and was suggested as an alternative to the lute in two prints of the music of Francesco Canova da Milano, musician to three successive popes. The vihuela drew upon the polyphonic compositions of Europe for its intabulations, as well as having had its own repertoire in 7 books printed between 15 by such Spanish composers as Luis Milán, Luys de Narváez, and Alonso Mudarra. In 16 th century Spain, prime position was given not to the lute but to the vihuela da mano, depicted in Spanish iconography as the instrument of Orpheus, Arion, Venus, and the angels of heaven. All players of early music will be familiar with the lute, the plucked polyphonic instrument par excellence of the European renaissance.
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