The figures placed under the gamba scale relate to the frets which are
to be attended to by the player, while those of the cello scale are the
finger positions to be used.
The lower C, which the string itself forms on the cello, had on the
gamba to be touched at the third fret; the succeeding D on the gamba was
the open string, while on the cello it was to be touched with the first
finger, and so on.
The four highest tones, _e_, _f_, _g_, _a_, fell in the gamba on the
2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 7th frets, whereas, according to Corrette’s account,
those in the cello required the use of the thumb position. It is plain
that the gamba players who took up the violoncello had to adopt an
entirely different system of fingering.
To a certain extent the handling of the bow presented difficulties
to those who exchanged the gamba for the violoncello. The former
instrument, on account of the flatness of the bridge, did not allow of
an energetic use of the bow. From the violoncello, on the contrary,
a powerful tone must be brought out, which had to be learnt by gamba
players. Besides, they had also to accustom themselves to other strokes
of the bow for the cello. What was played by the latter instrument with
a down stroke, was played by an upward one on the gamba, and the
reverse.
The holding of the bow was again rather different from the present
manner. Corrette gives three ways for this. According to Corrette’s
testimony, the most usual way in Italy consisted in placing the 2nd,
3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers upon the rod and the thumb beneath it, so that
the bow was held not exactly at the nut, but about a hand’s breadth
from it, as formerly and even at the beginning of our century was done
by many players. The second way of holding the bow was, the other four
fingers being placed as above, to lay the thumb upon the hair. Finally,
the bow was also held, so that the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th fingers were
laid upon that part of the rod to which the nut is attached, while the
thumb had its place beneath the nut.
Corrette does not give the preference to either of these ways of holding
the bow, which in the course of the second half of the last century
became more and more obsolete. He was of opinion that they were all
good, but left it to each one to choose the manner in which the most
power could be attained. It seems, however, noteworthy that Corrette
laid it down as a rule that the middle of the bow should be used in
playing, whereby its use was limited to a third of its length.
In the preface to his method Corrette speaks of several systems amongst
violoncellists, but adds, the best and most generally followed was that
of Bononcini, of which also the most skilful masters in Europe made use.
From this remark it follows, that in the composition of his school,
he took Bononcini’s manner of playing, which he was able to study,
soon after the latter’s arrival in Paris, as his guide. In surveying
the above principles, detailed by Corrette, regarding the technique
of violoncello playing, it must be admitted that, needing improvement
in almost every respect about the middle of the last century, it had
not progressed, with few exceptions, beyond the elementary stages. The
chamber sonatas and suites of Joh. Seb. Bach for violoncello solo, the
last of which were originally composed for the Viola pomposa, cannot be
cited as proofs to the contrary. In them Bach forestalled the technical
capacity of his time by a decade. Although they are composed for that
part of the fingerboard on which there is no question of the thumb
position, yet they contain difficulties of an extraordinary kind which
Bach’s contemporaries had not been able to master.[67] And even in the
second half of the last century there could have been no cellist who
would have been fully capable of playing them. Therefore it must be
considered either, that these compositions, so remarkable of their kind,
were not absolutely composed for the cello; or that the violoncello
technique took another direction, which was called out by these suites
of Bach.
The violoncello, like the violin, is primarily an instrument for the
voice. As such it was chiefly used by the Italians, who, up to the
second half of the last century, gave the impulse to stringed instrument
playing. This is to be gathered from the cello pieces by Italian
composers belonging to this period. As instances, next to the sonatas
already mentioned, two musical pieces of the same kind may be cited,
by San Martini (Giov. Battista Sammartini)[68] and Bernardo Porta.[69]
Neither of these composers were violoncellists. Their sonatas are,
however, adapted to the nature of the instrument for which they were
composed. As compositions they are indeed of little importance, and as
regards the technique, they do not rise above the measure of the modest
demands which were then required.
With regard to cello technique the younger Cervetto, whose compositions
have already been mentioned, p. 52, goes really farther. In them
there is a greater variety in the manner of playing, in the use of
double-stops and different passages derived from the scale and the
chord. Such ways of playing could naturally only at first be found out
and perfected in a proper manner by those who were already experienced
practised players on an instrument of extreme difficulty on account of
its extensions.
The cello pieces of Cervetto formed after the manner of Tartini’s violin
sonatas are, as to their contents, quite antiquated, and are only
interesting in a purely technical point of view. Like the compositions
already considered, they occupy mostly the parts of tenor and bass.
