Mozart and the Violin

Author(s): Peter Walls

Source: Early Music , Feb., 1992, Vol. 20, No. 1, Performing Mozart's Music II (Feb.,
1992), pp. 7-24+26+28-29
Published by: Oxford University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3127666

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Peter Walls

Mozart and the violin

? 4A.

!i~it A...

1 Mozart's violins (Salzburg Mozarteum)

Mozart was a very good violinist. We hear most about his the Adagio fourth movement, displays Mozart's interest
playing during his travels in 1777-8. In Munich he took in cantabile playing-note the group of rapid dotted
part in a private concert given to celebrate the name-day notes under a slur and the indication that a cadenza
of his music-loving inkeeper. After performing three should be played.
piano concertos' Mozart picked up his violin to play the The performance of this divertimento was clearly a
Divertimento in B flat, K287, a work which has a first vio- success. Mozart reported to his father: 'They all opened
lin part of considerable virtuosity. Ex.1a, from the their eyes! I played as though I were the finest fiddler in
closing section of the first movement of this work, shows all Europe.'2 Leopold responded with a characteristic
that Mozart could get around the fingerboard. The blend of anxiety about his son's behaviour and, more
equivalent passage in the exposition goes up to c""-but especially, pride: 'You yourself do not know how well
the later occurrence is perhaps more impressive for the you play the violin.'3 But at the end of this tour, when
shifting techniques involved in the descent. Ex.ib, from Mozart eventually returned to Salzburg from Paris, he

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992 7

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Ex.1 Divertimento in B flat, K287, violin I: (a) i, bars 246-52; (b) iv, bars 44-51

(a) [Allegro] -.

(b) [Adagio]

SP,- cresc.

-= =4I -- III I , W " m ,E) i a vp

F U",.._! , I
kinds-those
renounced professional violin playing: made by the
'I Amatis,
will and nothose which are the
longer
work of Stradivari.
be a fiddler', he wrote.4 Playing in the Those who excelled among
Salzburg court the Amatis
were, firstly, Andrea Amati,
orchestra seemed demeaning. He did, though, continue the master of Stainer, and his vio-
lins, though of ungraceful form, were much sought after at the
to play in private. We are given occasional glimpses of
beginning of last century by those who preferred a quality of
Mozart playing the viola in chamber music.' It is no
tone soft and pleasing; secondly, the brothers Antonius and
wonder that Mozart's writing shows a player's under-
Hieronymus, contemporaries of Stainer, who made admirable
standing of the instrument and its technique.
violins now much sought after and very expensive; thirdly,
What does this mean in relation to the instrument?
Nicol6 Amati, who made excellent violins, but of varying
Two of Mozart's own violins are now in the Mozarteum
merit, and not all possessing equal goodness of tone. Among
thea skilled makers of more recent date we find Antonio Stradi-
in Salzburg (illus.1). The first he used as a child. It has
body length of 262 mm-about 75 per cent of a full-size vari, who, like Stainer, was long-lived, and made a very large
instrument-and it was made by Andreas Ferdinand
number of good violins; the merit of his instruments consists
Mayr, who worked in Salzburg by appointment to the in their masculine, powerful, and melodious tone.7
Archbishop until about 1764. The other, full-size violin isNote that the Encyclopedie claims that by 1785 most
an early 18th-century Mittenwald instrument withStainer a instruments had been altered. Second, a clear
Stainer label.6 These violins raise questions which are hierarchy emerges: Stainer is supreme, then the Ama-
central here. tis-and principally the brothers Amati (not Nicol6)-
First, how do these instruments relate to Mozart's and then Stradivari.8 Sir John Hawkins, noting in 1776
ideal in violin sound? Preferences in violins in the late that 'the violins of Cremona are exceeded only by those
18th century do not match up with the modern assump-
of Stainer, a German', described the tone of these instru-
tion that Stradivari represents the pinnacle of violin
ments as 'full and piercing'?.' Even among those who
making. Jacob Stainer, whose influence is strong in looked
both first to Cremonese makers, the brothers Amati
Mozart's instruments, was by and large the most highlymost esteemed. In 1783 Antonio Bagatella's theories
were
on violin making were examined by a panel appointed
regarded maker until late in the century. The 1785 edition
of the Encyclopedie methodique gives an interesting by the Paduan Academy. These examiners, who included
per-
spective on this: the celebrated violinist Giulio Meneghini, reported: 'we
have clearly understood that the author based his prin-
The violins of the greatest reputation are those of Jacob Stainer
cipal study on a practical analysis of the measurements
. . The violins, still in their original state, of this famous
of the violins of the brothers Antonio and Girolamo
craftsman-those, namely, of which the interior has not been
Amati, which succeed in being the best in practical
altered by any modern maker-are very rare and much sought
after. The violins of Cremona are also renowned: there are two
music.. .

8 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992

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 In 1791 Francesco Galeazzi summed up the qualities of orous sound, it is easier to hold, being less arched than Amatis
a good violin. Even at this late date Stainer heads the list or Stainers, which are more suited to accompanying of con-
of great makers and Stradivari is simply included as one certos or symphonies.13
of the more eminent Italian makers. The shift in taste was clearly well under way-but too
A good violin should have a full sound, robust and loud, butand possibly still too localized to have any direct
late
grateful and not strident, and as sweet and clear as possible;bearing
but on Mozart.4
Both of Mozart's instruments have been altered since
its principal merit consists in the evenness of its tone, which
should have the same strength and quality on all four he owned them, though the full-size instrument retains
strings... its original fingerboard and probably its original bass-
A violin, then, cannot be excellent if it is not old and mature.
bar. Hence the second question they raise concerns the
The best artists who have made violins are: Giocomo Steiner
set-up of Classical string instruments. Perhaps the
Swiss [sic], Castagnery and Chappuy French; Niccol6, Andrea,
simplest way of describing the features of a Classical vio-
and Antonio Amati, Antonio Stradivario, Guarnerio, and Rug-
lin is in relation to the current understanding of what
geri, all Cremonese. There are still other good makers who
have made passable instruments: such are Mattia Albano, distinguishes
Gia- a Baroque violin from a modern one. (The
como Horil, David Tekler German, the Neapolitan Niccolaterms 'Baroque violin', 'modern violin' and so on are, of
course,
Galliani, and an unknown peasant from the Ascoli region... no more than useful generalizations-they
ignore
who deserves to have his name passed on to posterity; this man continuous but uneven change over time,
is called Giuseppe Odoardi who died when he was scarcelyregional
28 variations, and individual makers' idiosyncra-
years old after having made about 200 violins with hissies.)
own The key features here are the sound-post and bass-
hands. Amongst these are many which after some time willbar-both
not of which are smaller in earlier instruments
perhaps be considered inferior to the best Cremonese than modern ones-and the neck, which not only tends
instruments."
to be slightly shorter in Baroque instruments but pro-
Descriptions of tonal quality take us into a very sub- jects straight out from the body so that its upper edge
jective area and the dangers of comparing one writer's continues the line of the belly's rim. The neck is fixed by
views of Stainer with another's of Stradivari must be nails through the end block and it supports a wedge-
obvious. The problem of subjectivity is, in a way, high- shaped fingerboard whose upper edge follows the line of
lighted by L6hlein's quite extended but inconclusive the strings up towards the bridge (illus.2).
consideration in 1774 of the tonal merits of various Identifiable sound-posts from the later 18th century
instruments. About Stradivari violins he writes (surpris- seem hardly to exist-so it is difficult to get further than
ingly) that 'They have a strong, penetrating, oboe-like the supposition that in diameter they were probably
(and therefore thin) tone.' When Reichardt revised this thicker than earlier sound-posts and thinner than the
treatise in 1797 he altered very little indeed, but the sen- 6.5 mm which is standard now. More substantial bass-
tence just quoted became: 'They have a strong, pen- bars were used as the century progressed-but the pic-
etrating clarinet-like tone.'"2 On the face of it, Reichardt's ture is far from simple. Table 1 shows wild fluctuation
alteration brings the passage more into line with end-of- within an overall tendency to increase in mass."5 The
the-century views of the Stradivari sound-'masculine, rather small sample of original necks gives a similar pic-
powerful, and melodious', as the Encyclopedie put it. ture. It is interesting to compare the Amati neck with
For all the difficulties in interpreting individual pieces that of a viola made by Pietro Giovanni Mantegazza in
of evidence, a consistent picture emerges. This might be 1793 (illus.3). This instrument has a proportionately
stated baldly as follows. In the late 18th century Stainer longer fingerboard and a neck which is slightly tilted
instruments seemed to offer clarity where Stradivari back, though attached in the old way.
instruments offered fullness of tone. The choice might Fingerboards show considerable variation in length.
seem analogous to that which existed between Viennese Mozart's full-size violin has a fingerboard which I esti-
and English-style fortepianos. mate would allow him to reach the d"', a tone above the
The change in fashion is thought to have started in high c'" noted in K287. (Mozart indicates this d"' as the
France-thanks to Viotti's persuasive playing in the note on which an Eingang should end in the D major
1780s on Stradivari and Guaneri instruments. In about Concerto, K218.) Not all fingerboards would accommo-
18oi Michel Woldemar had this to say: date this-the unaltered 1783 Gragnani violin in the
With regard to the choice of violin, the form of Stradivarius or Smithsonian allows for a range of a 12th above the open
Guanerius is preferable to others in that, besides its more vig- string-in other words, up to b"'. Galeazzi advised that

