One extra high string
27.10.2025,
This rather small violoncello (body length 62.9 cm) with an additional fifth high string is considered one of the few surviving examples of a special type of violoncello created towards the end of the 17th century, the "violoncello a cinque corde". The first composition for a basse de violon (=violoncello) a 5 cordes corresponding to this type has survived from Paris around 1686, while larger five-string cellos, albeit with an additional low string, probably already existed before then. The type of "basse de violon (or violoncello) a 5 cordes" gained particular prominence with the sixth suite for solo cello by Johann Sebastian Bach around 1720, for which Bach demanded a violoncello a cinq(ue) cordes with the tuning C-G-d-a-e', so that the range was extended upwards by a fifth compared to the usual four-string violoncello.
The cello as a solo instrument
In addition to this Munich instrument, other instruments with five strings from Milan, Paris and Klingenthal (Saxony) have survived from the first half of the 18th century. Their bodies are somewhat smaller than today's standard size, but not so small as to allow a playing position other than today's between the knees. The reason for the emergence of the "violoncello a cinque corde" was that the cello was no longer only used as a bass instrument, but increasingly also as a solo instrument. The high fifth string also made it possible to play in the tenor register. The slightly smaller body and the correspondingly shorter string length were technical prerequisites for the construction of the e' string, but also allowed for more agile playing and a brighter tone colour. With the development of new playing techniques from around 1730, cellists also began to master the tenor register on four-string cellos - the "violoncello a cinque corde" went out of fashion.
Not only among musicians, but also in older literature, the "violoncello a cinque corde" is often confused with the "violoncello piccolo", which also had five strings and to which Bach dedicated several solo parts in his cantatas. However, the "violoncello piccolo" was presumably even (significantly) smaller and could therefore possibly have been played in a shoulder position comparable to that of the violin - Bach himself explicitly differentiated between the types in his own precise manner through his instrument specifications.
