The Interesting History of the Pochette

 

A scaled down version of the violin, the pochette was devised for traveling and impromptu performances. And, it helped Scots become Englishmen.

 

The innovation of making things smaller – from furniture size radios in the 1930s to hand-held transistor radios in the 1960s, and “car phones” as big as tissue boxes to slim smartphones of today – has a musical precedent. It was the pochette, the almost-pocket-sized version of a violin that was designed for its portability.

 

The pochette is about 60% neck, with a disproportionately smaller body and the scroll on the end. Pochettes (French for “pocket”) vary from instrument to instrument in size and shape, but only by a little: The overall length averages around 16 inches, with about 8-10 inches for the scale (fingerboard) and 6-8 inches for the body. Most are simply shaped like a fountain pen or thin fish, while others have a streamlined version of the traditional pear-shape of a violin.

 

These were not mainstay creations for most makers of fine violins. They were primarily made for fiddle teachers and those players who were dance masters. Both required some mobility – made easier with a pocket-sized instrument – and one can only imagine the impromptu dances that resulted by having this little fiddle handy when the libations lent to merriment.

 

Importantly, when Scotland was basically annexed by England in 1707, the pochette played a role in helping proper Scots to “English-ize” and be accepted in the larger new society. Knowing how to properly dance (as well as to drop the brogue and sound a little more like their countrymen to the south) was considered a social advantage. So a cottage industry arose among dance teachers, accompanied by their pochette-toting musicians, to teach Scottish nobles and merchants baroque dance moves in duple, triple and compound duple rhythms. The modern day equivalent is the personal fitness trainer who brings a sound system with him or her for a home workout.

 

There were a plethora of other names for the pochette: canino, creytertjes, dancing master’s kit, pochette d’amour, Posch, Tanzmeitergeige, Tashengeige, and Trogl-geige. Pochettes that were a long, slender shape were known as “sardinos” (sardines), while other more closely mimicking a violin were called “kit violins.”

 

The first historical record on the pochette is in the 15^th century, and they were in common use up until the 19^th century. Many still exist and they are still made today. Even the great violin maker Antonio Stradivari made a few, one of which is on display in the Paris Conservatoire Museum.

 

It’s possible to find videos of performances and tutorials on the pochette on YouTube. As the piccolo is to the flute, the sound from a pochette is higher-pitched. In compositions such as an aria in Monteverdi’s opera, L’Orfeo, it is a stand in for a bird’s song. But lacking the sonorous quality of a larger violin body with a sound peg, the instrument is rarely used in symphonic orchestras beyond creating novelty sounds.

 

So while miniaturization of many things create conveniences, the larger and original forms of such things as violins are rarely replaced.

The Gagliano Family of Violinmakers

 

The violins of Cremona and Venice might have the most storied histories, but the Neopolitan Gagliano family instruments have stood the test of time as well.

 

In 20^th century America, the music most popular among immigrants from Italy, and Naples in particular, is lively and very often full of comedy. That includes the Sceneggiata, a stage musical form akin to soap operas performed by Neapolitans Mario Merola, Pino Mauro, and Mario Trevi.

 

But among classical music audiences, and to violinists in particular, Naples is strongly associated with the violins and other fine stringed instruments made by multiple generations of a single family of renowned luthiers, the Gaglianos.

 

The founding patriarch of this family – which made fine violins, cellos and double bass instruments from the early 18^th through the early 20^th centuries – was violin maker Alessandro Gagliano (born in 1640). A native of Naples, he traveled north to Cremona where he trained under none other than Antonio Stradivari and Nicolo Amati. Biographers write that it was with the Cremonese masters that Alessandro Gagliano learned how to select wood that was as beautiful to observe as the music tones it produced.

 

Alessandro worked until the age of 90 (1730), long enough to train two sons, Nicola I and Gennaro, and four grandsons: Ferdinando, Giuseppe, Antonio I, and Giovanni. At least three great grandsons (Nicola II, Raffaele, and Antonio II) came next and continued the tradition of craftsmanship in making fine stringed instruments.

 

How good were the violins of the Gaglianos? It varies, and son Nicola I is considered the best insofar as the prices his violins sell for today attest. A cello by Nicolo sold for $744,178 at auction in 2011; his highest-valued violin sold for $258,600 in 2017. Beyond their market value in the 21^st century, Nicolo’s instruments are described as “as close as you can get to a Cremonese sound, varnish, and modeling without the word ‘fecit Cremonensis’ on the label.”

 

Contemporary virtuoso Rachel Barton Pine plays on a Nicola Gagliano violin for Baroque performances. There are 124 violins, 6 cellos, and 1 viola by Nicolo I known in existence has been sold since 1912 (per data from the Tarisio fine instruments and bows auction house).

 

Other children, grandchildren and great grandchildren of Alessandro Gagliano were prodigious violinmakers, each with their own labels (although switching of labels between instruments, and copiers from outside the family, make precise identification of the specific luthier a little more complicated). Ferdinando in particular was most productive, even if some of his instruments are described as “nondescript.”

 

The contemporary (20^th century) music from Naples that Americans know well – “O Sole mio” and “Funiculi Funicula” among them – actually follow in the footsteps of the great composers that came out of the conservatories of Naples. They include Pergolesi, Puccini, Rossini, Bellini, and Donizetti – names that no doubt knew the instruments from Gagliano well, for generations.