Italy has the claim of priority in violoncello as well as violin
playing. It was the birthplace of the violin and of the cello, and from
thence emanated the artistic executive development of both instruments.
The first famous Italian cellist of whom we have any notice is--
DOMENICO GABRIELI, with the surname of MENGHINO DEL VIOLONCELLO, born
about 1640 at Bologna, died in 1690. This artist found a sphere of
work in the church of San Petronio in his native town. Then he entered
the service of Cardinal Pamfili in Rome. Gabrieli was also a composer
of some repute. Fétis mentions eight of his operas which were written
partly for Bologna and partly for Venice. His other works consist of a
“Cantata a voce sola,” in a collection of Motets, entitled “Vexillum
pacis,” for alto solo and instrumental accompaniments, as well as
“Baletti, gighe, correnti, e sarabande a due violini e violoncello,
con basso continuo” (Op. 1). These three works, of which the last is a
reprint, appeared successively in 1691, 1695, and 1703, consequently
after Gabrieli’s death. He appears to have composed nothing specially
for the cello.
More remarkable as a cellist must have been ATTILIO ARIOSTI, the
Dominican monk, born at Bologna in 1660. Gerber at least says of him
that he was one of the most excellent violoncellists of his time.
But he was also a distinguished performer on the Viola d’amore. He
occupied himself chiefly, however, with opera compositions, for which
the Pope granted him a dispensation from the rule of his order, as
without it, being a Dominican, he was forbidden to meddle with anything
connected with the theatre. In 1698 Ariosti was sent for to Berlin as
Kapellmeister to the Elector of Brandenberg. Thence he went in 1716
to London, where, in the proximity of Handel, he could make no way,
and therefore at last returned to his fatherland. He chose Bologna as
his place of residence. Like Gabrieli, he appears to have produced no
independent[60] violoncello compositions.
His fellow-country man, GIOVANNI BATTISTA BONONCINI (Buononcini),[61]
famous as an able cellist, also devoted his talent by preference to the
operatic stage. He was the eldest son of the choirmaster, Giov. Maria
Bononcini, at the church S. Giovanni, in Monte, at Modena, and was born
in 1672, or, according to Fétis, in 1667 or 1668. At first instructed in
music by his father, and then perfected by Colonna at Bologna, he betook
himself, at twenty-two or twenty-three years of age, to Vienna, where
he found a post as cellist in the Imperial Kapelle. Here he turned to
opera, which at that time was a favourite means of entertainment for the
seeing and listening public, and promised more reputation and gain than
all other kinds of composition.
Fétis mentions twenty operas by Bononcini, but he doubtless wrote more.
Even in his eightieth year he was occupied for the theatre in Venice.
Besides, he wrote an Oratorio, “Joshua,” several orchestral pieces,
masses, chamber duets, “Trattenimenti da Camera,” &c., some of which
were composed before his entrance into the Vienna Hofkapelle. He also
wrote “Sinfonie” for violin and violoncello as well as cello solos. Of
the latter there appeared at J. Simpson’s (London) a sonata for two
violoncellos in a collection of sonatas by Pasqualini, San Martino,
Caporale, Spourni, and Porta. As Caporale was born in 1750 and Porta
in 1758, the publication of this collection must have taken place late
in the second half of the eighteenth century. The Bononcini sonata
contained in it does not give a very favourable impression of this
composer’s talent. The development is dry and in places very formal,
even here and there somewhat incorrect. To the two figured parts are
given accompanying basses, partly simple and partly contrapuntal. The
interest which attaches to this composition, consisting of an _Allegro_,
with introductory _Andante_, a movement marked “_Grazioso_,” and a
“_Minuet_,” after which the “_Grazioso_” is to be repeated, rests
chiefly on the light which it throws upon the technical condition of
cello playing at the beginning of the eighteenth century (for doubtless
the composition belongs to that period). In reference to this is to be
remarked: the principal part is confined chiefly to the middle tones;
the lower ones are only occasionally touched, and the compass of the
higher notes reaches to the one-lined A; the thumb position does not
come into use. Figure is little developed, and only modest attempts are
made at playing double stoppings and chords; the notation is in tenor
and bass clefs.
