The Viol

This book is a compendium and practical guide for musicians and music lovers alike, putting a great many problems and questions relating to the voil, and music in general, into perspective. There is ample material concerning such topics as the great gamba players, the history of viol construction including regional developments, the musical role of voils, reconstructions and forgeries, and the practical aspects of viol playing. This book is novel in that it strives to combine good scholarship with good story-telling. It is equally without precedent in focusing altogether on the history, construction and playing technique of an instrument that had been forgotten, but which has come back to life.