2 - The bow: its history and development

Summary

The bow has a far longer history than the cello, but the instrument's rapid development made new demands on the existing bows of the sixteenth century. Although it appeared in many forms before 1500, the bow is most often depicted as a simply curved stick with a skein of horsehair stretched between the ends (see Fig. 2.1). The hair was kept in permanent tension, and the deep curve of the stick gave it a high centre of gravity, making it difficult to control. The curve was made flatter during the sixteenth century with the addition of the frog, a wedge which kept the hair clear of the stick at the handle. Early bow makers remain anonymous, and it is not clear whether instrument makers made and supplied their own bows. Only from the eighteenth century did bows begin to appear with the maker's name branded on the stick or the frog.

Nowadays, the craft of the ‘archetier’, or bow maker, is entirely separated from that of the ‘luthier’, or instrument maker. The major innovations in bow making during the Baroque period are associated with musicians rather than craftsmen; violinists generally set the pace for development, while cellists were able to make good use of the designs produced for viol players. The bow-type named after the violinist and composer Arcangelo Corelli (1653–1713) has a longer and straighter stick and a down-turned tip to raise the end of the stick away from the hair, matching the frog and increasing the usable length of hair.