It is reported that during Bononcini’s residence in Paris, between
1735-1748, he composed a Motet with cello obbligato accompaniment, for
the royal band there, which last he himself played at the performance of
his work in the presence of the king.
Alessandro Scarlatti,[62] the founder of the Neapolitan opera school,
had given an example of this use of the violoncello about twenty-five
years before in one of his cantatas. Geminiani, Corelli’s pupil, related
that this cello part was performed during Scarlatti’s presence in Rome,
and with his assistance on the clavier, by the famous violoncellist,
Franciscello (Francischello); his playing was so beautiful that
Scarlatti described it as heavenly.
This event must have occurred in the year 1713, when Scarlatti was in
Rome the last time. Consequently, Franciscello’s birth must be placed
with all probability in the year 1692. He would have been twenty-one
years of age when he played with the Neapolitan master.
Gerber says that Franciscello went from Rome to Naples in 1725. That
he was actually there in the year mentioned is affirmed by Quantz,
who himself heard him play. Through Franciscello’s extraordinary
performances the violoncello was soon so generally accepted in Italy,
that the gamba had, in 1730, almost entirely disappeared from the
Italian orchestras.
In the year 1730, Franciscello was summoned to Vienna as Imperial
chamber musician, a proof that his name had already penetrated beyond
his country. Franz Benda, afterwards celebrated as a violinist, and
founder of the Berlin violin school, heard him in the Austrian capital.
Franciscello’s manner of playing so impressed him that he took him from
that time as his model.
Franciscello remained, it appears, ten years in Vienna. If a notice in
the “Musical Almanack for Germany, of the year 1782,” is to be credited,
he had already been a member of the Imperial Court and Chamber Music
Society in 1766, which is by no means beyond the bounds of possibility,
though not very probable. We hold then to the assumption that he was
born in 1692 so that, in 1766, he would be already seventy-four years
old. It is not known where Franciscello closed his life. Tradition
only says that at an advanced age he resided in Genoa, to which the
supposition was attached that that city had been his birthplace. It is
stated that the elder Duport, the cello virtuoso, who was born in 1741,
went from Paris to visit him there.
During his long period of work at Vienna, Franciscello doubtless
instructed pupils in cello playing; who they were is however, as little
known as the question if or what he composed for his instrument. On both
points we are no better off than concerning his somewhat older
compatriot
CERVETTO, called JACOPO BASSEVI, who was born in 1682. Until his
forty-sixth year he remained in his fatherland. Then, like so many
other Italian musicians of this time, he was seized with a desire to
travel, and betook himself to London. There he trafficked at first in
instruments which he had brought with him from Italy; this, however,
was so little remunerative that he very soon gave it up, and joined
the orchestra of Drury Lane Theatre. According to Burney’s judgment,
Cervetto was, for his time, a very clever violoncellist, who knew how
to manipulate the fingerboard with much dexterity; but his tone must
have been rough and harsh. Of his eccentricity the following anecdote
is an illustration: Once when the famous Garrick was representing a
drunkard and sank down senseless upon a seat, Cervetto broke upon the
sudden stillness with an unseemly loud and long-drawn yawn. Garrick
immediately got up, severely censuring such behaviour, upon which
Cervetto pacifying him answered: “I beg your pardon, I always yawn when
I am very pleased.” A few years later Cervetto became Director of Drury
Lane Theatre, and thus he laid the foundation of his fortune.
Cervetto must have had a very strong constitution, for he lived to the
unusual age of 101 years. His death took place on January 14, 1783.
He left a fortune of £20,000 sterling, which he bequeathed to his son
James, who was also a cellist; but soon after inheriting from his father
he retired into private life. He, also, reached a respectable age, for
as he came into the world (in London) in 1747, and died February 5,
1837, he was ninety years old. In 1783 he was performing at the Court
concerts of the Queen, as well as taking part in the musical _réunions_
in the house of Lord Abington as one of the best reputed cellists in
London. Of cello compositions he published: 1. Twelve “Solos for a
Violoncello, with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord”; this work,
dedicated to the Elector Palatine of Bavaria and Jülich-Eleve-Berg,
appeared at the author’s own expense, without date. 2. “Six Solos for
a Violoncello, with a Thorough Bass for the Harpsichord, Opera Terza.”
