the.com/cello
the upright twin of the human voice, pinned between your knees and weeping beautifully
means A large stringed instrument played seated, held upright between the knees and bowed, sounding in the rich tenor-to-bass range below the viola.
from Short for 'violoncello,' an Italian word that's a small joke folded into a big one: 'violone' meant a large bass viol, and the diminutive '-cello' shrank it back down — so the full name literally means 'little big-viol.' English clipped off the front and kept the affectionate tail end, leaving us with just 'cello.'
- name origin
- short for violoncello, meaning little big viola
- endpin era
- floor spike only standard since the 1800s
- vocal range
- spans bass to soprano, mimicking the human voice
- strings
- tuned in fifths: C, G, D, A
- famous gut
- old strings were literal sheep intestine
yo-yo ma — virtuoso cellist who has performed for presidents and released over 100 albums since the 1960s
mischa maisky — soviet-born cellist who escaped the ussr in 1974 and became one of the most recorded cellists