Books › The story of the violin, 1904 › scan 226
Scan 226
The story of the violin, 1904
18 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 182. See the scan on archive.org.
1Story of the Violin
3the form of the bow, giving it, compared to Corelli's, greater length and a slightly different curve.¹
5His extraordinary command of the bow was principally, as mentioned above, the result of his studies at Ancona, to which Veracini had given him the initiative.
7In a small treatise by Fayolle, Paganini and Bériot, we find some interesting information as to the manner in which the master had conducted these studies:—
9(Translation.)
11"Tartini had two bows, one divided and the stick marked according to common (4), the other according to 3/4 time. In these divisions he obtained all subdivisions down to the infinitely small ones; and, as he had found that the vertical up-stroke was shorter than the perpendicular down-stroke, he had the same piece played, beginning with the down as well as up-stroke, and with the same inflections. He also had written in large letters on his music-stand the following rule: 'Strength without hardness, flexibility without too great softness.'"
13In addition, for the benefit of his pupils, he embodied the results of his bowing studies in a work entitled Arte dell' arco. It consists of fifty variations on a gavotte by Corelli.
15But this brings us to the subject of Tartini as a teacher. His fame as a player and composer alone would have been sufficient to draw pupils in numbers to Padua, but it appears, and one can partially see from the above remarks, that Tartini
17¹ See Appendix.
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