London. 3. “Twelve Sonatinas for a Violoncello and a Bass, Op. 4^{ta}.”
London. Fétis adds, besides, “Six solos pour la flûte” and “Six trios
pour deux violons, et violoncelle,” which must have been in existence
not long before the end of the last century. We shall have occasion to
refer again farther on to Cervetto’s violoncello compositions.
Taking up again the chronological thread, after Cervetto the elder,
the cellist Batistin, whose real name was JOH. BAPTIST STRUCK, must
be mentioned. He was of German origin and was born in Florence in
the second half of the seventeenth century, from thence he went to
Paris at the beginning of the eighteenth century. He there entered
the band of the Duke of Orleans and the opera orchestra, in which he,
conjointly with the brothers Abbé (properly Philippe Pierre and Pierre
de Saint-Sévin), played the cello parts. He must have performed well,
since Louis XIV., in order to retain him in the French capital, gave him
a liberal allowance and, in addition, a sum of 500 francs for certain
theatrical compositions to be supplied by him. Besides this he wrote a
long list of ballets and operas specially for Court festivities. There
appeared in print, by him, during the years 1706 and 1714, in Paris,
four books of “Cantatas” and a collection of airs. He does not appear to
have composed for the violoncello. He died on December 9, 1755, at the
scene of his work. Among the masters of the Neapolitan school, LEONARDO
LEO, at that time the famous opera composer, distinguished himself
as a violoncellist, who was born, 1694, at S. Vito degli Schiavi, in
the province of Lecco, and died at Naples in 1746. He also composed
six cello concertos with quartet accompaniments, which belong to the
years 1737 and 1738. The MSS. of these are in the Library of the Royal
Conservatoire at Naples. It is supposed that these are the oldest of
existing cello concertos.
Another Italian cellist of that time was DOMENICO DELLA BELLA, of whom
nothing further is known than that, in 1704, he published, in Venice,
Twelve Sonatas “a due violini e violoncello.”
The information is equally meagre regarding the cellist PARASISI, of
whom Gerber says he was an extraordinary artist on his instrument and
was with the Italian Opera orchestra at Breslau in 1727.
Concerning the Italian violoncellists JACCHINI, AMADIO, VANDINI, ABACO,
DALL’OGLIO, and LANZETTI, born in the second half of the seventeenth and
the beginning of the eighteenth century, we know very little.
JACCHINI, whose Christian name was Giuseppe, noted by Gerber as one
of the first cellists of his time, was appointed to the church of S.
Petronio in Bologna at the beginning of the eighteenth century. That he
had distinguished himself as an artist is proved by his nomination as
a member of the Bologna Philharmonic Society, a distinction which is
only conferred on men of great musical reputation. Of his compositions
there is a work entitled “Concerti per Camera a 3 e 4 stromenti, con
violoncello obligato (Op. 4). Bologna, 1701,” to be mentioned.
PIPPO AMADIO, who flourished about the year 1720, was, according to
Gerber’s account, a violoncellist, “whose art surpassed all, that up to
his time had been produced on his instrument.”
ANTONIO VANDINI, first violoncellist at the church of S. Antonio,
Padua, seems to have been no less remarkable. The Italians called his
manner of playing and his expression “parlare”--he understood how to
make his instrument speak. He was on terms of such close friendship with
Tartini, who as is known was engaged at the same church at Padua as solo
violinist, that he accompanied him in 1723 to Prague, and remained with
him for three years in the service of Count Kinski. Vandini was still
living in Padua in 1770. The year of his death is unknown.
ABACO, born at Verona, according to information contained in the
second year of the “Leipsic Musical Paper” (p. 345), was a prominent
violoncellist, who lived in the first half of the eighteenth century.
Gerber possessed a cello solo of his composition, of which he says that
it appeared to have been written in the year 1748.
GIUSEPPE DALL’OGLIO, the younger brother of the famous violin player,
Domenico dall’Oglio, was born about 1700 at Padua,[63] and went to St.
