pardessus de violen.
/ˌpɑːdəsuː də ˈvjɒl/, /ˌpɑːdəsuː də vɪˈɒl/, U.S. /ˈˌpɑrdəˌsu də ˈvjɑl/, /ˈˌpɑrdəˌsu də viˈɑl/ Music.
A small five- or six-stringed viol tuned a fourth or fifth higher than the treble viol, played esp. in France during the 18th cent.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > musical instrument > stringed instruments > bowable instrument > [noun] > viol > small viol
tenor violin1654
violetta1740
violette1884
pardessus de viole1889
pardessus1954
1889 G. Grove Dict. Music IV. 277/2 The five-stringed Treble Viol survived longest in France where it was called ‘Quinton’ or ‘Pardessus de Viole’.
1893–7 J. S. Shedlock tr. K. W. J. H. Riemann Dict. Music 832/2 The violin quietly took the place of the ‘Pardessus de viole’ in the band of viols, for the highest part.
1915 A. Dolmetsch Interpr. Music 17th & 18th Cent. vii. 451 A fair number of good compositions were published for..the ‘Pardessus de Viole’, a small kind of treble viol tuned a fourth higher than the Dessus.
1941 N. Bessaraboff Anc. European Mus. Instr. iv. 303 The quinton is very often confused with the pardessus de viole, which also has five strings.
1974 Early Music 2 75/3 Several pardessus de viole, the smallest of the viols, cultivated by court ladies of the time.
2001 Tallahassee (Florida) Democrat (Nexis) 30 Mar. g36 Chancey will play a pardessus de viole, which is a stringed instrument that was briefly popular with 18th-century aristocratic French women because playing a violin was considered uncouth.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2005; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1889