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Violino piccolo
Pietro Antonio Cati
Florence
1741
Inv.-Nr. 756
Violin exhibited in J. S. Bach
from the instrument collection Alessandro Kraus
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Photographer: Janos Stekovics right
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Small, "half-size" violins were tuned a minor third or a fourth higher than normal-sized violins, and are thus at the top of the range of instruments in the violin family. Johann Sebastian Bach composed his first Brandenburg Concerto with the violino piccolo in mind. These small violins slowly went out of fashion, as Leopold Mozart reports in 1756: "Just a few years ago, one would even write concertos for what the Italians call the small violin; and because it can be tuned much higher than a normal violin, it would be heard most often in Serenedes and notturnos,, in the company of a flute, harp or other such instruments." ["Vor einigen Jahren hat man noch so gar Concerte auf diese von den Italienern sogenannte kleine Violin (violino piccolo) gesetzet: und da es sich weit höher als eine andere Violin stimmen läßt; so wurde es sonderbar bey musikalischen Nachtstücken mit einer Zwerchflaute, Harfe, oder einem anderen solchen Instrumente vergesellschaftet, öfters gehöret"]
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