Instruments:

Viennese bass and Viennese tuning – a clarification:

> Introduction
> Period 4 and 5 stringed instruments

Introduction:

Since in our time the most of the scholarly works use the terms "Viennese bass" and "Viennese tuning" to describe the period instrument and its system of tuning and performance, a justified question may be asked if those terms describe the same thing? If they do not, than what is the difference?

When the period treatises are consulted, one will not encounter either of those two terms. The period performers and composers have known only two designations for the double bass: The Violone and the Contrabasso. Thus, a conclusion can be made that the terms "Viennese bass" and "Viennese tuning" are of modern origin, and conceived to describe the period tuning and its system of playing for us in our time.

In this chapter we will examine what should be considered under those designations, and how. The Viennese tuning (in whose honor was this site named) was simply one of the tunings for the double bass that was used in the Classical period in the Austro-German lands. The standard orchestra E,A,D,G tuning has existed parallel to the Viennese, and has later taken a prominence, while the Viennese tuning has disappeared from the practice by the early to mid 19th century.

This information is important because when we use the term "Viennese Bass", it may help to clarify what this exactly entails and why. In most narrow designation, this term can apply to any bass made or associated with the city of Vienna, yet in our time the "Viennese bass" has become synonymous with two designations in the professional circles:

1. The first designation implies a period double bass instrument made in the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries which shows a clear construction and design characteristics of the Austrian and South German schools. However, although it may sound as a paradox, it is important to note that some of those period basses may not have originally used the Viennese tuning. More on that in the "Period 4 and 5 stringed Instruments" section below.

2. The second designation implies any type of double bass set with the Viennese tuning, regardless of the age, construction or the geographic origin. Thus setting any double bass in Viennese tuning, will automatically transform it in to the Viennese bass.

Although this site was named "Viennese Tuning", the alternative title of "Viennese Bass" was considered too, as presently most of the scholars and bassists correlate those two terms. The term Viennese tuning was a bit more specific, and thus a decision has prevailed in favor of the former. A disadvantage to choosing this name however, is that there are other "Viennese tunings" for the other instruments too - Zither for example.

For the sake of clarification it should be mentioned, that throughout this site, the terms Viennese bass, Viennese tuning and Viennese system, are used interchangeably. All three terms in that respect mean essentially the same thing, which is to designate this particular system of playing associated with the double bass legacy of the Viennese classicism.

The only exception to this rule applies to the Page 2. of this "Instruments" section, where the Period Viennese bass makers and their instruments are featured. There the term "Viennese bass" means specifically a period instrument associated with the particular region and the period school of making regardless of the tuning it originally may have used. Only when (and if ever) the future research reliably ascertains the original tuning setup of all the preserved Austro-German period instruments, the final conclusion on the correlation of the terms "Viennese bass" and "Viennese tuning" will be possible.

Period 4 and 5 stringed instruments:

Since our knowledge of the period instruments is still not complete, we can not assert that every period Viennese bass was always set with the Viennese tuning. Some of the period basses were actually set on the modern orchestra tuning even in the 18th century. The only period instruments that can be positively associated with the Viennese tuning are the ones that have a peg box designed for the 5 strings, or that have clearly been associated with the court where the surviving records of the strings purchases indicate the use of the Viennese tuning.

If a period instrument is equipped with the original peg box designed to house 5 strings, than by a default that would indicate the five string Viennese tuning setup, as the modern 5 string tuning did not exist in the 18th century. The modern 5 string bass, which is presently used mostly in Austria and Germany, has been developed in the later 19th century and should not be related to the period Viennese 5 string instruments in any way. This modern 5 string instrument has evolved from the modern 4 string bass, as an answer to the need of late romantic composers to extend the bass range down for a third from the low E string to C, in order to match the range of Violoncello's low C in an octave lower register. An opening low frequency in the beginning of Strauss' Also sprach Zarathustra features that modern C string power, and this is a frequency and a timbre that would not be possible on the period Viennese bass whose lowest fifth string was F, at the pitch exactly the fourth above the modern low C string.

Also by some fortune of luck, the records of the string purchases for the Esterhazy orchestra from the time of Haydn's activity there, have survived (1). Those records clearly indicate the Viennese bass strings: A, D, F# A, but in the 4 string setup. Nothing in those records indicates a fifth F string (or any other low string under A), which indicates a possibility of a 4 string Viennese setup. Given that J. J. Stadlmann, M. I. Stadlmann and Matthias Thir were providing instruments and accessories for the Esterhazy orchestra, it is reasonable to conclude that if some of their original 4 string basses can be clearly identified, those could have used the Viennese tuning setup.

The general problem however is that most of the period Viennese basses have been modified and modernized at some point since their manufacture, mostly in the late 19th century. The surviving instruments that are still in use today will usually have a different fingerboard, bridge and neck than the original instruments, and will be altered to 4 string setup. On many original instruments the fifth peg hole is still visible, although filled with wood as it serves no longer a purpose of holding the fifth string.

1. Webster 1976, 419-423.

Posted:    May 3, 2009