Bass by William Turner
(London, ca. 1650)
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Viola da gamba
Bass by William Turner
(London, ca. 1650)
Body length 730 mm Upper width 355 mm Middle width 254mm Lower width 412 mm Rib height 144 mm String length 740 mm
Instruments built by William Turner bear labels from 1646 to 1657. A twin to this viol is to be found in the Museum in Nice, France, which bears a heart-shaped decoration on the back of the scroll, not unlike the rosettes on two of the treble viols in this collection, a characteristic trademark on most, but not all, of the instruments byTurner. The angel's head on this bass viol is most likely of Spanish provenance, dating probably from the time of the restoration in Madrid. Indeed English viols and English consort music were much treasured in Spain throughout the 17th. Century.
The twin to this instrument is kept at the museum in Nice, France, which permitted an unequivocal identification. This large bass viol is suitable for use in consort. Between 1580 and 1680 the English composed the best chamber music of all of Europe, for between two and seven viols. English music reigned supreme and influenced considerably the development of instrumental music in Germany, France, Flanders and even Spain.
There are three other viols by William Turner in the collection:William Turner (1. London, 1647)
William Turner (2. London, 1656)
William Turner (3. London, ca. 1650)
An extremely rare painting of an English
bass viola da gamba, ca. 1680 showing an
instrument very similar to the Turner.
The Turner bass viol is employed frequently in the performance of English music of the 17th Century. Here one of our players, Kunihiro Minura, at present studying viola da gamba at the University of Vienna, preparing for a performance with this viol at the Castello di Duino in September of 2005.
updated
03.10.2007
