France in the 18th Century: from "The Violoncello and Its History" by Joseph Wasielewski

Section III.

"A substantial hindrance existed from the circumstance that the method of violin playing,...had been in a measure used as a model without taking into consideration the important difference in the dimensions of the fingerboard in the two instruments." p104

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This marks the end of the Unit on The Violoncello in the 18th Century. It covered three countries to a fairly comprehensive degree and inserted a great many anecdotes about the cellists who cultivated the emergence of this amazing instrument. It is regrettable that there was apparently not enough information, or Wasielewski did not think it necessary, to include separate sections on other countries such as England or Russia, for example. While there are some references to cellists either moving to England or Russia there is hardly a whisper of any native cellists from those countries. 

But it is an extremely fortunate occurrence that the author put down so much information about the cello and its progenitors at all! This book is packed with compositions mentioned and can be used as a database as such. Once your read this important book, you will also be privy to the vast numbers of cello compositions that are at our disposal, that is, now that we have the internet. 

When I was a college student, this was hardly the case, even though the internet was already in quite a robust and useful position, I still had to go into various college libraries and spend hours sifting through the stacks just to find "new and interesting" works. This was pleasurable work, since I naturally like quiet spaces filled with books, but I would not have found any of the works by Nölck or Goltermann without visiting specific libraries in Europe. 

I spread the contents of this book to help make more people aware of the music available to cellists.

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