About Scordatura and the Viola D'Amore

About 75 % of 18th century  music for viola d'amore is written in a form of notation called Scordatura, which means, literally, 'mistuning.' German composers, among them Biber and Schmelzer, were particularly fond of "mistuning" their violins to create new sonorities and make possible chords and passage work not playable on a conventionally tuned violin. Scordatura tunings are based on the tonic chord of the piece of music in question, and are usually specified at the beginning of the work. Scordatura also has the additional advantage of making the viola d'amore available to anyone experienced in playing the violin, so I suspect the invention of the instrument is connected with the invention of scordatura; the two partitas of Petzold on my solo CD come from a manuscript in scordatura kindly provided by the Saeschesische Landesbibliothek in Dresden. Please see the CD Contents page for facsimiles of these two works.

 A manuscript in scordatura tells the violinist how to tune his d'amore and where to put his fingers, but not what note to expect, consequently many modern trained musicians find it an obstacle rather than an aid. However, for the composer of the turn of the 18th century it was very useful; any violinist could be given a viola d'amore and a scordatura part and read it right off. Moreover, scordatura enabled the composer to suit the key and the writing to the oratorio, opera or sacred work in question, consequently there are about 30 different tunings from the first half of the 18th century, 75% of which are scordatura tunings. The violist d'amore of the scordatura school had to be principally a violinist, for whom the viola d'amore was an accessory, a way of extending his range, color, and instrumental possibilities.

This is an interesting manuscript example, with some of the typical violin based scordatura features. The use of treble clef is unusual, more common is the use of alto clef, but to be read with violin lines and spaces, see below! The composer, Grob, is known by this single work a Partita for viola d'amore, viola da gamba and basso continuo.

 The original is held in a library in Sweden, The tuning is first thing given, and as only five strings are specified, and only four used, the piece is likely a very early work and was probably first played on a viola d'amore with wire playing strings and no sympathetic strings. Please look at the first two notes. Although they appear to be a dissonance, of a major second, try to imagine that you have retuned your violin so the e string is a c and the a string is a g. Finger a fourth above the g, i.e., the place where the d would be on the a string, and play it with the open top string, and out comes a unison c. This is a lovely work.

This is a portion of the first movement of Partita VII from Biber's collection of scordatura trios, Harmonia artificiosa-ariosa diversimode accordata, a work in 7 movements for two violas d'amore and basso continuo, originally published in 1696; this is a facsimile from the 1712 reprint. The tuning given is for 6 strings. The 9 line stave is Biber's way of extending the fingerings of the ordinary 4 string viola to the viola d'amore. I find I read this particular notation either from the bottom up, as the bottom four strings of the viola, and so the first chord is the lowest four open strings and sounds cgc'eb'.

Note the time signature and the bar lines are not quite as we would use them now. By the time I get to what would usually be the 6th full bar I am reading from the top down, as the top four open strings of the ordinary viola, and with the tuning taken into account the chord comes out c'eb'g'c''. In the middle I try not to think too hard. On the second stave where the music goes into fourth position on the top string Biber uses treble clef. There is one other example of this 9 line stave notation surviving.

Now please have another look now at the manuscripts on the CD contents page. While Pezold, (or Pisendel) used a violin scordatura, (i.e., they were hording a viola d'amore but pretending to play a violin,) they placed an alto clef at the beginning of the staff. I don't know why this was done, but it is typical. In these manuscripts where the lowest two strings are needed, either bass clef (sounding an octave higher than written) is inserted,  or a vertical  arpeggio wavy line drawn, meaning to sound all the open strings. 

There was another approach to tuning the viola d'amore that held promise of being useful for all keys. The Darmstadt circle of composers, including Graupner, Locatelli, Suess, Telemann and others, preferred tuning their d'amores in fourths in a lower, alto, tessitura. When they wanted to play in sharp keys they retuned their d'amore up a step and down a half step, and provided transposing parts. It was within this group that I believe the viola d'amore was used more frequently than any other place or time.

This is a solo by Suess, held in a library in Sweden. The clef is French violin clef, but is meant, I think, to sound an octave lower than written. The tuning is, from the top down, bb' f'c'gdBb (F). The lines and spaces are therefore the same as bass clef, although sounding an octave higher, and that's how I tend to think about it. Note that the trio is in the parallel minor, Bb minor, quite unusual in the 1730's, and I wonder if it was Suess's way of showing off a capability he had that would be difficult indeed in the scordatura school.

The scordatura school flagged its manuscript parts with the alto clef (used as a convention, you still read the parts fingered as a violin in treble clef, and play in a violin tessitura.) The Darmstadt School flagged its parts with the french violin clef (to be played an octave lower than written.) Lastly, a few works were even written for the d'amore using a conventional violin tuning in fifths.