View source for Violino piccolo

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{{Short description|Small stringed musical instrument}}
{{Infobox Instrument
| name           = Violino piccolo (piccolo violin)
| image          = Piccolo-violin-met.jpg
| image_capt     = 
| classification = *[[Bowed string instrument]]s
| range          = 
| related        = * [[Violin]]
* [[Viola]]
* [[Cello]]
* [[Double bass]]
}}
The '''violino piccolo''' (also called the ''Diskantgeige'', ''Terzgeige'', ''Quartgeige'' or ''Violino alla francese'' and sometimes in [[English language|English]] as the '''Piccolo Violin''') is a small [[stringed instrument]] of the [[Baroque music|baroque]] period.  Most examples are similar to a child's size [[violin]] in size, and are tuned a [[minor third]] (B{{music|b}}<sub>3</sub>–F<sub>4</sub>–C<sub>5</sub>–G<sub>5</sub>) or a [[Perfect fourth|fourth]] higher (C<sub>4</sub>–G<sub>4</sub>–D<sub>5</sub>–A<sub>5</sub>). The most famous work featuring violino piccolo is the first [[Brandenburg Concerto]] of [[Johann Sebastian Bach]].

The best-known violino piccolo is the [[Brothers Amati]] example in the [[National Music Museum]] in [[Vermillion, South Dakota]]. By modern measurements, the body is {{1/4}} size, the neck {{1/2}} size, and the head corresponds to that of a {{3/4}} size instrument. The string length is the equivalent of a {{frac|4|4}} violin stopped a minor third from the nut, which corresponds with its normal tuning of a third higher than a {{frac|4|4}} violin. It's notated in E flat. This Amati violin also has fingerboard widths similar to that of a {{frac|4|4}} board cut a third shorter, which in view of the other measurements implies a clear conceptual relationship to the {{frac|4|4}}-sized violin.

When the [[Violin construction and mechanics|construction of the violin]] changed as the [[rococo]] period began, it became possible to play many higher-pitched violin parts on a standard violin, and the piccolo violin was no longer considered necessary.

Violins of similar tuning have been built in modern times (specifically the soprano violin of the [[new violin family]]) but have not yet been accepted as standard.
[[File:Strad violino piccolo MFA Boston.jpg|thumb|A [[Stradivarius]] violino piccolo at the [[Museum of Fine Arts, Boston]].]]

==See also==
*[[Rabeca chuleira]], a short-scale Portuguese fiddle
* [[Pochette (musical instrument)]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://blog.markwshead.com/20/violino-piccolo/ Violino Piccolo – Mark Shead]
*[http://collections.nmmusd.org/Violins/AmatiViolinoPiccolo/3361ViolinoPiccolo.html Violino piccolo by Girolamo Amati, Cremona, 1613]
*[http://opencommons.uconn.edu/dissertations/1404/ The Violino Piccolo in the Leipzig Orbit, 1650-1750]

{{Violin family}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Violin family instruments]]