Only twice in the first _Allegro_ of the tenth Sonata of his Op. 4 does
Cervetto venture to the twice-lined E, and at the conclusion of the same
piece to the twice-lined A. In both cases he has to use the treble clef,
which does not appear elsewhere.
Besides Cervetto the younger, amongst Italians who cultivated cello
playing must be mentioned Gasparini, Moria, Joannini di Violoncello,
Zappa, Cirri, Aliprandi, Graziani, Piarelli, Spotorni I. and II., Barni,
Bertoja I. and II., Lolli, Sandonati, and Shevioni. We give below the
meagre information which exists regarding them.
QUIRINO GASPARINI, a distinguished cellist, was in 1749 Kapellmeister at
the Court of Turin. He remained there until 1770. As a composer, he was
chiefly occupied with church music, no cello pieces are known by him.
Of MORIA, the fact only is known that, in 1755, he was heard at the
“Concert Spirtuel” in Paris.
JOANNINI DI VIOLONCELLO, from the year 1759 Kapellmeister at St.
Petersburg, had a great reputation in his own country as a player.
ZAPPA, called FRANCESCO, according to Gerber was making a concert
tour in 1781, and “enchanted his hearers in Dantsic by his soft and
delightful execution.”
GIAMBATTISTA CIRRI, born in the first half of the eighteenth century, at
Forli, lived and worked for a long time in England. On the title page
of his first work, published at Verona in 1763, he called himself a
“Professore di Violoncello.” Of his compositions there appeared in print
seventeen different works in London, Paris, and Florence.
As a clever violoncellist, BERNARDO ALIPRANDI, son of the opera
composer, Aliprandi, born in Tuscany, was distinguished. His father was
composer and Court band-conductor in Munich during the first half of the
previous century; but he himself became a member of the orchestra there,
where he still was in 1786. His cello pieces, of which several were
published, are as obsolete as those of Cirri.
Gerber, in his dictionary, says of GRAZIANI, that after the death of the
gamba player, Louis Christian Hesse,[70] he was summoned to Potsdam to
take his place as tutor to the Crown Prince of Prussia. When the French
violoncellist, Duport (the elder), came to Berlin, in 1773, Graziani
lost his post at Court. He died at Potsdam in 1787. The six violoncello
solos, Op. 1 (printed in Berlin about the year 1780), as well as the six
cello pieces brought out in Paris (Op. 2), mentioned by Gerber in his
old Musical Dictionary under the name of Graziani, must have appeared in
the latter years of the author’s life.
In the second half of the last century there was a violoncello virtuoso,
by name PIARELLI, who, about 1784, had printed in Paris six violoncello
solos. This is all that is known about him.
Of the brothers SPOTORNI, Gerber only says that, in 1770, in Italy,
“their native land, they were esteemed as violoncellists.”
A very skilful player was CAMILLO BARNI, born on January 18, 1762, at
Como. He received his first instructions in cello playing at the age of
fourteen years from his grandfather, David Ronchetti. Later on, Giuseppe
Gadgi, Canon of the Cathedral at Como, taught him for a few months. At
the age of twenty Barni joined the opera orchestra of Milan, of which he
became first violoncellist in 1791. In the year 1802 he went to reside
permanently in Paris, where he appeared as solo player, and then, for
several years, was an active member in the orchestra of the Italian
Opera. Between 1804 and 1809 he published several duets for his own
instrument and the violin. He also wrote a cello concerto.
Concerning the brothers BERTOJA, Gerber only says that both were
employed in Venice about 1800, as virtuosi on the violoncello, and were
reputed in Italy the first masters of their instrument.
FILIPPO LOLLI, son of the violin virtuoso, Antonio Lolli, was born
at Stuttgard, in 1773; practised the cello from early youth, and at
eighteen years of age made a concert tour, which led him to Berlin. Here
he was heard by the King, who was so pleased with his performance that
he recognised it by an honorarium of 100 louis d’or. Lolli then went to
Copenhagen, and in the year 1804 played at concerts in Vienna. There is
no more information about him extant.
Of SANDONATI, Gerber says that he lived in Verona in 1800, and was one
of the most renowned violoncellists of those times. Gerber announces the
same of the Mantuan, SHEVIONI, who worked about the same time apparently
in Verona.
While all these men were endeavouring to make an advance in violoncello
playing, and especially in violoncello compositions, the Italian nation
possessed in Boccherini an artist who surpassed in every direction his
countrymen.
