Photo: Emily Lockhart
Period instruments are instruments that come from the same time period as the music being performed. By studying instruments from the Baroque time that are still in existence, as well as by looking at secondary sources such as historical paintings of instruments and books describing instrument making, we can get a good idea of what music sounded like in the 17th and 18th centuries. There are quite a large number of string instruments, (violins, cellos, basses and violas) that were made in the 17th and 18th centuries and are still being played today. There are also wind and keyboard instruments, such as oboes, bassoons, flutes, harpsichords. Original instruments are also copied by current instrument makers, so period instrument groups like Aradia usually have a mix of old original instruments, and modern copies.
When comparing a baroque violin to a modern violin, you will see that the baroque violin doesn’t use a chin rest or shoulder rest, and there are no fine tuners below the bridge for tuning. A baroque violin uses strings made of sheep gut instead of metal and has differences in the neck and bridge that result in less tension on the bridge. Baroque wind instruments are different from modern instruments in that they have only a few metal keys and are made of wood instead of metal.
