American Violin Method-Books and European Teachers, Geminiani To Spohr PDF

American Violin Method-Books and European Teachers, Geminiani to Spohr
Author(s): M. Alexandra Eddy

Source: American Music, Vol. 8, No. 2 (Summer, 1990), pp. 167-209
Published by: University of Illinois Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/3051948
Accessed: 06-05-2020 19:50 UTC
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M. ALEXANDRA EDDY
American Violin Method-Books

and European Teachers, Geminian
to Spohr
INTRODUCTION
From at least the early eighteenth century the violin was an i

instrument in American musical life. Violins were advertised for sale
as early as 1716: in that year a notice in the Boston Newsletter announced
imported instruments for sale at the dancing school of Mr. Edward
Enstone, including "Flageolets, Flutes, Haut-Boys, Bass-Viols, Vio-
lins... ."' Mr. Michael Hilligas of Philadelphia offered the following
for sale in 1759:
an extraordinary good and neat Harpsichord with four stops; a

good violoncello; an Assortment of English and Italian violins, as
well as common ones ... a Parcel of good German flutes imported
lately from Italy. Also imported in the last ships from London, a
large Assortment of Music of the best Masters, viz: Solos, Over-
tures, Concertos, Sonatas and Duets, for Violins, German Flutes,
Hautboys, French Horns, Violoncello's and Guitars... Tutors or
Books of Instruction to learn to play on the Violin, German Flute,
Hautboy, or Common Flute, without a Master."2
In 1776, "violins, German flutes, Eolus's harps, tabor and pipes, ... and
tutors for the above instruments" were offered for sale in Norfolk,
Virginia;3 similar advertisements appeared in many newspapers of the
time.
Both wealthy and poor people owned violins. Governor William

Burnet, the British representative in New York from 1720 to 1727,
Violinist M. Alexandra Eddy, Assistant Professor of Music at Sweet Briar

College, is author of The Rost Manuscript of Seventeenth-Century Chamber Music:
A Thematic Catalog.
American Music Summer 1990
? 1990 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
168 Eddy
owned "'a large bass v

sichord [sic], a doubl
Colonel Robert Carter
interest in music, own
tar, Violin, and Ger
mandolins, and violi
families.6 Thomas Jef
the violin have been
devoted much time t
lehem, Pennsylvania
sicum that presumab
soon appeared in othe
accompanied hymns,
rus and orchestra, an
Europe.8 Records fro
state: "The account wa
received from Pennsy
two trumpets... ."'
In the late eighteenth
ing of many importa
and professional-such
Carolina, the New Yo
Society in Boston, a
Americans in many c
by the Germania Mus
the United States fro
such as the Mendelsso
and the William Mason-Theodore Thomas chamber ensemble of New
York promoted fine chamber-music playing from the middle of the
century on.12 Later in the century, Americans living in large cities ha
opportunities to hear such great European and American violinists as
Ole Bull, Ovide Musin, Maud Powell, Camilla Urso, Henri Vieuxtemps,
Pablo de Sarasate, and Henryk Wieniawski.13 The first American music
conservatories were established in the 1860s,14 and here the finest
European training became available to young American violinists as-
piring to professional careers.
Meanwhile, amateur players seem to have been as active in their
own ways as professionals were. In addition to providing music for
their own families, some of these players would have been members
of social orchestras, playing quicksteps, waltzes, polkas, quadrilles,
galops, marches, and contradances for special social occasions.'5 Others
would have learned simply in order to play hymns, opera tunes, and
other well-known melodies purely for their own enjoyment. Publishers
quickly learned to reap the benefits of this musical interest. From 1769
American Violin Method-Books and European Teachers 169
on, numerous method-books were published in the United States for

amateurs desiring to learn to play the violin (see the list following the
text of this article), and, if numbers mean anything, the violin was
popular indeed. The first American violin method I know of, based on
Geminiani's The Art of Playing on the Violin, appeared in 1769 in Boston.
Several more were published in the later years of the eighteenth century,
none of which is extant; beginning in 1800, there came quite a flood
of them, continuing throughout the nineteenth century.
While all the major music publishers of the time capitalized on the
amateur interest in the violin, two especially must be noted for having
put out a great volume of work in this area. Septimus Winner (1827-
1902) of Philadelphia, perhaps best known for his voluminous pub-
lications of parlor songs, especially the "Hawthorne Ballads'," published
over two hundred instrumental method-books from about 1850 on,
many of which were for violinists. Winner was active in many different
aspects of music making and the music business: he played in theater
pit bands and the Philadelphia Musical Fund orchestra, taught violin
and other instruments privately, wrote and arranged much music, and
sold music, instruments, and musical supplies.16 Elias Howe (1820-95),
a music publisher and dealer like Winner, and later in his life a collector
of fine stringed instruments, also published numerous instruction books
for all instruments popular among American amateur musicians. His
influence in the area of amateur violin playing was immense: his many
tutors for the violin sold more then 500,000 copies.17
Because they were intended for beginners, most of the method-books
begin by discussing the rudiments of music (notation of pitch and
rhythm, keys, transposition, ornaments, etc.). Then follows discussion
of violin technique, often divided into subsections on holding the in-
strument and bow, fingering, bowing techniques, shifting, vibrato, and
so on. Many books, however, discuss only the barest rudiments of
playing, contenting themselves with short paragraphs on holding the
violin and bow and how to move the bow back and forth. The last
section is typically an anthology of tunes: popular operatic tunes fro
Mozart, Auber, Rossini, and the like; melodies by Haydn, Beethoven
and others; English, Scottish, Irish, and American folk-tunes, and count-
less jigs, reels, schottisches, quicksteps, waltzes, quadrilles, and so o
In many cases, publishers put out the same instructions over and ove
with differences only in the music contained in the appended anthol
ogies.18
Violin method-books seem to have been profitable for American
music publishers, who produced them in great number. Few publishers
were themselves professional players or teachers of any reputation,
and they may not have deemed it financially worthwhile to commission
new treatises. Turning naturally to the authoritative works of recognized
170 Eddy
European pedagogues
sections, and sometim
cases they admitted th
that they could pass o
tomers were not intim
study of these borrowin
nineteenth-century v
strong influence of a
over, that several eigh
these methods, persis
had fallen out of fashi
The main European i
came from Geminiani
Campagnoli, Rode-Bail
and Spohr. I will exam
GEMINIANI
Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) was, by any account, a towering

figure in late eighteenth-century violin pedagogy. His treatise, The
of Playing on the Violin (London, 1751), appeared soon after its orig
publication in a number of other European editions, beginning in 1
in Paris.20 Several anonymous treatises published during Geminian
lifetime, most notably The Art of Playing on the Violin, Part 5 of P
Prelleur's The Modern Musick-Master (1731), were falsely attributed
him, as were numerous works published after his death.21
It is quite likely that copies of some of the English publications w
soon brought to the United States by violinists coming to settle in t
country. The Art of Playing on the Violin was well enough known
1769 to warrant an American publication by the Boston publisher J
Boyles in shortened form as an Abstract of Geminiani's Art of Play
on the Violin. Boyles used most of Geminiani's texts, adding subti
where he thought they would help the reader, but omitted all of
diagrams and musical examples. In almost every case, he printed Ge
iniani's words verbatim; such differences as can be found are usua
minor changes in punctuation. Thus Boyles transmitted to Americ
players the essential ideas of Geminiani's teaching.
Another American publication was advertised in 1778 in Rivingto
Royal Gazette, New York, as A Pocket Book for the Violin, Embellis
with curious remarks and excellent examples by the late celebrated Sign
Geminiani.22 Thus at least two American publications acknowledge
their titles their debt to Geminiani. But the Italian master's influence
in the United States reached much further still. His ideas, either directly
quoted or paraphrased, can be found in many sources that either do
not admit to any borrowing, or do so only obliquely. The three aspects

of technique in which his influence can be seen most strongly and for
the greatest period of time are holding the violin and bow, left-hand
position, and bowing technique and style.
Holding the violin and bow. Boyles gives Geminiani's directions
for holding the instrument and bow: thus American players were taught
to place the violin in a manner old-fashioned even for 1769: "just
below the collarbone," without letting the chin touch the instrument;
and they were told that
the Head of the Violin must be nearly Horizontal with that Part
which rests against the Breast, that the Hand may be shifted with
Facility and without any Danger of dropping the Instrument.23
The bow must be held in the eighteenth-century Italian manner, "at

a small Distance from the Nut." The right arm must be relaxed and
free, with most of the motion originating in the wrist and elbow.
Left-hand position. The master's explanation of the way to position
the left-hand fingers on the fingerboard-the famous "Geminiani
grip"-is found in almost every treatise in the late eighteenth and
early nineteenth centuries (see ex. 1).24 Since the "Geminiani grip" was
adopted by other great European pedagogues such as Leopold Mozart,
Campagnoli, and Baillot, it is possible that American publishers of
violin methods took this concept from works other than Geminiani's.
But given the strong influence in the United States of methods in English
(see the discussion in the next section), I think it likely that this concept
came directly from Geminiani or from English publications modeled
on his. It appears, for example, in Riley's Violin Preceptor (182?),25 and
also in George Saunders's New and Scientific Self-Instructing School for
the Violin (1847), where, following his instructions how to hold the
violin, he says,
As there are various ways of holding the violin with the left hand,
I would say that any position may be considered good, which will
admit of playing the following Exercise; each finger, with bent
joints, firmly placed upon one string, and all kept down while
playing it. The figures 1, 2, 3, 4 before the notes, signify, first,
second, third, and fourth fingers.26
Elias Howe's Violin Without a Master (1850) gives an old-fashioned

direction for placement of the chin:
Hold the Violin with your left hand, about half an inch from the
bottom of the Nut, and let it lie between the first joint of the
thumb and the third joint of the 1st finger, resting it on the collar
bone, the tail piece rather on the left side of the chin, bringing
172 Eddy
Example 1. Francesco G
on the fingerboard-the
1 2 3 4
the hollow part of the ar

ment that the fingers ma
Then put the 1st finger on
on the 2d string, the 3d
or largest string, touchin
which will bring the elbo
very essential to be obser
As late as 1899, Septimus
printed these same instruc
grip and the placement of
Bowing. On Geminiani's a
the eighteenth-century m
softening the Sound.'29 O
Italian master's prolonge
manner of holding the bow
bow-arm motion primarily
some amateur violinists in
out of fashion in Europe
this country. Geminiani's
are the following:
The Motion is to proceed
in playing quick Notes, an
of the Shoulder: but in
drawn from one End of i
is also a little employed.
with the Bridge, (which c
be pressed upon the Strin
with the whole Weight of
sparing of their Bow; and
Point to that Part of it u
an Upbow the Hand is be
the Wrist, when the Nut
the Wrist is immediately
bent back or upward, as
down again.
One of the principal Beauties of the Violin is the swelling or
encreasing and softening the Sound: which is done by pressing
the Bow upon the Strings with the Fore-finger more or less. In
playing all long Notes the Sound should be begun soft, and grad-
ually swelled till the Middle, and from thence gradually softened
till the End. And lastly, particular Care must be taken to draw the
Bow smooth from one End to the other without any Interruption
or stopping in the Middle. For on this principally, and the keeping
it always parallel with the Bridge, and pressing it only with the
Fore-finger upon the Strings with Discretion, depends the fine Tone
of the Instrument.30
As Boyles included this discussion in his Abstract, it is likely that his

publication was the source for the same instructions in practically the
same words in later American methods up to at least 1886.31
The fourth edition of Ezekiel Goodale's The Instrumental Director
(1836) includes in its discussion of bass-viol (cello) playing Geminiani's
sentence requiring that the motion of the bow proceed from the elbow
and wrist, and also what may be a disguised prescription for the messa
di voce, using some of Geminiani's wording:
One of the principal beauties of the Bass-viol is expression; such

as the piano, the crescendo, the forte, &c. All this is done by an
equal pressure of the bow, more or less, as the passage requires;
and music, without it, would be like a painting without shades to
show it.32
Howe's Violin Without a Master tells the learner
to practice every note thus, [< >] to produce a good, clear, and
powerful tone on each note. This is executed by performing a long
note, beginning it piano, gradually increasing the tone to the mid-
dle, and then imperceptibly diminishing it at the end.33
Howe reproduces Geminiani's remarks on bowing almost verbatim a

few pages later. Other methods by Howe recommend Geminiani's messa
di voce, either by the indication [< >],34 or by specific verbal instruc-
tions.35 As late as 1905, Guckert's Illustrated Self-Instructor for the Violin
says,
Try to swell the tone as you approach the middle of the Bow as
you are most apt to get a better tone at this part of the bow. The
sign used to indicate this effect is [< >].36
Shifting; ornaments. Boyles includes Geminiani's remarks on shift-

