C-Saite

As Printed on a Score

Printed over a viola or cello part — the C string is the lowest of both — as “C-Saite” or “auf der C-Saite”, with a bracket or dashed line where needed, and cancelled by another string name or gewöhnlich. Italian scores write sul C or IV corda.

Also spelled: C Saite

How Composers Use It

Asking a cellist or violist to keep a melody on the C string, up into higher positions, gives a dark, covered, intense sound quite unlike the same notes on the G. It is a colour for brooding tenor-register melodies. It costs agility, so keep the line fairly slow and not too high, and name the string only for the stretch where the colour matters.

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