Abstract
The issue of instrumentation in the bass line of works from the latter half of the eighteenth century received a good deal of scholarly attention in the mid-twentieth century. Several authors put forth theories concerning the proper deployment of bass-line instrumental forces, often taking works by W. A. Mozart and Joseph Haydn from the serenade and divertimento traditions as a point of departure and relating their findings to the instrumentation of larger works. While much of this research proved informative, two particular areas of this discussion remained somewhat opaque: When was a double-bass instrument used in works from this period and what type of double-bass instrument was employed? Much of the twentieth-century research concerning these questions centered on an examination of the lower compass of the bass lines in works from this period to make such determinations. The article discusses problems associated with using this as the principal criterion for such conclusions and offers alternative views based on important features of the double-bass instruments used in this music, such as size, number of strings, and tunings. Additionally, traditional groupings of instruments--particularly the «serenade quartet» (two violins, viola, and double bass) popular in Salzburg during the latter part of the eighteenth century-- are considered. By adopting this more contextualized approach, new insights into the proper performance of a wide variety of music from this period may be obtained. [PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]