Books › Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, 1916 › scan 64
Scan 64
Grove's dictionary of music and musicians, 1916
10 lines. Read by computer on 6 September 2026. Printed page 46. See the scan on archive.org.
1it from a condition of uselessness, so have they freed its employment from all rules and restrictions whatsoever. Hummel, in his Art of Playing the Pianoforte, says, 'We must employ the same succession of fingers when a passage consists of a progression of similar groups of notes . . . . The intervention of the black key changes the symmetrical progression so far only as the rule forbids the use of the thumb on the black keys.' But the modern system of fingering would employ absolutely the same order of fingers throughout such a progression without considering whether black keys intervene or no. Many examples of the application of this principle may be found in Tausig's edition of Clementi's Gradus ad Parnassum, especially in the first study, a comparison of which with the original edition (where it is No. 16) will at once show its distinctive characteristics. That the method has immense advantages and tends greatly to facilitate the execution of modern difficulties cannot be doubted, even if it but rarely produces the striking results ascribed to it by Von Bülow, who says in the preface to his edition of Cramer's Studies, that in his view (which he admits may be somewhat chimerical), a modern pianist of the first rank ought to be able by its help to execute Beethoven's 'Sonata Appassionata' as readily in the key of F# minor as in that of F minor, and with the same fingering!
3There are two methods of marking fingering, one now used in England alone (though not by any means exclusively), and the other in all other countries. Both consist of figures placed above the notes, but in the 'English' system the thumb is represented by a ×, and the four fingers by 1, 2, 3, and 4, while everywhere else, the first five numerals are employed, the thumb being numbered 1, and the four fingers 2, 3, 4, and 5. This plan was probably introduced into Germany—where its adoption only dates from the time of Bach—from Italy, since the earliest German fingering (as in the example from Ammerbach quoted above) was precisely the same as the present 'English' system, except that the thumb was indicated by a cipher instead of a cross. The same method came into partial use in England for a short time, and may be found spoken of as the 'Italian manner of fingering' in a treatise entitled 'The Harpsichord Illustrated and Improv'd,' published about 1740. Purcell also adopted it in his 'Choice Collection' quoted above, but with the bewildering modification, that whereas in the right hand the thumb was numbered 1, and so on to the little finger, in the left hand the little finger was called the first, and the thumb the fifth. [The rational system (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) which is, rightly or wrongly, known as the 'continental,' has, for many excellent reasons, been widely adopted by the better English publishers, so that there is more unanimity in the present day than there was twenty years ago.]
5(ii.) FINGERING OF STRINGED INSTRUMENTS.—Fingering, the exact placing of the fingers upon the strings in the order that musical notes are to be made. This order first suggests a scale as the fingers follow from first to second, second to third, third to fourth, and so on. Fingering also means the figures placed over notes to indicate the finger required to stop or press the string. The basis of sound technique is the scales and the arpeggi of the various chords fingered according to rule. The practice of these perfectly in tune, each note a true musical sound, is a sure means of technical advancement. Technique may be regarded as the handicraft of every practical artist, but it is only a means to an end, the highest technical education must go hand in hand with artistic cultivation, or the result at maturity is unsatisfactory.
7In violin fingering, the position and carriage of the hand are of the greatest importance; the thumb should be underneath the violin neck below the first and second fingers, the tip bent outwards, the neck resting on the thumb near its first joint, the thumb will then give the necessary counterpressure to the force of the fingers. The violin should be held by the chin and shoulder, firmly, but not stiffly. In changing position, the whole hand should go in one movement.
9It is necessary from the first to study an economy of finger movement. Taking the scale of A in three octaves as example beginning in the first position, first finger on the fourth string, the first, second, third, and fourth fingers should be played in succession, and held down until the first finger is used on the third string, when they should be raised and the same order followed on the third string and the second, second and first. The shift from first position to third goes between G# and A, first finger under second, the whole hand going forward in one movement, keeping exactly the same form in the third as it had in the first position. The next shift is from third to fifth position, and goes between B and C#; this is a more difficult shift, as the hand has to pass the shoulder of the violin, the advantage given by the thumb under the neck will be at once seen, as it enables the player to move forward to the fifth position maintaining the same shape of the hand as in the first and third positions. The next shift lies between D and E, and brings the hand to the seventh position. The first finger is kept on the first string through all the shifting upward. In this case it begins at F#, and remains on the string up to E in the seventh position. The first finger must not smear the notes at the shift. The forward movement must be both swift and quiet; it should not be heard. This is one of the points of excellence in scale playing: there are three—intonation, equality of tone, one note after another, absolutely silent shifting. The movements descending are the reverse of those
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