Violin since 1820: Technique and performing practice, Fingering and shifting.

Violin since 1820: Technique and performing practice

Fingering and shifting.

The ‘Geminiani grip’ (ex.1) remained the most common guide to correct elbow, hand, wrist and finger placement (in 1st position) until well into the 20th century. The hand and fingers generally formed a curve to enable the top joints of the fingers to stop the strings from the same height. With the chin-braced violin hold, shifting proved less precarious, the left hand was able to move more as a unit than before, and a closer relationship developed between shifting and phrasing.

Baillot (1834) acknowledged this interrelationship, demonstrating Kreutzer's frequent shifts for brilliance of effect and Rode's more uniform tonal objectives, incorporating ports de voix. Baillot's discussion of ports de voix and expressive fingering provides clues to the mechanics of shifting. Anticipatory notes (unsounded) indicate the method of shifting, the stopped finger sliding forwards (or backwards) in order to be substituted by another finger. Spohr (1832) endorsed this, especially for rapid shifts involving leaps from a low to a high position in slurred bowing without glissando (ex.2), and illustrated a fast shift in which the highest note is a harmonic (ex.3). A sliding effect is clearly intended in another Spohr example (ex.4), and Habeneck (c1835) and Baillot (1834) allowed the tasteful introduction of portamento, especially in slow movements and in sustained melodies when a passage ascends or descends by step. Bériot (1858) used signs to indicate three types of port de voix: vif, doux and traîné.

Exploitation of portamento as an ‘emotional connection of two tones’ (commonly in slurred bowing and with upward shifts) to articulate melodic shape and emphasize structurally important notes became so prevalent in the late 19th century that succeeding generations reacted strongly against the false accents it created, its slow execution and its use for convenience in shifting rather than expressive purpose. Flesch (1923) distinguished three portamento types: a straightforward one-finger slide; the ‘B-portamento’, in which the beginning finger slides to an intermediary note; and the ‘L-portamento’, in which the last finger slides from an intermediary note (ex.5). The first two types were commonly employed in the early 20th century, but the L-portamento was rarely used until the 1930s. Broadly speaking, the execution of portamento became faster, less frequent and less prominent as the century progressed.

In shifting, the odd-numbered positions began to be emphasized, and an increased use of semitone shifts facilitated achievement of the prevalent legato ideal. The higher positions were exploited more frequently for expressive reasons, particularly of sonority and uniformity of timbre. The fingered-octave technique, first discussed by Baillot (1834), gradually gained favour for its greater clarity and accuracy, and less frequent displacements of the hand. Geminiani's fingering for chromatic scales, largely ignored by his contemporaries and successors, achieved more positive recognition in the 20th century when re-introduced by Flesch (1923), due to its greater evenness, articulation and clarity. However, the diversity of systems used in 20th-century methods and studies confirms that fingering is a matter for individual decision rather than textbook regulation.

Many 19th-century violinists opted for a more advanced thumb-position to achieve greater mobility and facility in extensions, sometimes avoiding formal shifts between positions. Some of Paganini's fingerings, for example, anticipate the flexible left-hand usage of 20th-century violin technique, in which contractions, extensions and ‘creeping fingerings’ liberate the hand from its customary position-sense and the traditional diatonic framework. In 20th-century music this was demanded by increased chromaticism, whole-tone, microtone and other scale patterns, and non-consonant double and multiple stopping.

The increased use of glissandos (by, for example, Xenakis: Pithoprakta, 1956; Syrmos, 1959; and Aroura, 1971) and Feldman's experiments with intonation systems are also significant (e.g. Violin Concerto, 1979; For John Cage, 1982; Piano, Violin, Viola, Cello, 1987). The general application to violin fingering of Cage's concept of a ‘gamut’ of sounds, in which a specific string is assigned for a specific pitch (e.g. Six Melodies for Violin and Keyboard, 1950), has revealed new possibilities of structural and timbral organization.