Violin Technique and Performance Practice in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries

by Robin Stowell

Overview

This volume is one of the first to examine in detail the numerous violin treatises of the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries. It provides a scholarly historical and technical guide to violin pedagogical method, technique and performance practice during the most critical period in the history of the instrument. Extracts in translation from the most significant and authoritative sources are presented with introductions, commentary, illustrations, extensive musical examples and a glossary of specific ornaments. It will be of interest and use to students, performers, and historians.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521397445
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	07/27/1990
Series:	Cambridge Musical Texts and Monographs
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	428
Product dimensions:	7.01(w) x 10.04(h) x 1.18(d)

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgements; Fingering and notation; Introduction; 1. The development of the bow, the violin and its fittings; 2. The posture of the player; 3. Holding the violin; 4. Holding the bow; the fundamental bow stroke; 5. Fundamental left-hand technique; 6. Timbre and tone production; 7. Double and multiple stopping; 8. Bow strokes and their execution; 9. Special effects; 10. Pitch, tuning and intonation; 11. General remarks on expression, performance and style; 12. Phrasing and accentuation; 13. Specific ornamentation (agrements du chant); 14. Improvisation; Appendix; Glossary of specific ornaments.

Editorial Reviews

'He offers us a well turned-out knowledgeable and agreeable companion. Every violin-lover's home should have one.' Musical Times

'[The book] provides a mass of useful information on the diverse attitudes of performers and teachers at a fascinating stage in the development of violin playing; substantial extracts from some of the most important voilin methods are quoted verbatim, making many of them available in English for the first time.' Music and Letters

'For a player, or anybody with an interest in the violin, this book is a valuable guide to the foundations of modern violin-technique.' The Galpin Society Journal

'Scholarship and practical music-making do not always go hand in hand, and their happy fusion in this valuable research by Robin Stowell is extremely topical and most enlightening. It must surely become essential reading for anyone interested in this repertoire.' Early Music

From the Publisher