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992 9

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Table 1 Dimensions of violin bass-bars

Height at
Length centre Thickness Mass Location/
Date Instrument (mm) (mm) (mm) factor information

1621 A. & H. Amati 270 6.4 4.8 8.2 Hills

1621+ A. & H. Amati 235 6.4 4.8 7.1 Hills
1650 N. Amati 219 6.4 4.8 6.6 Hills
1665 N. Amati 235 4.8 4.8 5.3 Hills
168? Stradivari 243 6.4 4.8 7.3 Hills
1700 Albani 235 6.4 4.8 7.1 Hills
1702 Jacobs 243 6.4 4.8 7.3 Hills
1704 Stradivari 241 6.4 4.8 7.3 Hills
1710 Stradivari 244 6.4 4.8 7.4 Hills
1711 Joseph Guanerius, filius Andrea 241 7.9 4.8 9.1 Hills
1716 Stradivari 254 7.9 4.8 9.6 Hills
1719 Stradivari 241 6.4 4.8 7.3 Hills
1720 A. Gagliano 276 7.9 4.8 10.4 Hills
1721 Stradivari 248 7.9 4.8 9.4 Hills
1740 Nicolo Gagliano 259 6.0 4.5 7.0 SMM
174? Carol Bergonzi 260 7.9 4.8 9.8 Hills
c.1750 Gennaro Gagliano 270 10.0 7.0 18.9 SMM
1760 J. B. Guadagnini 251 7.9 4.8 9.5 Hills
1780 Gagliano 260 11.1 6.4 18.4 Hills
1782 Antonio Bagatella 178 ? ? Bagatella
1783 F. Gagliano 305 9.5 6.4 18.4 Hills
1788 Gragnani 252 6.0 4.5 6.8 SMM
1789 F. Gagliano 273 17.5 14.3 68.1 Hills
1792 M.A. Cerin 265 8.5 5.0 11.3 SMM

1795 Johann Georg Sh6nfelder 286 14.6 5.1 21.3 Monical

1827 Jean Gosselin, Paris 272 10.5 4.0 11.4 SMM
c.1840 Pierre Pacherle, Turin 262 11.0 6.0 17.3 SMM

Modern average 267 11.1 6.4 18.8 Hills

the essay
fingerboards should be long in 1786 he altered
enough a great many violins
to produce the to give
note
two octaves above the openthem either what heChin
string."6 calls a voce humana (suitable
rests, shoulder for
rests-and for cellists-endpins solos) or astill
voce argentina
did (suitable
not for orchestral
exist inplay-
this
period. ing). Here we have one of Mozart's contemporaries
All of this presents a fairly unremarkable picture of altering violins, many of which by his own account dated
Classical instruments with certain crucial dimensions from the 17th century; yet all he talks about is adjusting
the thicknesses of back and belly. He gives dimensions
lying mostly somewhere between 17th-century and
for the neck (virtually modern length), and bass-bar
modern averages. Given that old instruments were
(puzzlingly
already highly sought after in this period, it is worth try- small), and describes in detail how the
ing to pin down just when and how these instruments sound-post should be fitted; but he never even hints that
were being modernized and what contemporary atti- those found in older instruments would need altering.
tudes to this process were. He describes a gadget he has invented for ensuring that
the neck is correctly aligned (illus.4)17-and from this it
In his Regole per la costruzione de' violini, Antonio
Bagatella says that his chance as a violin maker came
is clear that he was still using the traditional way of fixing
about because Tartini sent many violins to him the forneck to the body with nails through the end block. To
a reader
adjustment. In the years leading up to the publication of now, the whole emphasis is surprising: Bagatella

10 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992

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 ,MAREi." " . ' . .... . ........................

A a ~05iaefgA,44DJCaC DvIHOf
.._..._.....
A SS4CTWS OFt, ..NeCW .
............
Ki

2 Detail from technical drawing of Antonius and Hieronymus Fr. Amati Cremonefi Andreae fil. F.1613 (drawing by John
Pringle; Vermillion, South Dakota, Shrine to Music Museum)

A -- -
....-__
,. ... - - - - . __
.....'.

-q 4,4mom.t
Oo . lu P64..... 1 .
IIWA

3 Detail from
Museum)

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992 11

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 .. ........ .... .... ...... . .. ....
.4 '2c

..L. "...?......
1 ~. ,. .-L
- .J ., . _(-'F-
"'- -- .1 .

4 Device for fitting violin necks (Figs. 1-4

virtually ignores the The nonchalance with which Bagatella and Ascensio
modernizing proc
some extent mustdealhave with subjects now been taking
considered virtually the defining plac
time. And this seems typical.
features of Classical instruments suggests two things.
The Hills, in their
First, thatpioneering
quite a lot of updating must have takenstudy
place o
quote from the journal
as an incidental by-product of Dom
of repairs and (alas) more Vicenz
drastic alterations.
describes alterations he made Second, that theretowas as yet
the no quin
instruments at the Spanish
strong court
sense that 17th- or early 18th-century in 1783
set-ups were
of what he calls 'improving
somehow inadequate. It is only in the earlythe19th-century tone'
certainly modernized the
that we get any explicit dimensions
acknowledgement of the practice
bass-bar (though of claiming
replacing bass-bars and resetting to be
necks. In 18o6 thefollow
Abbe Sibire
principles). But this allwrote atgets
some length onmixed
the subject. He up w
describes these structural
ric acts. Like Bagatella, changes as a response to was i
Ascensio
thicknesses: changes in musical expression:

I . . . did as follows to the violoncello: I pieced the centre,

I shall confine myself hereafter to a daily occurrence, which
replaced the bar by one adjusted to mathematical proportionssurely you would not object to, and which, for all that it is com-
mon, demands a great deal of intelligence and dexterity-no
based on that of Stradivari. I corrected the thicknesses, pieced
less (and in fact more) than making new instruments.
the four corner-blocks, took the back off and inserted a piece
in the centre, as it was too thin. I had to replace the neck, which It is a kind of restoration (loosely called) which is purely
I did in the most careful manner. I then adjusted the instru-accessory and yet at the same time crucial. This is a process
ment, the tone of which was rendered excellent by all thesewhich does not imply the slightest deterioration and yet vir-
changes.'8 tually every old violin, no matter how well preserved it is in

