Viol History: A brief sketch.
There is an elegant simplicity about Francesco Linarol's solution to the problem of making a flat bellied vihuela (from which the viol developed) capable of being played with a bow; bowing individual strings rather than all of them at once.
 Vihuela (viola da mano) c1512 Low bridge; fingerboard level with face of flat soundboard. |  Viol Rome c1512 Arched soundboard; raised fingerboard & high bridge. |
The flat soundboard was bent transversely and the two supporting bars were curved to support it. With a thicker finger board and a higher curved bridge it provided an instrument which could be played chordaly as Ganassi describes, and hold an individual line in a consort.
 Section through body showing transverse bar and bent soundboard (not to scale). |
As far as is known the viol by Francesco Linarol is the earliest surviving viol and was made in Venice in 1540 where a number of "violeros" (viol makers) were established by the middle of the 16th Century. Francesco's son, Ventura, continued to make viols at least until the end of the 16th Century.
This new type of instrument, the viol, had gaind a highly fashionable status by early in the 16th Century. Isabella D'Este persuaded her personal instrument maker, Lorenzo da Pavia, to provide her with a matched set of viols, and by 1520's the viol had established itself throughout Europe, reaching Scotland by 1535 where an Englishman, named Richard, was paid £20 to "mak violis to the Kingis grace".
Evidence from contemporary accounts and paintings suggest that viols were played in consorts of the larger sizes, a typical set being what would now be called a tenor in A playing the upper parts, a bass in d playing the middle parts and a large bass in A playing the bass part. They were also used as transposing instruments; the player of the tenor in A playing their part as if they were playing a treble in d, the two middle players of d basses playing as if they were playing a tenor in g, and the large bass in A playing as if it were a bass in D. Ganassi and others describe this practice.
Why make "early viols" today? The early music revival has been characterised by exciting rediscoveries, that of the viol being one of the earliest, and thousands of music lovers have been reintroduced, by a plethora of performances and CD's, to the "new" sound of this lovely old music. For some years recorder players and lutenists have realised that if they play their repertoire on appropriately reconstructed instruments, this has a telling effect on their understanding of both sonority and dynamics in the music. It is my contention that earlier 16th Century music, which would have been played on viols, comes alive when played on an instruments made according to early principles and set up with appropriate string tension and bridge placement. There is a warmth and relaxation that reflects Castiglione's comment "E no meno diletta la musica delle quattro viole do ario, la qual' e soavissima and artificiosa" ("No less delightful - is the music of four bowed viols, which is very sweet and artful" - The Art of the Courtier. Venice, 1528 ).