Marin Marais was the central figure in the French school of bass-viol composers and performers that flourished during the late 17th and early 18th centuries. He spent his entire life in Paris, and the greater part of it in royal service. First appointed as Ordinaire de la Musique de la Chambre du Roi in 1685, he retained that post throughout the reign of Louis XIV and from 1715 to 1725 served under the Regency and Louis XV. His contemporaries recognized him as an outstanding performer and a composer of stature whose works for viols and the operatic stage were known beyond the boundaries of France.
The instrument for which Marais wrote the major portion of his works is commonly referred to as the viola da gamba. Strictly speaking, however, it was the small bass of the viol family, which in the 17th and early 18th centuries included as many as nine different sizes of instruments, all called by the generic name viola da gamba. Marais' instrument--viola da gamba, bass viol, basse de viole, or, simply, "gamba"--was somewhat smaller than the modern cello and had frets and seven strings, tuned to A1, D, G, c, e, a d1. According to contemporary, Marais was recognized as the greatest performer on the bass viol of his era.
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