A Note on Bass Viol Sources of "The Division-Violin"

Author(s): Margaret C. Gilmore

Source: Early Music, Vol. 11, No. 2 (Apr., 1983), pp. 223-225
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3137836
Accessed: 08-05-2017 17:42 UTC

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 Observations
Was Mme Raisin also an operathe role and the particular posture familiar ones
favoured by various artists? Are the two connected at
singer?. all? Did the beautiful actress appeal to Monsieur
Mirka Zemanova Mariette's fancy? And, most important of all, could
Mme Raisin perhaps also sing?
Interested iconographers are invited to help to solve
A chance study of Galerie thidtrale (A. Barraud:the Paris,
mystery.
1873) has revealed the engraving shown opposite: the
likeness of this actress to the'Actrice de l'opera' shown
on the cover of Early Music for April 1981 is uncanny.
Galerie thidtrale, arguably the most handsome of A all
note on bass viol sources
19th-century books on the performing arts, shows the
most famous French actors and actresses from 1552 of The Division-Violin
until the late 1800s in the roles that made them Margaret C. Gilmore
famous, and gives much amusing information about
their lives. The author of the entry on Mme Raisin tells
When John Playford published The Division- Violin in
us that she was born in 1662, the daughter of an
1684 shortly before his death, he departed from
actor and director named Pitel; she made her debut at
previous collections of dance tunes for the violin:
the age of 15, with great success as she was 'grande,
drawing upon a wide variety of contemporary recorder,
belle, bien faite, brillante de graces, et d'un esprit vif.
bass viol and violin items (many also popular as ballad
She spent some 18 months in London with her father's
tunes), he provided the growing number of violinists in
group, much of the time--when she was off stage--in England with an unusual collection of unaccompanied
the company of Charles II. On her return to France she
preludes and divisions.' Its popularity is evident from
married Monsieur Raisin, already an immensely
the reprinting of 1685, subsequent additions to the
popular actor, and they continued their careers, first in
volume and a completely new folio edition of 1730.
Rouen, and then, from 1679, in Paris at the Th'Atre de
Despite the wide variety of sources, there is evidence
l'H6tel de Bourgogne. Mme Raisin was a brilliant
that at its inception The Division- Violin was drawing
success both in tragedy and comedy, and well fitted to
upon items also popular among a circle of bass viol
perform on the principal stage of the kingdom, despite
players. The work is modelled, of course, upon Chris-
the fact that 'sa bouche ffit un peu grande'.
topher Simpson's successful Division-violist (1659, rev.
It does not seem, however, that any of the plays
2/1665), and Playford adapted for the violin one item
mentioned in Mme Raisin's biography (Adronic, Tiridate, from this work as no.9 of his collection.2 He also
L'homme d bonnes fortunes, La coquette, Le grondeur, Le rearranged the divisions, placing the grounds at the
muet and Le distrait) was ever set to music, and no
end, with the implication that they could also be used
composers are listed among her benefactors and
as ground basses accompanying the divisions (with
friends. Her most famous patron was, after her hus-
bass instrument or keyboard).3 An earlier source dated
band's death, the son of Louis XIV, and she later
1679 (Oxford, Bodleian, Mus.C.39, 'Divisions for the
received--at the suggestion of the Roi Soleil himself--
Viol') contains bass viol versions of Division- Violin
an annual pension of 12,000 livres. But the dauphin
items nos. 1 (without the scordatura tuning), 3 (without
died in 1711, the pension was withdrawn, and it was
the first, third and twelfth strains), 44 and 8. Further-
too late for her to return to the stage. Supported by the
more, the version of no.3 is very similar to those found
Duke of Orleans, she retired to Normandy, and in ten
other bass viol sources of this same- item:
years later met a sad end when her carriage overturned.
Bodleian, Mus.Sch.C.71, no.11, pp.102-4: attrib. 'Mr.Butler'
Was Mmine Raisin the model for Monsieur Mariette's
Bodleian, Mus.Sch.C.61, pp.6-7: attrib. 'Peter Young'
'Actrice de l'opera'? Both Mariette and Prud'hon worked
Bodleian, Mus.184.C.8, pp.83-6: 'P. W.'s own follow'
in Paris, and even without a detailed study ofOxford,
the Christ Church, 1183, ff.32v-33: 'Mr. Polwheele'
costumes one can safely say that there is little Haslemere, Dolmetsch, II.c.24, f.29v: 'PoleWheele'
difference in period between the two engravings. WereLondon, British Library, Add.59869, ff.37v-38 (rev.): anon.