12 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992

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 emm
r

6 Violin (Absam,
5 Violin by Jacob Stainer by Antonio Gragnani (Livorno, with
1668), 1783), in origin
or
(Shrine to Music Museum)
condition (Washington, Smithsonian Institution)

other ways, could not mortising

avoid: of the neck with its concomitantly
REBARRING. The revolu greate
music has experienced needs to be
inclination-must have replicated in Mozar
begun in earnest after ins
making; when the first
death.has set the out
This process-carried style, the of
in the interests oa
follow...
fuller, rounder sound (and at the expense of the clar
Formerly it was the fashion to have necks well andelevated,
sweetness so characteristic of an earlier tonal
bridges and fingerboards extremely low, fine strings and a
ideal)-seems to follow on from the changing prefer-
moderate tone. Then the bass-bar, that necessary evil in the
instrument, could be short and thin because it wasences which made the Stradivari models seem superior
sufficient
to Stainer and Amati.
for it to have enough strength to sustain the weight of five to six
The
pounds which the strings exerted on it. But since then, developments in the bow during Mozart's life-
music,
time are in some ways harder to pinpoint. All the earliest
in becoming perfect, has placed a demand on violin-making.
The tilting back of the neck, the raising of the bridge, attempts at a history of bow design come from the 19th
of the fin-
gerboard, and the amplification in sound, necessitates increas-
century. In particular, the key account of Franqois Tour-
ing by a full third the resistant force. Repairers have
te'sonly one
achievements was published in 1856 by Franqois
choice: strengthening the old bar, or replacing it with a new
F6tis. F6tis's perspective was utterly out of sympathy
one.9
with the aims and ideals of earlier generations. Of Corelli
and
Vincenzo Lancetti, writing in the early 182os, Vivaldi, for example, he writes that they 'had not yet
suggests
that the process of replacing necks was in full swing bythe necessity of rendering the stick flexible,
experienced
the end of the 18th century, and implies that this started
because they had no idea of imparting to their music the
in Paris: varied shades of expression'." His illustrations of the
development
About 18oo00 the Brothers Mantegazza were restorers of of the bow are reminiscent of pseudo-
instruments who were often entrusted by French Darwinian pictures of the descent of man (illus.7).212
and Italian
David
artists to lengthen the necks of their violins, after the Paris Boyden,
fash- in a valuable article on the 18th-cen-
ion, an example which was followed by amateurs and
turyprofes-
bow, emphasized the crudity of Fetis's engravings
sors all over North Italy.2o and pointed out that they can be traced back to Michel
Woldemar's Grande methode, published in Paris about
It seems that the most radical changes to violins-the
the turnthe
wholesale rebarring of old instruments and certainly of the century (illus.8).23 For all this, Boyden

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992 13

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 No 1. -Mersenne, 1620. genealogy is a sense that there probably was a prevailing
bow style in Mannheim in the 176os and 70s.
It would be good to be able to piece together a more
accurate picture of a Frinzl-Cramer bow, given
Nn' 2. -- Kircher, 1640.
Mozart's admiration for Franzl's playing:

I like his playing very much. You know that I am no great lover
of difficulties. He plays difficult things, but his hearers are not
No 3. -Castrovillari, 1660. aware that they are difficult; they think that they could at once
do the same thing themselves. That is real playing. He has too a
most beautiful, round tone. He never misses a note, you can
hear everything. It is all clear cut. He has a beautiful staccato,
played with a single bowing, up or down; and I have never
'N 4. - Bassani, 1680.
heard anyone play a double trill as he does. In a word, in my
opinion he is no wizard, but a very sound fiddler.26

Franzl was apparently adept at the kind of slurred stac-

No ,. -Coreli, 1700.
cato bowing indicated in ex.ib.
To get a clearer idea of the bow used by Frinzl or any-
body else we are thrown back on surviving bows. Corre-
No 6. - Tartini, 1740.
lating salient features can give a reasonable sense of the
changes which took place across the 18th century. But the
process is inevitably circular. Bows are undated and
mostly not identified by a maker or dealer's stamp.
No 7. - Cramer, 1770. Consequently, the dates and provenance assigned to
them are usually based entirely on their features. In table
2 it is very likely that some bows are in the wrong order,
but the general picture is clear enough and it can be cor-
No 8. - Viotti, 1790.
roborated, at least roughly, in several ways-by a few
rather haphazard 18th-century statements about length,
and by pictorial evidence. On the basis of this kind of
7 The development of the bow, from Jean-Baptiste F6tis,
collateral evidence, I am convinced that many bows
Antoine Stradivari luthier cdlbre (Paris, 1856)
catalogued as pre-175o could only have been made in the
basically accepted the Woldemar-Fetis four-phase
later 18th century.27
history of the 18th-century bow and used the illus- When Mozart was first playing the violin, bows must
trations to extract a few defining features of each type.
have been in use which had a pike's or swan's head and-
He noted, for example, of the 'Cramer' bow that: consequently-with the distance between hair and stick
There are three distinctive features: the form of the head, the
significantly greater at the heel than at the point
form of the frog, and the concave curve of the bow stick. The
(illus.lo). Every known picture of Leopold Mozart with a
bow head used by Cramer is a unique type with a peak in front
violin-including the watercolour by Carmontelle
matched by a peak in the back of the head proper.24
which he himself praised for its accuracy (see cover),2-
But Woldemar's version of Leopold Mozart's Vio-
depicts him with such a bow. It is a version of this bow
linschule (1801) has quite a different diagram (illus.9).
which features in the Violinschule. This treatise implies,
There the Cramer bow has become identified with
however, that a range of bow types were currently in use
another Mannheim violinist, Ignaz Frinzl, and and a newthat each type needed to be treated differently:
step-the bow of Mestrino25-has been introduced. In
this illustration, the Cramer-Frinzl bow has lost The
its weight
dis- of a violin bow contributes much, as does also in no
less degree
tinctive head. I suspect that this has happened not its length or shortness. A heavier and longer bow
must be used more lightly and retarded somewhat less;
because Woldemar has conscientiously revised his his-
whereas a lighter and shorter bow must be pressed down more
torical conclusions but because all the bows except the
and retarded more.:
last ('the only one in use', he writes) are treated with a
certain contempt. The most we can extract fromItthis may be that repertory and performing environ-

14 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992

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 " mr..a. " re s.. SLes quatre diffeiFnts Archets sont 'eux.qu ont
ete successisumerot en tiUge depu i.s l'origine du. tiolon.
s . ,,...,. 4- Le..N. I. repiprsente celui de Corelli trbs arque,court
S - sol " et pointu. 0d durive decelui d!: la Basse de viole, instru-
ment anterceur- au Violon.
L.e N. ''Archct de Tartini successeur de Corelli
soin maitre. il est plus long et plus eleve de ..Itte.
0 ,N-3 est cel.ui. de cramer de Manheim, il fut
S . r r .

N ut adoptes anss;.n tems,par hi iiajoritC des Artistes et

<1es Anrafteturs.

, t ., L e N.4 noun" vient du celebre Viotti, il differe peu

ie 'olui de t1ramer pour la t0te, mais )a hausse est plus
hasse et plus raproche du lbouton, il est pl.s long et
porte plus de crin; il se joue'un peu detendu et ecst au-
. r : la r
la. re sol ut .
jourdhui presque seul_ en usage.
Sol . t fa. si
NO.I.Archet.de Corelli.
Si " . f si. mi la.
7 mI . Ila. .re. sol.
e'.r . sol. tit. fa

St ut. fa. (Ii. ii.

