The Online Database of Historical Viols
was prepared by, and is maintained by, Thomas MacCracken. The entire
contents are copyright © Thomas MacCracken.
The following links open in a new window:
Additions, updates and corrections are most welcome; please contact the compiler at
tgmacc@earthlink.net
Additional Documentation to Accompany the Online Database of Historical Viols
In addition to the database itself, users may wish to consult several documents containing
supplemental information. The first is a combined
bibliography and discography
of sources cited in the
fields titled Info Source, Literature, Photos, and Recordings. This expands the abbreviated author-date
references found there by giving full names, titles, and places of publication for books and articles, or
label names and catalogue numbers for recordings.
A series of six documents (one each for viols made in
England,
France,
Italy,
Germany,
Austria, and
elsewhere)
contain brief biographical
sketches of the luthiers who are credited with having made the viols listed in the database. These are not
based on any original research by the compiler, but simply aim to bring together information found in
standard reference works and a selection of more specialized publications, though in many cases very
little is known about the makers in question. As with the instruments themselves, additions and
corrections concerning the lives of their makers are warmly invited in order to fill out what is for the most
part a regrettably sketchy picture:
please contact the compiler at tgmacc@earthlink.net.
Finally, a second group of eight documents offer a preliminary analysis of the extant viols
contained in the database,
discussing their distribution by maker, size, and current location and ownership.
These are again organized by country of origin, namely
England,
France,
Italy,
Germany (basses),
Germany (all other sizes),
Austria,
nine other so-called
peripheral countries, and
anonymous
instruments.
