A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Violoncello-Playing
VIOLONCELLO-PLAYING. Though the manufacture of the Bass Violin or Violoncello followed closely on the invention of the Tenor and Treble Violins, nearly a century elapsed before the Violoncello took its proper rank in the family of stringed instruments. This is due to the fact that the six-stringed Viola da gamba, the established chamber and orchestral bass of the 17th century, was a very popular instrument, and more easily handled than the Violoncello, though inferior to it in power and quality of tone. [See Gamba.] The larger and more thickly strung Violoncello was at first employed to strengthen the bass part in vocal music, particularly in the music of the church. It was in Italy that the instrument first took a higher position. The stepping-stone appears to have been the continuous basses which formed the usual accompaniment to solos for the Violin. The ringing tones of the Violin demanded a more powerful accompaniment than the Viola da gamba could give; and with many Violin solos of the latter part of the century we find bass parts of some difficulty, which were played on the Violoncello by accompanists who made this department of music a special study. Corelli is said to have had a Violoncello accompaniment to his solo performances, though his basso continuo is obviously written in the first instance for the Viola da gamba: but it is not until after the death of Corelli that we hear of the first solo violoncello player. This was one Franciscello (1713–1740), of whom little is known except that he played solos in the principal European capitals. The name of Vandini has also come down to us as the violoncello-accompanist of the solos of Tartini. These two-players rank as the fathers of the Violoncello, and it may be assumed that it was from its association with the Violin as a bass that the Violoncello itself became a model instrument, and that the methods of violin playing came to be applied to it.
Among the earliest compositions for the Violoncello may be mentioned the sonatas of Antoniotti of Milan, an Amsterdam edition of which is dated 1736, and of Lanzetti, violoncellist to the King of Sardinia (1730–1750). According to M. Vidal[1] we trace in these masters the first decided recognition of the capacities of the instrument. The left hand stops an octave and a half (upper E) on the first string, necessitating the use of the thumb, which is the special characteristic of the higher positions of the Violoncello. Canavasso and Ferrari, two other Italian Cello players, appeared in Paris between 1750 and 1760. There already lived in Paris a player whose name stands by tradition at the head of the French school. This was the famous Berteau, who died in 1756. None of Berteau's compositions are known to exist, except a well-known study printed in Duport's 'Essai,' and a sonata in Breval's 'Méthode'; but he is always recognised as the first of the French school of violoncello-players. Cupis, Tillière, the two Jansons, and the elder Duport were among his pupils. Among the classical composers, Handel and Bach first employed the instrument in its wider range; it is only necessary to mention the famous six solos of the latter, while well-known instances of its use by the former are the obligato parts to 'O Liberty' (Judas), 'What passion cannot music raise' (St. Cecilia's Day), and 'But! sad virgin' (L'Allegro). Pepusch's 'Alexis' was for long a favourite. With the creation of the stringed quartet the Violoncello gained the greater prominence which is exemplified in the chamber music of Haydn and Boccherini. The latter master was himself a solo cellist of considerable ability; he played at the Concert Spirituel in Paris in 1768. Gluck is said to have been a cellist, but no predilection for the instrument appears in his works.
The true method of violoncello-playing was first worked, out by the younger Duport, and laid down in his famous 'Essai sur le Doigté du Violoncello, et sur la Conduite de l'archet.' Duport, who was born in 1749, made his début at the Concert Spirituel in the same year in which Boccherini performed (1768); the 'Essai' was published some years later. Before Duport much confusion had existed in fingering and bowing the instrument; many players, it appears, endeavoured to get over the difficulties of the scales by fingering the Violoncello like the Violin, i.e. stopping whole tones with successive fingers, thus throwing the hand into a false position, and losing that aplomb which is indispensable alike to certainty of fingering and solidity of tone. Duport, recurring to the practice of the old Viola da gamba players, laid down the principle that the true fingering was by semitones, only the first and second fingers being as a rule allowed to stretch a whole tone where necessary; and he overcame the inherent difficulties of the scales by dividing the positions into four so-called 'Fractions,' and by adopting a methodical system of shifting, the violin fingering being only retained in the higher 'thumb' positions, where the fingering is similar to the first position of the Violin, the thumb acting as a moveable nut. The 'Essai' of Duport formed an epoch in violoncello-playing. Among his pupils was Frederick William, King of Prussia, to whom Mozart dedicated the three famous-quartets in F major, B♭ major, and D major, in which the Violoncello occupies so prominent a place; while Beethoven's two first Violoncello sonatas (op. 5) were dedicated to Duport himself. The compliment of Voltaire to Duport, who visited him when at Geneva on a musical tour, aptly illustrates the change which was taking place in the treatment of the instrument. 