N~. ' . Archet de Tartini.
,J

. si.r . i. la. re.

3 I la. re. sol . ut.
so . so Ut. fa.iS
N~ 3. Arcnet de Cramer.
Ir f a. si. mi. Ia.

mi la r- -ol
-I-

sit. 1i et
TOUCH1E
N. 4. Archet de Viotti.

representant touttes .les positiots . g

du violon prises au Ir.doigt jusqu'au
sit. pass lequel il n'y a plus de
position entiere vt V'on doigte scion
Ils chiffres en observant que le
dernier Si doit tre harmonique.

8 The development of the bow, from Michel Woldemar, Grand mdthode, ou Ptude le'mentaire pour le violon
(Paris, c.18oo)

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992 15

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 , - ? 5

Instruction Preliminaire.
La toucht c desuous reprcsentu toutes les positions du Violon* depuis I'arriert
position soUs Ilaccord..de mi, la, re. sol dieze jusqu'ausi ca. haut inclusivement.

pour
I acqucrir
,,O de [a justesse'/
il faut resserrer les doigts en montant .et les
ecarter en desce
asgui ce qui n e
Silliut

ar ire" 0.

K-' ..L f .oil

:i00

= I :"'
P046 p sin *

la.o
10O'11usition la. i 1--

,do idoigt . a

do m u -. A i'ugard du choix d'un

re ' ou de Guarnerius cst .pref
mi .T qu'ils
rd edo0out le fon plus vigo
3.dog
etant moins routess
quc lea Amati et lea Stainer qua on plu
,a ?. a; propres l'acconmpagnenment qusou Cozacertoet a la Symphonic.

It rruenaqu."

81 ., pu i fa.
iiz . ht atangaelea Icbd ~v et ;.... .l. 1
1A0, '(UuhlC i d *ttiI a o. ',.- , he

9 The devel
Nouvelle edi

16 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992

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Table 2 Dimensions of violin bows

Hair Hair Centre of Height Height

Location; Stamp Length length width gravity at tip at frog Weight
(Catalogue description) Date (PW) Wood (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (mm) (g) Head Screw Ferrule

Talbot MS 'for Solo's or Sonata's' c.1690 'speckled' 686

Hill 19 (c.1700) 1700-65 snakewood 704 559 51 pike x x

CvLB 28 (England c.1700) snakewood 709 601 8 51 swan x x
SMM 4882 (Stradivari) pernambuco 699 593 6.2 256 18 24 55 swan V x
Hill 23 (c.1740) snakewood 702 595 58 swan V x
SMM 3390 (c.1740) pernambuco 706 598 273 12 20 52.7 swan V x
SMM 3444 (c.1760) pernambuco 718 613 8 260 13 20 45.8 swan V x

SMM 3410 (c.1725) 1765-80 ironwood 718 601 10.5 272 13.5 23 49.65* swan/hatchet V x
SMM 3407; Betts (c.1790) pernambuco 721 618 7 257.5 19 20 44.9 swan/mod V x
CvLB 29 (England, c.1760) tropical wood 726 623 6.2 49 swan/mod V x
Hill 26 (Tourte phre, c.1760) pernambuco 738 644 49 swan/mod V x
SMM 3397 (c.1780) 1770-90 pernambuco 704 614 9 275 16 17 37.6* hatchet V x
SMM 3409 (attrib. F. Tourte, c.1790) pernambuco 708 606 7 274 17 20 45.8 hatchet V x
CvLB 30 (Netherlands, c.1775) tropical hardw 712 607 7.5 58 hatchet V x
Hawkins: average bow 1776 711
SMM 3398; Norris & Barnes (c.1790) pernambuco 715 615 7 268 20 20 48.65 swan V x
Hill 25 (c.1750) pernambuco 730 620 46 hatchet V x
Hill 24 (c.1750) pernambuco 711 631 52 hatchet V x
S. Wilkinson; Dodd pernambuco 720 627 8 53.4 hatchet V x
SMM 3411; Dodd (c.1820) pernambuco 724 623 8 264 17 21 46.2* hatchet V x
Hill 27; Dodd (Edward Dodd, c.1775) pernambuco 734 628 48 hatchet V x

CvLB 31 (Italy, c.1780) 1780-1800 beech wood 705 603 8 49 mod V x

CvLB 32; Norris & Barnes (c.1780) pernambuco 725 628 7.4 47 mod V x
CvLB 34; Dodd (c.1790) pernambuco 726 635 8 53 mod V x
Hill 29; Dodd (c.1800) pernambuco 730 631 53 mod V
Hill 28; Dodd (c.1780) pernambuco 737 641 49 mod V
Galeazzi: bow length 1791 720 (extrapolated from total hair length)
CvLB 33 (France, late 18th cent.) brazilwood 737 638 10.5 53 mod V x
UCB; J. Dodd pernambuco 732 645 8 57 mod V x
UCB; Dodd pernambuco 730 639 10.5 55 mod
CvLB 35 (France, c.1800) pernambuco 739 642 10 49 mod V x
SMM 3391 (c.1790) pernambuco 733 635 12 253 18 17.5 53.3 mod V V
SMM 3396; Benjamin Banks pernambuco 738 637 9 264 18 17 54.2 swan/mod V x
Hill 30 (German, c.1820) pernambuco 746 645 63 mod V
Wlc (Frangois Tourte) pernambuco 739 655 10.8 260 17 15.5 n.a. mod V V
SMM 3392 (attrib. F. Tourte) pernambuco 742 646 10.5 261 17 16 62.1 mod V V
SMM 3395 Dodd (James?, c.1820) pernambuco 736 646 9 278 15.5 16 49.3 mod V x
Wlc; W. E. Hill & Son pernambuco 744 655 11 260 17 16.5 n.a. mod V
Wlc (Frangois Tourte) pernambuco 740 657 10 280 19 18 n.a. mod V V
Wlc; W. E. Hill & Son pernambuco 746 655 10.5 255 17 16 n.a. mod V
UCB; J. B. Vuillaume ' Paris pernambuco 743 643 61 mod V V
*weight without hair

ment influenced players in their choice ofBybows.

the Lighter
end of Mozart's life professional vio
bows with a high but graceful head such would
as that have
shown in using bows with an overall l
been
about
illus.nii might be best suited to the domestic 720of
genre mm,
the a pronounced reversed cam
accompanied sonata, where a softerinward
execution was
curve, and a fairly substantial head hig
encouraged.3" to make the separation of hair from stick at

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992 17

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10 Viola bow by Thomas Smith (working c.1756) (Oxford, Ashmolean Museum)

(a)

(b)

11 Bow stamped 'BETTS' (Shrine to Music Museum)

greater than-or at least equal to-that at the heel. In draws a very even sound from the instrument. This cannot be
1791 Galeazzi had this advice to give on the choice of done without compensating for the lack of strength at the
bows: point by giving it a greater separation from the stick. Hence, I
would want the bow either to be straight, or to be low at the
The most important feature of this item is its shape-the frog and high at the point. This can be achieved by introducing
length and the balance of its parts. Its form varies, according to a small curve in the stick towards the point. A bow thus con-
different schools. As for that, I consider best the bow which structed has the same strength at the point as at the heel, which

18 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992

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 ' i~iiIlk

el

i:i~4 * y
' i.:ii' i~i41,.

<,p~~ ~ -- --------T
ff'"... . , , A T nt S ,. x05
jl | Ik,-......,. 'E.MUR$ iAw

. ....A, . . . . .. . ... . .......1 "N. . . .

