Hatfield Congregational Church to highlight bass viol music

HATFIELD — Church service music from the 1830s, performed on a bass viol, will be recreated nearly 200 years later inside the Hatfield Congregational Church on Thursday evening.

Playing on an American bass viol built around 1835, musical historian Nate Steele will be joined by Allison Monroe, director of the Five College Early Music Program in western Massachusetts, who specializes in historical musical repertoires on bowed strings and voice.

The free program, including a presentation of music and musicians and slides and short selections, starts at the 41 Main St. location at 6 p.m.

Before the Civil War, the bass viol was the first instrument used in services in the Congregational Church in Hatfield. The church donated its original bass, played in the 1830s by John Billings, to the Hatfield Historical Society, where it has been on display. It will be on display in the church during the performance.

Steele will be playing on an American bass viol made by Charles P. Kellogg in Belchertown.

“I’m really looking forward to hearing what a bass viol sounds like in the Congregational Church” says curator Meg Baker. “It’s not that often that a small museum such as ours gets to give the community such a unique chance to listen to the past in such a direct way.”

Steele was born and raised playing music in the region, beginning at the Northampton Community Music Center before becoming involved in the musical instrument collection at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston.

Monroe coaches ensembles, teaches courses, coordinates the program’s activities and faculty, and oversees the Loeb Instrument Collection.

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