The viol (rhymes with "mile") is a string instrument that is played with a bow. The viol was a popular instrument from the 15th to the 18th century. Small viols are held on the lap, and the larger ones are held between the knees, which gave them the name of "viol da gamba", meaning a leg viol. The bow is held with the palm of the hand facing upwards: the other way round from today's bowhold for violins, violas or cellos. The viol is a gentle-sounding instrument. When the violin family became popular in the 17th century and people started to go to concerts in large concert halls, and to operas, the viols became less important. They were never used in orchestras.
Viols are made of wood, and are similar to the violin family. Most viols have six strings, although this number did vary during the centuries. The strings were made of gut, and are not as tight as on a violin. The fingerboard has frets like a guitar, except that they were also made of gut. They were tied around the fingerboard, and could be moved for tuning. These frets help the player to find the exact place to put their fingers. Sometimes the top of the scrolls on the fingerboard were beautifully decorated. The instruments have sloped shoulders and a flat back. The viol, like the vihuela, from which it developed, has a bridge that is flatter than the bridge of a modern violin. This makes it easier to play chords. The bow was convex in shape, where a violin bow is concave.
Viols were made in different sizes. A set of viols of different sizes - perhaps four or five instruments - were sometimes kept together in a chest (large box) which is why they were called a "chest of viols". When they were played together people talked of a "consort of viols". A consort would normally have at least one treble, tenor and bass instrument. A "broken consort" meant a mixture of different instruments: viols, recorders etc. Lute and bass viol were often played together. They were tuned in fourths, with a major third in the middle.
The strings of a bass viol (equivalent to the cello in the modern violin family) are tuned (from the lowest note, nearly two octaves below middle C, upwards) to D - G - C - E - A -D. The tenor viol was often called a viola da gamba (literally: "viol of the leg"). It was the most popular size for solo music and many composers wrote sonatas for the viola da gamba. The biggest viol is called the violone. It developed into the modern double bass. This is why the double bass is a little different in shape from the violin, viola and cello. Some double bass players today hold the bow with the palm (inside) of the hand facing upwards, like viol players.
The viol was popular in the houses of rich people, and in the royal court. During the reign of Elizabeth I and, later, King Charles I composers such as William Byrd, John Dowland, Orlando Gibbons, John Jenkins and William Lawes wrote viol music. Solo sonatas were written by many composers including Marin Marais, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Karl Friedrich Abel. Some of the last and greatest fantasies for viol consort were written by Henry Purcell.
After the mid-18th century people forgot about the viol until the 20th century when there was a new interest in early music and people like Arnold Dolmetsch started making them again so that Renaissance and Baroque viol music could be played. Today there are many societies for people who are interested in playing the viol.
There are now many societies for people with an interest in the viol. One of these, The Viola da Gamba Society has a worldwide membership. Some modern composers have also written for the viol e.g. John Tavener, Sally Beamish, Thea Musgrave, Tan Dun and Poul Ruders. There is a group called Fretwork which perform viol music.
Regnitz
The Regnitz is a river in Bavaria, Germany. It is a left tributary of the Main and is 58 km in length.
The river is formed by the confluence of the rivers Rednitz and Pegnitz, which meet in the city of Fürth. From there the Regnitz runs northwards through the cities of Erlangen and Forchheim. It finally meets the Main in the city of Bamberg.
Geir Ivarsøy
Geir Ivarsøy (June 27, 1957 – March 9, 2006) was the main programmer at Opera Software. He and Jon Stephenson von Tetzchner were part of a research group at the Norwegian state telephone company (now known as Telenor). They made browsing software called "MultiTorg Opera". Telenor stopped them from working on the program, but in 1995 Ivarsøy and Stephenson von Tetzchner got the rights to the software. They created a company of their own, and continued working on it.
Now known as Opera, the Internet browser has become very popular. Opera Software has grown to more than 380 employees since it first moved to its present offices in Oslo.
In January of 2004, Geir Ivarsøy said he wanted to resign as a board member in Opera Software, though he kept working in the company after that. In June of 2005 he was elected as a member of the nomination committee of the company.
Geir died in March 2006 after a long battle with cancer.
Color wheel
A color wheel is a circular chart that shows primary and secondary colors.
The color wheel most commonly used today is called the "HSV color wheel" which means "hue, saturation, value". The digital form of the HSV color wheel is called the RGB color wheel (shown below). The HSV/RGB color wheel is described below. There are two versions: one in which red, green and blue are regarded as the primary colors (called the "electronic" or "computer" color wheel); and one in which magenta, yellow, and cyan are regarded as the primary colors (called the "printer's color wheel").the primary colours are on the top.
"(* Primary means first)"
In the electronic color wheel used for electronic devices such as televisions and computers, red, green, and blue are regarded as the "primary colors" and magenta, yellow, and cyan are regarded as the "secondary colors".
The primary colors always appear on the color wheel. There are the three primary colors of light. These are called the three "additive colors". They are red (made in pigment by mixing yellow and magenta), green (made in pigment by mixing cyan and yellow), and blue (made in pigment by mixing magenta and cyan). The three primary colors of light are the secondary colors on the "printer's color wheel".
The primary colors of light can be mixed together to make secondary colors. A long time ago, people used to think that the primary colors were red, yellow and blue. Now we know they were wrong.
"(* Secondary means second)"
The secondary colors are on all color wheels. Secondary colors are made by mixing the primary colors of light together. The secondary colors of light are the primary colors of pigment on the printer's color wheel--the color wheel used for color printing. These three colors are called the "subtractive colors". They are magenta (a bright pink), yellow and cyan (a light greenish blue). The primary colors of light are the secondary colors on the "printer's color wheel". The three primary colors of pigment can be mixed to make red (magenta and yellow), green (yellow and cyan), and blue (cyan and magenta), but they do not appear as bright when they are made with pigment instead of light. The secondary colors can be mixed with the primary colors to make tertiary colors.
"(* Tertiary means third)" The tertiary colors are made by mixing a secondary and primary color together. The tertiary colors are orange, made by mixing red and yellow; chartreuse green ("yellow-green"), made by mixing green and yellow; spring green, made by mixing green and cyan; azure, made by mixing blue and cyan; violet, made by mixing blue and magenta; and rose, made by mixing red and magenta.
The tertiary colors are the same for both the "printer's color wheel" and the "electronic color wheel".