12 Leopold Moz

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992 19

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13 Bows 25, 26 and 27 from the Hill Collection (Ashmolean Museum)

seems to me a very considerable advantage. Concerning its

length, the band of hair (that is, horsehair) should be at least 25
Parisian inches . . . [i.e. 677 mm]31

He acknowledges that a range of bows were being

used. Galeazzi's description could apply to any of the
bows shown in illus.13, for example. His preferred model
is certainly not a Tourte bow, though it has quite a lot in
common with its shape. No mention is made, for
example, of a frog whose weight-increased by a slide
etc.-helps balance the more substantial head and
which has a ferrule to keep the band of hair flat.
The Dodd bow shown in illus.14 has a very substantial
hatchet head. It is interesting that 140-50 mm up the
stick (well past the frog) there is a slightly flattened area
which seems to have been caused by thumb wear.32 Vio-
linists must have held this bow some distance up the
stick-and that is certainly where it feels most balanced.
Held near the frog, it is quite unwieldly. The bow illus-
trates the rationale for the building up of the weight of
the frog in Tourte model bows through the use of a more
squared-off shape and through the addition of a silver
heel-plate.33
The silhouette of Regina Strinasacchi playing
(illus.16), which dates from 1795, obviously cannot be
regarded as evidence about how she held either violin or
bow. Nevertheless, it is interesting that she is holding a
hatchet-head bow well up the stick.
The earliest tribute to Tourte's achievements comes
from the Abbe Sibire:

Excellent bows? We are at the spring. Haven't we in France, in

Paris, the Stradivari of the genre, the creator of the true model,
the unique man who, for 20 years, has carried the art of making
bows to a point of perfection?34

The most useful information in his encomium is that

Tourte had been producing fine bows for 20 years-in
14 Bow stamped 'DODD' (Shelley Wilkinson)

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(a)

(b)

15 Bow, probably by Franqois Tourte (Shrine to Music Museum)

other words from about the mid-178os. Viotti is the

earliest virtuoso to have been associated with the Tourte
bow-he is, in fact, thought to have collaborated with
Tourte in developing some of its features.
There were ways in which Mozart could have learned
about Tourte's innovations. The Mannheim violinist
Friedrich Johann Eck heard Viotti play in Paris in 1782
and was so impressed that he returned in 1785 to have
lessons from him.3" In 1786 Eck was in Vienna. He took
the Viotti E minor Violin Concerto to Mozart, who
added trumpet and timpani parts.36 Eck could just poss-
ibly have been one of the earliest customers for the
Tourte bow as we know it.
It is impossible to know how players using these bows
regarded them. The Tourte model probably seemed to
be one of a range of acceptable modern alternatives. It
did not find universal acceptance until well into the 19th
century (by which time Voirin was engaged in refining
the design).37 Clearly the picture that emerges is one of
diversity with certain limits. Much the same could be
said about ways of playing the violin.
Violin technique is well documented in this period.16 Silhouette of Regina Strinasacchi (1795)

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992 21

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The year of Mozart's birth was marked by the publi- This, he writes, 'is far more apt to produce an honest and
cation of his father's Violinschule and the year of his
virile tone from the violin'. Typically, when he came to
death by the first volume of Galeazzi's Elementi. Many revise this passage he placed even more emphasis on the
other treaties appeared during his lifetime, including desirability of producing a strong tone. About the only
Schweigl's Verbesserte Grundlehre der Violin, published consistent pattern in his revisions of his treatise is this
in Vienna during Mozart's years there (though this, increased emphasis on achieving a good legato. In the
admittedly, is not the most informative of works).38 following paragraph I have italicized the second edition's
Comparing the advice given in these works can be a con- expansion:
fusing business. In the context of this article it is worth
Now if a string be bowed again and again. . . the stroke must
sampling just a few of the issues which relate most necessarily be started gently with a certain moderation and,
directly to basic tone production (and therefore to the without the bow being lifted, played with so smooth a connection
character of the instruments and bows themselves). that even the strongest stroke brings the already vibrating
Leopold Mozart's Violinschule is of prime importance string quite imperceptibly from one movement into another
here-and not just because it must give us a very clear and different movement.45

picture of the child Mozart's training as a violinist. The Leopold Mozart's left-hand technique has some very
Violinschule was not regarded as outdated even late in advanced features. He urges players to achieve consis-
the 18th century. Carl Friedrich Zelter described it to tency in tonal quality by remaining where possible on
Goethe as 'a work which will be worth using as long as one string:
the violin remains a violin'.39 Four editions appeared . . finally the positions are used for the sake of elegance when
before the end of the century, one of them revised by notes which are Cantabile occur closely together and can be
Leopold, and it was translated into Dutch and French played easily on one string. Not only is equality of tone
(in the latter case, without Leopold's knowledge).40 Per- obtained thereby, but also a more consistent and singing style
haps more importantly, it seems that (despite the ten- of delivery.46
sions which surface in other areas) Mozart and his father
This was to seem obvious in the 19th century-but it was
assumed a common understanding of what constituted apparently not something which Viotti, for example,
good violin playing. Mozart wrote as one violinist to bothered with.47
another when putting in a word for his friends Roth- The use of vibrato has an obvious bearing on what
fischer and Menzel for posts in the Salzburg Orchestra. kind of sound players wished to produce. Leopold
Leopold, describing the playing ofAnton Janitsch writes Mozart's attitude to this ornament is a moderate one.
in the confidence that Wolfgang will know exactly what The tremolo (as he calls it) is something which 'arises
he means by saying 'he plays in the style of Lolli, but his from Nature herself', which needs to be varied (and he
adagio playing is infinitely better'.41 Father and son both identifies three speeds), but which can be overused:
admired the warmth and feeling in Regina Strinasacchi's
... it would be an error if every note were played with the
playing. In December 1785 Leopold told Nannerl that: tremolo. Performers there are who tremble consistently on
each note as if they had the palsy.
There is not one note without sentiment. . . No one can play
the Adagio with more feeling and touching effect than she This statement is, of course, famous. Less often noticed
does. Her whole heart and soul is with the melody, and her is his advice to practise vibrato with the exercises for the
tone and its strength is equally beautiful...4 first and second of his 'divisions of the bow'. Here his
perception of the interrelationship of left hand and bow-
Nearly two years earlier Wolfgang had written that
ing action in contributing to a particular tonal quality is
Strinasacchi 'has a great deal of taste and feeling in her
most interesting:
playing'.43 The sonata he composed for her (K454) testi-
But in this case [the first division] there is something special to
fies to the same qualities.
be observed; namely, that the finger of the left hand which is
Warmth and strength of tone were a priority for the
placed on the string should, in the soft tone, relax the pressure
Mozarts. Leopold recommends the use of fairly thick
somewhat, and that the bow should be placed a little farther
strings and he was one of those who was against the from the bridge or saddle; whereas in loud tone the fingers of
practice of inclining the bow stick towards the fin- the left hand should be pressed down strongly and the bow be
gerboard.44 Like Abbe le fils, but not Lohlein or Cam- placed nearer the bridge. . . In this first division in particular,
pagnoli, he recommends a bow grip with the stickas also in the following, the finger of the left hand should make
passing through the middle joint of the index finger.a small slow movement which must not be sideways but for-

