Chapter XXIV: Section IV

In his technique Marini does not go beyond the first position; consequently the fluency of the melody suffers many a break, for when he reaches the limit of the first position, he continues the melody an octave lower. Yet he is responsible for several technical innovations for the violin. He was the first to mark the bowing (legato playing) and to introduce--seven years before Monteverdi’s _Combattimento_--the coloring effect of the tremolo, thus:

Tremolo con arco.

Other innovations are to be found in his _Sonate e Sinfonie Canzoni_ (1629) where in a Capriccio ‘two violins play four parts’ (_due violini sonano quattro parti_), thus:

and a ‘Capriccio to be played on the violin solo with three strings after the manner of a lyre’ (_Capriccio per sonare il Violino solo con tre corde a modo di Lyra_).

Besides Marini there were others who seriously endeavored to write in a distinctive violin idiom. Before considering them we may mention here Paolo Quagliati, who in his _Sfera armoniosa_ (1623) made the violin accompany the voices and used it also as a solo instrument with the accompaniment of the theorbo in a toccata of the same opus. The violin part usually consisted of sustained tones that were to be embellished by the players according to the custom of the time. Quagliati himself was not a violinist and this fact serves to explain the simple technique of his violin parts.

Four years later Carlo Farina, a Saxon chamber virtuoso and concert master, who may be termed the founder of the race of violin virtuosos, published a composition for the violin, called _Capriccio stravagante_. Here he strove toward new and unusual violinistic effects. The very title, ‘an extravagant caprice,’ explains his object. While the piece shows little improvement in form, the technique is noticeably advanced. Farina goes to the third position and points out how the change of position should be executed. Besides broadening violin technique Farina was among the first to venture into the field of realistic ‘tone painting.’ For he tried to imitate the whistling of a soldier, the barking of a dog, the calling of a hen, the crying of a cat, the sound of a clarinet and the trumpet. Farina’s experiments in tone-painting were, however, rather the product of a desire for sensational novelty than of a legitimate seeking after artistic expression. He lacks the genuine qualities of a true artist.

Although Farina did not use the G string, and did not go further than the third position, he recognized the power of expression latent in the violin. Besides rapid figures of sixteenth notes and considerable variety in bowing there are double stops:

and a series of consecutive chords with the instruction that it should be executed with the stick of the bow:

It was also his idea--not at all a bad one--to mark double stops with figures:

The fact that he found it necessary to give instruction for the execution of double stops and tremolos, and the production of the required effects in his imitations indicates that these devices were entirely new in violin playing.

According to Gerber he published besides the Capriccio, a collection of ‛_Sonatas_’ and ‛_Pavanes_’ (1628), which, if they existed at all, are entirely lost. Of his other compositions (Dances, Arias) we possess the first violin parts containing the melody. He used the G clef and the term ‘violino.’

The compositions of Marini, Quagliati and Farina represent the beginnings of independent violin solo music. The first to write sonatas for violin solo was the violinist-composer Giovanni Battista Fontana (1630). His works, compared with the sonatas of Gabrieli, show a marked improvement in violin technique; they are characterized by the same polyphonic style, but they are not so conclusively vocal in character. The following selections will show the great improvement in violin technique; they virtually comprise the first ‘runs’ composed for the violin:

From a Sonata for Violin Solo.

or

or

or

Fontana strove toward a broader form and in doing so he took a part in the evolution of the later sonata. But he was not capable of fluent and even expression, hence the effect of his works on the whole is stiff and dry. We should not forget, however, that he lived during the period of transition from the old tonal systems to the new, and that, while he endeavored to write in the new style, the old one had not lost its hold upon him. The result was awkwardness in modulation and a general vagueness and uncertainty.

About the same time (1629) another composer, Bartolomeo Mont’ Albano, published his _Sinfonie_ for one and two violins (and trombones, with the accompaniment of the organ). These pieces are incoherent and lack inspiration and power. Their value is far below that of Fontana’s compositions. Mont’ Albano is only worthy of mention as showing that Fontana was not absolutely alone in his attempts to improve violin music. It may be noticed that he called his compositions _Sinfonie_, meaning nothing more nor less than Fontana meant in his sonatas--a proof that the technical terms at that time were not yet strictly defined.

