The mandocello (Italian: mandoloncello, Liuto cantabile, liuto moderno) is a plucked string instrument in the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin and serves as the baritone member of the family. The instrument has eight strings arranged in four pairs, with each pair tuned to the same note. The overall tuning follows the same pattern as a mandolin, using intervals called fifths, but it begins with a low C (C2). It can be compared to the cello’s relationship with the violin, as it fills a similar role in the mandolin family.
Construction
The mandocello is built similarly to the mandolin. The body of the mandocello may have a bowl-shaped back, following designs from the 18th-century Vinaccia school, or a flat (arched) back, following designs popularized by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in the United States during the early 20th century. The mandocello has a longer scale length than the mandolin. Gibson mandocellos typically have a scale length of 24.75 inches (62.9 cm), but flat-back designs can have shorter or longer scale lengths, such as 27 inches (68.58 cm) on some Vega mandocellos. Bowl-back mandocellos often have a shorter scale length, around 22.5 inches (57 cm).
The internal bracing of the mandocello is also similar to the mandolin. Gibson mandocellos usually had a single transverse brace on the top, just below the oval soundhole. Modern builders may use X-bracing instead.
Like other mandolin family instruments, mandocellos may have either a single oval soundhole or a pair of "F" soundholes.
These instruments typically have between 18 and 22 frets. Concert bowl-back mandocellos may have more frets, allowing for complex musical passages in the higher range.
The mandocello usually has four courses of two strings each. Because the lowest course uses heavy strings, some folk players remove one of the C strings to avoid unwanted noise when playing very loudly, or they use lighter strings to prevent the two C strings from vibrating unevenly.
Some mandocellos have 10 strings arranged in five courses, with an additional course of strings above the highest course. These instruments are sometimes called liuto cantabile or liuto moderno, but they are still classified as mandocellos.
History
The mandocello, like many other mandolin family instruments, was created in Europe. Mandolins developed from the lute family in Italy during the 17th and 18th centuries. The bowl back mandolin, especially popular in Naples, became common in the 19th century. Interest in the mandolin grew during the Baroque period (1600–1750), leading to its use in group music and the expansion of the mandolin family.
Early examples of modern metal-string mandolins appear in writings about Italian musicians who traveled across Europe in the 1700s and 1800s to teach and perform. Important figures include Signor Gabriele Leone, Giovanni Battista Gervasio, and Pietro Denis. Records from the Vinaccia family of instrument makers in Naples also suggest that the modern steel-string mandolins were developed there.
During the late Baroque period, mandolin ensembles were popular. Around this time, new instruments were added to the family, such as the mandalone, a large, flat-backed bass instrument with four heavy strings tuned to A2-D3-G3-C4. This may have been the direct ancestor of the mandocello. However, mandolin ensembles became less popular during the late Classical period (1750–1825), and by 1815, the mandolin was mostly used as a folk instrument, while the mandolone nearly disappeared.
During this decline, Pasquale Vinaccia (1806–1885) modified the instruments his family had made for generations, creating the Neapolitan mandolin. At this time, the mandolin was largely unknown outside Italy, but its revival began with the Paris Exposition in 1878. Vinaccia improved the design of several mandolin family instruments, increasing their sound quality and range. He also redesigned the mandalone, which had a limited range and quiet tone, and developed the Neapolitan mandocello, which had a louder sound and greater range, replacing the mandolone as the family’s bass instrument.
The mandolin’s popularity grew again after the Paris Exposition in 1878. The Spanish Estudiantina Figaro, a group of young musicians in Madrid, helped spread its popularity. In the 1880s and 1890s, Italian mandolinists traveled across Europe and the United States, teaching and performing. By the 1890s, the mandolin was widely popular, especially among young people. Mandolin orchestras formed worldwide, using instruments like mandolins, mandolas, mandocellos, and even mandobasses, along with guitars, double basses, and zithers.
Around this time, the Gibson company began making mandocellos in the style of their mandolins, with curved tops and backs. Gibson produced at least four mandocello models between 1905 and the 1920s: the K-1, K-2, K-4, and K-5. Other American companies also made mandocellos.
After the 1930s, mandolin ensembles became less popular again, though not as much as in the 19th century. Mandolins continued to be made, but other family members, like the mandobass, were produced less often. However, the mandolin family never completely disappeared.
Tuning and range
Usually, two strings that are next to each other are tuned to the same pitch. The standard mandocello tuning of C2 C2•G2 G2•D3 D3•A3 A3 is the same as the violoncello:
- Fourth (lowest tone) course: C2 (65.4064 Hz)
- Third course: G2 (97.9989 Hz)
- Second course: D3 (146.832 Hz)
- First (highest tone) course: A3 (220.000 Hz)
The average range is about three and a half octaves. The exact range depends on the number of frets on the instrument. With 18 frets, the range goes from two octaves below middle C up to D#5/Eb5 in the octave above middle C. With 24 frets, the range can reach as high as A5.
