• Corpus ID: 54078712

The origins of solo cello literature and performance

@inproceedings{Hamilton2005TheOO,
  title={The origins of solo cello literature and performance},
  author={Greg Hamilton},
  year={2005}
}

• Greg Hamilton
• Published 2005
• History

An investigation into the origins of cello repertory and performance explores territory that is unfamiliar to most musicians. Scholarly research has contributed admirably to our understanding of how the cello began and what factors led to its development, but few sources have brought together what is known about the origins of the instrument and its repertory. This document is an attempt to address this problem after examining many dissertations, music dictionaries, books, articles, and sound recordings. Whenever practical, musical scores were obtained for examination and subsequent performances of these works occurred at Illinois State University and the University of Kansas. Once this research was begun, it was clear that the origin of cello literature and performance was concentrated within a specific region ofltaly, involving a reasonably small number of musicians. Although many early works for solo cello remain unpublished and only available at libraries in Italy, those that are readily available demonstrate a virtuosity and sophistication that reflects the musical activity that was occurring in Italy at that time. The Origins of Solo Cello Literature and Performance The seventeenth century was a time of transition and formation for the violin family. Whether one looks at the literature, the development of an idiomatic technique, the standardization of instrumental design, the appearance of prominent players, or the establishment of distinct schools of playing, the violin family and its impact on music was entering a new and significant stage of development. For the violin, this evolution was marked by rapid progress and increased prominence as a solo instrument. For the cello, this progress was delayed almost one hundred years. Eventually all members of the violin family were to attain a distinct and eminent legacy, but the cello's evolution into a solo instrument provides a unique chapter in a fascinating history. Relatively little is known about the violin family before 1600, though it is widely accepted that the violin was established within popular culture such as village fetes, taverns, in homes, and also at aristocratic court functions such as the French ballet, English masque, and Italian intermedio. The ability to produce a strong rhythmic articulation and tone made the violin especially useful for dance music, with violin bands improvising upon familiar melodies. 1 Inthe sixteenth century, instrumental music separated into two main categories: works modeled on forms derived from vocal works not idiomatic to the instrument (including pre1 1 +1 Royal Delight, The King's Noyse, liner notes by David Douglass, Harmonia :tv1undi2907370,2005. existing vocal music and ensemble music that could be played optionally for voices or instruments) and instrumental works such as dances and instrumental fantasias. By 1600, the violin became important, not only in the opera orchestra but also in other forms of sacred and secular music. Solo and trio sonatas, intended for any treble instrument, began to appear in the first decade of the seventeenth century and were frequently played on the violin. As the treble instrument, the violin naturally assumed the melodic role in any musical work using stringed instruments and as a result its players made significant technical advances in the first half of the seventeenth century, especially when compared to the bass violin, the latter being the lowest-pitched member of the violin family and considered best suited for the accompaniment. As will be found later in this paper, the term "bass violin" must be used when referring to the early history of the cello, as there lacked a standardized, definitive bass instrument throughout the sixteenth and most of the seventeenth centuries. (See Appendix) In ensemble music where voices and instruments were combined, it was the violin that not only doubled the vocal melody but often had an obbligato part of its own, distinct from the vocal part and idiomatically written for the instrument. In opera this was also true, for in the operas of Monteverdi ( who was also a string player) the violins not only double the chorus but are used in this aforementioned role as an obbligato instrument (for example, in segments of the aria "Possente spirto" from Orfeo) or, as in the case of the sinfonie and other instrumental 2 David Boyden, The History of Violin Playingfrom its Origins to 1761 (London: Oxford University Press, 1965), 2-3.