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Contact information: Send comments or suggestions to: Web editor The Yale Alumni Magazine is owned and operated by Yale Alumni Publications, Inc., a nonprofit corporation independent of Yale University. The content of the magazine is the responsibility of the editors and the board of directors, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Yale or its officers. |
String Theory A seventeenth-century viola da gamba had its second debut concert this spring, after a three-year-long restoration. The viol, part of the university's Collection of Musical Instruments, was a six-stringer when it was made by Richard Meares of London in 1664. But it was altered around 1700 to accommodate the seven strings then fashionable in France -- showing that it probably belonged to a musician in the English court in exile of James II. "There are seven bass viols from Meares's workshop extant, and this is the earliest," says Richard Rephann, director of the collection. Paolo Pandolfo, the world's greatest viola da gamba player, flew in from Italy to perform Bach, Telemann, de Machy, and Pandolfo on the newly playable instrument. How would he describe its musical personality? "When we first met, it was a bit shy -- very sensitive, but introverted," he said. "But then, as we became acquainted, it began to respond to more energetic demands." And how does it sound? "Fantastic. Incredible."
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