22 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992

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ward and backward. That is, the finger must move forward cated players.57 The gap between the most conscientious
towards the bridge and backward again towards the scroll: in explication of technical and stylistic problems and the
soft tone quite slowly, but in loud rather faster.41 real subtleties of a highly skilled and musically gifted
Mozart shared his father's dislike of misapplied performer is unbridgeable. A number of treatises in this
vibrato. In one of the letters from Paris he complained period do attempt to deal with real music-usually in
about an excessive (amplitude-based) vibrato in the the provision of fingerings and bowings as in Corette's
singing of Joseph Meissner; he went on to extend his L'art de se perfectionner dans le violon or Cartier's L'art du
remarks to instrumental playing: violon. The most interesting case-but the one which
The human voice trembles naturally-but in its own way- ultimately highlights the impossibility of the endeav-
and only to such a degree that the effect is beautiful. Such is the our-is Cambini, who analyses phrases by Boccherini
nature of the voice; and people imitate it not only on wind- and Haydn in an attempt to relate fingering, bowing and
instruments, but on stringed instruments too and even on the dynamic nuance to the subtleties of the music's
clavier. But the moment the proper limit is overstepped, it is no expression. He develops for each a little dramatic scena-
longer beautiful-because it is contrary to nature. It reminds rio (along the lines of de Momigny's more extended
me then of the organ when the bellows are puffing.49 account of the Mozart D minor Quartet, K421)."8 In the
Leopold's comments on vibrato are partly taken from end, however, Cambini's endeavour comes close to
Tartini, whose treatise on violin playing had been circu- bathos.
lating in manuscript. (Several times Leopold rather So, how can a knowledge of late 18th-century fiddles
obliquely acknowledges 'a great Italian master'.)5 But and bows and of contemporary violin instruction
while he was indebted to Tartini for his explanations of manuals relate to Mozart's music? This is perhaps easiest
ornaments (including vibrato), on matters of tone pro- to see with an orchestral work. Advanced violin manuals
duction his approach is quite distinctive. Tartini's insist themselves that this is where they will have most
injunction 'always use the middle of the bow' and never application; it is orchestral players first and foremost
'play near the point or heel'5 runs counter to Mozart's who need a shared understanding of such things as bow-
instructions that 'one must accustom oneself from the ing conventions. Let us take the first violin part of the
beginning to draw a long, uninterrupted, soft, and flow- opening movement of the 'Haffner' Symphony, ex.2a.
ing stroke'." Wolfgang and Leopold shared a critical atti- Bar 2 requires some strength, and it is inevitably going to
tude towards 'Tartini school' players. When in 1778 be an up-bow. The two staccato crotchets in bar 3 will
Wolfgang reported to his father on Rothfischer's playing arrive down-up (or, just possibly, down-down), while
he wrote. 'He. . . plays well in his way (a little bit in the the matching pair in bar 5 will have to be played up-
old-fashioned Tartini manner).'53 It seems that Tartini's down. The implied equality between the up and down
pupils had a reputation for tidy but perhaps rather strokes here seems to presuppose a bow design with a
understated playing. Burney remarked that the Tartini reasonably weighty head and an in-curving stick-not a
school was 'rather remarkable for delicacy, expression, Tourte bow (since that hardly existed in 1783), but cer-
and high finishing, than for spirit and variety.'54 He sev- tainly one which has moved on from the swan's head
eral times comments on the gentle playing of Tartini's variety seen in those portraits of Leopold Mozart.
pupils-and so, too, do the Mozarts. Leopold qualifies I should explain my insistence on bowing bar 5 up-
his praise for Nardini's playing in 1763: down. The only way to avoid this while respecting
. . it would be impossible to hear a finer player for beauty, Mozart's slur in bar 4 would be to take the dotted group
purity, evenness of tone and singing quality. But he plays rather in the second beat up-down (something which, to judge
lightly.55 from marked orchestral parts, is now quite regularly
When Mozart played quintets with the poor nerve- done). This is the only possibility for dotted groups
wracked Charles Dupreille, a Tartini pupil in the Munich which is not acknowledged in 18th-century sources. On
court orchestra, he wrote that he could hardly hear the other hand, the practice of linking up-bows (seen in
him.56 All of this seems to point towards an ideal of violin bars 4 and 6) goes back to the late 16th century. For Leo-
playing that involved a well nourished tone-an ideal pold Mozart the standard way of treating such dotted
which may at least have been ready for the persuasive groups was down-up,59 but he acknowledges-for the
example of players like Viotti. first time, as far as I have noticed-the possibility of
There are problems in using treatises as an indication linked but separately articulated down-down bowings
of what a composer like Mozart expected from sophisti- for dotted groups.60

EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992 23

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Ex.2 Symphony in D, K385, i, violin I: (a) bars 1-13; (b) bars 24-35

(a) , . tr
f , ,

A J

j m ' ' I I I
(b)

sfp sfp

fp

Bow Ex.3
management Leopolin
linschule (17
summarized as a ver
down-bow, with va
Allegro
needed to develop t
strong when need
both make this poin
hand in hand with)
stantial head to the
Mozart ducing slurs.) A similar
of instance occurs at bars 10-13.
reversin
occur in Again, Breitkopf does not allow Mozart to sweep across
normally u
This the beat in bar 12 and back into the
provides forte at bar 13. It
the m
in the seems that late 19th-century editing wished to cast (ex
'Haffner'
It is Mozart in a 'Classical' image, and in so doing
salutory to under- re
Mozart's-a volume
mined a sense of passion which even his father's tutorial
book would have allowed for.
sively systematic
approach Mozart's
to own violins reflect
bowingthe prevailing ideals in
of violin sound. But these, as we have works
Mozart's seen, were in the pro-

Mozart cess of changing-and Mozart's

says of own admiration for
ex.3
When in warmth and strength
the up in violin soundbeat,
suggests that he o
played, it would
is have appreciated
usualthe positive qualities of Stradi-to t
them on tovari instruments,
the of late 18th-century bows, and even
first n

There is perhaps
no to see advantages in the way violins were being
Muffat
bar-line sethere.
up at the end of the century. It is clear, though,
Ther that
movement the most radical alterations
of of instruments-the
the mor- 'H
cation. tising of the neck and most
The the wholesale replacement of bass- ob
bars-took place after&
Breitkopf Mozart's death. The problem
Harte
sanitizeswith attempting to offer any conclusions
this passag about Mozart's
an up-bowapproach to violin
withthe subject
playing is not just that a ne
next bar.64 Modern
itself is complex. (This players perhaps need to be edi

