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

Robin Stowell (Author)

9780521397445, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 27 July 1990

428 pages
25.5 x 17.8 x 3 cm, 0.757 kg

'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

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.

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.

Subject Areas: Music [AV]