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Practice and Principle: Perspectives upon the German ‘Classical’ School of Violin Playing in the Late Nineteenth Century
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 May 2012
Abstract
In spite of rigorous exploration of nineteenth-century performing practices, performers are still apt to characterise ‘Romantic’ performance as slovenly, sentimental and tasteless. This article challenges this view by examining the practice of a violinist whose artistic outlook was seen at the time as highly disciplined and artistically motivated – Joseph Joachim. Joachim, closely allied to the Leipzig ‘school’ and the conservative branch of German music in the nineteenth century, left ample evidence of his artistic approach in terms of a performance treatise, numerous annotated editions, and five sound recordings made towards the end of his life. This evidence attests to his rigorous application of performance theory to performance practice. In addition, Joachim's pupils Karl Klingler and Marie Soldat were known as faithful adherents of this approach and they too made a number of revealing sound recordings which help to create a fuller picture. This article examines a number of these recordings in detail in order to propose that they show significant correspondences with Joachim's own practice and, by extension, provide evidence of the outworking of a Classical German ‘school’ of performance theory.
The article suggests that, by acknowledging the basis of this tradition in performance theory (much of which displays the heritage of eighteenth-century ideals) present-day performer scholars should be encouraged to see nineteenth-century performance aesthetics not so much as devoid of principle as embodying a now unfamiliar performance language. The acquisition of this language is perhaps important to a fuller understanding of nineteenth-century music.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Nineteenth-Century Music Review , Volume 9 , Issue 1: Theoretical and Critical Contexts in Nineteenth-Century Performance Practice , June 2012 , pp. 31 - 52
- Copyright
- Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012
References
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26 In compiling my A-Z of Solo String Players (Naxos Books, forthcoming) I was able to gain a privileged glimpse of a wide range of string players from the dawn of recording to the present day, which in many ways corroborates this assertion.
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36 Detailed consideration of Joachim's recordings under the global headings of phrasing, tempo and rhythm, portamento and vibrato are contained in my Theory and Practice.
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41 Soldat's performance of the slow movement of Spohr's ninth concerto has been accessible via Pearl's compendium of violin recordings, The Recorded Violin ,Volume 1 (BVA 1) for some time. Her entire discography was included in James Creighton's L.P. re-issue Masters of the Bow (MB 1019) but this disc has not been re-issued in modern format. The author's own copy of this record has encouraged inclusion of Soldat's performances in several discussions (spoken and in print, see footnote 5) by Clive Brown, with whom the author worked closely as part of an AHRC project at the University of Leeds, 2006–2009.
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50 Beethoven, Quartets opp. 18 nos. 4, 74 and 131; re-issued on Biddulph LAB 056/057 (Arnold Rosé and the Rosé String Quartet).
51 Electrola matrix nos. EH 939-943, 2RA 810-3, 811-1, 812-1, 813-1, 814-2, 815-2, 816-1, 817-1m, 818-1, 819-1; re-issued on Japanese HMV SGR-8506.
52 Karl Klingler (1879–1971), Fritz Kreisler (1875–1962).
53 A comparison of his solo playing of c1909–10 (re-issued on Arbiter 148) and his electric quartet recordings of 1927–28 (re-issued on LAB 056/057) is quite revealing.
54 Re-issued on Arbiter 148.
55 That is to say, aesthetic decisions are comparatively arbitrary and seem to reflect a greater emphasis on showmanship than musicianship.
56 MB 1019.
57 Union A 3006/8, in MB 1019.
58 Union A 3004, in MB 1019.
59 Louis Spohr, Violinschule (Vienna: Haslinger, 1833), English trans. J. Bishop (London, 1843): 214–18.
60 The reader may be motivated to ponder upon the issue of more ‘modernist’ German performance aesthetics associated perhaps with Richard Wagner and his school of thought as opposed to the Leipzig tradition as espoused by musicians such as Mendelssohn, Spohr, Reinecke and Joachim. As I argue in my article, ‘Style and Sonority in Wagner String Performance’, The Wagner Journal 3/2, (2009), 4–12, there is compelling evidence that Wagner nonetheless praised Joachim's playing and did not take issue with this performance aesthetic in the manner in which he did the conservative compositional practices associated with Joachim's colleagues, such as Robert Schumann.
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