ABOUT THE VIOL AND US

Viols of Houston consists of aficionados of the viola da gamba.  We meet regularly to learn about the gamba and to play music with each other.  We also sponsor concerts, teachers, and master classes. 

The viola da gamba is known both as the "viol" and the "gamba." The word gamba means "leg" in Italian, so the Italians called the instrument "the viol of the leg." They called the violin the "viol of the arm," "viola da braccia").

The gamba descends from a Spanish guitar called the vihuela, played with a bow sometime in the Middle Ages. The instrument has frets like a guitar. Tuning is in fourths with a third in the middle like a guitar. Wood of the body is light, which makes the instrument nasal and resonant like a guitar.

The gamba achieved immense popularity for the three centuries from 1500 to 1800. That produced vast amounts of music – much of it playable by amateurs. In 1900, some enthusiasts turned back to early instruments such as the gamba. In the 1960s, artists began to dig in libraries for music by forgotten composers. Today music is composed again for the gamba.