•rf - FoMRHI

On this string length the usuai viol left-hand technique, of chromatic fingering (one
finger per fret) occasionally shifting the whole hand up or down, is effective, but
"extersions" involving a tone between adjacent fingcrs are awkward. The fifths,
between open strings in tunings 3, 4 and 5 mean that one cannot, with chromatic
fingering, reach every note that one might want to in ali of the kevs used without
frequenti'.- shifting the left hand in quick passages. This apparem difficulty is
presumably what has deterrcd people from playing the viola bastarda repertoire in
these tunings. However, since we have no evidence of other tunings, if these
tunings work, we should not invent alternatives. Simulation on the 7-string bass
gamba will certainly allow one to play ali the notes that are written, but one will
lose the particular articulation and the possible gracings of the originai tunings.
We find that each one of Praetorius's tunmgs 3, 4 and 5 is well suited to a limited
number ot keys. Because of the fifths between open strings. the only left hand
position which can allow a complete diatonic scale with chromatic fingering without
extensions is with the first finger on the 2nd fret. In this "basic" position, tuning
3 allows ali the notes of the scales of G, D and A major without the need for position
change. Similarly tuning 4 allows C, E and D and tuning 5 allows F, C and G.
The bastarda player would presumably choose his tuning according to the keys
being played, and would play mostly in the "basic" position, occasionally shifting
his left hand up or down when the music demands it. In our experience when such
position changes are necessary, fingering above the frets is never required (except
on the first string) and we always find either an open string or a note of longer duration
than that of the fastest notes to effect this change. Thus this fingering style appears
to be very workable in the examples of viola bastarda music that we have examined.
The repertoire bears out Praetorius's statement on the musical usage of the
instrument. In Bessaraboff *s translation, p.277: "a good master will venture to
play (on the viola bastarda) madrigals; ... (in playing) fugues and Harmony he can
go through and through with ali ease and through ali the voices- he selects [.things
to plavj sometimes above in the treble, sometimes below in the bass, sometimes
in the middle in the tenor and alto. " In an example from Bonizzi that we have
studied (5), the viola bastarda line mostly derives from the bass of the 4-part chanson
exccpt/in the alto part and three in each of the treble and tenor parts.
for one. shorh excerpr
The much diseussed association between the viola bastarda and the English lyra viol
arises from Praetorius's chapter on the viola bastarda (p.47) where he discusses an
English \ iol with sv :r pathetic strings. This is easy to associate with a variant of the
lyra viol which had sympathetic metal strings, the invention of which was ascribed
by Flayford (6) to Daniel Farrant and by Kircher (7) to the Duke of Somerset.
Praetorius's inclusion of the lyra viol as a type of viola bastarda is understandable
since both instruments are so much like consort viols yet they each have special roles
to perform outside of playing particular consort parts. They also have similar
tunings. We know of lyra viol tunings to match ali but the fifth of Praetorius's viola
bastarda tunings. •
•Tuning 3 is called 'Alfonso Way' in the Ballet Book (8) and the Manchester Gamba ;
Book (9) and is Ferrabosco's (10) 'second tuning'. Tuning 4 is called 'Eights' in
the Ballet book, 'Sette of Eights' in the Manchester Gamba book and is Ferrabosco's
'third tuning'.
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