Wes Crone wrote:

>Dave Runnion wrote:
>
>>This year I heard a performance of piano trios with the excellent
>>musicians Barry Sargent (a neighbor here in Mallorca) and his wife Rumiko
>>and I forget the cellist, anyway, the cellist played an instrument with the
>>original setup: gut strings, shortened fingerboard and no endpin.  No
>>endpin.  Silliest thing I ever saw.  Thing is, they played a BRAHMS trio
>>like this!  Now I would call this HUP..historically uninformed!
>
>I am not an expert on the history of the cello.  I was wondering if you
>could tell me whether or not cellos in the late 1800's were still using
>the original setup with gut strings, shortened fingerboard and no endpin.

I don't know very much about the instruments in Brahms' days.  But
according to the cellist Anner Bijlsma gut strings were used until the
first half of our century.  Only after World War II they were replaced
by metal strings.  There is no doubt that using gut strings has great
influence on the overall sound of the orchestra.  Roger Norrington has
recorded Brahms' symphonies; you should have a look at the booklet, in
which he writes about the instruments and orchestras in those days.  One
other thing: Brahms - and some other composers in his time - preferred the
old-fashioned natural horn to the modern horn, which was generally used in
his days.  As far as the piano is concerned, I have just heard a CD with
songs by Reger, in which a piano from the end of the 19th century was used:
of course the sound is less defferent from the modern concert grand than -
say - an instrument by Graf or Erard from before 1850.  But there is still
a clear difference which makes it worthwhile using it for that sort of
repertoire.

Johan van Veen
Utrecht (Netherlands)
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