I must now decide on the amount of talking that I do and the actual contents of this lecture recital. The programme is confirmed (see an earlier post). From people's reaction so far, I have a feeling I should be aiming for more playing than talking, so making it more of a concert than an academic presentation.

But does the topic have a point?

My aim is that people should go away thinking that the gamba and the cello are not an ill-matched couple, that the two could work well together under the right conditions, that there were pieces actually written for the two instruments together, that due to their contrasting nature, they could make an attractive pairing, that we shouldn't shy away from mixing viols and violins for certain repertory.

I attended an interesting lecture today by Peter Holman who pointed out that in German sources of the 17th century where 'violen' is indicated, the instrumentation intended does not necessarily mean a consort of viols, but also of violins. I was reminded of a picture from this period showing violins being accompanied by larger viols with a virginal in the middle (the picture, in fact, on the cover of Edgar Hunt's edition of Dowland's Lachrimae), which supports my statement above. In consort literature, we are reminded of Lawes, who indicated violins on the soprano lines of his music. I think there are others.

The gamba-cello pairing is of course later. The most vivid examples that I can think of at the moment include the sonata in D major by Ruhe, and earlier, Charpentier's Sonate a huit, while other examples, such as the continuo part of the Corelli transcriptions which has tenor clef, and the Schenck sonata which I will demonstrate in the talk, only suggests the use of a different bass instrument, such as a 'cello.

The way I've organised the programme means that I will have work backwards from the period when only professionals played the viol (Abel), to the period pre Le Blanc where wealthy amateurs upheld the viol's preeminence, and there were virtuosi who demonstrated its superiority (Marais, Forqueray). 

Will I talk about the da spalla?