According to Charles Medlam, the underhand bow hold on the cello/bass violin was the exception rather than the norm. Cellists held the bow in imitation of the violin, overhand. I recall reading that in Germany, the bow was held underhand (where it is still held so by the double bassists), but in order to conform to the down bows of the violins in Lully's orchestras (so that the player starts at the heel and ends at the tip), cellists in France had to hold the bow overhand.
The clip below is Wieland Kuijken talking about bow holds and his King Amati cello.
In addition to Vandini (see one of my earlier posts), another striking example of an underhand cellist is 'a certain Herr Greuel' who played a concerto in Berlin in 1828 holding his bow underhand.
This information also came from Charles Medlam's 'Approaches to the Bach cello suites'.
This information also came from Charles Medlam's 'Approaches to the Bach cello suites'.
My personal view on this - looking back at this post five years ago - is that the underhand hold was probably more prevalent than the overhand. You almost always see the underhand grip in pictorial examples, whereas the other is quite rare. Perhaps the court in France was the exception, and I read, or was told, that this practice then came to England - like so many other things from France back then (including the baroque oboe).
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