Books › A Practical Guide to Violin-Playing, 1913 › scan 111
Scan 111
A Practical Guide to Violin-Playing, 1913
14 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 93. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHAPTER XIII.
3TONE PRODUCTION.
5It may be truly said that 'Tone' in all its numerous nuances is one of the most valuable assets of a violinist, in fact it may be regarded as the soul of the violin.
7Since the technical difficulties of the left hand and the gymnastic evolutions of the right arm have been brought to such a remarkable pitch of perfection, the tone, pure and simple, seems to have lost its right place in importance. The grand old Italian maestri excelled in producing a rich and ringing tone, and although we have not a few modern artists among us who still adhere to the best principles of drawing a clean and resonant tone, the majority of players either possess a thin and insignificant one, or attack the violin with much too great a force.
9The large concert halls of the present day and the often overscored modern Concertos must be taken into account when studying this question, nor should the large accompanying orchestra, seldom conducted in such a manner as to help the struggling soloist, be forgotten.
11Yet in spite of all these drawbacks, the performer should not be misled into unduly augmenting his tone power (so carefully studied at home); he had better by far be content not to be heard at all in a strenuous passage than fight against odds, thereby losing the beauty of the musical tone. For after all it is only a matter of physique—an exceptionally strong left hand combined with a perfectly controlled wrist will produce a full tone. If only one's dreams of the perfect rendering of a Corelli Sonata as the composer performed it could be realized, or it were possible for us to follow Tartini in his "Il trillo del diavolo," we might apprehend in some measure what rare effects can be achieved with diverse tone qualities!
13Spohr, the great violinist and composer, no doubt detested tricks of any kind, yet who played an Adagio with more musicianly feeling and sweetly winning tone than he? The famous French violinists Rode, Kreutzer and de Beriot produced at once a different "qualité de son," yet who denies that the Brahms Concerto does want a very strong player, one that has built up his tone proportionately to the requirements of this colossal work? The three older though evergreen Concertos by Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Bruch (G minor) fortunately leave to the artist the choice of using a happy medium of tone volume.
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