viol

The viol (also called viola da gamba, meaning 'leg viol' in Italian) entered English through Old French viole, ultimately from Medieval Latin vitula, possibly from the name of a Roman goddess of joy and victory. The viol family dominated European chamber music from the late 15th century through the 17th century, before being displaced by the louder, more agile violin family.

Viols differ from violins in nearly every structural detail. They have flat backs (violins are arched), six or seven strings (violins have four), frets (violins have none), and are bowed underhand (violins are bowed overhand). The sound is quieter, more intimate, and more blending—viols were designed to play together in consorts, not to project across a concert hall. The ideal was a family of voices, not a soloist with accompaniment.

In Elizabethan and Jacobean England, playing the viol was a mark of gentility. Wealthy amateurs gathered in homes to play viol consort music—compositions by William Byrd, Orlando Gibbons, and John Dowland. These sessions were private, unpaid, and unrehearsed. The music was meant for the players, not an audience. Samuel Pepys recorded playing his viol in his diary entries of the 1660s.

The viol's decline began in France with Jean-Baptiste Lully's preference for the violin in Louis XIV's court orchestra. By 1700, the violin had won. The viol retreated to Germany, where Johann Sebastian Bach wrote his three sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord around 1740—among the last major works for the instrument. The 20th-century early-music movement revived the viol, and players like Jordi Savall made it a concert instrument again.