ing, noting, as Geminiani had:
Care is to be taken that the Thumb always remain farther back

than the Fore-finger; and the more you advance towards the Bridge,
174 Eddy
the Thumb must be a

under the Neck of t
and transmits Gemini
firmly down on the s
of doing it."38 Boyles
deficiency in an instru
to print Geminiani's e
"You may see in the f
Bowing," and in the s
teacher's verbal expla
articulation, and dyna
ornaments, but withou
though never engrav
text is clear; thus the A
Yet it passed on to Am
an important eighteen
OTHER ENGLISH SOURCES
When, in 1959 and 1960, David Boyden disentangled Geminian

from Peter Prelleur's The Art of Playing on the Violin and iden
modest tutor for beginning violinists, Nolens Volens of 1695,
probable source of Prelleur's treatise (in fact, we now know tha
Volens was itself partially modeled on John Lenton's The Gentl
Diversion of 1693),40 he pointed to the remarkably long life o
seventeenth-century original:
Various publishers kept the core of the information in print at le

until c. 1800. The fact that in one form or another the text of this
unassuming work enjoyed a continuing sale for over a century is
at once a tribute to the work itself, a commentary on the rise of
the amateur, and impressive evidence of the elementary state of
amateur violin playing throughout the 18th century.... This sit-
uation was to change after 1800, when a new bow, a new tech-
nique, and new conditions of playing finally elevated the technique
of the amateur, and made the information of these particular "self-
instructors" completely obsolete.41
But the situation did not change entirely after 1800, for the eighteenth-
and nineteenth-century American violin methods demonstrate clearly
that the influence of Nolens Volens and The Gentleman's Diversion ex-
tended well into the nineteenth century in American amateur violin
playing, adding almost another hundred years to the life Boyden no-
ticed. For Nolens Volens, too, provided material for American publishers
desiring to publish violin methods without actually having to write
them. The passages most often lifted from this source (presumably
through its successors such as Prelleur and others) have to do with
holding the violin and with tuning. The original says of the position
of the violin,
Hold the Violin with your left Hand, about half an inch from the
bottom of its Head, which is usually termed the Nut, and let it
lie between the Root of your Thumb and that of your fore-finger.42
The Violin Preceptor of James Hewitt (ca. 1802) adopts these words
and adds to them:
Hold the Violin with your left hand, about half an inch from the
bottom of its head, which is generally termed the Nut; and let it
lie between the root of your thumb and forefinger, leaning the
body of the instrument against the collar bone, with the elbow
immediately underneath, that the fingers may more easily touch
the strings.43
This same passage appears verbatim in the fourth edition of The In-
strumental Director (Glazier, Masters, and Smith, 1836), in a Moravian-
owned "Vocal and Instrumental Tutor" of unknown date,"4 and in
William Bales's The Instrumental Preceptor of 1851. As late as 1899,
the passage appeared, with minor alterations, in Winner's Imperial School
for the Violin. It is remarkable that seventeenth-century advice, focusing
on the left hand rather than on the collarbone or shoulder, persisted
so long, when other American methods were advocating more modern
ideas (see below).
The suggestions given by Nolens Volens about tuning appear among
the American methods with even greater frequency. The seventeenth-
century author, after mentioning the notes to which the strings ought
to be tuned, had written:
But if you cannot put your Violin in tune by the help of the former
Direction, do it thus: Measure out the seventh line (from the Nut)
which is drawn across the Strings in the ensuing Example and
draw with a little Ink a line over the Fingerboard at the same
distance from the Nut as that line, having done thus, screw up ye
treble string to as high a pitch, as it can moderately bear, then put
your little finger on the afore mentioned Mark on the second String
and cause that to give the same sound as ye treble String doth
when 'tis open: Afterward put your little Finger on the same mark
on the third String & cause that to have the same sound as the
second String when open, lastly observe ye same method in tuning
ye 4th String.45
This old-fashioned method of tuning the other strings to whatever
176 Eddy
pitch the E-string ma

books.46 A few, includ
Howe's Original Violin
method, instructing t
a piano, pitch-pipe, or
string pitches with fou
CAMPAGNOLI
Another Italian violinist and teacher of broad nineteenth-centu

reputation was Bartolomeo Campagnoli (1751-1827), who had
trained in the tradition of Tartini through his teachers Guastarobb
Modena and Nardini of Florence.48 His violin treatise, Metodo della
mecanica progressiva per violino, appeared in at least seven different
editions, including several translations, spanning a period of some sixty
years. Although the date of the original Italian publication has not
been established, it was probably ca. 1797, with a second Italian edition
appearing in 1803 and a third presumably ca. 1828.49 In 1824, Breitkopf
& Hirtel of Leipzig published an edition of the treatise in French and
German. The work appeared in London in an English translation by
J. A. Hamilton about 1830, and again in J. Bishop's translation in 1856.
Ditson of Boston copied Bishop's translation, probably in late 1857, as
A New and Progressive Method,50 and by this means Campagnoli's in-
fluence spread directly to the United States. But his work had already
been known in this country by the 1840s, presumably through Ham-
ilton's translation, for at least two writers of this period borrowed from
him in various ways.
Illustrations, general observations, left-hand technique. Saunders
used for the cover illustration of his New and Scientific Self-Instructing
School (1847) a drawing after Campagnoli's representation of a gentle-
man violinist practicing with a cord tying his bow-arm to his waistcoat
button. Two years later Howe published the same drawing in his wide-
ranging The Violin Complete, admitting that the illustration was
taken from CAMPAGNOLI'S celebrated work on the Violin. The
ribbon fastened to the arm and attached to a button, is intended
to prevent too much motion of the arm, at the same time leaving
the wrist free to act. This is a very good practice for a few lessons.51
This was not all that Howe took from Campagnoli. He found several
of Campagnoli's "Lessons" worthy of inclusion; thus Campagnoli
Lesson No. 198 (a four-octave G-major scale in quarters and eighths)
appears on page 22; on page 31 are his explanations of and exercises
for playing natural and artificial harmonics, unusually advanced tech
nique for an American amateur method-book; and we find most of hi
discussion of shifting, along with his two-octave scales in various po-

sitions and on single strings on pages 32-33.52 In his much later Popular
Violin School (1891), Howe borrowed another series of exercises and
explanations from Campagnoli's work: Lessons 1-12, on bowing (the
rule of down-bow for beginnings of measures), the difference between
low and high positions of the second finger, the placement of left-hand
fingers perpendicular to the strings, strong and smooth motion of the
fingers ("like a hammer"), keeping fingers down when playing other
notes, and the use of open strings in ascending but not in descending
scales."3
The bow. Campagnoli's bowing technique was old-fashioned in some
ways.54 His third directive under the rubric "Position of the Right Arm"
tells the student that the bow
must not be held entirely with the ends of the fingers, but with
the fingers a little bent, in a natural position, and in such a manner
that the nut may remain beyond the hand.55
This is the old eighteenth-century Italian manner of holding the bow,

as Geminiani had taught it. I have not found this aspect of Campagnoli's
technique represented directly in any violin method: American pub-
lishers who espoused eighteenth-century bowing techniques quoted
from Geminiani rather than Campagnoli. Septimus Winner, however,
in his Easy System for the Violin, does pass on Campagnoli's advice that
the little finger balance the bow and that the thumb, elbow, and arm
be on a single level.56 He also uses Campagnoli's elegant image of the
relaxed wrist, saying,
The wrist should act with the greatest freedom: it is the spring
which governs all the movements of the bow,57
and provides one of Campagnoli's detailed observations in regard to

up-bow motion:
In pushing the bow upward, the hand must be turned outward

imperceptibly, and the joints of the arm must gradually approach
toward one another.58
Howe's New American School (1857) takes up Campagnoli's points that

the first note of the bar should be played downbow unless it is preceded
by a rest, and that the bow should be closer to the bridge for loud
notes and closer to the fingerboard for soft ones.59
RODE, BAILLOT, KREUTZER
A major development in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-cen-

tury music education was the founding of a number of music con-
178 Eddy
servatories across Euro

National de Musique
counting among its ill
sicians of Paris.60 Three
soon became professor
Pierre Baillot (1771-18
collaboration led to th
sioned by the Conserv
there in 1803.62 An En
1820.63 Its influence soo
firms Firth & Hall and
long after the London
complete method, L'A
the 1803 M6thode in th
not to have been know
found neither an Amer
American sources.
Introductory material. The most obvious quotations from the M6th-

ode (hereafter referred to as RBK, after its authors' names) in American
method-books have to do with the origin and history of the instrument.
They begin:
It is supposed to have been known in the most remote ages. We

find on ancient medals, Apollo represented playing on an instru-
ment with three strings, like the violin. Whether it be to the god
of harmony, or to a different source that we must attribute the
invention of this instrument, we cannot deny that it possesses
something divine.65
RBK then notes a supposed relationship between the violin and the
lyre and claims that the violin, introduced into France during the reign
of Charles IX, has not changed during the 260 intervening years. Some
of these same thoughts are expressed elsewhere. In The Violin Complete,
for example, Howe quotes the sentence describing depictions of Apollo
the string-player on ancient medals, and mentions the introduction of
the instrument into the France of Charles IX.66 A condensed version
appears in Winner's Violin Primer (1857), which, although it refers to
"Hamilton's celebrated work" as it source, actually derives from RBK:
The Violin is supposed to have been known in the most remote

ages; as, on various ancient medals, Apollo is represented in the
act of playing with a bow, on an instrument with three strings,
somewhat similar to it in form. In its shape and structure, no
change has been introduced for the last 250 years.67
And a similar passage can be found in the Ole Bull Instruction Book of
1845.68
Holding the violin. RBK espouses the standard nineteenth-century

manner of holding the instrument, with the chin on the left side, and
the instrument resting against the collarbone:
The Violin should be placed upon the left collar-bone, kept in its
position by the chin on the left side of the tailpiece, supported by
the left hand, in a horizontal position with the exception of a little
inclination to the right in such a manner that the extremity of the
neck of the instrument, may be directly in front of the middle of
the left shoulder.69
(It should be noted that the chinrest, invented by Louis Spohr about
1820,70 was not yet universally used by American players.) Firth &
Hall's Improved and Complete Instructions (183?) gives a condensed
version of this information, presumably from RBK:
Firstly, The Violin ought to be placed on the collar bone; the chin
a little to the left of the tailpiece; inclined to the right side in a
horizontal line, held by the left hand; the head of the Violin should
be opposite the middle of the left shoulder."
Winner's Improved Method (1854) has a similar paragraph, as does his

Champion School (1889).72
RBK, like most other treatises, points out that there must be a space
between the hollow of the left hand and the neck of the instrument:
The lower parts of the second joint of the thumb, and of the third
joint of the first finger should always support the Violin, grasping
it, not tightly, but just sufficiently to prevent it from touching that
part of the hand which connects the thumb to the fore-finger.73
The description, as will be seen below, is much like Spohr's, except for
the mention of the second joint of the thumb (Spohr places the neck
of the violin against the first joint of the thumb). Thus, in American
sources apparently borrowing from RBK, we ought to find mention of
this second joint. Strangely, we do not. Firth & Halls's Improved and
Complete Instructions, though clearly working with RBK's ideas, men-
tions the first joint; so does Winner's Champion School. Winner's Im-
proved Method mentions "the lower articulation of the thumb."74
Ornaments and bowings. Another obvious borrowing from RBK
comes in Howe's The Violin Complete, which lifts RBK's explanations
and examples of important ornaments, including the appoggiatura, trill,
double trill in thirds and sixths, "groupetto" (71 J ); and of bow dis-
tribution and types of bowings, including martel& and staccato, with
exercises.75 Howe thus passes on to American amateur players the
180 Eddy
eighteenth-century m
Baroque and Classic
eighteenth-century p
as the main note. By
double-stops and of t
teaches unusually adv
tors include explanat
those easiest to execu
tribution and special
MAZAS
Another important French figure whose influence we find in ni

teenth-century America was Jacques-Fereol Mazas (1782-1849), an o
standing student of Baillot's at the Paris Conservatoire from 1802
number of tours to several European countries and Russia betw
1811 and the late 1820s assured him an international reputation. M
was known for his velvety tone; he seems to have played over
fingerboard much of the time.76 He was the author of several tuto
of which the best known is his M6thode de violon (Paris, 1830).77
TraitM des sons harmoniques, extracted from the M6thode, was publish
in Bonn in about 1832.78 By at least 1854 information from the M6thod
appeared in some American tutors, and several American editions
the work were published later in the century (see the checklist followin
this article).
Introductory remarks. Mazas's method begins with an exhortation
to the pupil to study his instrument with a "constant and analyzed
practice" in order to master "this difficult instrument"; he warns the
student against "an indifferent teacher"; with such a teacher "the pupil
may perhaps acquire such bad habits, that it would take more time to
correct than if he knew nothing."79 As this passage is quoted almost
verbatim in Winner's Improved Method for the Violin (1854),8s Mazas's
work must have been known in the United States by the mid-1850s.
Indeed, Winner exhorts the student to consult Mazas (as well as "Sphor"
and "Campanolli") for further inspiration and instruction.8'
Holding the violin and bow. Winner took more than the introductory
remarks, from Mazas. The American's directions for holding the in-
strument and bow, and positions of the arms and hands, are derived
from the same source. Mazas espouses the standard nineteenth-century
manner of holding the instrument, against the collarbone and with the
chin pressing gently on the left side of the instrument, and warns the
student against resting the chin on the tailpiece. Winner quotes this
passage exactly in his Improved Method; it appears as well (with very
slight changes) in a much later method book, Mack's Analytical Method