Great improvement in technique is obvious in the works of Tarquinno Merula (1633). He used the G string freely, demanded skips from the G to the E string, also tremolos, changes of position:

and octave passages:

Mont’ Albano’s music was thought out rather than invented and it would give little pleasure to the modern ear. In the history of the development of violin music these early compositions should be considered simply as efforts or studies to advance violin technique and musical form.

While Merula helped the progress of left hand technique, Marco Ucellini (1669) made more demands on the bow, writing rapid thirty-second notes for certain tremolo effects in his _sinfonia_ entitled _La gran Bataglia_.

A more pleasing musical quality is to be found in the sonatas of Massimiliano Neri, who was the first to make a distinction between the _Sonata da chiesa_ and the _Sonata da camera_. In his _Sonate e Canzoni a quattro_ and in his _Sonate da suonarsi con vari strumenti_, Neri followed the path of Gabrieli in writing for as many as twelve instruments. The frequent change of time and the restless rhythm are also reminiscent of Gabrieli’s peculiarities. Although Neri’s structure of phrases and periods is more normal, his modulation more fluent, and his music on the whole more agreeable to the modern ear than that of Fontana and Merula, his works still belong to the practical experiments of violin music, and are without great intrinsic merits. The same may be said of the sonatas of Biagio Marini whom we have already discussed. He may be termed one of the originators of the cyclical form of the modern sonata, since his sonatas were in four movements. The first, usually in slow tempo, was followed by an Allegro, this by a longer or shorter piece that led to the last movement (Allegro). While his style was still distinctly polyphonic, the development of his motives was considerably more pleasing. Improvement in harmony and modulation is found in the _Sonate da chiesa_ and _Sonate da camera_ of Giovanni Legrenzi (1655), who did not otherwise accomplish much in forwarding solo violin music.

Turning to Germany, it is to be regretted that the works, which, to judge by their titles, might have shed some light on the development of early violin music, are irretrievably lost to us. They are _Auserlesene Violinen Exercitium aus verschiedener Sonaten nebst ihre Arien, Balladen, Sarabanden, etc., and Musicalische Tafelbedienung von fünf Instrumenten, als zwei Violinen, zwei Violen, nebst den General Bass_, by Wilhelm Furcheim (1674), concert-master at Dresden. The most important figure, among the earliest German composers for the violin from the standpoint of technical advance, is evidently Jacob Walter. His twelve _Scherzi da violino solo_ are in the style of the _Sonate da Camera_ (Suite) or in the form of variations. Eight of them are called sonatas, and contain three or four movements, mostly in the same key but in a variety of tempi. From a musical point of view most of Walter’s compositions are unattractive, as the form is stiff, the rhythm awkward, modulation poor, and the melody heavy and clumsy. His importance lies exclusively in the advanced claims his writings make upon execution, for he ascends as far as and writes many difficult double stops, chords, and arpeggios. Walter was also fond of imitating other instruments, birds, echoes, and so forth. In a set of variations we meet with imitations of the guitar by playing pizzicato, of the pipes by going up high on the E string, of fanfares by playing on the G string. In another composition the imitation of the call of the cuckoo was his chief purpose; but we would hardly recognize the cuckoo’s call, had he not in every case taken the pains to mark the imitation. In another instance, in _Hortulus Chelicus_, he endeavored to imitate the voice of some other bird. This work as a piece of art is more valuable, since here he attempted to write a duet for one violin. Another composition that is characteristic of Walter’s musical ideas is a _Capriccio_, where the C major scale is used as basso ostinato in forty-nine variations, as though the composer wanted to give as many kinds of motions and figures as he could.

Stradivarius at Work: ANTONIO STRADIVARI.

