Bowed Basses in Corelli’s Rome

Both in Corelli’s printed works and in most archival documents the term used most frequently for a bowed bass instrument is ‘violone’, except for ‘violoncello del concertino’ in the Concerti Grossi Opus VI. In addition to violone we also find ‘contrabbasso’ in payment lists to musicians. That the Roman violone was indeed not a 16-foot instrument is a fact that was first explored by Stephen Bonta almost half a century ago, and confirmed later by Stefano La Via, who called attention to the great variety of bass violins and double basses in seventeenth- and early eighteenth-century Italy. More recent research has attempted to define these organological variances with greater precision, focusing on local and regional differences and practices.
This essay uses documentary and musical sources, iconography, treatises, and organology to explore whether there were differences between violone and violoncello in late seventeenth-century Rome, and what the contrabbasso was. Finally it considers issues of playing technique, use in the repertoire, and performers.