violoncellon.
/ˌvʌɪələnˈtʃɛləʊ/, /ˌviːələnˈtʃɛləʊ/, U.S. /ˌvaɪələnˈtʃɛloʊ/, /ˌviələnˈtʃɛloʊ/ 1.
a. A large four-stringed instrument of the violin class, a bass violin; = cello n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > stringed instruments > bowable instrument > [noun] > violincello
bass-viola1616
violoncello1724
cello1848
violoncello piccolo1889
α.
β. 1774 D. Barrington in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 63 271 (note) Mr. Zeidler, who plays the violincello at Covent-Garden theatre.1797 E. Berkeley in G. M. Berkeley Poems Pref. p. ccccxii Dr. Berkeley was esteemed the finest gentleman-performer on the violincello in England.1853 C. Dickens Bleak House vi. 52 Mr. Skimpole could play on the piano, and the violoncello.1724 Short Explic. Foreign Words Musick Bks. Violon~cello, is a Small Bass Violin, just half as big as a common Bass Violin, in Length, Breadth, and Thickness.
1742 Fr. Barsanti (title) A Collection of Old Scots Tunes, with the Bass for Violoncello or Harpsichord.
1795 W. Mason Ess. Eng. Church Music i. 73 I know and confess that this and the violon~cello are the most perfect of all stringed Instruments.
1867 A. Trollope Last Chron. Barset II. xlix. 55 Of all the works of his life this playing on the violoncello had been the sweetest to him.
1880 C. A. Edwards Organs ii. xxi. 149 If the bass string of a Violoncello be vibrated, other sounds besides that proper to the string may be detected.
b. A player on the violoncello. Cf. violin n. 2.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musician > instrumentalist > string player > [noun] > cello-player
violoncellist1835
cello1857
violoncello1861
celloist1870
cellist1880
1861 ‘G. Eliot’ Let. 6 Oct. (1954) III. 456 We have our violoncello, who is full of sensibility.
2. An organ stop having a tone similar to that of a violoncello.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > keyboard instrument > organ > [noun] > stop > string-tone stops
viol1688
violin1688
viol da gamba1826
gamba1829
viola da (also di) gamba1852
violon1852
aeolina1855
German gamba1860
aeoline1865
viola1876
violoncello1876
1876 J. Hiles Catech. Organ (1878) ix. 63 Violoncello, an 8 feet stop, resembling in construction the Violone.
Compounds
C1. attributive and in other combinations, as violoncello bow, violoncello player, violoncello species;
ΚΠ
1788 J. Woodforde Diary 12 Sept. (1927) III. 46 There is not perhaps a better Violencello [sic] player in the Kingdom.
1818 E. Blaquière tr. F. Pananti Narr. Resid. Algiers 267 The arabebbah, of the violincello species, with one string.
1888 Encycl. Brit. XXIV. 246/1 One of his best violoncello bows, which are rarities, was recently sold in Paris for £44.
1899 T. C. Allbutt et al. Syst. Med. VIII. 12 In the violoncello players who perform solos..there is very great strain.
C2.
violoncello piccolo n. a small variety of violoncello; cf. violino piccolo n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > stringed instruments > bowable instrument > [noun] > violincello
bass-viola1616
violoncello1724
cello1848
violoncello piccolo1889
1889 G. Grove Dict. Music IV. 813/1 Violoncello piccolo, a violoncello of the ordinary pitch, but of smaller size and having thinner strings.
1959 Collins Mus. Encycl. 706/1 Violoncello piccolo,..a small-sized cello for which Bach wrote obbligato parts in 9 of his cantatas.
1977 Gramophone Oct. 672/1 It falls short in the provision of a cello rather than Bach's own stipulation of a violoncello piccolo.
Derivatives
violonˈcelloing adj.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > music > performing music > playing instruments > playing stringed instrument > [adjective] > playing cello
violoncelloing1830
1830 M. R. Mitford Our Village (1863) IV. 266 One fluting brother; one fiddling ditto; a violoncelloing music-master; and a singing papa.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1917; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1724