On Mar 24, 2010, at 2:48 PM, David Tayler wrote: > I've yet to play in an orchestra where the violins used all gut > strings on all four strings, as was the practice of the time, but it > will happen, I think.
This aroused my curiosity, so I posted a question to the early music list, and, as expected, got a response from Oliver Webber, which might be of interest: On Mar 25, 2010, at 6:18 PM, Oliver Webber wrote: > This is a subject close to my heart - in the UK and other parts of > Europe (Amsterdam, France) there are quite a few period instrument > ensembles which insist on proper historical stringing now. > For music pre-1660 or so, this unequivocally means all gut (and > nothing else!); between 1660 and about 1750, we know wound strings > existed, but their incorporation into general use seems to have been patchy > at best, and varied a lot from one country to another. Certainly some > musicians were still using all gut in the middle of the 18th century > (we know this from sales records). > Another issue is the tension profile of the strings - but I'd better > not get into that now. If you're curious, have a look at > www.themonteverdiviolins.org; the site is desperately in need of > updating (sorry!) but there's a link there to an article about strings > I wrote which might be of interest. > > Anyway - to answer the OP's question, I frequently play with ensembles > where the strings are nothing but gut: my own group, the Monteverdi > String Band, does so, as does (at least for earlier repertoire) the > Gabrieli Consort. It's now easier to get good quality thick gut > strings which make this viable, and the sound, especially in a large > ensemble, can be thrilling. > > For early 18th century repertoire, ensembles which use historical > stringing might use wound C's for cellos and violas, and wound Gs for > violins - if made to the right proportions (ie, plenty of gut and a > nice thin silver winding!). With the right tension profile this is > still quite a different sound from the "old-fashioned" (ie 70s and > 80s!) so-called baroque stringing - very light, with lots of thin > wound strings. The sound is much more weighty and substantial, and > articulation comes to the fore. -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
