Use of the down and up bows.
As a rule, in every piece beginning with a full bar a down bow is used for the first note, and in a piece beginning with a single stroke on the up-beat (unaccented beat) or an up-beat consisting of several notes bound together, legato, the up bow is used. If the up-beat contains several notes, it must be so arranged that the last of these is played with an up bow. For example:—
Exceptions to the rule of beginning a full bar with a down bow often occur; for instance, if the first bar begins piano, gradually to forte, as in the opening of the Freischütz overture:—
Here one begins with the up bow, because afterwards at the nut end more power can be brought to bear, thus bringing the forte into effect. A further example of exceptional treatment is the beginning of the Euryanthe overture:—
Equally there are exceptions to the rule of beginning up-beats with the up bow:—
