Everyone who is somehow connected with music, both professionally and at the level of an amateur, knows what a cello is. Without this, not a single instrumental concert takes place, a piece of music cannot be revealed and conveyed to the listener in full measure, in all its depth.
The cello is an obligatory instrument in ensembles and symphony orchestras. It is she who makes the technique of sounding a melody deep, rich and complete. Due to the melodiousness of her "voice", the cello often performs as a soloist if a musical group needs to express emotions such as sadness, point or warm sadness, to fill the melody with a lyrical mood.
What is cello
The cello is a musical instrument of the string-bow type, from the bass and tenor register. It has been known since the 16th century, visually similar to a viola or violin, but much larger than them in size. In music, the cello is used, due to its limitless "vocal" possibilities, in the following facets:
- solo (singly),
- as part of an orchestra,
- when performing a melody with a string ensemble.
The cello, like the violin, has 4 strings. It is the lowest-sounding string-bowed instrument, and without it some musical groups simply cannot function, for example, such as a quartet or a chamber ensemble.
The pitch of the cello strings is one octave lower than that of the viola. The notes for her part are written in tenor or bass treble clef, but the range of her sound is unusually wide, thanks to the unique technique of playing it, created over the centuries of the existence of the cello.
The history of the creation of the instrument
Until now, it is not known for certain who exactly invented the cello. It was first mentioned at the beginning, or rather, in the first half of the 16th century, and was associated with the names of two string instrument makers - the Italian Gasparo da Salo and his student Paolo Maggini. There is another version of who and when the cello was invented. According to her, the creator of the instrument was the most famous master in the 16th century from the Amati family named Andrea.
The historical, documented fact is only that the modern form of the cello, with a typical string row and characteristic sound, is the merit of Antonio Stradivari. In addition, such famous musicians and masters as Jeseppe Guarneri took part in the improvement of the instrument in different centuries. Carlo Bergonzi, Niccolo Amati, Dominico Montagnana and others. Since the end of the 18th century, the shape of the body, the size of the instrument and its string row have not changed.
Cello design features
The cello is the only musical instrument that has retained its shape and unique design features for centuries. Even the violin was changed - the wood for the production of the case and the compositions for its impregnation, painting were changed, the strings were renewed.
The main parts of the cello:
- case,
- vulture,
- head,
- bow.
The cello body consists of a lower and upper soundboard, a hole for sound resonance (fphy). In addition, there are other important details in the case design - an inner strut "bow", a loop, a head holder, a button, a shell.
A violin bow or viola bow is not suitable for playing the cello. This integral attribute of the instrument consists of a cane made of natural bamboo or fernambu wood, ebony lasts with mother-of-pearl inserts, natural or artificial horsehair. The tension of the horsehair on the cello bow is adjusted with an eight-sided screw attached to the reed.
Features of the cello sound
The capabilities of the cello, in terms of sound production, differ from those of similar instruments in breadth and depth. Orchestral masters characterize her sound as
- melodious,
- slightly choked
- tense,
- juicy.
In the palette of an ensemble, quartet or orchestra, the cello sounds like the lowest timbre of a person's voice. During a solo performance of this instrument, it seems as if the cello is conducting a leisurely conversation with the audience about something very important and real, its deep, melodious sound fascinates, literally hypnotizes, and not only art connoisseurs, but also those who listen to it for the first time.
Each of the cello strings sounds especially and unique, and the range of their sounding extends from the masculine juicy bass to the warm and gentle viola, which is characteristic of truly feminine parts. The greatest composers and musicians of world renown have repeatedly said that the cello is capable of "telling", for example, the plot of an opera without words and visual pictures.
How to play the cello
The technique of playing the cello is fundamentally different from the techniques of playing other stringed musical analogs. The instrument is quite large, even bulky, and should be supported at three points - in the area of the spire (on the floor), closer to the right side of the chest and at the left knee. When learning to play the cello, the topics of the first lessons are precisely how to set it up, hold it.
Further, the skills of bowing are mastered. In order for it to completely cover the string row of the instrument during sound production, the cello is slightly turned to the right of the musician. It is very important to make sure that the freedom of movement of the left hand is not limited by anything.
It is surprising that many novice musicians, even with perfect hearing and the ability to play stringed instruments, cannot master the technique of playing the cello, and stop precisely at the stage of learning to hold and support it.
Interesting facts about the cello
The cello can rightfully be considered the most expensive musical instrument. A copy of it, created by Stradivari in 1711, was bought by a music association from Japan at one of the auctions for more than 20 million €.
The evaluation of the sound quality of cellos for the best musicians and musical groups with world names takes place in the dark, and in these peculiar competitions, as a rule, models made by violin makers of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries win.
The cello is not only an instrument for classical music. Finnish hard rock band Apocalyptica doesn't go on stage without her. Each melody of their songs includes a part for cello, and such rock sounds very beautiful, original, but traditional for the genre.
The instrument is used not only as a musical instrument - the artist Julia Borden paints abstraction paintings on cellos bodies, which are actively bought by art connoisseurs all over the world, and decorate the richest houses and even museums.