(1876).82 In Howe's ubiquitous Violin Complete, we find almost exactly
the same passage save for one odd difference: ".. .the chin should
rest partly on the belly on the left side of the tailpiece, and partly on
the tailpiece itself."83 As we will see below, this is Spohr speaking.
Howe, eclectic that he was, took part of a passage from Mazas and
part from the more old-fashioned Spohr. (Mazas probably would have
minded more than Spohr.)
With regard to the left hand and arm, Mazas explains that the violin
is to be held "between the thumb and that part of the hand a little
below the first finger"; that there ought to be space between the neck
of the instrument and the hand; that the thumb ought to be straight
but not stiff; that the palm must not touch the instrument; and that
the elbow should hang vertically under the violin. This information is
also quoted verbatim by Winner and Mack; it is not found in Howe.84
Mazas advocates a bow-hold with the thumb opposite the second
finger, observing that the first finger ought to be close to the others.
The thumb, slightly bent, ought to be "about a quarter of an inch
above the nut or frog,"' by which apparently he means the distance
toward the point from the frog. He reminds the student that the bow
ought to be parallel with the bridge, with the stick a little inclined.
Loudness and softness are determined by the distance between the
bow and the bridge, and Mazas warns the violinist against playing too
near the bridge. Again, we find this passage quoted in its entirety by
both Winner and Mack. Howe, relying mainly on Spohr for this subject
(see below), borrows from Mazas only his advice in regard to placement
of the bow relative to the bridge.85
Mazas's advice about the positions of the right hand and arm men-
tions curvature of the right hand and the graceful movement of the
wrist toward the chin during an up-bow. The wrist and arm must
always be flexible: a child who plays with a stiff arm should be given
a bow of appropriate length for his arm. Once again Winner, Mack,
and Howe borrow from Mazas, quoting his advice about the right arm
with but minor alterations; much of this information is also in Ditson's
Peters' Improved School for the Violin (1862).86
Winner and Mack take even more from Mazas, borrowing from the
French master's discussions of the left-hand finger motion and general
body position. Thus they communicate to American beginners that the
left-hand fingers, always moving independently from the wrist and
palm, ought to be graceful and supple, rising between notes only so
far as necessary above the strings, and moving evenly. The body ought
to be graceful and erect in "an easy and dignified attitude," whether
in a standing or sitting position, with the chest straight.87 Further, Mack
182 Eddy
THE
COMPLETE;
AMERICAN SYSTEM OF TEACHING

THU ART OF
PATWSO PPRB VIOU1W.
BOSTON:
PUBLISHED AND FOR SALE BY ELIAS HOWE, U CORNHILL.
&N.oi" ai u awnA c. .g fItg.i J Uee n e r m4tr as OWLbSO C OE S3C .MbS LheE cu. s oa w
suOM w s . W & m, a m
Figure 1. Title page of Elias Howe's The Violin Complete (Boston,

tesy of the Library of Congress
(but not Winner) reproduces Mazas's first exercise (placement of the

left hand in the standard "Geminiani grip," with the first, second, third,
and fourth fingers on f', c', g, and d, respectively.)88
SPOHR
The German composer, violinist, and pedagogue Ludwig (or Lou

Spohr (1784-1859) enjoyed a great reputation during his lifetime
afterwards, and his influence was felt as far away from his home
as the United States. His Violinschule (Vienna, 1832) appeared in
don in an English translation by C. Rudolphus in 1833, and
translated a second time by John Bishop (London, 1843).89 The Am
ican violinist Ureli Corelli Hill, later president of the New York
harmonic Society, spent 1835 to 1837 in Germany studying with
great master. Upon his return to the United States, Hill published
own edition of Spohr's treatise, "altered and corrected from the
English edition to correspond with Spohr's Original School of Vi
Playing" (New York, Firth & Hall, preface dated 1839). In 184
invited Spohr to conduct at a "Grand Musical Festival" in New Yo
sadly for Hill and American musicians, Spohr was unable to com
Twelve years after Hill's edition, George Bristow published an abr
version of Spohr's Grand Violin School (1851; see checklist below),
shortly thereafter Hill brought out a second, revised edition of the w
(preface dated 1852). But he did not stop there. In 1855 he publis
under his own name The Practical Violin School, a treatise correspo
practically word-for-word to Spohr's. Hill admits in the preface o
work to having quoted from Spohr in certain places, but gives no
of the extent of his borrowings. His plagiarism, shocking by mo
standards, was not unusual in his time.
While Hill's method was the one that borrowed the most extens
from Spohr, the great German master's influence is clear in other wo
as well. Spohr was among the "Eminent Violinists" whose lives H
sketched in The Violin Complete. Howe described Spohr as "prob
at present the most perfect performer on the violin in Germany
suggested that the aspiring violinist consult "the celebrated Spoh
Violin School, which is universally acknowledged to be the best
structor for violin ever published."'9 On page 21 he used an illustr
of a standing violinist, taken from Spohr. Winner's Improved Me
for the Violin mentioned "Sphor" as being, along with Campagnol
Mazas, one of the three pegagogues most worthy of considera
Saunders boasted that his own method was better than any e
those by Spohr and Campagnoli; Isaac Woodbury, in The Violin,
scribed the German teacher as "one of the greatest composer
performers now living."92 And J. F. Hanks, author of a method publis
184 Eddy
in 1846, expressed his

way:
Spohr is an eminent
large, stout man, pr
of the muscular forc
to the fingerboard
teacher; some of th
his instructions. More leaders of orchestras have been instructed
by him than by any other master. His "Violin School" is the best
book that has even been published."
These writers and others transmitted to American amateur violinists
Spohr's ideas on a variety of aspects of violin-playing.
Structure and care of the violin and bow. The material that Amer-
ican publishers borrowed from Spohr included his discussions of the
structure and parts of the violin and bow, and how to set up the
instrument and care for it. The German master devotes many para-
graphs to the subjects of correct shaping and placement of the bridge
and placement of the soundpost inside the instrument (most violinists
today would not dare do these tasks for themselves), with accompa-
nying drawings. It is clear from his discussion that violinists of his time
who did not live near a professional luthier had to take complete charge
of the set-up of their instruments. Spohr's observations are careful and
detailed: he notes, for example, the proper placement of the neck
(angled far enough back that the fingerboard will rise toward the
bridge), provides drawings of the bridge to show the violinist how its
shape must be asymmetrical, and observes how the curvature of the
fingerboard, which he also illustrates, ought to be altered so that the
strings may lie close to it while still having room for unhindered
vibration. He gives similarly careful instructions about placement of
the soundpost and explains how to choose the best strings; he also
urges the violinist to take special care of his instrument and describes
high-quality rosin.4 Some of these observations found their way into
American methods, such as Howe's The Violin Complete, which bor-
rowed Spohr's discussion relating to the bridge and soundpost and his
drawings of the bridge and fingerboard curvature, as well as his remarks
about caring for the violin.95 George Saunders borrowed in a more
sparing way from the German teacher, quoting many of his remarks
on keeping the violin, stringing and repairing it, and on rosin.96 Winner's
Violin Primer (1857) also borrowed Spohr's advice about keeping the
instrument in good order, and Woodbury's The Violin (1853) used much
of his discussion of the structure and parts of the violin.
Position of the violin. Some of Spohr's ideas about holding the
instrument and bow can also be found in these American methods.
As Robin Stowell has pointed out," Spohr's suggestion that the chin
be placed partly on the tailpiece and partly on the left side of the violin
was somewhat different from the one to become standard in the nine-
teenth century, with the chin to the left of the tailpiece. Both Saunders
and Howe borrowed Spohr's somewhat old-fashioned idea (neither
mentions his invention, the chinrest, which, as I have pointed out,
American players did not adopt for some time).98 Other sources drawing
on Spohr's ideas, including Howe's Original Violin School (1886), ad-
vocated modem-style placement of the chin on the left side of the
instrument. All of these, however, took Spohr's advice about the left
shoulder and hand. The German master said:
The left shoulder in support of the lower part of the Violin, is

moved a little forward, giving it, thereby, an inclination towards
the right side-in an angle of 25 to 30 degrees.... The neck of
the Violin rests between the thumb and the fore finger of the left
hand-held gently over the first joint of the thumb and at the
third joint of the fore finger, so that it cannot sink down to the
depth of the division between the finger and thumb.... That part
of the hand where the little finger is, should be brought near the
fingerboard as much as possible, in order that this shorter finger,
and the others with bent joints, may also fall perpendicularly on
the strings. The ball and palm of the hand must, however, remain
further from the lower end of the neck. The elbow of the left arm
is drawn inward under the middle of the Violin; but let it not
touch the body, because it would sink the Violin too much towards
the neck."
Saunders took from Spohr the ideas of drawing forward the left shoul-
der, slightly dropping the right side of the violin, and holding the neck
in such a way that it would not sink into the left hand.'00 Howe in
1849 and 1857 borrowed only Spohr's discussion of how the violin
neck should be held and the elbow drawn inward,'0' but in 1886 he
also mentioned that the left side of the instrument ought to be "raised
to an angle of 25 degrees, to allow of the back strings being commanded
easily with the bow," a variation on Spohr's statement that the right
side ought to be lowered to an angle of 25 or 30 degrees.102 Hanks
borrowed only Spohr's suggestion that the point of the elbow ought
to be under the middle of the violin, as did Ditson's Peters' Improved
School. 103
The bow. Spohr taught his pupils a bow-hold where the thumb was
placed directly opposite the middle finger, and the fore- and middle
fingers had the greatest responsibility in holding the stick:
The bow is held with all the fingers of the right hand .... The
thumb is bent with the point against the stick (or rod) of the bow,
186 Eddy
close to the nut, and

with the fore and m
the first joint.'04
Saunders, Hanks, an
vocate the placement
this advice was commo
so its appearance in t
that the authors took
have taken this idea f
tellingly close to Spo
The Bow is held with

is bent with the poin
opposite the middle fi
Spohr's next point ha
The third and fourt

the points of the four
space. The hand ough
showing the knuckles
From this Saunders b

close together, and h
The hand should hav

showing the knuckles
Hanks and Howe bor

The third and fourt
the points of the four
space.'09
Spohr's third important idea has to do with the inclination of the
stick toward the fingerboard and his preference for a high wrist and
low elbow.1O Interestingly, the American writers, though they mention
the inclination of the stick (an idea they could have taken from any
of a number of European pedagogues),"' do not use Spohr's suggestions
about the wrist and elbow positions.
Exercises. A number of exercises taken from the German master's
book appear in Hanks's The American Violinist. As this book was meant
not for aspiring professionals but for amateurs (he said in his intro-
duction that Spohr's School, along with the works of Baillot, Rode, and
Kreutzer, were "too voluminous, intricate, and expensive, for popular
use"),"2 he took only some of the simpler exercises, and sometimes
only those portions of them he felt were fit for use by a rank beginner."3
CONCLUSION
Not all American publishers, of course, restricted themselves

tation from European sources, and some provided observation
finer points of violin-playing. While, for example, many boo
about bowing only that the bow should be drawn across the s
parallel with the bridge, the Ole Bull Violin Instruction Book
reminds the player always to
Play with the bow on the same points of the strings, and not
it to wander at will, sometimes toward the bridge, and at o
toward the fingerboard. Avoid drawing the elbow behind the
as that will disturb the direction of the bow. In playing loud
bow must not be pressed too firmly on the strings, for it will st
the tone and produce a harsh, disagreeable sound. Let the pu
accustom himself to use long strokes of the bow, and caref
abstain from using a short stroke of the bow, as the string
vibrate but partially. To infuse spirit into the performance, the
must move across the strings with firmness and energy, and
with a dull, sleepy motion."'
Guckert's Illustrated Self-Instructor for the Violin (1905) warns the
not to "go at it as though you were sawing wood.""'5 Howe
Original Violin School (1886), gives a series of "Progressive Ex
and Studies in Bowing" with detailed information about how to
these (see ex. 2, 3).116
A few writers (they are the exception, not the rule) include
tions for shifting up to the higher positions, and discussion
techniques as arpeggio-playing, double stops, harmonics, and pi
Hanks says about the positions only that
The third position places the second finger on D, on the fou
string, after which the hand is not moved till you leave
position. ... The fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh positions are
a degree higher, on the same principles as the second and th
and if you wish for a knowledge of them it can be obtained
practice and application, very readily.17
His treatments of harmonics, double stops, arpeggios, and piz
are also simple. Saunders provides scales for each position up
seventh."8 Howe's passages on complicated technical matters a
complete, and have been mentioned above as being lifted f
writings of Campagnoli and RBK.
Other writers make quaint observations about different ma
Hanks's exhortations to the discouraged beginning violinist ar
quoting (and they point out how much the violin was still
instrument in 1846):
188 Eddy
Example 2. No. 10 of Ho
It appeared with the follo
heel to point, but not so
are played. When some
in one bowing; then the
10.
-i
Th
Sp
th
re
it
cannot now conceive.
But because you do not expect to excel thus, there is no reaso

