VIOLA DA GAMBA
Vittorio Ghielmi plays a viola da gamba by Michel Colichon, Paris 1688 The famous French viola da gamba school, born with Sainte Colombe and flourished with his pupil Marin Marais and the Forqueray family, developped together with the viol - making school in France, on the end of the 17th century. The birth of the "classical" French gamba is due to the collaboration between the player Monsieur de Sainte Colombe and the viol maker Michel Colichon ( or Collichon ), one of the most prominent viol makers of his time. They added the seventh ( low ) string to the English viol, giving the instrument a perfect symmetry. Only six bass viols by Colichon survived. Three of theses viols ( 1683, 1687, 1688 ) have the entire body built in a very particular and fine wood: the Cuba mahogany. It' s a wood very rare in viol making that gives a deep, rich and unique tone to Colichon's instruments. Cf.: T. Muthesius and C. Vaast, Michel Colichon, facteur de violes parisien, in "Musique, Images, Instruments", no. 2 ( 1996 ), p. 40 - 57.