The next marvelous (free) concert by the Santa Barbara Music Club takes place at 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 1, in the First United Methodist Church, 305 E. Anapamu St.
The program for this concert includes J.S. Bach’s “Sonata in D-Major for Viola da Gamba and Harpsichord, BWV 1028” (1717-723), played by Andrew Saunders, viola da gamba, and Ellie Melton, harpsichord; Robert Schumann’s “Quartet in Eb-Major for Piano and Strings, Opus 47” (1842), Robert Hale, piano; Carol Pool, violin; Tom Turner, viola; Elizabeth Olson, cello; and Alexander Borodin’s “Polovtsian Dances” from his opera Prince Igor (1869-87), arranged for two pianos, Betty Oberacker and Eric Valinsky, pianos.
“Although bass viols superficially resemble cellos,” says Wikipedia, “viols are different in numerous respects from instruments of the violin family: the viol family has flat rather than curved backs, sloped rather than rounded shoulders, c holes rather than f holes, and five to seven rather than four strings; some of the many additional differences are tuning strategy (in fourths with a third in the middle — similar to a lute — rather than in fifths), the presence of frets, and underhand (‘German’) rather than overhand (‘French’) bow grip. All members of the viol family are played upright (unlike the violin or the viola, which is held under the chin).
“All viol instruments are held between the legs like a modern cello, hence the Italian name viola da gamba (it. ‘viol for the leg’) was sometimes applied to the instruments of this family. This distinguishes the viol from the modern violin family, the viola da braccio (it. ‘viol for the arm’).”
The concert will be followed by the Music Club’s annual holiday party, to which all are welcome. The club is looking for contributions of baked goods and beverages for the party. If you would like to help, contact them at publicity@sbmusicclub.org.
— Gerald Carpenter covers the arts as a Noozhawk contributing writer. He can be reached at gerald.carpenter@gmail.com. The opinions expressed are his own.