'Monsieur,' he is reported to have said, 'vous me faites croire aux miracles,: vous savez faire d'un bœuf un rossignol!' In Germany Bernhard Romberg and Stiastny, contemporaries of Duport, worked upon his method, while Levasseur, Lamare, Norblin, Platel, Baudiot and others represented the school in France. The Italians were slower in the cultivation of the Violoncello, and Burney in his Tour remarks that the Italian players retained the underhand grasp of the bow, while elsewhere the overhand grasp, founded on that of the violin, was generally adopted. Since the time of Duport, the tendency of players and composers has been to make the Violoncello more, and more a Bass Violin, i.e. to assimilate its treatment more and more closely to that of the treble instrument. The most accomplished players even perform (an octave lower in pitch) on it solo violin pieces of great difficulty, the 'Trillo del diavolo' and 'Carnaval de Venise' not excepted. Merk, Franchomme, Kummer, and Dotzauer ranked among the best bravura players of their times, but the greatest master of all the effects producible on the Violoncello was undoubtedly the late M. Servais (died 1866), under whose large and vigorous hand, says a critic, the Violoncello vibrated with the facility of a kit: the staccato in single notes, in thirds, in octaves, all over the fingerboard, even to the most acute tones, came out with irreproachable purity; there was never a hesitation or a doubtful note. He was an innovator in every sense of the word: never, before him, had the Violoncello yielded such effects. His compositions will remain as one of the most marvellous monuments of the instrumental art of our time.[2] Servais may well be called the Paganini of the Violoncello. The English players who have left the greatest name are Crosdill and Lindley. Among living players the name of Signor Piatti should be mentioned as a master in all styles, equally admirable in the severest classical music and in the brilliant technical effects which are embodied in some of his own compositions. Grützmacher, Davidoff, the Hausmanns, and our own Edward Howell, must also be named.
At present players use thinner strings than formerly: and the use of the thumb positions is more restricted, the rule being to employ ordinary stopping wherever practicable. The objection to the thumb positions is that the quasi open notes, being stopped sideways, are necessarily weak and unequal. For solo performance the tenor register of the Violoncello, i.e. the first and second strings, each employed in its lowest octave, is the best portion of the instrument: the ponderous notes of the lowest string are exceedingly effective in legato and tenuto passages. The Cello affords less scope than the Violin for displaying skill in bowing, the bow being shorter than that of the Violin, though the instrument itself is very much larger: while the bowing is to some extent reversed, because in the Violin the bow points in the downward direction of the scales, i.e. towards the lowest string, while in the Cello, which is held in a reversed position, the bow points in the upward direction, towards the highest string. The rule of the old Viola da gamba players, however—to bow strictly the reverse way to the Violin, i.e. to commence the bar with an up-bow—is not applicable to the Cello.
The principal Methods for the Violoncello are those by B. Romberg, Kummer, Dotzauer, Lee, and Piatti. The Studies of Stiastny, Grützmacher, and Lee, are usually recommended. Perhaps the best known among special writers for the instrument is Goltermann, who wrote many sonatas, and concertos with alternative orchestral or pianoforte accompaniment, as well as a very large number of lighter solos. Many of his works possess considerable musical as well as technical interest. Besides Goltermann, there may be mentioned Popper, a living violoncellist of good repute, Dunkler, and Signor Piatti, who, besides being the author of several original compositions, has rendered good service to the musical world by his admirable editions, with pianoforte accompaniments, of the Sonatas of Marcello and Boccherini. The principal classical compositions for the Violoncello and Piano are Beethoven's Four Sonatas, Hummel's Sonata, Sterndale Bennett's Sonata, Schumann's Concerto and 'Stücke im Volkston,' Molique's Concerto in D, op. 45. Mendelssohn's predilection for the Cello is well known. His orchestral works abound in melodious and effective solos for the instrument (Allegros of Italian and Scotch Symphonies, Meeresstille Overture, etc.), and in addition his Sonatas in B♭ and D, and his Air with Variations in D, all for Cello and Piano, are among the finest works in the repertoire of the cellist. The obbligato part to the air Be thou faithful unto death' (St. Paul), is a masterpiece in its kind which will probably never be surpassed. It is a pity that his intention of writing a Concerto for Cello and Orchestra was frustrated by his death, as it would undoubtedly have been a fine and effective composition, which, with all its merits, Schumann's Concerto fails to be. [See vol. ii. p. 285a.] Onslow's Sonatas are esteemed by some amateurs of the instrument. Some effective duets for two Violoncellos have been written by Dotzauer, Gross, Kummer, Lee, Viotti, and Offenbach. The Violin and Violoncello concertante duets of the Bohrers, the Rombergs, and Léonard and Servais, are brilliant works, suitable for advanced performers: the less ambitious duets for Violin and Violoncello by Hoffmeister, Hoffmann, and Reicha should also be mentioned.