Richard Fleischman, viola and viola d'amore

My viola d'amore made by Martin Biller, op 95.
Based on  Jean Baptiste Deshayes Salomon 1740

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To the left is a photo of my viola d'amore, built by Martin Biller in 2011. The instrument is a copy of the 14-string viola d'amore by jean Baptiste Deshayes Salomon made in 1740.
The viola d'amore shares many features of the viol family. It looks like a thinner treble viol
without frets and sometimes with sympathetic strings added. The 6 string viola
d'amoure and the treble viol also have approxiomately the same ambitus or range
of playable notes. Like viols, it has a flat back. Intricately carved head at
the top of the peg box are common on both viols and viola d'amoures as well
(although some viols lack them). Unlike viols, the head occurs often with
blindfolded eyes to represent love. Its sound-holes are commonly in the
shape of a flaming sword (suggesting a Middle Eastern influence in its
development). This was one of the three usual sound hole shapes for viols as
well. (The other two being f-holes for viols with "violin shape" and C-holes or
flame holes on the "viol shaped" viols.) It is unfretted, and played much like a
violin,  being held horizontally under the chin.

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It is about the same size as the modern  viola.  The viola  d'amore usually has six or seven playing strings, which are sounded  by  drawing a bow across them, just as with a violin. In addition, it has an 
  equal number of
sympathetic strings  located below the main   strings and the fingerboard which are
not played directly but  vibrate in sympathy with the notes played. A common  variation is six playing  strings, and instruments exist with as many as  fourteen sympathetic strings  alone. Despite the fact that the sympathetic  strings are now thought of as the  most characteristic element of the
instrument, early forms of the instrument  almost uniformly lacked them. The  first unambiguous reference to a viola d'amore  without sympathetic strings does  not occur until the 1730s. Both the types  continued to be built and played  through the 18th century. Largely thanks to the sympathetic strings, the  viola d'amore has a  particularly sweet and warm sound.
Leopold Mozart,  writing in his Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule, said  that the instrument sounded "especially charming in the stillness of the  evening."The first known mention of the name 'viol d'amore' appeared in
John Evelyn's Diary (20 November, 1679):  "for its  swetenesse & novelty,  the Viol d'Amore of 5 wyre-strings, plaid on with a bow, being but an  ordinary violin, play'd on Lyra way by a German, than which I   never heard a  sweeter Instrument or more surprizing..."   LISTEN TO THE VIOLA D'AMORE


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  • Home
  • About
  • Performances/Events
  • ViolaFest 2021
  • Students and Teaching
    • Studying viola at NWSA
  • Media
    • Viola d'amore
  • Press Kit
    • Critical Acclaim
  • Contact