The violoncello, almost always abbreviated to cello, or 'cello (the c is pronounced [tʃ] as the ch in "cheese"),"chamber"), is a bowed stringed instrument, the lowest-sounding member of the violin family. A person who plays a cello is called a cellist. The cello is used as a solo instrument, in chamber music, and as a member of the string section of an orchestra.
The name cello (plural: cellos or celli) is an abbreviation of the Italian violoncello, which means "little violone". The violone is an obsolete instrument, a large viol, similar to a modern double bass. The cello is most closely associated with European classical music. It is part of the standard orchestra and is the bass voice of the string quartet, as well as being part of many other chamber groups. A large number of concertos and sonatas have been written for it. It is less common in popular music, but is sometimes featured in pop and rock recordings. The cello has also been modified for Indian classical music by Saskia Rao-de Haas. Among the most famous Baroque works for the cello are J. S. Bach's Unaccompanied Suites for Cello, commonly known as the Bach Cello Suites. An example of a Classical era piece is Haydn's Cello Concerto #1 in C major. Standard Romantic era repertoire includes the Cello Concerto in B minor by Antonín Dvořák, Elgar's Cello Concerto in E minor, and the two sonatas by Brahms. Modern compositions from the early 20th century include unaccompanied cello sonatas by Paul Hindemith (opus 25) and Zoltán Kodály (opus 8). Recordings within the Avant Garde (cutting edge) genre have revitalized the instrument's perceived versatility. One example is Night of the Four Moons by George Crumb.

[edit] Sound

The cello produces a deep and rich sound. The cello reaches the lowest pitch in the traditional string quartet and is capable of covering nearly the entire range of pitches produced by the human voice. It produces sounds from the soprano to the alto of an adult choir. In the upper register, many celli may be said to have a "tenor-like" timbre. The lowest possible pitch is C2, two octaves below middle C. The highest pitch (without considering harmonics) on the fingerboard is somewhere around F#6, played on the A string, but Zoltán Kodaly's solo sonata requires a spectacular B6 to be played in the concluding measures.

[edit] Tuning and range

The cello has four strings referred to by their standard tuning, which is in perfect fifth intervals: the A-string (highest sounding), D-string, G-string, and C-string (lowest sounding). The A-string is tuned to the pitch A3 (below middle C), the D-string a fifth lower at D3, the G-string a fifth below that at G2, and the C-string tuned to C2 (two octaves lower than middle C). Some pieces, notably the 5th of Bach's 6 Suites for Unaccompanied Cello, require an altered tuning of the strings (C-G-d-g), known as scordatura; another well-known example is Zoltán Kodály's Solo Cello Sonata (B-F#-d-a). Many believe that the 6th of Bach's 6 Suites for Unaccompanied Cello was actually written for a five string "violoncello piccolo", a smaller cello with a high E-string above the A-string, that is no longer commonly used. While the lower range of the cello is limited by the tuning of the lowest string (typically C2, two octaves below middle C), the upper range of the cello varies according to the skill of the player, and length of the fingerboard. A general guideline when writing for professional cellists sets the upper limit at C6 (two octaves above middle C), although even higher pitches are possible, up to one extra octave. Because of the extended range of the instrument, music for the cello frequently alternates between the bass clef, tenor clef, and treble clef. Composers up to Dvořák followed the older convention of writting in treble clef but intending the notes to be played an octave lower than written; if however the treble clef follows tenor clef instead of bass clef, it must be played as written. A late example of this usage is the arragement attributed to Hans Eisler of the Serenade from Schoenberg's Septet op. 24.

[edit] Construction