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and violinists could not play two or more notes with ‘one bow.’

Neither did they endeavor to conquer the technical difficulties of playing on the G string. They made practically no use of the fourth string until the end of the century. In addition, the instruments were badly constructed, equipped with strings of inferior quality and tuned in a low pitch, all of which militated strongly against purity and accuracy of intonation. Hans Gerle (a flute player of Nuremberg), in his 'Musica Teutsch, auf die Instrument der grossen und kleinen Geigen’ (1532), advised that intonation marks be placed on the fingerboard, and this naïve advice was in use as late as the middle of the eighteenth century.[45] The same writer points out that instrumentalists in improvising their parts were prone to vie with each other in demonstrating their ability as contrapuntists, a perfectly comprehensible habit, which must have affected instrumental music in the sixteenth century as badly as the vagaries of coloratura singers affected operatic music in the eighteenth.

Gerle’s book, incidentally, contained a number of German, Welsh, and French songs, and a fugue for four violins. Among other early books on the violin mention may be made of these: S. Virdung: Musica getuscht, 1511.

Judenkönig: A truly artistic instruction * * * of learning upon the lute and violin, 1523. (Contains 25 numbers for violin and flute.)

Agricola: Musica Instrumentalis, 1528. (Here the author refers to the vibrato as a device that ‘makes the playing more sweet.’)

La Franco: Scintille di Musica, 1533.

Silvestro Ganassi: Regola Rubertina che insegna suon di Viola d’arco, 1543.

Ludovico Zacconi: Prattica di Musica, 1592 (Zacconi stated here that the compass of the violin was g-ciii).

M. Prätorius: Syntagma Musicum, 1619.

Touching upon the use of the violin in the sixteenth century there is extant a wealth of historical references. From one of these, for example, we gather that at a public festival in 1520 viols were used to accompany songs. We may assume their popularity in England from the fact that they were used in the family of Sir Thomas More (1530), an ardent music lover, and that during the reign of Edward VI the royal musical establishment increased the number of its viols to eight. Violins were used at public performances in Rouen in 1558; at a fête in Bayonne for dance music in 1565, and in a performance of a Mass at Verona in 1580. In the year 1572 Charles XI of France purchased violins from Cremona and a little later ordered the famous twenty-four violins from Andrea Amati. In 1579, at the marriage of the Duke of Joyeuse, violins were used to play for dances, and Montaigne in his Journal (1580) refers to a marriage ceremony in Bavaria, where ‘as a newly married couple went out of church, the violinists accompanied them.’ From this passage of Montaigne we may infer that, in Germany at least, the popularity of violin music was not confined to the upper classes. It must be remembered, however, that the terms ‘viola,’ ‘violin,’ ‘viol,’ etc., were often applied indifferently to stringed instruments of various kinds, and in view of this inaccurate nomenclature historical references must be accepted with a certain amount of reserve.

We know little of the music that was played on the violin before the last decade of the sixteenth century. Violins, we are aware, were employed in ensembles, in orchestras, and in unison with voices, and in looking for violin music we have not necessarily to consider compositions written especially for violin. By way of illustration we may cite a collection of French Dances (1617), published for ‘instruments,’ presumably for all kinds of instruments, and a collection of ‘Songs’ edited in Venice (1539) bearing the remark ‘to sing and play,’ and indicating no special instruments. Probably much of this sort of music was played by violin. Among examples of

specific writing for the violin there has come down to us previous to 1539 a Fugue (Fugato rather) for four violins, composed by Gerle. It is in four parts: Discant (first violin), Alto (second violin), Tenor (viola) and Bass ('cello), perhaps the earliest specimen of a composition for string quartet. The style is purely vocal, as we may see from the theme:

There is no suggestion of the violin idiom in the piece and it throws no light on the development of violin music. Cortecci and Striggio in 1565 scored their intermezzi for two gravecembali, violins, flutes, cornets, trombones, and several other instruments. D’Etrée, an oboe player, wrote down the common lively tunes which had been previously learned by ear and published them in 1564. As a practical musician he undoubtedly considered also the violin. In the performance of Beaulieu’s Circe (1581) ten bands were used and in the first act ten violin players in costumes appeared. The famous violinist, Beaujoyeaulx (an Italian in the service of Henry III whose real name was Baltasarini), wrote ballets (1584), dances, festival music, and other compositions, which were very successful at the court. Doubtless he played them himself. Castiglione in his Cortigiano mentions a composition as being written for 'quattro viole da arco’ which almost seems to indicate another specimen of early string quartet. Toward the end of the century we meet with the Balletti of Gastoldi and of Thomas Morley, some of which are printed without words and may have been intended for instrumental performances.

