Baroque bows … or are they?

I often see very talented baroque bass colleagues in concert, on TV, on the internet, in conservatories and universities … and depending on which country you or they are in, you’ll see bass players playing overhand (“French”) or underhand (“German”).

So let me just say one thing right off the bat: there is, as far as I know at the time I am writing this article, zero – zero – evidence that any overhand bass bows ever existed during the baroque era. The reason people call them French is because they were developed and made popular in France – in the mid-nineteenth century. Read More