On 10-string/5-course instruments, an extra pair of strings is added above the first course. These strings are tuned to E4 E4, extending the upper range by about a half-octave, reaching up to E6.
Usage
The bowl-back mandocello is mainly used in mandolin orchestras and quartets, where it plays both melody and bass parts, similar to how a cello performs in a string quartet. It is sometimes played as a solo instrument for classical music, such as concertos and pieces originally written for the cello. Some music specifically for the liuto cantabile was composed by Raffaele Calace, who promoted the instrument in the early 1900s. More recent solo music for the mandocello was shared at the 2018 Classical Mandolin Society Convention in Santa Rosa by Dr. James Imhoff. An article about this event and examples of the music are included in the CMSA Mandolin Journal. Imhoff continued these performances at later CMSA events, featuring composers from the UK, Germany, Australia, and the USA.
The mandocello also appears in modern folk music, such as bluegrass or Celtic music, where the flat-back mandocello is usually used. However, the mandocello’s lower range does not create the bright, clear sound of the mandolin or mandola, and its use in this style has largely been replaced by mandolin players since Bill Monroe. The amplified mandocello has rarely been used in modern rock music groups. The bowl-back mandocello, also called the mandoloncello, is traditionally used for Italian folk music.
Raffaele Calace was the most important mandocellist in history. He wrote the first method book for the liuto cantabile and is believed to have improved the instrument’s design after its possible introduction by the Vinaccia family. Luigi Embergher also made important contributions to the instrument’s development during the late 1800s and early 1900s.
Image in contemporary music
There are not many skilled musicians who play the mandocello in modern America, and only a few recent recordings highlight the instrument. Stanley Greenthal is an American mandocello artist who specializes in the music of Brittany. He teaches at Zouk Fest. Radim Zenkl is also known for playing American, Italian, and other European folk music on the mandocello. A recent recording with mandolin experts Carlo Aonzo and David Grisman includes Zenkl's mandocello on the Italian folk music album "Traversata," released by Acoustic Disc. Steve Knightley, a member of the English folk-rock band Show of Hands, plays the cello-mandolin. His instrument is tuned to GDAD, which is similar to an octave mandolin. Mike Marshall, best known for working with musicians like David Grisman, Darol Anger, and Chris Thile, has often performed and recorded with the mandocello. Ryan Delahoussaye, a member of the American rock band Blue October, plays a mandocello during live performances. He uses an Eastwood Warren Ellis model instrument, which looks like an electric guitar.
Notable uses
Steve Knightley, an English folk musician and songwriter, uses the mandocello as a central part of his music, especially with his band Show of Hands. He plays instruments made by David and Nicholas Oddie in Devon, England, using the GDAD tuning. This tuning helps the mandocello play thicker chords and melodies more effectively. Steve also plays guitar, cuatro, mandolin, and tenor guitar.
Geoff Goodman, a New York-born European jazz musician and composer, includes both guitar and mandocello in his compositions.
Patterson Hood, the lead singer of Drive-By Truckers, plays a mandocello made by Scott Baxendale of Baxendale Guitars in Athens, Georgia. Scott starts with a vintage Harmony guitar and changes it from standard six-string tuning to the mandocello.
Bryn Haworth uses a mandocello on his album Let The Days Go By.
John Nagy and David Grisman play mandocello on the Earth Opera album The Great American Eagle Tragedy.
Mike Marshall played a mandocello on his collaboration album Uncommon Ritual with Edgar Meyer and Béla Fleck. He also plays it live sometimes, such as when performing with Darol Anger on violin.
Rick Nielsen of the band Cheap Trick owns a collection of stringed instruments, including electric mandocellos made by Hamer Guitars. One of these was used for the title track of their album Heaven Tonight. Their song "Mandocello," from their first album, used a standard acoustic mandocello. This song was later covered by Concrete Blonde on their album Still in Hollywood.
Jaco Pastorius, a bassist for Weather Report, added a mandocello to their hit song "Birdland."
Richie Sambora, a guitarist for Bon Jovi, used a mandocello on the song "Lay Your Hands on Me" from their acoustic album This Left Feels Right.
Elliott Sharp uses the mandocello in avant-garde, modern rock, and blues music. He plays it on albums like Revenge of the Stuttering Child by poet Ronny Someck, with the blues band Elliott Sharp's Terraplane on albums such as Sky Road Songs, 4AM Always, and Kick It Six, in a duo with accordionist William Schimmel on Blues, Hues, and Views, and on E#'s solo mandocello album Mandocello.