The Baroque Violin & Viola: A Fifty-Lesson Course

361 Pages·2020·16.32 MB·English

by  Walter S. Reiter

The Baroque Violin & Viola

The Baroque Violin & Viola:
A Fifty-Lesson Course
Volume II
The Historical, Cultural, and Musicological Background
of Violin Music from the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
with Detailed Observations, Musical and Technical Analyses,
and
One Hundred Twenty-Five Specially Devised Exercises
Being the Author’s Gift to Those Lovers of Baroque Music Wishing to Learn
to Play the Baroque Violin or Viola
by
Walter S Reiter
Professor of Baroque Violin, The Royal Conservatoire of The Hague,
The Netherlands
Professor of Baroque Violin, Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and
Dance, London
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Reiter, Walter, author.
Title: The baroque violin & viola: a fifty-lesson course / Walter Reiter.
Other titles: Baroque violin and viola
Description: New York: Oxford University Press, 2020. |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019056320 (print) | LCCN 2019056321 (ebook) |
ISBN 9780197525111 (v. 2; hardback) | ISBN 9780197525128 (v. 2; paperback) |
ISBN 9780197525142 (v. 2; epub) | ISBN 9780197525159
Subjects: LCSH: Violin—Instruction and study. |
Violin music—17th century—Interpretation (Phrasing, dynamics, etc.) |
Violin music—18th century—Interpretation (Phrasing, dynamics, etc.) |
Viola—Instruction and study.
Classification: LCC MT271 .R45 2020 (print) | LCC MT271 (ebook) |
DDC 787/.193071—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019056320
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019056321
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Paperback printed by LSC Communications, United States of America
Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America
To my students, past, present, and future, to my parents and teachers, to my wife, to
my children, and to my grandchildren.
"I have learned much from my masters, more from my colleagues . . . and more
from my pupils than from all the others."
Talmud

CONTENTS vii
Foreword • xiii
Inspirational quotes • xix
Questions and Answers • xxi
About the Companion Website • xxiii
Acknowledgments • xxv
PART THREE APPROACHING THE EARLY SEVENTEENTH- CENTURY
ITALIAN SONATA
Lesson 24 Stepping Back in Time: Division Manuals 1535- 1624.
Ornamentation, Module Two • 3
Divisions • 4
Learning to Dare: Developing Basic Improvisational Skills • 5
Sylvestro Ganassi’s Fontegara (Venice, 1535) • 7
Studying Divisions from Ganassi’s Fontegara • 8
Learning to Read Sixteenth and Seventeenth- Century Music from
Facsimiles • 10
Note Values • 10
Giovanni Bassano: Ricercate, passaggi et cadentie (Venice 1585) • 12
Cadences • 13
Aurelio Virgiliano: Regole della diminutione (c. 1600) • 14
Observations on Virgiliano’s Regole • 15
A Florentine Interlude. Toward “The New Music”: From Plato to Caccini • 18
Lesson 25 “The Noble Manner of Singing”: Caccini’s Le nuove musiche
(1602) • 22
Passaggi • 23
Three Ways to Sing a Note • 23
Transferring Caccini’s Cor mio, deh! non languire to the Violin • 24
The Trillo and the Gruppo • 25
Transferring the Vocal Trillo to the Violin • 26
The Gruppo • 27
Transferring the Vocal Gruppo to the Violin • 27
Rhythmic Alteration • 27
Transferring the Vocal Cascata to the Violin • 28
Sprezzatura • 28
Transferring Caccini’s Deh, dove son fuggiti to the Violin • 29
Lesson 26 A Lesson from Francesco Rognoni Taeggio: Applying Vocal
Technique to the Violin • 31
El Portar della Voce • 32
Contents
The Accento • 32
viii The Tremolo • 32
The Gruppo • 33
Del principiar sotto la nota • 33
The Esclamationi • 34
La Selva, Part Two • 35
Francesco Rognoni’s “Way of Slurring” • 36
Observations on Rognoni’s “Modo di lireggiar” • 37
Lesson 27 Giovanni Battista Fontana (1589 (?)— 1630) Sonata Terza • 38
The Tactus • 40
Reading This Sonata in the Original Notation • 41
Clefs • 42
Rests • 42
Coloration • 43
Observations • 43
Tempo Relationships and Proportional Notation • 47
Lesson 28 Dario Castello: Sonata Prima, A Sopran Solo • 53
Observations • 54
Lesson 29 Giovanni Antonio Pandolfi Mealli: Sonata Quarta, op. 4, no. 4, La
Biancuccia. • 65
Stylus Fantasticus • 65
Musica Ficta • 66
Observations • 67
A Roman Interlude: Transforming Visual Gestures into Sound • 80
Lesson 30 Ornamenting Corelli: Module Three including Tables of Ornaments
Derived from the Sonatas of Corelli and Babell • 84
PART FOUR CHURCH MILITANT: THE SONATAS OF SCHMELZER
AND BIBER
Lesson 31 Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (c. 1620– 1680): Sonata Quarta from
Sonatae unarum fidium (1664) • 95
Observations • 96
Afterthought • 107
Lesson 32 Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: The Mystery Sonatas. Sonata
no. 1: The Annunciation • 109
The Mystery Sonatas: An Introduction • 109
Sonata no. 1: The Annunciation • 110
Reference to the Texts • 112
Observations • 113
Lesson 33 Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber: The Mystery Sonatas. Sonata
no. 10: The Crucifixion • 120
Scordatura • 120
Symbolism and the Jesuits • 123
Observations • 124
Contents
The Rhetorical Fragments Described • 128
ix
PART FIVE SUPREME REFINEMENT OF THE HUMAN
SPIRIT: FRANÇOIS COUPERIN AND THE MUSIC OF FRANCE
Interlude in Versailles: Approaching the Music of the French Baroque • 135
The Sun King and the Culture of Versailles • 135
The Social Status of the Violin in France. • 140
Lesson 34 The “Concerts” of François Couperin: Ornamentation,
Module Four • 142
Introduction • 142
The Tremblement • 145
The Pincé • 146
The Port de Voix • 147
The Tierce Coulée • 148
The Comma (Petit Silence) • 148
Notes Inégales • 149
Slurs • 150
Pitch • 150
Addendum: The Doublé • 150
The Aspiration and the Suspension • 150
Lesson 35 To Soothe the Sorrows of a King. François Couperin: Septiéme
Concert (I) • 152
Movement One (no title) • 152
Allemande, Gayement • 155
Postscript: Dynamic and Rhythmical Inégalité, a Personal View • 158
Lesson 36 François Couperin: Septiéme Concert (II) • 160
Sarabande Grave • 160
Georg Muffat on Lully’s Bowings • 160
Observations • 162
Lesson 37 François Couperin: Septiéme Concert (III) • 166
Fuguéte • 166
Observations • 167
Gavote • 169
Observations • 170
Siciliéne • 171
Observations • 172
PART SIX APPROACHING THE GALANT
Lesson 38 Beyond “Beautiful”: Searching for Meaning in Music • 177
Beautiful Sights and Beautiful Sounds • 177
Handel and Mattheson • 179
Der Vollkommene Capellmeister • 179
Identifying Affects in the Handel Sonata Movement • 181
Punctuation • 182