Violone

As Printed on a Score

Labels a bass string staff in late-Baroque scores, abbreviated Vne. It usually carries the continuo bass line without figures, so a separate violone staff often duplicates the continuo, sometimes with rests where the large instrument drops out.

Abbreviations: Vne., Vne

How Composers Use It

The name covered several large bowed basses, from bass viols at 8-foot pitch to instruments sounding an octave lower like the modern double bass, so the octave a violone part sounds in depends on the instrument and is debated for some repertoire. Today it is played on a double bass or a reconstructed violone. In new music the name belongs only to historically informed scoring; in a modern orchestra the same role goes to the contrabbasso.

Example

Bach, Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G major, BWV 1048, staff label: “Violone” (“Vne” on later systems) — the large bass beneath three violins, three violas and three cellos, beside the harpsichord.

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