Walter was not an innovator in the art of tone painting, for Farina had tried the same devices seventy years before. Still he cannot be dubbed a mere imitator of Farina, though he was without doubt strongly influenced by the latter. Walter’s technique is much more advanced than that of Farina, but at the same time he shows little improvement in a purely musical way.

IV

There is an obvious advance in musical value in the _Correnti e balletti da camera a due violini_, 1666; _Balletti_, _Sonate_, 1667, 1669; _Correnti e capricci per camera a due violini e violone_, 1683, and other instrumental pieces by Giovanni Battista Vitali, ‛_sonatore di Violino di brazzo_’ in the orchestra of Bologna. Vitali’s melodies contain much more pleasing qualities than those of his contemporaries. In regard to form, his sonatas, in which rapid changes from quick to slow movements mark the various sections, show the transition from the suite to the _sonata da camera_. Vitali was one of those early inspired composers, whose greatest merit lies in their striving toward invention and toward the ideal of pure absolute music. In technique Vitali does not show any material progress.

Of particular importance is Tommaso Antonio Vitali, a famous violinist of his time. Of his works, _Sonate a tre, due violini e violoncello_, 1693; _Sonate a due violini, col basso per l’organo_, 1693, and _Concerto di sonate a violino, violoncello e cembalo_, 1701, the most famous and most valuable is his _Ciaccona_, which is very often played on the concert stage by present-day violinists. The _Ciaccona_ is full of poetic moods and its short, pregnant theme shows deep feeling and genuine inspiration, qualities which we find here for the first time. The whole is a set of variations upon a short theme, constituting a series of contrasting pictures. Noteworthy are the harmony and the advanced treatment of modulation. The ornamental figures, too, are derived from the logical development of the theme, hence do not serve the sole purpose of providing the virtuoso with an opportunity to display his technical skill.

The first representative virtuoso-composer was Giuseppe Torelli (1658-1708), to whom is ascribed the invention of the concerto, that is, the application of the sonata form of his time to concerted music. In Torelli’s concertos the solo-violins were accompanied not only by a bass as in the sonatas, but by a stringed band, to which sometimes a lute or organ was added. The solo-violins in his ‘Concerti grossi’ (1686) usually played together, though not always. That he had the virtuoso in mind when he wrote may be gathered from the following examples:

In his concertos Torelli was the direct precursor of Corelli, Vivaldi, and Handel. His influence, however, was not so intense as that of Giovanni Battista Bassani (1657-1716), whose music had more unity and definiteness and on the whole ranked very much higher artistically. This, added to the fact that he was Corelli’s teacher, gives him a prominent place in the history of violin music. While the single movements of Bassani’s sonatas on the whole show little improvement in form, the composer established a higher standard in the evenness and uniformity of his figures, in the smoothness of his modulation and chromatics, in rhythms that were far superior to those of earlier composers, in phrasing that was clear, especially in slow movements, and in the almost complete abandonment of the ‘fugal’ treatment. His influence upon Corelli is so evident that one could hardly distinguish one of his later compositions from an early sonata of his famous pupil.

A few examples of Bassani’s writing may be of interest:

Grave. From a Sonata for two Violins and Bass.

Largo. From a Baletto e Corrente.

Gige

Sarabande. Presto

Before closing our account of the seventeenth century, reference should be made to the prominent Antonio Veracini, the uncle and teacher of Francesco Maria Veracini, whose sonatas are still played by violinists today. Antonio Veracini’s sonatas, composed in the form of the _sonata da chiesa_, do not lack a certain amount of beauty, inspiration, and repose; they show, moreover, clearness, fluency and roundness. His melodies are original, his modulations and contrapuntal combinations good. While his Allegro movements show no improvement in comparison with Bassani’s works, the Adagios and Largos are of more independent finish.

There were numerous contemporaries, followers, and pupils of the composers already discussed. Their works, however, were academic, lacked individuality, and contained little that was worthy of special consideration. The list of these minor composers includes Laurenti, Borri, Mazzolini, Bononcini, Buoni, Bernardi, d’Albergati, Mazzaferrata, Tonini, Grossi, Ruggeri, Vinacesi, Zanata, and others.