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 'I am grateful to Dr Johanna Senigl, librarian at the Internationale
more aware of the appropriateness of, for example, a
Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, for supplying me with information
highly articulated and nuanced bowing technique, and about these instruments. For information about Mayr see K. Jalovec,
of a still very selective use of vibrato. Performers who German and Austrian Violin Makers, trans. G. Gheiner (London, 1967)
have, on the other hand, moved forward from Baroque and W. Henley, Universal Dictionary of Violin and Bow Makers, ed. C.
Woodcock, 5 vols. (Brighton, 1959-60). On small violins see M.
playing can afford to be astonished by the modernity of Downie Banks. 'The Violino Piccolo and Other Small Violins', EM,
some of the techniques and expressive devices implied xviii (1990), pp.588-96. For Leopold Mozart's views on under-sized
by Mozart scores. violins see Versuch einer grfindlichen Violinschule (Augsburg, 1756),
trans. E. Knocker as A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin
Playing (London, 2/1951), p.10.
Peter Walls is a Reader in the School of Music at the Vic- 7Encyclopedie mthodique (Paris, 1785), quoted by W. H., A. F. and
toria University of Wellington. He plays the Baroque violin A. E. Hill, Antonio Stradivari (London, 1902/R1963), pp.254f
'Jacob Stainer (Absam, 1621-83). The 'brothers' Amati-Antonio
and is the director of the Baroque Players, New Zealand's
(1560-1649) and Girolamo (Hieronymus, 1562-163o)-were sons of
first period-instrument orchestra. Andrea Amati (1525-1611); they worked together until 1624. Nicol6
(1596-1684) was the son of Girolamo. Antonio Stradivari (1644-1733)
Discussion was taught by Nicol6 Amati, and began making violins in his own right
in the 168os.
[FROM THE FLOOR] Why didn't you discuss bridges? 9Sir John Hawkins, A General History of Music (London, 1776/R
New York, 1963), quoted by Hill, Stradivari, p.253. Further on the
PETER WALLS Although some old bridges do survive, it is
popularity of Stainer instruments, see D. Boyden, The History of Violin
difficult to associate them with particular instruments or
Playing from its Origins to 1761 (London, 1965), pp.-195f
even to date them with sufficient accuracy. It may "Antonio
be Bagatella, Regole per la costruzione de' violini, viole, vio-
loncelli e violoni (Padua, 1786), pp.3f.
possible to get further with this question by, for example,
"F. Galeazzi, Elementi teorico-pratici di musica con un saggio l'arte di
relating extant bridges to pictorial evidence. suonare il violino analizzata, ed a dimostrabili principi ridotta, i (Rome,
1791), p.80, ??22-3. The violin makers he mentions (in addition to
FREDERICK NEUMANN Did you consider the references in Stradivari and the Amatis-about whom see note 8) are And-
Stainer,
Mozart's letters where he says that vibrato is natural,rea
that
Castagneri (Paris, worked 1730-62), N. A. Chappuy (Mirecourt/
the human voice vibrates by itself and in a way that Paris,
it is worked 1750-84), Joseph Guanerius del Gesu (Cremona,
1686-1745), Francesco Ruggeri (Cremona, 1655-1718), Mathias Albani
beautiful?
(Bozen, Tyrol, worked 1643-74), Jacob Horil (Rome and Vienna,
worked
PETER WALLS Mozart's letter echoes his father's words in 1720-60), David Tecchler (Rome, 1666-1743). Nicol6 Gagliano
(Naples, 1675-1763) and Joseph Odoardi (Ascoli, 1746-86). The prefer-
saying that vibrato is, in fact, a natural effect but that
enceit
for old violins is also voiced by the Abbe Sibire in La Chelonomie,
becomes ugly when it is misapplied or over-used. What ou le parfait luthier (Paris 1806), p.228: 'Note that violin making is per-
haps the only occupation in the world where the old is consistently
is very clear is that he and his father regard vibrato as a
more valued than the new, and where preservation is more difficult
specific way of colouring particular notes, not as an than
inte- building.' The influence of Stainer can be seen in makers working
gral and constant element in tone production. It is, in in
the later 18th century, e.g. in the work of Jacob Weiss, who was work-
ing in Salzburg during Mozart's lifetime. The influence of Stainer
other words, an expressive device like, for example, por-
appears to have been felt even in Italy-the 1781 violin by the Flor-
tamento (which Cambini-discussing a Haydn entines Lorenzo and Tomaso Carcassi in the Salz Collection at the Uni-
example-recommends using). These devices clearly
versity of California at Berkeley is a clear example of this. So too is the
1766 violin by another Florentine, Giovanni Battista Gabbrielli, in the
seemed more appropriate to solo playing than in orches-
Carel van Leeuwen Boomkamp Collection; see C. van Leeuwen Boom-
tral music, but doubtless they were used there too. kamp and J. H. van der Meer, The Carel van Leeuwen Boomkamp Col-
lection of Musical Instruments (Amsterdam, 1971) instrument no.13.
NEAL ZASLAW There is one answer to that, and it relates
'2G. S. L6hlein, Anweisung zum Violinspielen, mit praktischen Bey-
to Viennese orchestras. Towards the end of his life Sali-
spielen und zur Ubung mit vier und zwanzig kleinen Duetten erldutert
(Leipzig and Zillichau, 1774), p.129 ('Sie haben daher einen festen
eri, who was titular head of the court music, went to the
durchdringenden, hoboe-artigen, aber daher dtinnen Ton.'); 3rd edn,
opera and was horrified to notice that the violins were
J. F. Reichardt (Leipzig and Ztillichau, 1797), P.97 ('Sie haben daher
sliding around. He published a notice in the newspaper
einen festen durchdringenden Clarinett-artigen Ton.')
in 1820 telling them not to do it. 3Mdthode de violon par L. Mozart... redigee par Woldemar, el~ve de
Lolli (Paris, [18l01]); see illus.9.
'K246, K238 and K271 14The Hills offer a completely different explanation for the changing
preferences in violins, one based not on a changing appreciation of
26 October 1777, The Letters ofMozart and his Family Chronologically
Arranged, Translated, and Edited with an Introduction, Notes and their tonal qualities but on the length of time each type of instrument
Indicies, trans. E. Anderson (London, 3/1985), p.3oo00 took to become properly seasoned. They believed that Stradivari and
318 October 1777, Letters, p.331 Guaneri instruments simply took longer to sound their best. See A., A.
411 September 1778, Letters, p.612 and W. H. Hill, The Violin Makers of the Guaneri Family (London,
5See the account in Michael Kelly, Reminiscences (London, 1826),
1931/R1965), p.111.
5Abbreviations etc. cited in this table are: Shrine to Music Museum
quoted in O. E. Deutsch, Mozart: A Documentary Biography, trans. E.
Blom, P. Branscombe and J. Noble (London, 1965), pp.531f. (SMM), Hill, Antonio Stradivari, p.19o (Hills) and William Monical,