Still, they are vocal in character and do not exceed the compass of the human voice. Besides these, there are other compositions and collections of dances, etc., that may be considered musical material for violinists of the time. Most of them, however, deserve no detailed notice.

Up to 1587 the leading instrument of the orchestra was the Cornetto (German ‘Zinke,’ an instrument of wood, not of metal). The earliest

instance where the Cornetto alternates with the violins in taking the lead and where a part was inserted especially for violino is to be found in Concerto di Andrea e Giovanni Gabrieli—per voci e strumenti musicali, 1587. Some of G. Gabrieli’s compositions, however, are still in vocal style, but some are decidedly instrumental in character, as we may see from the following illustrations.

and

From a Sonata à 3 (1615). and

(Note the last example, where the intentional contrast between piano and forte is distinctly indicated.)

In 1593 Florentino Maschera, one of the celebrated organists of his time, published a book of ‘Songs to play’ (Canzoni a sonar). The work consisted of seventy-one pieces which had family names for

their titles, a custom that was often repeated in the first half of the sixteenth century. It is important to note that these pieces were printed in separate parts, so that they may be considered as the first specimens of independent though not direct writing for the violin.

These canzoni were vocal in character and there was little that suggested instrumental technique. The style was that of the vocal compositions of the time—contrapuntal.

A genuine and daring innovator in the field of violin music was Claudio Monteverdi (1567-1643), who in some violin passages went up as high as the fifth position. Besides broadening the technique of the left hand, he demanded tremolos for dramatic effects in accompanying recitative:

This passage from Combattimento di Tanceredi e Clorinda (1624) offered so many difficulties to the musicians that at first they refused to play it. As we shall see presently, however, Monteverdi was not the first to introduce this effect (cf. p. 381). Another of his new effects was the introduction of the pizzicato, which he marked thus: Qui si lascia l’arco, e si strappano le chorde con duo diti, and afterwards Qui si ripiglia l’arco. That Monteverdi expected violins to produce a crescendo with the bow is apparent with the instruction Questa ultima note va in arcato morendo. ‘Monteverdi with his two violins “alla Francese” in the score of Orfeo (the first printed reference to the violin as an orchestral instrument in the modern sense), probably meant nothing more than that the violins were to be in the fashion of the French, but in place of accompanying a dance, the character indicated in the opera was accompanied by two violins in a particular part of its music.’[46] In other violin pieces by Monteverdi, as in his Scherzi musicali and Ritornelle (1607), we see his superiority to his contemporaries, just as in his Sonata sopra Sancta Maria detratta, etc. (1610), he showed plainly his desire to improve violin music.

III The first attempt at independent violin composition was made by Biagio Marini (1590-1660), maestro di cappella in Santa Eufemia in Brescia and a court concert-master in Germany, who may be regarded as the first professional composer-violinist. In his early compositions the violin parts were not difficult for the players. There were mostly half and quarter notes in slow tempi, displaying the quality of vocal compositions, and without much use of the G string.

Witness the following example from his Martinenga Corrente (1622):

A passage from his Il Priulino Balletto e Corrente (marked canto primo, secondo, and basso)

is more instrumental in quality, though the second part of the Balletto reveals again the character of vocal music. The whole may be played on the A and E strings. More violinistic passages are to be found in his sinfonia La Gardana; for example:

Marini’s dance compositions are characteristic of all dance music at the beginning of the seventeenth century. Among them, however, is one that possesses particular interest for us from the fact that it is the first extant composition marked distinctly ‘for violin solo.’ It is entitled La Romanesca per Violino Solo e Basso (ad libitum), and has four

sections, each consisting of two parts. The first section, Parte prima, has six measures in the first and second part; the second section has five measures in the first part and six in the second. The form of the third section is not so clear as that of the previous ones, although, as we may see from the basses, the composer endeavored to give clear-cut melodies. The same may be said of the fourth section, where the figures are in the bass. The third section—terza parte in altro modo—with new melodic and rhythmic material, has the character of a dance. The violin part moves in figures of eight, and there are sustained notes in the bass. The first few measures of each section will serve as illustration.

Section I

Section II

Section III

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 tonepainting 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 thirtysecond 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), concertmaster 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, wellmarked 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