why you should "throw down," or "hang up your fiddle," in
despair. By industry and perseverance in the use of "shreds and
patches" of time, which other young men spend at the grog shop
gambling table, or foolishly waste in dissipation and idleness, you
may cultivate a neat and agreeable style of performance on the
violin, in all the major, and some of the minor keys, and in thre
or four positions of the hand.11
Later he discusses different kinds of playing, remarking that a so

will make a better impression upon the audience by playing his mu
from memory than with the notes, that duet and quartet playing
a kind of conversation among friends, and that when accompany
a singer, the violinist must keep his part subordinate to that of t
voice. Hanks also observes the usefulness of the violin as an aid in
teaching vocal music, and concludes with the following amusing ob
servation about the moral qualities of the instrument:
Some very excellent Christian people hold a strong prejudice against

the violin, because they have always known it associated with
dancing and dissipation. Let it be understood that your violin is
"converted'," and such an objection will no longer lie against it. I
once asked a minister if he would be willing to have me bring my
violin into his choir, on the Sabbath, to aid the singing. He replied,
"The violin is one of the best of musical instruments, and the devil
has had it long enough; if we can make a good use of it, let us
do it."'120
On the whole, however, American publishers of violin methods relied

heavily on respected European sources. During the period under study,
Example 3. No. 25 of Howe's exercises. His instructions were: "The first two
slurred notes are taken with a down bow (upper half), from middle to point;
the two dotted notes with an up and down bow, (upper third), and so on, the
slurred notes with down and up bow alternatively."
25.
op Til
they clearly turned to those

such as Geminiani, or alre
RBK, Spohr, and perhaps M
amateur players the traditi
and of the Italian school, th
English sources derived fro
noli; the teachings of Viott
borrowings from RBK and
through their borrowings f
books, for example, any dir
Violinschule seems not yet
Often the American publish
tise and that, passed on con
European sources, or ideas
eighteenth-century prescript
methods up even to the en
references as well to placing
and to holding the instrum
persists to the present day a
retained instructions in eig
certain ornaments, especially
auxiliary, and appoggiatura
main note.122 And Howe's
among many, has an odd mi
the instrument derives fro
to tune, and recommends the old messa di voce from Geminiani on
long notes.
Because the American publications studied here were frankly in-
tended for amateurs, their discussion of violin technique is usually
rudimentary, confined mostly to directions for holding the instrument
and bow and containing only the most general ideas about management
of the bow. Many books do not even mention the playing of arpeggios,
multiple stops, or shifting (Hanks, after his brief discussion of shifting,
says quaintly, "The probability is... that, as an amateur merely, the
first, second and third positions will be sufficient for your perfor-
190 Eddy
mance,")123 and what

ment of tone product
finds its way into t
technique is transmit
learned the famous le
motion coming mainl
his characteristic swell
and the others a way
chin support and the
having "screwed it up
Players receving some
of technique: smooth
fingers perpendicular
mers, and using the
RBK and Mazas came t
ing the instrument, w
strument slightly inc
of the shoulder, and a
the second finger. From
and care of the inst
position partly on the
hold like that of the French teachers.
Some questions remain. Violin instruction in the early years of the
American conservatories, for example, is an area that needs investi-
gation. During the early period of the Boston Conservatory, the violin
department was especially featured; this school was founded by the
excellent violinist Julius Eichberg, who had been a student of DeBeriot's
at the Brussels Conservatory and professor of violin at the Geneva
Conservatory.124 Eichberg himself wrote a violin method book (see
checklist below). Edward Fitzpatrick recounts that "H. Allen" was listed
as "Chief of the Violin Instruction" in the first catalog of Peabody
Conservatory (1868); he apparently taught class lessons along the model
of German conservatories. From 1882 to 1883, someone named Fritz
Gaul taught violin at Peabody. Fitzpatrick remarks on the strong in-
fluence of the Leipzig and Stuttgart conservatories upon Oberlin, and
says that by about 1890 half of Oberlin's faculty had studied in various
cities in Europe. The stated goal of the New England Conservatory,
where Eugene Gruenberg's Scales and Chords for the Violin would be
published in 1899 (see checklist), was to be as good as the Leipzig,
Paris, Stuttgart, and Prague conservatories.125 The directors and faculty
of all these conservatories were well aware of the excellence of Eu-
ropean schools, and would do anything they could to be like them. It
is unlikely that in those first years any of the conservatory teachers
used anything but European method-books. With regard to the influ-
ence of European-style conservatories upon American amateur players,

it should be recalled first that conservatories did not appear in America
until 1865; presumably ambitious players before that time either went
to Europe to study (as Ureli Corelli Hill did) or began with the simple
tutors discussed here and then studied privately with Europeans living
in this country or with Americans who had studied with Europeans.
But it can be seen from my checklist that as the nineteenth century
went on, more and more European sources became available in Amer-
ican editions (presumably intended first of all for the use of conservatory
students, but available to others as well); thus by the last decades of
the century there was a clearer split between simple tutors for amateurs
and highly sophisticated, difficult methods for aspiring professionals.
One can also ask how much of what the American publishers passed
on from late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century teaching was
actually absorbed by American amateur players-that is, how much
of what has been presented here reflects the actual performance practice
of these amateur musicians? And the lines of influence upon American
players from Alard, DeBeriot, Dancla, David, and the other great Eu-
ropean teachers after Spohr, including the ones who taught in American
conservatories late in the century, remain to be traced. This study,
limited to the method-books themselves, cannot hope to answer these
questions. But it has shown the exposure of American amateur players
to the ideas of European violin teachers from Geminiani to Spohr
throughout the nineteenth century.
APPENDIX
Checklist of American Violin Methods to ca. 1900
1769
Boyles, John. An Abstract of Geminiani's Art of playing on the violin.... Boston:

John Boyles, 1769.
1778
Victor, H. B. The Compleat Instructor for the Violin. Philadelphia: I. Norman,
1778. [Not extant: advertised in the Pennsylvania Ledger April 4, 1778, as
just published. See Oscar Sonneck, A Bibliography of Early Secular American
Music, rev. William Treat Upton (New York: De Capo Press, 1964), 83-84.]
Anon. A Pocket Book for the Violin. Embellished with Curious Remarks and
Excellent Examples by the Late Celebrated Signor Geminiani. [Not extant; ad-
vertised in Rivington's Royal Gazette (New York), July, 1778; also in January
and February, 1781. See Sonneck/Upton, Bibliography, 334, and Gillian B.
Anderson, Music in New York During the American Revolution: An Inventory
of Musical References in Rivington's New York Gazette (Boston: Music Library
Association, Inc., 1987 [MLA Index and Bibliography Series, No. 24]), 49.]
192 Eddy
Anon. The Pocket Comp

Rivington's Royal Gaze
Anderson, 124.]
Anon. New Instructions
ton's Royal Gazette (Ne
124.]
1779
Anon. New Instructions for Playing on the Violin. [Possibly English; advertised
in Rivington's Royal Gazette (New York), September and October, 1779. See
Anderson, 124.]
1796
Homan, C. Tutor for the Violin. [Not extant; advertised in the Aurora (Phila-
delphia), February 6, 1796, as about to be published. See Sonneck/Upton,
Bibliography, 439.]
ca. 1802
Hewitt, James. The Violin Preceptor, or Compleat Tutor. New York: J. Hewitt
Musical Repository, ca. 1802.
1805
Delarue, Josiah. New Method of Music Taken from Italian Solphbge to Learn
Readily this Art and Those of Playing on the Instrument Violin. New York:
G. Gilfert, 1805.
1807
Holyoke, Samuel. The Instrumental Assistant. Exeter, New Hampshire: H. Ram-

let, 1807.
Shaw, Oliver. For the Gentlemen... A Selection of Instrumental Mu-
sic ... Likewise, the Musical Characters, With the Scales, or Gamuts for the
Several Instruments, to which the Music is Adapted. Dedham, [Mass.]: H. Mann,
1807.
ca. 1810
Blake, George E. New and Complete Preceptor for the Violin. Philadelphia: G.
Blake, ca. 1810.
1817
Leach, Ebenezer. A New and Highly Improved Violin Preceptor. Utica: William
Williams, 1817.
1819
Goodale, Ezekiel. The Instrumental Director, 3d ed. Hallowell: Glazier, Masters

& Co., 1829 [? 1819; 4th ed. 1836].
1820s
Riley, Edward. A New Tutor for the Violin. (Riley's Violin Preceptor). New York:
E. Riley, 182?.
Baillot, Rode, Kreutzer. System for the Violin. Arranged by Baillot. M&thode de
violon. New York: Firth & Hall, 182? or 183?.
ca. 1820
Geib, J. A. and W. A New and Compleat Tutor for the Violin. New York: J. A
& W. Geib, ca. 1820.
ca. 1822
Klemm. A New and Complete Preceptor for the Violin. Philadelphia: Klemm &
Brother, ca. 1822.
1828
Glazier, Masters, and Smith. Violin Instructer. Hallowell, [Maine]: Glazier, Mas-
ters and Smith, 5th ed., [ca. 1835; 1828].
1830s
Bradlee. A New and Complete Preceptor for the Violin. Boston: Bradlee, 183? or
184?.
Firth & Hall. Improved and Complete Instructions for the Violin on Modern
Principles. New York: Firth & Hall, 183?.
Rode, Baillot, and Kreutzer. The Celebrated Method for the Violin. Philadelphia:
George E. Blake, 183?.
Steele, Daniel. A New and Complete Preceptor for the Violin. Albany, [New
York]: Daniel Steele, 183?.
1832
Spohr, Ludwig. Spohr's Violin School. Revised and edited by Henry Holmes;
translated by Florence A. Marshall. London and New York: Boosey & Co.,
preface 1832.
1834
Leach, Ebenezer. Violin Preceptor. Utica: William Williams, @ 1833 [also 1834,
1836].
Willig, George. A New and Complete Preceptor for the Violin. Baltimore: G. Willig,
1834?.
1839
Spohr, Ludwig. Louis Spohr's Grand Violin School. Edited by U. C. Hill. New
York: Firth & Hall, preface 1839.
1841
Brainard, Silas. Brainard's Collection of Instrumental Music... To Which are added

Instructions for Each Instrument. Cleveland: Silas Brainard, @ 1841.
1843
Howe, Elias. School for the Violin. Boston: E. Howe, 1843.

1845
Keith. Ole Bull Violin Instruction Book. Boston: Keith, 1845.
1846
Hanks, Jarvis F. The American Violinist: A Complete System for the Violin. New
York: S. T. Gordon & Son, @ 1846; Salem: J. P. Jewett & Co., 1846.
1847
Howe, Elias. The Violin Without a Master. Boston: E. Howe, 1847 [also Boston:
O. Ditson, @ 1850 and ? 1851].
Saunders, George. A New and Scientific Self-Instructing School for the Violin.
Boston: O. Ditson, ? 1847.
1848
Howe, Elias. The Ethiopian Violin Instructor. Boston: Elias Howe, @ 1848.
194 Eddy
1849
Howe, Elias. The Violin Complete. Boston: Elias Howe, 1849 [also Boston: O.
Ditson; 1850].
1850s
Kreutzer, Rodolphe. 40 EtUden oder Capricen fur die Violine ... revidiert von
Ferdinand David. Leipzig: B. Senff; New York: G. Schirmer, 185?.
-- . Twelve Celebrated Etudes pour violon par R. Kreutzer. Cleveland: S.
Brainard's Sons, 185?.
Mazas, Jacques F&r6ol. New and Complete Method for the Violin, with French
and English text. Boston: O. Ditson, 185? and 188?.
1850
Jewett, John P. Jewett's National Violin Teacher. Boston: O. Ditson, 1850 and
1857 [also Boston: J. P. Jewett, 1851].
Oakes. Method on the Mechanism of Violin Playing. Boston: Oakes, 1850.
1851
Bales, William L. The Instrumental Preceptor. New York: Cornish, Lamport &
Co., 1851.
Benjamin, Lewis A. The Musical Academy, 7, no. 1. New York: Lewis A. Ben-
jamin, 1851.
Howe, Elias. Howe's School for the Violin. Boston: Howe, 1843; Boston: O.
Ditson, @ 1850; New York: S. T. Gordon; Philadelphia: J. E. Gould; Cin-
cinnati: D. A. Truax, 1851.
-- . The Violin Made Easy. Boston: O. Ditson, 1851.
-- . Self Instructor for the Violin. Boston: O. Ditson, 1851.
Spohr, Ludwig. Spohr's Grand Violin School. Edited by G. F. Bristow. New York:
Firth, Pond, & Co., 1851.
1852
Spohr, Ludwig. Spohr's Grand Violin School, newly revised. Edited by U. C.