EARLY MUSIC APRIL 1983 223

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Knutsford, Tabley House, unnumbered manuscript for lyra violist that has recently come to light in the Newberry
viol, ff.54v-55: attrib. 'Peter Young' Library, Chicago.6 The manuscript contains a complete
Although they differ among themselves in minor ways, (and the closest surviving) bass viol version of Division-
the above sources also omit strains 1, 3 and 12, and Violin no.3, omitting no strains. The same item in the
they all substitute an identical different strain for the manuscript also includes Mr Banister's divisions on
twelfth.5 Bodleian, Mus.184.C.8, Christ Church, 1183 Powlwheels Ground (Division- Violin no.8). That these
and British Library, Add.59869 are also all manuscript divisions were adapted from The Division- Violin (a later
additions to copies of The Division-violist. Playford edition) is also seen from three other items in the
must have been acquainted with a very active and manuscript: no.III in the manuscript is a bass viol
accomplished circle of bass viol players, who were version of Division- Violin no.4, omitting the eleventh
also, as will be shown below, in close contact with strain and the B flat from the key signature (as is the
violinists. case in the 1685 'Second Edition, much enlarged' of
This contact is seen in a further set of bass viol
The Division- Violin); no.I is a bass viol version of 'An
divisions appended to another copy of The Division-
Italian Ground' which first appeared as no.35 of the en-

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1 The opening of Mr Powlwheels Division on a Ground, from John Playf

edition of 1684)

224 EARLY MUSIC APRIL 1983

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larged second edition; and no.VI, a bass viol version of
Division- Violin no.19 in C major, shows evidence of
correcting the incorrectly placed double bar printed at
the end of the first strain. The Newberry Division-violist
also contains a set of variations on Faronells Ground
(Division- Violin no.5) with added chords and other,
more elaborate divisions, and a bass viol version of
Division-Violin no.24, 'A Division for two Trebles on a
Ground by Mr. Robert Smith', for first treble and bass
only, similar to the arrangement in Apollo's Banquet
(1678), no. 110. Finally, it provides a set of divisions by
Daniel Norcombe which also appear in two other
sources of Powlwheels Ground: Dolmetsch, II.c.24 and
Bodleian, Mus.Sch.C.71.
The two divisions on Powlwheels Ground do not
appear in the 1730 folio edition of The Division- Violin;
similarly missing are the other items with bass viol
concordances (no.6, titled 'C. S.' with an approximate
version for two bass viols,7 and no.9, adapted from The
The Most Beautiful Musical
Division-violist). Although it is perhaps surprising that
Playford did not adapt more of the elaborate bass viol Instruments of Antiquity.
divisions in the manuscripts that include Powlwheels
Musikinstrumente aus Agypten, Naher Osten,
Ground, his eclectic collection more accurately reflects
the truly idiosyncratic development of the violin inKleinasien, Agais, Hellas, Makedonien, Pon-
toslander, Mittelmeer, Italicum, Rom Hispan-
Restoration England, where it rapidly became in-
ien, Gallien.
dependent of its associations with the bass viol and
asserted its integrity as a solo instrument. Die Musikinstrumente des Altertums umfas-
sen historisch, organologisch und technolo-
'This is described in greater detail in my preface to the facsimile
edition of The Division-Violin (Oxford University Press: London, gisch Nachweise Ober deren Mannigfaltigkeit
und Sch6nheit in Ober 2300 Jahren afro-eruas-
1982). A detail from the title-page of the 1685 edition is reproduced
in EM 10/3 (July 1982), p.329. ischer Kunst und Kulltur.
2The Division-violist, p.57
3See the realization of the ground basses accompanying the
Verfasser und Verlag wenden sich an Kultur-,
facsimile of The Division-Violin.
Kunst- und Musikhistoriker, an Musikwissen-
4This earlier source presents Old Simon the King with the trouble- schaftler und Musikorganologen, an Archao-
some B flat in the key signature and the eleventh strain which
logen, Numismatiker, Theoretiker und Prak-
appeared in the 1684 and the 1685 reprinting of The Division- Violin. In
the 'Second Edition, much enlarged', the eleventh strain is replaced tiker der antiken Sch6nheitslehren, an Lehrer
by'The Second Part, and the B flat is partly erased. Performance of
von Musikhochschulen, vor allem aber auch
an Musikinstrumentensammler und besonders
this item should follow the later editions, and the keyboard version
(The Second Part ofMusich 's Hand-maid (1689), no.28), which omit the interessierte M usikinstrumentenbauer.
B flat.

5That the word 'Powlwheel' refers to the ground and not to the 145 Farbbilder, 145 Quellenbilder, 12 Land-
divisions may be seen from the inscription 'polewheele' to ff. 16-17v karten. 220 Seiten im Format 21 x 26,5 cm.
of Bodleian, Mus.C.39, a set of different divisions on this ground. DM 240,- (bis 28. 2. 1983 DM 180,-)
The authorship of the divisions of no.3 regrettably cannot be
determined at this time. Work on Henry Butler is being completed by
Text in German. 145 illustrations in colour, 145
Elizabeth Phillips at Washington University, St Louis, Missouri, USA.
in black and white.
6R. Charteris, 'Some Manuscript Discoveries of Henry Purcell and
His Contemporaries in the Newberry Library, Chicago', Music Library
Association Notes, 37/1 (1980), pp.7-13. This manuscript is also
reproduced as Viola da Gamba Society Supplementary Publication,
no.137, ed. G. Dodd (London, 1980). VERLAG ERWIN BOCHINSKY
7Bodleian, Mus.C.59-60, pp.24-5 (C.59) and pp.42-3 (C.60). I am
indebted to the sources listed in J.M. Richards, 'A study of music for Kl0berstraBe 9, D-6000 Frankfurt am Main
bass viol written in England in the 17th century' (BLitt diss., U. of
Oxford, 1961).

EARLY MUSIC APRIL 1983 225

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