Baryton

Baryton 1. (It. viola di bordone), bowed instr. of bass range which evolved at the end of the 17th c., similar to the bass viola da gamba, but with 16–40 additional wire strings that passed close to the belly and under the neck, so that several of them could be plucked by the left thumb. This plucking, combined with the extremely broad neck, made it a most difficult instr. to play. The bowed strings were usually tuned A0 d0 f0 a0 d1 f1, the sympathetic strings at semitone intervals from C0 to…