Hill. New York: Berry & Gordon; Boston: O. Ditson, preface 1852.
1853
Woodbury, Isaac Baker. The Violin, Containing Instructions for Playing that
Instrument. Boston: O. Ditson, 1853.
1854
Stiegler, John B. Modern School for the Violin. Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, 1854.
Wichtl, Georg. ZwUlf Ubungen fur die Violine, op. 20. Offenbach: Andr6; London:
C. L. Grave: Philadelphia: G. Andre, @ 1854.
Winner, Septimus. Winner's Method for the Violin. Philadelphia: Winner, 1854.
- . Improved Method for the Violin. Philadelphia: Charles H. Davis, 1854.
1855
Hill, Ureli C. The Practical Violin School. New York: Firth, Pond, and Co., 1855.
1857
Campagnoli, Bartolomeo. A New and Progressive Method on the Mechanism of

Violin Playing. Boston: O. Ditson, 1857?.
Howe, Elias. New American Violin School. New York: S. T. Gordon & Son,
1857.
. Abridged Edition of Howe's New American Violin School. Boston:

Russell and Richardson, 1857.
. New Violin School. Boston: Russell & Richardson, @ 1857.
. Young America's Instructor for the Violin. Boston: Russell & Richard-
son, 1857 and 1861 [also Pittsburg: J. H. Mellor, 1858].
Kreutzer, Rodolphe. 40 Etudes ou Caprices pour le Violon. Boston: O. Ditson,
as 40 Studies for the Violin, 1857.
Winner, Septimus. Winner's Violin Primer, Violin Without a Master. New York:
Firth, Pond & Co. 1857 [and 1858].
1858
Ditson, Oliver. The Modern School for the Violin. Boston: O. Ditson, 1858.
1859
Howell, James L. Howell's New Class-Book. Cotton Plant, Arkansas: James L.
Howell, 1859.
1861
Howe, Elias. Diamond School for the Violin. Boston: E. Howe, @ 1861 [also
1863].
Winner, Septimus. Perfect Guide for the Violin. Boston: O. Ditson, ? 1861.
1862
Weller, Samuel. New and Improved Instructor for the Violin. Boston: O. Ditson,
1862.
Peters. Peters' Improved School for the Violin. Boston: O. Ditson, 1862.
1863
Brainard, Silas. Melodic School for the Violin; the Studies and Lessons Selected
from the Works of Campagnoli [and others]. Cleveland: Silas Brainard, @ 1863.
Howe, Elias. New Violin Without a Master. Boston: Elias Howe, 1863 [also
1879].
1864
Henning, Carl Wilhelm. Practical Instruction for the Violin on Scientific Prin-
ciples. Boston: O. Ditson, 1864; Chicago: J. Church, 18??.
Winner, Septimus. New Primer for the Violin. New York: Pond & Co., 1864.
1866
Winner, Septimus. Easy System for the Violin. Boston: O. Ditson, 1866.
1869
Listemann, Bernard. A Method of Modern Violin Playing. Boston: O. Ditson,

1869.
Winner, Septimus. Winner's New School for the Violin. Boston: O. Ditson, 1869.
1870s
David, Ferdinand Victor. Violinschule. Violin School. New York: G. Schirmer,
187?.
Kayser, Heinrich Ernst. 36 Violin Studies. Composed to Precede the Celebrated

Study of Kreutzer, op. 20. Boston: O. Ditson, 187?.
Wichtl, Georg. M&thode pratique pour les amateurs. Practical Violin School for
Amateurs, op. 11. Offenbach: J. Andr6; Philadelphia: G. Andre, 187?.
196 Eddy
1870
Gaertner, Karl. Violin School. Philadelphia: Andre & Co., 1870.

Wichtl, Georg. The Young Violinist: Or, First Instructions in Violin-Playing. Bos-
ton: 0. Ditson, 1870 [also 1898].
Winner, Septimus. Winner's Pocket Preceptor for the Violin. Philadelphia: Win-
ner, 1870 [and 1898].
1872
Howe, Elias. Howe's Eclectic School for the Violin Without a Master. Boston: E.
Howe, ? 1872.
Ryan, Sidney. True Violinist. Cincinnati: Church & Co., 1872.
1873
B&riot, Charles de. Method for the Violin. Boston: White, 1873 [Vol. 2 in 1879].
Clarke, William Horatio. Clarke's Dollar Instructor for the Violin. Boston and
New York: O. Ditson, 1873.
Eichberg, Julius. Method for the Violin. Boston: White, Smith & Perry, 1873
[also 1879].
Winner, Septimus. Violin Study. Philadelphia: Winner & Son, 1873.
1874
Mazas, Jacques FRreol. Method for the Violin. Lee and Walker's New and Correct
Edition. Philadelphia: Lee and Walker, 1874 or 1875.
1876
Eichberg, Julius. Complete Method for the Violin. Boston: White, Smith & Co.,
1876 [also 1879].
Mack, Edward. Mack's Analytical Method for the Violin. Boston: O. Ditson, 1876.
1877
Winner, Septimus. Winner's Violin Gamut. Philadelphia: S. Winner & Son, ?

1877.
1879
B~riot, Charles de. DeB&riot's Method for the Violin. Boston: Jean White, @ 1879
[also 1883].
Howe, Elias. Western Violin School. Chicago: Howe & Grant, 1879.
1880s
Schradieck, Henry. Tonleiter Studien. Scale Studies for Violin. New York: C. Fischer,
188?.
1880
Courvoisier, Karl. The Technics of Violin Playing. Edited and translated by H. E.

Krehbiel. New York: G. Schirmer, 1880; Cincinnati: A. E. Wilde & Co., @
1880 [2d rev. ed., Schirmer, @ 1896].
Mazas, Jacques F&r6ol. Etudes melodiques et progressives. Braunschweig: H.
Litolff; Boston: Arthur P. Schmidt & Co., @ 1880.
1881
Dancla, Charles. Conservatory Method for Violin. Boston: White, @ 1881.

David, Ferdinand Victor. David's Violin School. Boston: O. Ditson, 1881.
1882
Alard, Jean Delphin. Alard's Conservatory Method for the Violin. Boston: White,
1882?.
Bowman, A. S. Excelsior Method and Progressive School for the Violin. Phila-
delphia: J. W. Pepper, @ 1882.
Schubert, Louis. Violin School, op. 50. Translated and edited by Benjamin
Cutter, Boston: O. Ditson, 1882-1909.
Winner, Septimus. Ideal Method for the Violin. Boston: O. Ditson, 1882.
1883
Honeyman, William Crawford. The Violin and How to Master It. New York:
C. Fischer; Boston: J. White, @ 1883.
1884
Dancla, Charles. Violin Method, Elementary and Progressive. Boston: White-

Smith, ? 1884.
Mazas, Jacques Fereol. Caecilian Edition of Mazas' Complete Violin Method, With
Pleyel's Celebrated Duets. Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, 1884 [also New York:
S. T. Gordon; New York: E A. Rocker; New York: J. Church].
Winner, Septimus. Winner's National Violinist. n.p.: W. F. Shaw, @ 1884.
- .Hurst
Model Violin School (Hurst's Model Method for Violin). New York:
& Co., @ 1884.
-- . Violin Tutor. Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, @ 1884.
- . Practical School for the Violin. n.p.: B. E Banes, @ 1884.
1885
Alard, Jean Delphin. Alard's Complete and Progressive Paris Conservatory Method
for the Violin. Edited and translated by C. N. Allen. Boston: White, 1885.
Bowers. Bowers' Popular Method for the Violin. Chicago: Lyon & Healy, 1885.
Coes, George H. Coes' Popular Method for the Violin. New York: T. B. Harms
& Co., 1885.
Henning, Carl Wilhelm. School for the Violin, Op. 15. New York: White and
Smith, ? 1885.
Kreutzer, Rodolphe. 42 Studies or Caprices for the Violin. New York: White-
Smith, 1885.
1886
Howe, Elias. Original Violin School: Without a Master. Boston: E Trifet, 1894
[? 1886].
Leonard, Hubert. Violin Method. Translated and arranged by Belle Botsford.
Boston: O. Ditson, 1886.
Schradieck, Henry. Scale Studies for Violin. Boston: Boston Music Co., 1886
[also New York: Fischer, 1887].
Winner, Septimus. Self Instructor for the Violin (J. W. Pepper's New and Popular
Series). Philadelphia: J. W. Pepper, @ 1886 [also Philadelphia: M. D. Swisher,
1887].
1887
Schubert, Louis. Violin School, op. 50. Translated by Ambrose Davenport.
Boston: White-Smith, ? 1887.
198 Eddy
Wichtl, Georg. Wichtl's Y

1892].
Wohlfahrt, Franz. EtUden for Violin. New York: Fischer, 1887.
1888
Hofmann, Richard. Violin School, ed. and rev. W. E. Hemendahl. New York:
G. Schirmer, @ 1888.
1889
Benjamin, Lewis A. Free Violin Schools. n.p.: John Church, 1889.

Kreutzer, Rodolphe. 42 EtUden fur Violine. Edited and translated by E. Buek.
Leipzig: F. Kistner; New York: G. Schirmer, @ 1889.
Winner, Septimus. Champion School for the Violin. Philadelphia: Robert C.
Kretschmar, 1889.
-- . Grand Method for the Violin. Philadelphia: Septimus Winner & Son,
1889.
". Violin Practice. [n.p.]: W. F. Shaw, @ 1889.

1890s
B~riot, Charles de. M&thode de violon. Violin School. Translated by W. J. West-

brook. New York: G. Schirmer, 189?.
Mazas, Jacques Fereol. Complete Violin Method, With Pleyel's Celebrated Duetts.
Boston: O. Ditson, 189? [also New York: S. T. Gordon, 18??].
1890
Brayley, George. Practical Violin Lessons. Boston: Brayley, 1890.

Winner, Septimus. Boston Method for the Violin. Boston: White-Smith, @ 1890.
. Improved Method for the Violin. Toledo, Ohio: W. W. Whitney Co.,
? 1890.
1891
Benjamin, Frank T. Free Violin Schools. Philadelphia: Frank T. Benjamin, 1891.