Petersburg in 1735. There he remained in the Russian imperial service
twenty-nine years, after which he returned to his native land. On his
journey thither he stopped at Warsaw, on which occasion King August of
Poland nominated him his agent for the Venetian Republic.
SALVATORE LANZETTI, born at the beginning of the eighteenth century in
Naples, was pupil of the Conservatorio there, Santa Maria di Loreto,
and was during the greater part of his life in the service of the King
of Sardinia. He died in Turin in 1780. In the year 1736 two volumes
of violoncello sonatas appeared by him, and later also a book of
instruction, the title of which Fétis gives as: “Principes du doigter
pour le Violoncelle dans tous les tons.” It is somewhat differently
named by Gerber: “Principes ou l’applicatur de Violoncel par tous les
tons.” Lanzetti must have carried out with great skill the staccato
touch both up and down the instrument.
We are somewhat better informed regarding the violoncellist CAPORALE.
Neither the place of his home nor the year of his birth nor that of
his death are, indeed, known to us, but of his life and work in England
we possess some information. In 1735 he came to London and worked under
Handel, who wrote for him a cello solo in the third act of his opera
“Deidamia” composed in 1739.
His musical education could not have been very thorough, but he must
have had certain qualifications which induced Handel to connect himself
with him. Simpson’s Collection (see p. 49), published in London,
contains a Cello Sonata by Caporale, which does not speak much for his
talent in composition. It consists of _Adagio_, _Allegro_, and a _Theme_
with three variations after the manner of studies. As a player Caporale
was remarkable for his tone, but as regards finish he could not rival
either the elder CERVETTO or PASQUALINI.
This last-named artist, by whom a sonata, scarcely rising above the
level of Caporale, was contained in the volume already mentioned
as appearing at Simpson’s, was performing in London, in 1745, as a
concertist of great repute. Further information regarding him does not
exist.
Greater consideration must be yielded to CARLO FERRARI, brother of
the violinist Domenico Ferrari, so often referred to in the previous
century. On account of an injured foot he was called “the lame.” Born
at Piacenza about 1730 he betook himself to Paris in 1758 and appeared
with great success in the “Concert spirituel.” In 1765 he accepted an
engagement offered to him by the Count of Parma.[64] He remained in
this position until his death, which took place in 1789. It is reported
of Ferrari that he was the first Italian cellist who made use of the
thumb position. If this be true, France must have been beforehand in
the difficult matter of the art of fingering; for the thumb position
was already known in Paris, as we have seen, before 1740, consequently
at a time when Ferrari was only ten or twelve years old. But if it be
acknowledged that violoncello playing was cultivated much earlier in
Italy than in France, and had already advanced beyond the elemental
stage before it had found representatives among the French, we must be
inclined to concede to the Italians the discovery of the thumb position,
and indeed to the predecessors of Ferrari. It is highly probable that
Franciscello and Batistin already availed themselves of its assistance
for the use of the upper parts of the fingerboard. The trick must have
been brought into France by the last-named artist who, as we know,
settled in Paris at the beginning of the eighteenth century.
The proof that the thumb position was known in Paris before 1740
is established by the violoncello method of Michel Corrette in the
year 1741, and which, as far as one can see, was the first work of
instruction for the instrument in question. Considering the scarcity
at that time of cello compositions this instruction book is the more
important, as from it is to be determined with certainty the average
standard to which violoncello playing had attained towards the middle of
the previous century. This circumstance seems to justify our entering
somewhat more fully into Corrette’s school.
The title is: “Méthode, théoretique et pratique, pour apprendre en peu
de temps, le violoncelle ... dans sa perfection composée par Michel
Corette. XXIV^e Ouvrage à Paris, chez l’auteur, M^e Boivin et le S^r le
Clerc; à Lyon chez M. de Bretonne. Avec Privilège du Roy. MDCCXL1.”[65]
After some introductory paragraphs regarding the use of the F and C
clef, in notation for violoncello music, concerning the value of notes
and pauses, the formation of sharps, flats, and naturals, as well as
regarding the usual marks, the various measures and syncopes, Corrette
treats:
1. Of the manner of holding the violoncello; 2. Of the holding and
action of the bow; 3. Of its use in the up and down strokes; 4. Of the
tuning of the violoncello; 5. Of the division of the fingerboard into
diatonic as well as chromatic tones; 6. Of the fingering in the lower
(first) and following positions; 7. Of the way and manner of returning
from the higher positions to the first; 8. Of trills and appogiaturas;
9. Of the various kinds of bow action; 10. Of double-stops and
arpeggios; 11. And also of the thumb position. He also gives instruction
for those who wish to go from the gamba to the violoncello, and then
in conclusion gives hints for the accompaniment of singing and for
instrumental solos.
