PART III.
ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF CLASSICAL MUSIC FOR THE VIOLIN AND OTHER STRINGED INSTRUMENTS.
The term “classical” as applied to music is a composition against which the destroying hand of time has proved powerless (Riemann), in other words, works which have been handed down to us by the old composers, and which at the present day are recognised as models of purity in musical art, are now considered as classical compositions.
Coeval with that remarkable epoch when the violin assumed its present admirable and unalterable form, which culminated with the closing year of the sixteenth century, is the dawn of musical composition for the instrument, and the musicians of the time vied with each other in producing works calculated to raise the violin from its hitherto subordinate rank as a mere accompanist to its proper position as a solo instrument, thereby ensuring prominence and with it rapid popularity.
It is to Italy that we have to turn for any certain knowledge of the earliest classics, and the first to claim our attention is Arcangelo Corelli (1655-1713). He was not only the founder of the Roman school, the earliest known, but probably the first to definitely fix the form of the sonata. In those times two kinds of sonatas were recognised, called respectively, sonate da camera, i.e., chamber sonata, and sonata da chiesa, or church sonata. The first-named consisted of a series of dance measures (allemande, courante, saraband, gigues, etc.), systematically arranged, whilst the latter was a subject treated in fugal and other learned styles, and otherwise rendered more in keeping with the dignity of the place in which such compositions were performed. In the time of Corelli, the sonata usually commenced with an adagio, and after two or three other movements finished with an allegro or presto.
Corelli as a composer showed a great partiality for this class of music, and his compositions rapidly spread throughout the length and breadth of Europe. Tartini caused all his pupils to study the works of Corelli. There is not, it is true, evidence of a great amount of musical erudition, but what has conferred a remarkable longevity on his works is his melodic simplicity and pure harmony. His works are forty-eight sonatas for two violins and bass (Op. 1-4), produced 1683-94; twelve sonatas for violin and bass (Op. 5), 1700; twelve “concerti-grossi,” for two violins and ’cello as principal instruments, and two violins, viola and bass as accompanying instruments.
Such a gifted musician as Corelli was not likely to quit this life without leaving the impress of his artistic feelings upon those who sought his instruction, and we have ample proof of the great influence he exerted in the names of G. B. Somis (1676-1763) F. Geminiani (1680-1762), and Locatelli (1693-1764). Somis was a close follower of his master, and it is quite easy to believe this on a comparison of their respective sonatas. Geminiani asserted more of his individuality, and this, coupled with the fact of his having received theoretical instruction from Alessandro Scarlatti, one of the most learned musicians of the day, no doubt contributed to his making a decided advance on the violin music of the time. Notwithstanding his increased knowledge as a theorist, and his greater ability as an executant, Geminiani laboured long to bring into prominence and popularity the artistic conceptions of his renowned violin master. His first effort in this direction was made in 1726 (Geminiani being then in London), when he formed Corelli’s first six solos into concertos, a style of composition then recently called into existence, shortly afterwards treating another six in a similar manner. Others underwent the same process, but to these were added additional parts. Geminiani was one of the first in the field of musical expression, even sacrificing strict time to obtain it.
Locatelli furnishes us with another example, not only of the advance of technique, but of the progress of musical culture. His works called “The Labyrinth,” “The New Art of Modulation” and “Harmonic Contrasts” are alone sufficient to establish him as a great reformer in the musical world of his time. As we have elsewhere observed, Torelli is credited with having fixed the form of the concerto, and a few lesser lights, such as the two Veracinis and Alberti, live to this day by their works. The next master whose influence marked another step in the development of classical music for the violin was Guiseppe Tartini (1692-1770). Here we have a man destined for all time to stand out as one of the most indefatigable pioneers of the violin. In his quadruple capacity as a performer, composer, theorist and teacher, his influence was far-reaching, and, what is more, it has been transmitted down to the present time. As a composer, his style of modulation was a new thing, and his performance came as a revelation to those who heard him for the first time. His “Devil’s Sonata” is well-known to all violinists.
We now arrive at a name which brings us in touch with other members of the fiddle family. Luigi Boccherini (1740-1806), who is justly considered the father of chamber music for stringed instruments. It was he who, in 1768, gave definition to the form of the trio, the quartet and the quintet; forms which have served for the models of all subsequent composers. In the trio he was followed by Fiorillo, Cramer, Giardini, Pugnani and Viotti, and in the quartet by Mozart. His other styles were elaborated by Haydn and Beethoven. Boccherini was a prolific composer.
Three names should here be mentioned in connection with the concerto, in whose hands it underwent great improvement. They are Pugnani (1728-1798), Jarnowick (1745-1804), and Mestrino (1750-1790).
The next and last great representative of the Italian school, and one who largely influenced the French school, was Giovanni Battista Viotti (1755-1824), a pupil of Pugnani. The name of Viotti stands out with peculiar lustre, in that with him the concerto arrived at a degree of perfection hardly capable of being exceeded. The same may be said of his trios and duos, both of which should be studied and cultivated by every young violin aspirant. In Viotti the Italians have certainly produced a fitting tailpiece to a long line of brilliant composers for the violin, a line in which no artistic hiatus appears from the time of Corelli.