Howe, Elias. Popular Violin School. Cincinnati: Wurlitzer, @ 1891.
Loppentien, J. D. Abstract of Instruction on the Violin. Pittsburgh: J. D. Lop-
pentien, 1891.
Schradieck, Henry. Technical Violin School. Boston: White, 1891.
Winner, Septimus. Eureka Method for the Violin. Boston: O. Ditson, 1891.
1892
B~riot, Charles de. Method for Violin. New York: Carl Fischer, @ 1892.
Brayley, George. How to Bow the Violin. Boston: Geo. Brayley, 1892.
Henning, Carl and Theodore. Practical Method on Scientific Principles for Violin,
op 15. New York: Carl Fischer, @ 1892.
1893
B~riot, Charles de. Method for the Violin. Edited by Paul Loring. Boston: O.
Ditson, ? 1893.
Domerc, Jules. 35 Progressive Studies in Double Notes for the Violin. Salem,
Mass: Missud, 1893.
Schradieck, Henry. Chord Studies for Violin. New York: Carl Fischer, 1893.
Kreutzer, Rodolphe. 42 Studies or Caprices for the Violin. Edited by Emil Kross.
Boston: White-Smith, @ 1893.
1894
Alard, Jean Delphin. Alard's Complete Conservatory Method for the Violin. New
York: Carl Fischer, @ 1894.
Kreutzer, Rodolphe. 42 Studies or Caprices for the Violin. Edited and revised
by Edmund Singer. New York: G. Schirmer, @ 1894.
Wohlfahrt, Franz. Easiest Beginning Elementary Method for Violin, op. 38. New
York: Carl Fischer, @ 1894.
1895
Dont, Jacques. 24 Exercises for the Violin, op. 37. New York: G. Schirmer, 1895.
Fiorillo, Federigo. 36 Studies or Caprices for the Violin. Edited by Henry Schra-
dieck. New York: G. Schirmer, @ 1895.
Kayser, Heinrich Ernst. 36 Elementary and Progressive Studies for Violin, op. 20.
New York: G. Schirmer, 1895.
Rode, Pierre. 24 Caprices (Studies) for the Violin. Edited by Ferdinand David.
New York: G. Schirmer; Boston: The Boston Music Co., @ 1895 [also Boston:
A. P. Schmidt, 18??].
Schradieck, Henry. Scale Studies for the Violin. New York: G. Schirmer, 1895.
1896
Gruenberg, Eugene. The Violinist's Manual. Translated by Edward Breck. New

York: G. Schirmer, 1896.
Schubert, Louis. Violin Method, op. 50. Translated by Dr. Theodore Baker. New
York: G. Schirmer, @ 1896.
Wilhelmj, August. Exercises in Thirds for the Violin. n.p.: St. Cecilia Music
Publishing Co., @ 1895; New York: G. Schirmer, @ 1896.
1897
Dont, Jacob. 20 Progressive Exercises for the Violin, op. 38. New York: G. Schirmer,
1897.
Hofmann, Richard. The First Studies for the Violin, op. 25. New York: Fischer,
1897.
Marcuson, Ph. Finger Guide, or Self-Instructor for the Violin. Baltimore: Ph.
Marcuson, 1897.
Mazas, Jacques F6reol. 75 Melodious and Progressive Studies for Violin, op. 36.
New York: Carl Fischer, @ 1897.
Meyer, L. Method of the 3d Position, Op. 6. New York: Carl Fischer, @ 1897.
Schradieck, Henry. A Rudimentary Instruction-Book for the Violin. New York:
1898
Mazas, Jacques F6r6ol. 75 Melodious and Progressive Studies for the Violin. Edited
by Fr. Hermann. New York: G. Schirmer, @ 1898.
Wilhelmj, August. A Modern School for the Violin. London and New York:
Novello Ewer & Co., 1898-1908.
1899
B~riot, Charles de. Method for the Violin. Edited, revised, and translated by
George Lehmann. New York: G. Schirmer, 1899-1906.
Gruenberg, Eugene. Scales and Chords for the Violin. Boston: New England
Conservatory, ? 1899.
200 Eddy
Hofmann, Richard. Tec

New York: G. Schirmer, 1899.
Hohmann, Christian Heinrich. Practical Method for Violin. Edited by Philipp
Mittell. New York: G. Schirmer; Boston: Boston Music Co., @ 1899.
Lehmann, George. True Principles of the Art of Violin-Playing. New York:
Schradieck, Henry. The School of Violin-Technics. New York: G. Schirmer, 1899-
1900.
Winner, Septimus. Imperial School for the Violin. Indianapolis: Wulschner &
Son, ? 1899.
1904
Clarke, William Horatio. Clarke's New American Teacher for the Violin. n.p.:
J. Lentin, @ 1904.
1905
Guckert, E. N. Illustrated Self-Instructor for the Violin. Toledo, Ohio: Guckert

Music Co., 1905.
NOTES
A version of this paper was read at the Mid-Atlantic Chapter meeting of the Coll
Music Society at the University of Maryland (College Park, Maryland) on April 1, 1
1. Oscar Sonneck, Early Concert-Life in America (Leipzig, Breitkopf & Hartel, 1
9; note that the Selectmen of Boston had opposed the establishment of Mr. Ensto
school.
2. Roger Paul Phelps, The History and Practice of Chamber Music in the United States
from Earliest Times Up to 1875 (Ph.D. diss., State University of Iowa, 1951), 1:202.
3. Phelps, 1:118.
4. Phelps, 1:161. The "clapsichord" is probably a clavichord; the "double courtel"
(curtal), a forerunner of the bassoon.
5. Phelps, 1:105-108; Maurer Maurer, "A Musical Family in Colonial Virginia,"' Musical
Quarterly 34 (1948): 360.
6. Nema Wethersby Colee, Mississippi Music and Musicians, 1948, 7-8, quoted by
Phelps, 1:322.
7. See, for example, Helen Cripe, Thomas Jefferson and Music (Charlottesville: Uni-
versity Press of Virginia, 1974).
8. Karl Kroeger, "Moravian Church, music of the;' The New Grove Dictionary of
American Music (London and New York, 1986; hereafter NGDAM) 3:271-73. For a list
of violin tutors in the collection of the Moravian Music Foundation, Winston-Salem,
North Carolina, see Albert R. Rice, "Instrumental Tutors and Treatises at Winston-
Salem," Moravian Music Journal 30, no. 2 (Fall, 1985): 34-35.
9. Phelps, 1:315.
10. The St. Cecilia Society was founded in 1762 and ceased after about 1810. In 1799
came the founding of the first New York Philharmonic Society, which was active until
1816. A second incarnation existed from 1824 to 1827; the third New York Philharmonic
Society, predecessor of the present-day New York Philharmonic Orchestra, was instituted
in 1842. The Handel and Haydn [Oratorio] Society was founded in 1815; the Musical
Fund Society, an organization whose proceeds were used, according to its bylaws, "for
the relief and support of decayed musicians and their families;' was organized in 1820.
See Phelps, 1, passim, Howard Shanet, Philharmonic: A History of New York's Orchestra
(Garden City, New York: Doubleday, 1975), especially 43-53 and 79-86, and the fol-
lowing articles in NGDAM: John Joseph Hindman, "Charleston" (1:407-09); Irving Ko-
lodin, Francis D. Perkins, Susan Thiemann Sommer, "New York: Orchestras and bands"
(3:355-59); H. Earle Johnson, "Handel and Haydn Society" (2:318); Abram Loft, "Unions,
musicians" (4:434-36); Otto E. Albrecht, "Philadelphia: The Musical Fund Society"
(3:550-51).
11. H. Earle Johnson, "Germania Musical Society," NGDAM 2:198.
12. Leonard Burkat (with Gilbert Ross), "Chamber Music," NGDAM 1:398-99, and
Jeffrey R. Rehbach, "Mendelssohn Quintette Club,' NGDAM 3:208.
13. Ole Bull made five American concert tours between 1843 and 1879; Vieuxtemps
came three times, in 1843-44, 1857-58, and 1870-71. Urso toured in 1852-55 and from
1862 on; Sarasate between 1867 and 1871; Wieniawski in 1872; and Musin and Powell
in the 1880s. See Alberto A. Bachmann, Encyclopedia of the Violin (New York and London:
Appleton, 1926), 336-414 passim, and Boris Schwartz, "Sarasate (y Navascuez), Pablo
(Martin Meliton)," New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians (London, 1980; hereafter
New Grove), 16:496-97.
14. Oberlin opened in 1865, and Peabody, which had been established in 1857, opened
in 1867, as did the New England, Boston, and Cincinnati Conservatories. The next year
saw the opening of the first west-coast conservatory, in Los Angeles. See Edward Fitz-
patrick, The Music Conservatory in America, D.M.A. thesis, Boston University, 1963,
passim; Richard Colwell and James W. Pruett, "Education in Music,"' NGDAM 2:11-21.
15. Social orchestra music was published in score in plentiful quantities from ca. 1840
on; the violin had an important part in both the smaller social orchestras (violins 1-2,
clarinet, comet, bass) and in the larger ones (full string section, 2 clarinets, 2 comets,
2 horns, 2 trombones, bass trombone, ophicleide, percussion). See Ralph T. Dudgeon,
"Recreating the 19th Century Social Orchestra: Repertoire, Instrumentation and Per-
formance Practice,' paper presented to the Sonneck Society, April 1987.
16. Alice M. Hanson, "The 'Hawthorne Ballads' of Septimus Winner: A Mirror of
American Musical Tastes and Business Practice;' paper presented to the Sonneck Society,
April, 1987; Nicholas E. Tawa, "Winner, Septimus," NGDAM 4:542.
17. Cynthia Adams Hoover, "Howe, Elias," NGDAM 2:435.
18. Howe's Diamond School for the Violin (Boston: E. Howe, @ 1861) and his Western
Violin School (Chicago: Howe & Grant, @ 1879), for example, have the same instructions
and different music. The anthologies of tunes contained in violin method-books provide
a wealth of source material for those interested in tracing the paths of American nine-
teenth-century popular music.
19. George Saunders, author of A New and Scientific Self-Instructing School for the
Violin (Boston: Ditson, @ 1847 [Saunders, 1847]), advertises his work as "selected from
the best authors in Europe;' and exhorts earnest students of the violin to avoid "those
violin books gotten up by mere publishers" (3).
20. The first French edition of Geminiani's major work was L'Art de jouer le violon,
1752. A second French edition, with changes, was published by Sieber in Paris as L'Art
du violon ou m~thode raisonnbe, presumably in 1803. Artaria of Vienna put out a German
translation, grUndliche Anleitung oder Violinschule, sometime between 1785 and 1805.
See Francesco Geminiani: The Art of Playing on the Violin, 1751, (New York: Oxford
University Press, [1951]), facsimile edition edited by David Boyden, x-xi, and Robin
Stowell, Violin Technique and Performance Practice in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nine-
teenth Centuries (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985), 373.
21. The chronology and history of the works published in England are complicated.
In 1959 and 1960 David Boyden demonstrated that The Art of Playing on the Violin is
the only work demonstrably from Geminiani's pen, and that Part 5 of Prelleur's The
Modern Musick-Master, far from being Geminiani's, had probably been cribbed from a
202 Eddy
tutor published in late 169