26 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992

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Shapes ofthe Baroque (New York, 1989) (Monical). My 'mass factor' has 30This observation is based on my own experience with such a bow,
been arrived at by multiplying length, height at centre and thickness which I find maddeningly insubstantial in certain situations, but cap-
(and dividing by 1,ooo to produce a manageable number). This is able of lovely nuances where strength of tone is not such a priority. For
necessarily a very approximate way of indicating mass since bass-bars examples of prefaces to accompanied sonata collections-by Rameau
are irregular in shape and the factor is produced from only three (1741), Guillemain (1745) and Avison (1760)-which insist on the violin
measurements. being subservient to the keyboard part see G. J. McPhail, 'The Accom-
panied
'6Galeazzi, p.67, ?8. The portrait of Johann Christian Fischer Keyboard Sonata in France 1734-78' (diss. Victoria U. of Well-
(repro-
duced as illus.7 in Bruce Haynes's article) shows a violin ington,
with a 1984),
very p.224.
short fingerboard. 31Galeazzi, pp.76-7, ?18
17This was a problem for 17th- and 18th-century makers, 32since
1 am grateful
the to Shelley Wilkinson for an extended loan of this
neck had to be fixed before the ribs were attached to back Doddandbow. Similar thumb wear can be found 175 mm up the stick on
belly.
thetwo
The Hills (Stradivari, pp.202-3) describe Stradivari's use of Benjamin
smallBanks bow in the Shrine to Music Museum (see SMM
3396
pegs to fix the position of the back and belly while the neck wasonglued
table 2).
in place; once this was done, the back and belly were removed, 33Somenails
comparative weights of frogs (from bows in the Shrine to
driven through the top block into the neck, and then finallyMusic the backan ivory frog with ferrule, pearl eye and slide 12.45 g;
Museum):
and belly were glued into position. ebony frog with ferrule, pearl eye, and slide 10.7 g; ivory frogs without
'8Hill, Stradivari, pp.77f. ferrule, slide etc. 7.7 g and 9.5 g; pernambuco frog without ferrule,
19La Chilonomie, pp.242-4. Sibire does not describe the mortising
slide etc. 6.3 of
g.
necks, but he does discuss the importance of achieving exactly 34La
theChilonomie,
right p.220
inclination: see pp.125ff. 35Baillot was later to describe Eck as 'the purest representative of
Viotti's 'Some
20Biographical Notices (Milan, 1823); quoted by K. Skeaping, violin technique'. See B. Schwarz, 'Violinists around Mozart',
Speculations on a Crisis in the History of the Violin', GSJ,Music
viiiin(1955),
the Classic Period; Essays in Honor of Barry S. Brook, ed. A.W.
p.10. The brothers Carlo and Francesco Mantegazza were active as vio-
Atlas (New York, 1985), p.244.
36K47oa
lin makers in Milan from about 1760 to 18l01. Pietro Mantegazza, whose
viola is depicted in illus.3 worked with the brothers until 37Robin 1775 and Stowell reproduces a lithograph of about 1820 showing
thereafter on his own. Paganini using a bow which is most emphatically not a Tourte model.
21Jean-Baptiste Fetis, Antoine Stradivari luthier celabre (Paris, 1856; The bow shape used to illustrate exercises in Habeneck's violin method
Eng. trans. J. Bishop, 1864), p.111. (c.184o) has a cut-away frog like the so-called Cramer bow and vestiges
22This kind of attitude is reinforced by Spohr in his Violinschule, of the swan's bill shape in its head. See Violin Technique and Perform-
where he writes: 'If the art of violin-making has rather receded thanance Practice in the late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries
advanced since the 17th century. . . the structure of the bow has, on the(Cambridge, 1985), pp.17, 84. Spohr (1784-1859) relates in his autobi-
contrary, been brought to such perfection, that it seems, in its present ography how in 1802 he was encouraged by his teacher Franz Eck
form, to be scarcely capable of improvement.' Spohr's Violin School,(brother of Friedrich Johann Eck) to change his bow for a Tourte
trans. F. A. Marshall (London, [1878]). model; see C. Brown, Louis Spohr: A Critical Biography (Cambridge,
23Michel Woldemar, Grande methode ou etude elementaire pour le1984), p.13. On Voirin's innovations see J. Liivoja-Lorius, 'The Bow',
violon (Paris, c.18oo). See D. D. Boyden. 'The Violin Bow in the 18thThe Book of the Violin (Oxford, 1984), PP.54-5.
Century: A Re-appraisal and a New Perspective', EM, viii (1980), 38A full list of violin treatises from this period may be found in Stow-
pp.199-212. ell, Violin Technique, pp.368-74.
'Boyden, 'The Violin Bow in the 18th Century', p.207 39Quoted by A. Einstein in his preface to A Treatise on the Funda-
25Wilhelm Cramer (1745-99) was a member of the Mannheim mental Principles of Violin Playing, p.xxv. Zelter (1758-1832), best
orchestra, 1757-72. He then went to London, where he made his mark known as the director of the Berlin Singakademie (from 18oo), was a
as a soloist. Ignaz Franzl (1736-1811) was in the Mannheim orchestragood violinist.
from 1774. Niccol6 Mestrino (1748-90) performed at the Concert 40Leopold also tried to organize an Italian translation before he and
his two children left for Italy in 1770. See the letter of 11 May 1786, Let-
Spirituel in 1786 and became leader of the Italian Opera Orchestra in
Paris in 1789. ters, p.86.
26Mozart to his father, 22 November 1777, Letters, p.384 41'29 January 1778, Letters, p.455. On Rothfischer see p.607, and Men-
27In table 2 the dimensions for bows in the Shrine to Music Museum zel p.874.
are partly taken from the Museum's files and partly from my own 42December 1785, Mozart: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen (Kassel,
measurements. I am grateful to Elisabeth Rebman, Curator of the Salz1963-4), iii, p.467, quoted by Schwarz, 'Violinists around Mozart',
Collection, University of California, Berkeley, to Gary Sturm, Col-p.247
lections Manager of the Division of Musical Instruments at the Smith- 43Mozart to his father, Vienna, 24 April 1784, Letters, p.875
sonian Institution, Washington, to Robert Shelton, Curator of Musical 44See A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing, p.6o.
Instruments at the Library of Congress, Washington, and to Margaret Brijon, Lolli and Reichardt also advised against tipping the stick,
Downie Banks, Curator of Musical Instruments, and other staff at thewhereas Galeazzi encouraged the practice. See C. R. Brijon, Reflexions
Shrine to Music Museum, Vermillion, SD, for their help. Abbreviations sur la musique et la vraie maniare de l'executer sur le violon (Paris, 1763),
used in table 2 are as follows: The Carel van Leeuwen Boomkamp Col- p.19, and Stowell, Violin Technique, p.67.
lection of Musical Instruments (CvLB), D. Boyden, Catalogue of the Hill 45A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing, p.99; see
Collection of Musical Instruments in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford also p.73.
(London, 1962) (Hill), Library of Congress (Wic), University of Cal- 46A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing, p.132; see
ifornia, Berkeley (UCB), Shrine to Music Museum (SMM). also pp.i1i, 144.
28See his letter from Paris, 1 April 1764: '. . . our portraits which M. de 47On Viotti's practice see Stowell, Violin Technique, p.92.
Carmontelle (an amateur) has painted excellently well. Wolfgang is 48A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing, pp.97f.
playing the clavier, I am standing behind his chair playing the violin, 49Letter of 12 June 1778, Letters, p.552. It is unlikely but not impossible
Nannerl is leaning on the clavecin with one arm, while in the otherthat Mozart was, in fact, talking only about an oscillation in amplitude.
hand she is holding music, as if she were singing.' Letters, p.44. Galeazzi, who is much more anti-vibrato than the Mozarts, says that a kind
29A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing, p.119 of bowed vibrato can sometimes be used to good effect (??183-4, p.171).

28 EARLY MUSIC FEBRUARY 1992

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 50A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing, pp.187,
201f. The second of these references is not to the Tartini treatise but to
his (also unpublished) 'Devil's Trill' sonata.
51'Regole per arrivare a saper ben suonar il violino, ed. E. R. Jacobi in
INTERNATIONALE BAROCKTAGE
Traite des agrements de la musique (Celle and New York, 1961), p.57 STIFT MELK
52A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing, pp.58, 60
et passim PFINGSTEN 1992
53Mozart to his father, 27 August 1778, Letters, p.607
5.-8. Juni
54Charles Burney. The Present State ofMusic in Germany, the Nether-
lands, and United Provinces (London, 1775/RNew York, 1969), p.175
5511 July 1763, Letters, p.24
56Mozart to his father, 6 October 1777, Letters, p.3oo
57Frederick Neumann makes the point that Mozart's practice
undoubtedly left instruction manuals far behind and that 'the son's
genius took such early flight that he emancipated himself from pater-
nal tutelage far sooner musically than personally.' See Ornamentation
and Improvisation in Mozart (Princeton, 1986), p.4.
5'G. G. Cambini, Nouvelle mithode thdorique etpratique pour le vio-
lon (Paris, 18o3/R1972), pp.20ff. For de Momigny see P. le Huray,
Authenticity in Performance (Cambridge, 1990), pp.113-22.
CEMBALO-WORKSHOP
59A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing, p.77 Ton Koopman - Tini Mathot
6oSee A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing,
pp.124-9, exx. 8d, 29b and p.168. (Bach, Froberger, Couperin)
61Even in 1832, however, Spohr conceded the usefulness of old prin-
ciples when applied to orchestral playing. See Stowell, Violin Tech- CEMBALO-MARATHON
nique, p.281 and esp. pp.3o3f.
62A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing, p.193
63A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing, p.224 AUSSTELLUNG HISTORISCHER
64Norman Del Mar points out other textual discrepancies between
the Breitkopf edition and Mozart's autograph in Orchestral Variations:
TASTENINSTRUMENTE
Confusion and Error in the Orchestral Repertoire (London, 1981),
pp.149-53.
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