It is evident that the directions of Corrette have chiefly a mere
historical importance, as the technique of the violoncello, after
the appearance of his method, underwent substantial changes. His
explanation concerning the finger positions of that period and the
thumb position which in the higher parts of the fingerboard takes the
place of a moveable nut, concerning the manipulation of the bow, and
the considerations to be observed in exchanging the gamba for the
violoncello have a special interest for us.
With regard to the first of these four points, we remark that the finger
position adopted by Corrette for the diatonic scale on all the strings
was, in the first two positions, 1, 2, and 4; in the “third position,”
1, 2, 3, 4; and in the “fourth,” 1, 2, and 3; after the latter position
the fourth finger was as a rule no longer needed, for which Corrette
adduces as a reason that it is too short to be made use of in the higher
positions of the fingerboard; in case however it should be necessary to
use it, the use of the left arm would be impeded. In exceptional cases,
says Corrette in another part of his school, the fourth finger could
be used in the “fourth position,” without altering the thumb position,
for the B flat and B on the A string, for the E flat on the D string,
for the A flat on the G string, and for the D flat on the C string.
The finger positions were then, in the first half and about the middle
of the last century, somewhat different in the diatonic scale of the
violoncello than they were later on. It is especially to be remarked
that the E and the B were touched with the second finger upon the two
lower strings, though the notes marked were far more convenient for the
third finger, which very shortly took the place of the second.
As to the exclusion of the fourth finger, when playing with the thumb
position, no proof is needed to show the reason was that it gave an
awkward manner of holding the left hand. The finger positions for the
chromatic scale still more widely differed from the fingering employed
later, as the following scale shows--
[Illustration]
It very nearly happened, that as early as the seventeenth century when
a stringed instrument was so much desired as a standard one for the
violoncello, that the violin mode of fingering was adopted for the
former, which according to the foregoing remarks really was the case,
with the exception of the use of the third finger. It had however been
overlooked that the cello, on account of its much larger dimensions,
demanded an entirely different method of fingering. The regulation of
this important point, which offered peculiar difficulties, occupied
cellists up to the beginning of our century. In some measure the
fingering which Corrette teaches for descending intervals of a second
from the higher to the lower tones is unavoidable. He gives the two
following examples--
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
He gave the preference to the second example.
The almost total exclusion of the fourth finger caused a very great
restriction in playing with the thumb position. But when Corrette wrote
his work this limitation would hardly have been felt, as the higher
parts of the fingerboard were little, and, only in exceptional cases,
used by cello players and composers. Corrette mentions, as the highest
tone, the one-lined B. Caporale and Pasqualini do not go beyond this
note in their sonatas, already mentioned, excepting in one instance,
when Caporale casually uses the two-lined C. It appears that, with many
cellists, in place of the thumb the first finger was made use of in
the higher positions as a support, for Corrette remarks concerning his
method: “If the first finger is used instead of the thumb the fourth
finger must necessarily be made use of; it is, however, on account of
its shortness, really useless in the upper ‘positions.’” To beginners
Corrette recommended the attempt then in vogue--but a little later
combated by Leopold Mozart in his violin school[66]--to introduce marks
on the fingerboard indicating the intervals in order to learn to play
clearly in tune. For gamba players who, following the spirit of the
time, gave up their instrument and turned to the violoncello, which was
rapidly coming into use, this means of assistance had a certain value,
accustomed as they were to the frets of the gamba fingerboard, for
the finger positions of both instruments differ considerably from one
another, as appears from the comparison given below by Corrette.
[Illustration:
Scale on the gamba.
7. String. 6. String. 5. String. 4. String. 3. String. 2. String.
1. String.
Scale on the Cello.