Play on the Violin whether
name include The Compleat
Instructions for the Violi
Instructions for the Violin
and Compleat Tutor to the V
Violin (London, G. Gouldin
Violin (London, ca. 1792,
and the First Violin Tuto
and the First Violin Tutor,
Geminiani: The Art of Play
Performance Practice, 373.
22. This work is not to m
Early Secular American M
334.
23. Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the Violin, 1-2; Boyles, Abstract of Geminiani's
Art of Playing on the Violin (Boston: Boyles, 1769) [Boyles, 1769], 3. Later European
translations of Geminiani suggest bracing the instrument with the chin (see Stowell,
Violin Technique and Performance Practice, 41). There were several different ways of
holding the instrument in the eighteenth century. In his An Introduction to the Art of
Playing on the Violin (London, 1766), Stephen Philpot says (p. 5): "The Method I learnt
was to rest it upon the Collar bone, the Tail piece rather of the left side of the Chin. ..."
(This position had been advocated in print as early as 1761, by L'Abb6 le fils.) As late
as 1884, Winner's National Violinist (n.p.: W. F. Shaw, @ 1884) admits (p. 11) that "Many
persons hold the violin against the breast, under the lapel of the coat." For recent
discussions of the question of positioning the instrument in the eighteenth century, see
Peter Walls, "Violin Fingering in the Eighteenth Century," Early Music 12 (August 1984),
especially 303-304, and Sonya Monosoff, "Violin Fingering,' Early Music 13 (February
1985), especially 76.
24. Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the Violin, 1; Boyles, 1769, 3. Later writers
recommending the "Geminiani grip" include Leopold Mozart, in the 1769-70 edition
of his Versuch einer grUndlichen Violinschule, Baillot, and Campagnoli. See Stowell, Violin
Technique and Performance Practice, 54-55.
25. A New Tutor for the Violin (Riley's Violin Preceptor) (New York: E. Riley, 182?)
[Riley, 182?], 18.
26. Saunders, 1847, 12.
27. Howe, Violin Without a Master (Boston: Howe, 1847; Ditson, 1850) [Howe/Ditson,
1850], 7.
28. Winner, Imperial School for the Violin (Indianapolis: Wulschner & Son, 1899)
[Winner, 1899], 20.
29. Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the Violin, 2; Boyles, 1769, 4. We will find that
Geminiani's suggestions in regard to bowing had a prolonged influence on American
amateur players (see below).
30. Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the Violin, 2. As Robin Stowell has pointed out,
the messa di voce, far from being a peculiarity of Geminiani's style, was a standard
feature of late eighteenth-century playing; Leopold Mozart, to take another important
writer, describes it as one of four types of bowing, the others being crescendo, dimin-
uendo, and double messa di voce. (See Stowell, "Violin Bowing in Transition," Early
Music 12 (August 1984): 322, and Leopold Mozart, A Treatise on the Fundamental Prin-
ciples of Violin Playing, transl. Editha Knocker [Oxford, 1948], 97-99. But Mozart's treatise
was not published in the United States in the nineteenth century, and most American
players were probably not familiar with it. It seems clear that Americans learned the
swelling and softening of the tone from Geminiani, via Boyles.
31. It appears again in the following sources: Samuel Holyoke, The Instrumental
Assistant (Exeter, New Hampshire: H. Ramlet, 1807 [Holyoke, 1807]; omitting only the
specific discussion of wrist position in the up- and down-bow); New and Compleat Tutor
for the Violin (New York: J. A. and W. Geib, ca. 1820) [Geib, ca. 1820]; Violin Instructer
(Hallowell, Maine: Glazier, Masters, and Smith, 1828); Ebenezer Leach, A New and
Highly Improved Violin Preceptor (Utica: William Williams, 1817 [Leach, 1817]; excerpts,
slightly reworded); Riley, 182?; Winner, Practical School for the Violin (n.p.: B. F Banes,
1884; quoting only Geminiani's instructions about swelling and softening the tone);
Winner, Self Instructor for the Violin (Philadelphia: J. W. Pepper, 1886) [Winner, 1886];
and in the tutor described in note 44 below.
32. Ezekiel Goodale, The Instrumental Director, 4th ed. (Hallowell: Glazier, Masters
& Co., 1836; 1819) [Goodale, @ 1819], 26.
33. Howe/Ditson, 1850, 7.
34. Howe, New American Violin School (New York: S. T. Gordon & Son, 1857), 7.
35. Howe, Original Violin School Without a Master (Boston: F Trifet, 1894; @ 1886)
[Howe, 1886], 3. Winner, 1899, has similar directions.
36. Illustrated Self-Instructor (Toledo, Ohio: Guckert Music Co., 1905) [Guckert, 1905],
9.
37. Boyles, 1769, 4-5. His only-editorial change occurs in the phrase "the more you
advance towards the bridge"; Geminiani's words were (p. 2) "the more you advance
in the other Orders [meaning positions]."
38. Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the Violin, 2; Boyles, 1769, 5.
39. Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the Violin, 6-8; Boyles, 1769, 7-10. In his section
on the Close Shake Boyles also gives only Geminiani's technical description, omitting
the next paragraphs where Geminiani elegantly expresses his convictions about musical
aesthetics. Boyles substitutes for the latter his own observation that the player should
never shake on an open string.
40. See Malcolm Boyd and John Rayson, "The Gentleman's Diversion: John Lenton
and the First Violin Tutor," Early Music 10 (July 1982): 329-32, and note 21 above.
Nolens Volens offers the barest of rudimentary information about tuning, holding, and
playing the violin. It would have been forgotten by later generations had it not been
used to such advantage by Prelleur and others after him.
41. Boyden, "Geminiani and the First Violin Tutor," 168. The changes after 1800 to
which Boyden refers are, among others, two late eighteenth-century alterations in struc-
ture of the violin (a higher bridge and the angling of the neck downwards from the
body), both of which increased string tension and downward pressure on the bridge,
requiring a larger bass bar and sturdier internal supports and enabling the production
of louder, more brilliant tone. In addition, the playing of pitches at the upper end of
the range was facilitated by a lengthening of the fingerboard toward the bridge. The
concave Tourte bow, replacing the older convex bow, made it easier to sustain loud
tones and encouraged the d6tach6, martel6, and staccato strokes now considered the
foundation of bowing technique.
42. As given by Prelleur, The Modern Musick-Master, 5:2.
43. The Violin Preceptor, or Compleat Tutor (New York: J. Hewitt's Musical Repository,
ca. 1802) [Hewitt, ca. 1802], 1.
44. Tutor No. 45 (title-page missing) in the collection of the Moravian Music Foun-
dation, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Howe/Ditson, 1850, has almost the same words
about the position of the elbow and the fingers (p. 7).
45. As given by Prelleur, The Modern Musick-Master, 5:2.
46. Examples include: Hewitt, ca. 1802; Leach, 1817 (it recommends the use of "a
pair of composes" to measure the seventh line); New and Compleat Preceptor (Phila-
delphia: George E. Blake, ca. 1810?) [Blake, ca. 1810?]; Geib, ca. 1820; New and Complete
Preceptor (Philadelphia: Klemm & Brother, ca. 1822); Howe/Ditson, 1850 (without the
204 Eddy
compasses); Howe, New Amer

(Boston: Ditson, 1861); Winne
Boston Method for the Violi
the Violin (Boston: Ditson,
Boston Method, and Imperi
way (tuning the E, D, and G
tuning fork).
47. Bales, The Instrumental Preceptor (New York: Cornish, Lamport & Co., 1851), 5;
Howe, 1886, 3-4.
48. Chappell White, "Bartolomeo Campagnoli," New Grove 3:652-53.
49. Stowell, Violin Technique and Performance Practice, 372. White doubts "the un-
supported assumption that an Italian edition appeared in 1797;' but seems not to have
been aware of the 1803 second edition, for he gives 1824 as the date of first publication,
in Leipzig. See White, "Bartolomeo Campagnoli,"' New Grove 3:653.
50. Although Ditson's edition bears no date, it is advertised in Dwight's Journal of
Music, 12, no. 20 (February 13, 1858): 367.
51. Howe, The Violin Complete (Boston: Elias Howe, 1849) [Howe, 1849], 21.
52. Stowell has pointed out (Violin Technique and Performance Practice, 96) that late
eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century writers made few observations about the mech-
anism of shifting. One of Campagnoli's few directives about shifting-which Howe
passes on-was to remove the thumb from its position under the neck and place it on
the rib of the instrument when moving to high positions.
53. Howe, Popular Violin School (Cincinnati: Wurlitzer, @ 1891), 9-13 (Howe also
includes Prelleur's ideas about tuning, thus mixing eighteenth- and nineteenth-century
ideas in his tutor); Campagnoli, A New and Progressive Method, Part the First, Lessons
1-12 (p. viii). George Brayley's Practical Violin Lessons (Boston: Brayley, 1890) also
mentions (p. 3) that the fingers should "press on the string, so the nails will touch the
fingerboard, having the joints perpendicular and firm like little hammers."
54. White, "Campagnoli"' 653.
55. A New and Progressive Method, vi. Note also that the rule of down-bow (mentioned
above) was very old even by Campagnoli's time; it appeared in instructions for string-
players as early as the sixteenth century, and was made famous in the seventeenth
century by Lully and his well-drilled 24 Violons du Roi. Geminiani in the eighteenth
century lamented the protracted influence of "that wretched Rule of drawing the Bow
down at the first Note of every Bar." (Geminiani, The Art of Playing on the Violin, 4.) It
persists in the early stages of string players' training today.
56. Winner, Easy System for the Violin (Boston: Ditson, 1866) [Winner, 1866], 10: "The
little finger must preserve the equilibrium of the bow; and to this end it must lie extended
upon the stick, so that its tip may be placed opposite to the nut of the bow.... The
thumb, the elbow, and that part of the arm which sustains the bow, must always be
kept in the same line and on the same level." Winner reversed the order of these
prescriptions from what Campagnoli had (A New and Progressive Method, vi): "The
thumb, the hand, the elbow, and the entire portion of the arm which sustains the bow,
must be kept quite on a level; or, in other words, at the same height.... The little finger
must keep the bow at an equilibrium, and lie extended on the stick, so that its point
may fall opposite the nut." Winner's Pocket Preceptor for the Violin (Philadelphia: Winner,
1870 and 1898) is very similar to the Easy System, containing several of the same
borrowings. It should also be noted, with regard to Campagnoli's way of holding the
bow, that in the nineteenth century the manner of holding the bow was never entirely
standardized. Stowell has referred both to Spohr's observation that E W. Pixis held his
bow away from the frog, and to Carl Flesch's similar report about Jean-Baptiste Dancla.
See Stowell, "Violin Bowing in Transition," 318.
57. Winner, 1866, 10 (also Winner, 1870); Campagnoli (A New and Progressive Method,
vi-vii) had as section 9 under "Position of the Right Arm" the following: "The wrist
must act with the greatest possible address and facility. It must be considered as a spring
which directs all the elastic movements of the bow."
58. Winner, 1866, 10; Campagnoli, A New and Progressive Method, vii, "On the Man-
agement of the Bow," section 3: "in the up-bow, the hand will be turned outwards,
imperceptibly, and the arm closed."
59. New American Violin School, 1857, 6; also Winner, Violin Primer, Violin Without a
Master (New York: Firth, Pond & Co., 1857 and 1858), 20-21. Howe uses Campagnoli's
Part 1, sections 3-15, 23, 27, 29, 38, and 41, and Part 2, section 76. Several of these
borrowings can be found as well in Winner's The Violin Primer.
60. The first music school in Paris was the Ecole Royale de Chant, founded in 1783;
it was soon challenged by a second organization, the Ecole pour la Musique de la Garde
Nationale (1792). The Conservatoire National de Musique et de D6clamation (1795) had
started a few years earlier as the Institut National de Musique (1793). Conservatories
on the Parisian model were founded in Prague, Graz, and Vienna in the first two decades
of the century. Many others, of which the most important was the Leipzig Conservatory
(1843), followed. A brief history of the first American conservatories is given above (n.
14). See Denis Arnold, "Education in Music: Conservatories," New Grove 6:19-20, and
Henry Radiguer, "Bernard Sarrette: La Foundation du Conservatoire," Encyclopatdie de
la Musique, ed. Albert Lavignac (Paris: Delagrave, 1913), 3:1566-69.
61. Rode studied with Viotti as a youth. Neither Baillot nor Kreutzer is known actually
to have been his student, but both were strongly influenced by his playing. See Paul
David and Manoug Parikian, "Pierre (Marie Francois de Sales) Baillot," New Grove 2:37;
Boris Schwarz, "(Jacques) Pierre (Joseph) Rode,"' New Grove 16:87-88; and David Charl-
ton, "Rodolphe Kreutzer," New Grove 10: 260-62.
62. Rode, Baillot, and Kreutzer, Mfthode de Violon (Paris, 1803). See Stowell, Violin
Technique and Performance Practice, 3, and Owen Jander, "The 'Kreutzer Sonata' as
Dialogue," Early Music 16 (February 1988), 36.
63. Baillot & Kreutzer's Method of Instruction, for the violin, edited by Baillot, and adopted
by the Conservatory of Paris. Translated from the original edition. London, T Boosey, [1819?].
64. System for the Violin, by Baillot, Rode, Kreutzer. Arranged by Baillot. MWthode de
violon (New York: Firth & Hall [date of publication is uncertain: the card in the New
York Public Library catalogue dates it 182?, and that of the Library of Congress 183?]);
Rode, Baillot and Kreutzer, Celebrated Method for the Violin (Philadelphia: George E.
Blake, 183?).
65. Celebrated Method, 3.
66. Howe, 1849, 14. He elaborates on RBK's information as he explains the further
history of the instrument.
67. Winner, 1857, 18. The "Hamilton" to whom Winner refers may be J. A. Hamilton,
author of Catechism of the Violin (London, ca. 1840; 5th ed., 1848) and A Complete and
Popular Course of Instructions for the Violin (London, ca. 1840) [see Stowell, Violin
Technique and Performance Practice, 374], or William Hamilton, author of The Violin
Preceptor, or Pocket Guide to the Art of Playing the Violin (Glasgow and London, 18??).
68. Ole Bull Violin Instruction Book (Boston: Keith, 1845) [Keith, 1845], 10. This book,
interestingly, seems to have been published in the wake of the Norwegian violinist's
successful American tour of 1843. Although a portrait of Bull appears on p. 10, it is not
clear whether he had anything to do with the writing of the method.
69. Celebrated Method, 4. From here on it becomes more difficult to recognize direct
borrowings from RBK, because the French method had such a widespread influence on
European players. The thoughts expressed in RBK with regard to position and technique
filtered down through the writings of other early nineteenth-century teachers. Thus,
with American methods it is hard to say whether passages resembling RBK actually
206 Eddy
come from the French sou

