It is normally thought that the bass viol or viola da gamba dropped out of British musical life in the 1690s, and that Henry Purcell was the last composer to write for it. Peter Holman shows how the gamba changed its role and function in the Restoration period under the influenc…
It is normally thought that the bass viol or viola da gamba dropped out of British musical life in the 1690s, and that Henry Purcell was the last composer to write for it. Peter Holman shows how the gamba changed its role and function in the Restoration period under the influenc…
New research throws light on the history of the viol after Purcell, including its revival in the late eighteenth century through Charles Frederick Abel.
It is often thought that the viola da gamba dropped out of British musical life in the 1690s. The author demonstrates that the instrument continued to be used through the 18th and 19th centuries, up to the beginning of the early music revival in the 1890s.