V

The first German composer of violin music of æsthetic value was Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber (born 1638), a very prominent violinist and composer of his time. Although frequently his form is vague and his ideas often dry, some of his sonatas contain movements that not only exhibit well-defined forms, but also contain fine and deeply felt ideas and a style which, though closely related to that of the best Italians of his time, has something characteristically German in its grave and pathetic severity. His sonatas on the whole are of a much higher artistic quality than those of his contemporaries. His sixth sonata, in C minor, published in 1687, is a genuinely artistic piece of work. ‘It consists of five movements in alternately slow and quick time. The first is an introductory _largo_ of contrapuntal character, with clear and consistent treatment in the fugally imitative manner. The second is a _passacaglia_, which answers roughly to a continuous string of variations on a short, well-marked period; the third is a rhapsodical movement consisting of interspersed portions of _poco lento_, _presto_, and _adagio_, leading into a _Gavotte_; and the last is a further rhapsodical movement alternating _adagio_ and _allegro_. The work is essentially a violin sonata with accompaniment and the violin parts point to the extraordinary rapid advances toward mastery. The writing for the instrument is decidedly elaborate and difficult, especially in the double stops and contrapuntal passages. In the structure of the movements the fugal influences are most apparent and there are very few signs of the systematic repetition of keys which in later times became indispensable.’[47] It was characteristic of Biber that his ambition was to create something original and that his works always showed individuality. He was fond of variations and this form was not lacking in any of his eight sonatas. Besides the variation form he frequently used the form of _gavotte_ and _giga_, which he began and ended with an organ point. In his eighth sonata he attempted to write a duo in polyphonic style for one violin, writing it out on two staves. This work is of little importance to us, aside from the fact that he sought originality in changing the tuning of the violin from to and sometimes to . This kind of modified tuning, however, was not his invention, for we know that Johann Fischer, a composer and violinist in the same century, also attempted to write for differently tuned violins.

One of the best violinists of the seventeenth century was Nicholas Adam Strungk. He was also a good cembalist and once accompanied Corelli. It was Strungk to whom Corelli said upon hearing him play on the violin: ‘My name is Archangelo, but you should be called Archidiavolo.’ Strungk published _Exercises pour le violin_ (1691), besides sonatas, chaccones, etc.

Our review of the violin music of the seventeenth century would not be complete without mention of the compositions for violin by non-violinist composers, such as, for instance, Henry Purcell (1658-1695). Purcell imitated G. B. Vitali, and perhaps also other contemporary Italian composers, to whom, however, he was superior in originality, in vigor, in genuine inspiration and in a certain emotional quality. His violin compositions did not accentuate technique, since he himself was not a violinist. Concerning the sonatas of John Jenkins (1600), Dr. Burney remarks: ‘Though written professedly in the Italian style, he could hardly have been familiar with the early Italian compositions of the same order, and though he had been, he would not be deprived of praise on the score of originality, his musical knowledge being quite equal if not superior to the composers for the violin at that time in Italy.’ Among French composers we may single out Jean-Baptiste Lully (1633-1687), leader of the famous band of petit violins at the court of Louis XIV--the first large stringed orchestra. Lully studied the capacity of the instrument and tried to write in an idiomatic style, but on the whole he did not contribute much to the progress of violin music.

The appearance of a great number of violinist-composers in the seventeenth century indicates that the use of the violin was almost general at musical affairs of the time. In Coriat’s ‘Crudities’ the author speaks of hearing an ensemble in which ‘the music of a treble viol was so excellent that no one could surpass it.’ He continues: ‘Sometimes sixteen played together, sometimes ten, or different instruments, a cornet and a treble viol. Of these treble viols I heard three whereof each was so good, especially one that I observed above the rest, that I never heard the like before.’ Pepys (1660) made references to the viol in his Diary: ‘I have played on my viol and I took much pleasure to have the neighbors come forth into the yard to hear me.’ Many other references in literary works of the time attest the increasing popularity and the appealing qualities of the instrument.