then, may be more conject
70. Spohr remarked in his
more than ten years. See S
first reference to the chi
States is in The Violin and
(New York: Carl Fischer, c
71. Improved and Complete
Firth & Hall, 183?), 6. Cam
manner of holding the in
Instructions is closest to that of RBK.
72. Winner, Improved Method (Philadelphia: Charles H. Davis, 1854), 13; Champion
School for the Violin (Philadelphia: Robert C. Kretschmar, 1889), 7. The Champion School,
for example, has: "The Violin is placed on the collar-bone, and held firmly by the chin,
which rests to the left of the tail-piece; it is pressed slightly against the neck, so that it
inclines downward a little, towards the right. It is held in a horizontal position, while
its neck must be in a direct line with the centre of the left shoulder. The elbow is brought
forward under the middle of the Violin, by which the left shoulder, of itself, assumes
the proper position to support it."
73. Celebrated Method, 4 (Article 2).
74. Firth & Hall, 183?, 6; Winner, Champion School, 1889; Winner, Improved Method,
1854, 13.
75. Howe, 25-30; RBK, Celebrated Method, 45-50. This is remarkably detailed infor-
mation for an American treatise, although many of them give exercises in varieties of
bowings.
76. David Charlton, "Jacques-F6reol Mazas,' New Grove 11:863-64.
77. Mbthode de violon, suivi d'un traith des sons harmoniques... aprNs le systeme de
Paganini (Paris: Frey, 1830). His other pedagogical works include Petite mbthode de violon
extraite de la grande (Paris & Bonn, ca. 1832), L'Ecole du violoniste (Paris, 1839), 115
Etudes melodiques et progressives (date unknown to me; perhaps this collection is the
source of the 75 Etudes melodiques et progressives, op. 36, that appears on the checklist
above), and a Mtthode pour l'alto (Paris: Frey; Bonn: Simrock, date unknown to me).
See Charlton, "Mazas," 864; Stowell, Violin Technique and Performance Practice, 370;
Frangois J. Fetis, Biographie universelle des musiciens, 2me ed. (Paris: Firmin Didot Frbres,
1866-70), 6:46.
78. Stowell, Violin Technique and Performance Practice, 371.
79. Mazas, Mtthode ... (1830), preface, as translated in Mazas, Method for the Violin
(Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, 1874 or 1875), 6. I have consistently used the text in this
edition, the earliest English translation that I have been able to examine, in this study.
80. Improved Method, 1854, 13. Winner quotes all but Mazas's last sentence.
81. Improved Method, 1854, 42. It is not clear where he expected the student to find
Mazas; perhaps there was an English or an American edition before 1854. By 1814
Mazas was known in England, since he toured there in that year, but I have not been
able to find reference to an early English translation of the Mtthode.
82. Mazas, Method for the Violin, 6; Winner, Improved Method, 1854, 13; Mack's An-
alytical Method for the Violin (Boston: Ditson, 1876) [Mack, 1876], 4.
83. Howe, 1849, 19.
84. Mazas, Method for the Violin, 6; Winner, Improved Method, 1854, 13; Mack,
1876, 4.
85. Winner, Improved Method, 1854, 13-14; Mack, 1876, 5; Howe, 1849, 19. Mazas
was somewhat old-fashioned (although not alone) in recommending placement of the
bow-hand somewhat up from the frog. See Stowell, Violin Technique and Performance
Practice, 59-61.
86. Mazas, Method for the Violin, 6; Winner, Improved Method, 1854, 14; Mack, 1876,
5; Howe, 1849, 19; Peters' Improved School for the Violin (Boston: Ditson & Co., 1862)
[Ditson, 1862], 4. Note the use of the word "his." It is not neutral with respect to gender,
for the violin was still not generally considered a suitable instrument for young girls to
study, in spite of Camilla Urso's brilliant example. For a historical account of women
and the violin (among other instruments), see Judith Tick, "Passed Away is the Piano
Girl: Changes in American Musical Life, 1870-1900,' Women Making Music, ed. Jane
Bowers and Judith Tick (Urbana and Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 1986), es-
pecially 325-30.
87. Mazas, Method for the Violin, 7; Winner, Improved Method, 1854, 14-15; Mack,
1876, 5. Ditson, 1862 (p. 4) quotes some of Mazas's suggestions about posture: "Let
the head be erect, and be careful that it does not follow the motions of the bow. Avoid
the common habit of leaning the head on the shoulder when playing on the fourth
string." It should be noted that Mack misquotes Mazas on one detail. Mazas says that
finger pressure on the strings "must be stronger than that of the bow, or at least equal
to it, when playing with much strength. The wrist and the palm of the hand must in
no case participate in the motion of the fingers." Mack, misreading some of the punc-
tuation, says that the finger pressure "must be stronger than that of the bow, or at least
equal to it. When playing with much strength, the wrist and palm of the hand must in
no case participate with the motion of the fingers," implying that when not playing with
strength, the wrist and palm may participate in the motion.
88. Mack, 1876, 6.
89. Stowell, Violin Technique and Performance Practice, 371. A "revised and edited"
edition by Henry Holmes with preface dated 1832, was published in London and New
York by Boosey & Co.; however, the actual date of publication is not clear. Neither
Homes (1839-1905) nor Florence A. Marshall (1843-?), translator of this edition, was
yet born by 1832. See W. H. Husk and Albert Mell, "Holmes, Henry," New Grove 8:657,
and Don L. Hixon and Don Hennessee, Women in Music: A Bio-Bibliography (Metuchen,
N.J.: The Scarecrow Press, Inc., 1975), 173. Thus the earliest American edition of Spohr
must be Ureli Corelli Hill's [see below].
90. Phelps, 1:340; Robert Stevenson and Betty Bandel, "Ureli Corelli Hill,"' NGDAM
2:386-87; Martin Wulfhorst, "Hill, Spohr, Mendelssohn, and Beethoven's Ninth Sym-
phony: A Mid-Nineteenth-Century Festival in New York," Newsletter, Institute for Studies
in American Music 15:2 (1986), 8-9.
91. Howe, 1849, p. 5.
92. Winner, Improved Method, 1854, 42; Saunders, 1847, 31; Woodbury, The Violin,
Containing Instructions for Playing that Instrument (Boston: Ditson, 1853), 3.
93. J. F Hanks, The American Violinist (New York: S. T. Gordon & Son, @ 1846)
[Hanks, 1846], 91. Silas Brainard's Collection of Instrumental Music... to Which are added
Instructions for Each Instrument (Cleveland: Silas Brainard, @ 1841) also mentions Spohr's
work as an important source to consult.
94. Louis Spohr's Grand Violin School, 5-8.
95. Howe, 1849, 18.
96. Saunders, 1847, 9. Howe's The Violin Complete also borrowed Spohr's remarks
about caring for the violin, as did Winner's Violin Primer (1857); Woodbury's The Violin
(1853) used much of his discussion of the structure and parts of the violin.
97. Violin Technique and Performance Practice, 39-40.
98. Saunders, 1847, 11; Howe, 1849, 19. Even if the player used Spohr's chinrest,
the position of the chin would still be the same, for Spohr's "fiddleholder" rested over
the tailpiece.
99. Louis Spohr's Grand Violin School, 10. The warning about the elbow is a reference
to late eighteenth-century practice, where the arm rested against the body as an additional
support for the instrument. See Stowell, Violin Technique and Performance Practice, 47.
208 Eddy
100. Saunders, 1847, 11-12.

101. Howe, 1849, 19; New American Violin School, 1857, 6. We find this also in several
of Winner's publications: his Violin Gamut (Philadelphia: S. Winner & Son, @ 1877),
Violin Tutor (Philadelphia: Lee & Walker, @ 1884), Model Violin School (New York: Hurst
& Co., @ 1884), and Self Instructor for the Violin (1886): "Hold the Violin with the left
Hand, sustaining
William the neck
Horatio Clarke's byInstructor
Dollar the thumb foragainst the (Boston
the Violin third joint of the
and New first
York: finger...."
Ditson
& Co., 1873) and A. S. Bowman's Excelsior Method and Progressive School for the Violin
(Philadelphia: J. W. Pepper, @ 1882), have similar information.
102. Howe, 1886, 3.
103. Hanks, 1846, 3; Ditson, 1862, 4.
104. Louis Spohr's Grand Violin School, 10. Mazas had also recommended bending the
thumb, but most nineteenth-century writers advised that it be kept straight. See Stowell,
Violin Technique and Performance Practice, 62.
105. Other teachers espousing this idea included L'Abb6 le Fils, RBK, and Mazas. See
Stowell, Violin Technique and Performance Practice, 62-63. Winner's National Violinist
(1884) also quotes most of Spohr's paragraph.
106. Hanks, 1846, 3.
107. Louis Spohr's Grand Violin School, 10. Mazas, too, had pointed out that the fingers
should be close together.
108. Saunders, 1847, 12.
109. Hanks, 1846, 3; Howe, 1849, 19.
110. Louis Spohr's Grand Violin School, 10. This wrist and elbow position were much
like Paganini's. Stowell has noted (Violin Technique and Performance Practice, 58) that
they were very different from the normal modem position.
111. See Stowell, Violin Technique and Performance Practice, 66-67.
112. Hanks, 1846, 3.
113. Hanks used Spohr's exercises 1, 2, and 3 in part, and 15, 23, and 52 in full.
They appear in his book on pp. 6, 23, 25, and 27-28.
114. Keith, 1845, 13.
115. Guckert, 1905, 9.
116. Howe, 1886, 6.
117. Hanks, 1846, 39.
118. Saunders, 1847, 44.
119. Hanks, 1846, 16.
120. Ibid., 92.
121. Parts of the work were published in England about 1812 by C. Wheatstone
(London), but this edition apparently was of but narrow influence; see Alec Hyatt King,
"Note to 1985 Reprint," Leopold Mozart, A Treatise on the Fundamental Principles of
Violin Playing, 2d ed., transl. Editha Knocker (Oxford and New York: Oxford University
Press, 1985), ix-x. I have found no reference to Mozart by American authors or publishers
of the time. The next English translation I know of is Editha Knocker's, first published
in 1947 (also by Oxford University Press).
122. As late as 1889, Winner's Champion School describes the "shake" and appog-
giatura in this old-fashioned way. Earlier examples include Hewitt, ca. 1802, 3; Geib,
ca. 1820, 15; Riley, 182?, 11; Firth and Hall, 183?, 22-23; Saunders, 1847, 10 (his
description of the appoggiatura is old-fashioned, but he explains that trills begin on the
main note), and Winner, 1857, 10, where grace notes are described as taking half the
value of the main note.
123. Hanks, 1846, 39.
124. Fitzpatrick, The Music Conservatory in America, 333; Elizabeth A. Wright, "Eich-
berg, Julius,"' NGDAM 2:23.
125. Fitzpatrick, 236-37, 242, 294, 297, and 329. Gruenberg, who had played violin
in the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, taught at the New England Conservatory after
he emigrated to America in 1891. See Nicolas Slonimsky, rev., Baker's Biographical
Dictionary of Musicians, 7th ed. (New York: Schirmer, 1984), 900.

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American Violin Method-Books and European Teachers, Geminiani to Spohr

Author(s): M. Alexandra Eddy

American Violin Method-Books

From at least the early eighteenth century the violin was an i

an extraordinary good and neat Harpsichord with four stops; a

Both wealthy and poor people owned violins. Governor William

Violinist M. Alexandra Eddy, Assistant Professor of Music at Sweet Briar

owned "'a large bass v

on, numerous method-books were published in the United States for

Francesco Geminiani (1687-1762) was, by any account, a towering

not admit to any borrowing, or do so only obliquely. The three aspects

The bow must be held in the eighteenth-century Italian manner, "at

Elias Howe's Violin Without a Master (1850) gives an old-fashioned

the hollow part of the ar

As Boyles included this discussion in his Abstract, it is likely that his

One of the principal beauties of the Bass-viol is expression; such

Howe's Violin Without a Master tells the learner

Howe reproduces Geminiani's remarks on bowing almost verbatim a

Shifting; ornaments. Boyles includes Geminiani's remarks on shift-

Care is to be taken that the Thumb always remain farther back

the Thumb must be a

OTHER ENGLISH SOURCES

When, in 1959 and 1960, David Boyden disentangled Geminian

Various publishers kept the core of the information in print at le

This old-fashioned method of tuning the other strings to whatever

pitch the E-string ma

Another Italian violinist and teacher of broad nineteenth-centu

discussion of shifting, along with his two-octave scales in various po-

This is the old eighteenth-century Italian manner of holding the bow,

and provides one of Campagnoli's detailed observations in regard to

In pushing the bow upward, the hand must be turned outward

Howe's New American School (1857) takes up Campagnoli's points that

RODE, BAILLOT, KREUTZER

A major development in late eighteenth- and early nineteenth-cen-

servatories across Euro

Introductory material. The most obvious quotations from the M6th-

It is supposed to have been known in the most remote ages. We

The Violin is supposed to have been known in the most remote

Holding the violin. RBK espouses the standard nineteenth-century

Winner's Improved Method (1854) has a similar paragraph, as does his

Another important French figure whose influence we find in ni

slight changes) in a much later method book, Mack's Analytical Method

AMERICAN SYSTEM OF TEACHING

PATWSO PPRB VIOU1W.

Figure 1. Title page of Elias Howe's The Violin Complete (Boston,

(but not Winner) reproduces Mazas's first exercise (placement of the

The German composer, violinist, and pedagogue Ludwig (or Lou

in 1846, expressed his

The left shoulder in support of the lower part of the Violin, is

close to the nut, and

The Bow is held with

Spohr's next point ha

The third and fourt

From this Saunders b

The hand should hav

Hanks and Howe bor

Not all American publishers, of course, restricted themselves

But because you do not expect to excel thus, there is no reaso

Later he discusses different kinds of playing, remarking that a so

Some very excellent Christian people hold a strong prejudice against

On the whole, however, American publishers of violin methods relied

they clearly turned to those

mance,")123 and what