The Viola da Gamba

Focusing on the viola da gamba, this comprehensive study explores its significance in European music from the late fifteenth to the late eighteenth century. Bettina Hoffmann provides an accessible introduction to the instrument's construction, technique, and history while incorporating original archival research for experts. The book details the instrument's various names, traces its origins through the classical period, and concludes with an examination of its revival in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, highlighting its enduring legacy.