There was no dearth of publications of collections for string instruments, which gradually became more discriminating in the _kind_ of instruments to be used. The appearance of works designed to instruct the amateur indicate the spread of the art of violin playing and gave way toward the systemizing technique. A few of these publications appearing at different periods of the seventeenth century may be enumerated: Early in the century Dowland (1603-1609) printed a work in five parts for lute and viols, named ‘Lacrimæ, or Seven Tears figured in passionate Pavans, with divers other Pavans, Galliards, etc.’ In 1614 Sir William Leighton published ‘The Tears or Lamentations of a sorrowful soule; composed with the Musical Ayres and songs both for voyces and divers instruments.’ In this he included published vocal music of different composers with the accompaniment of the lute, and appended to the titles the remark: ‘Cantus with the Treble Viol.’ Orlando Gibbons (about 1620-1630) composed nine Fantasies, four for treble viols. These fantasies are in fugal style. He also published Madrigals, Motets, etc., ‘apt for viols and voices.’ From 1654 we have reference to a work, which, if correctly described, would be the earliest string quartet by an English author. It is a ‘Set of Ayre for two violins, Tenor and Bass,’ by Dr. Benjamin Rogers. According to Burney these pieces were never printed. In 1657 Matthew Lock published the ‘Little Consort of three parts containing Pavans, Courants, Sarabandes, for viols and violins.’ In 1659 Chr. Simpson published ‘The Division violinist or an introduction to the Playing upon the Ground. Divided into two parts, the first directing the hand, with other preparative instructions, the second laying open the manner and method of playing extempore, or composing division to a ground. To which are added some divisions made upon grounds for the Practise of learner.’ This title clearly shows the content of the work. Roger L’Estrange, the licenser of that time, addressed the reader in a second edition with the following words: ‘the book certainly answers the pretense of the title, both for matter and method, to the highest point of reasonable expectation.’

John Lentor, a member of William and Mary’s state band, published ‘The Gentleman’s Diversion, or the Violin explained.’ A second edition was issued in 1702 with the title ‘The useful Instructor on the Violin.’ In 1676 Thomas Mace published ‘Musick’s Monument, or a Remembrance of the best practical music,’ etc., where we find many interesting particulars relative to viols.

In 1669 John Playford published ‘Apollo’s Banquet.’ It contained ‘Short Rules and Directions for Practitioners of the Treble Violin with a collection of old Century Dances.’ In a preface, that Playford calls ‘Advertisement,’ we read: ‘Several persons coming often to my Shop for Books of tunes for the Treble-Violin, to accommodate each I have made public this collection of Choice Tunes; and also of tunes of the newest French Dances: All which are very useful to those who use the Treble-Violin. Some will object, many of these tunes were formerly printed at the end of the Book, Entitled, the Dancing Master: I grant they were, but some which were choice I would not omit in this collection.’ E. K.

FOOTNOTES:

[42] _Cf._ Vol. VIII, Chap. I.

[43] See Vol. I, Chap. VII.

[44] The various ‘positions’ in violin playing indicate the positions which the left hand occupies in reaching the different parts of the fingerboard. The first position is that in which the thumb and first finger are at the extreme end of the instrument's ‘neck.’ With the usual tuning the compass controlled by the first position is from a to b".

[45] Leopold Mozart (father of Wolfgang Amadeus) referred to it in his method for the violin (1758) and sharply condemned it. ‘Some teachers,’ he remarked, ‘in their desire to help pupils, label the names of tones upon the fingerboard or make marks upon it by scratching. All these devices are useless, because the pupil who is musically talented finds the notes without such aid, and persons who are not thus inclined should learn how to handle the ax instead of the bow.’

[46] George Hart: ‛The Violin and Its Music.’

[47] Parry in ‘Grove’s Dictionary,’ Vol. 4.