LUIGI BOCCHERINI, the son of a contra-basso player, was born on February
19, 1743, at Lucca. He there received his first musical instruction
from the archbishop’s choirmaster, Vanucci. Besides the cultivation of
theory, he devoted himself with peculiar zeal to cello playing, of which
he was to prove a master. The very promising progress which he made
decided his father to send him to Rome for the further prosecution of
his studies, and where his talents attained their full development.
When Boccherini, after the course of a few years, returned to his
native town, he found there Tartini’s pupil, Filippo Manfredini, his
countryman, who was an excellent violinist. He soon formed an intimate
friendship with him, which led to an arrangement for making a concert
tour. The two artists went to Spain, afterwards to Piedmont, to
Lombardy, and the South of France. The favourable reception which the
friends experienced encouraged them about 1768 to proceed to Paris.
In the French capital they had a splendid success. The compositions
of Boccherini gained such great applause that the Parisian music
publishers, La Chevardière and Venier, declared themselves ready
to undertake the expense of printing all the works already heard.
Notwithstanding, he received very little for his compositions, and later
on he was not more fortunate.
At the persuasion of the Spanish ambassador in Paris the artists
proceeded, at the end of 1768, or the beginning of the next year, to
Madrid. Here Boccherini roused the special interest of the Infanta Don
Luis, who named him his “Compositore e virtuoso di camera.” When this
prince died, on August 7, 1785, Boccherini became Court Kapellmeister
of King Charles III. of Spain, a post which he also filled under the
succeeding king, Charles IV. He received a still further recognition
from the King Frederick William II. of Prussia, who designated him his
chamber-composer, when he, in the year 1787, dedicated a work to this
art-loving monarch, who conferred on him a considerable honorarium.
From that time Boccherini dedicated to him everything that he composed.
We may conclude that he was adequately remunerated, for when the king
died in November, 1797, and the allowance ceased, Boccherini fell into
difficulties, his compositions being badly paid by the publishers. At
the same time he seems to have lost his place as Kapellmeister to the
King of Spain. However it was, he spent the last years of his life with
his family in great need, from which death only released him on May 28,
1805.
Having in view the great quantity of his compositions, Boccherini must
be distinguished as an extremely prolific composer. There are in
existence 400 instrumental works by him. They consist of 20 symphonies,
125 string quintets--amongst them are 113 for two cellos, of which
the first cello is more or less an obbligato--91 string quartets, and
numberless trios, septets, quintets with flute or oboe, violin sonatas,
as well as several vocal compositions for the church, &c. Very little
has proved capable of surviving, and this little only awakens a limited
interest. The cause of it seems to be in a certain simplicity which
underlies all Boccherini’s music. With great cleverness of form, added
to an apt and easy flow, it is certainly not wanting in originality,
which has even a humorous tendency; but the manner of expression is
characterised by a certain formality which gives to Boccherini’s music
an antiquated air. His ideas are wanting in power of thought and depth
of feeling; they rarely rise above the pleasing and agreeable.
At the beginning of the century the chamber compositions of Boccherini
had an extraordinary popularity, especially amongst the _dilettanti_.
From that time, however, they have been little played, at least in
Germany. The interest in them was maintained much longer in France,
where they were unusually prized, according to Fétis’s “Biographie
Universelle des Musiciens.” There also they have been for some time laid
on one side.
Boccherini composed six concerti specially for the violoncello. There
are also extant several cello sonatas with bass by him. It is surprising
that there is no mention made of them in the list of Boccherini
compositions by Fétis. Six of these sonatas have been republished on the
one hand by Friedrich Grützmacher, and, on the other, by Alfred Piatti,
with piano accompaniment. The violoncello concerti of Boccherini, on
the contrary, have fallen almost entirely into oblivion. They are only
so far interesting in that by them is shown to what degree of technique
cello playing was developed by this master. We must here observe
that he was one of the first of the Italian school who gave decided
expression to the solo and virtuoso side of his instrument. He not
only made possible for cello music the higher and highest parts of the
thumb position, with the exception of the complicated harmonics first
discovered and made available after his time, but he also considerably
extended beyond his predecessors the playing of double stops as well as
the execution of passages.[71]
If in form they were somewhat superficially elaborate and worked out
after the manner of studies, yet instructive material for practice of
an extent and variety hitherto unknown was provided for cellists. For
Italy it was a sensible loss that Boccherini spent the greater part of
his life abroad, his native land was in consequence deprived of the
advantage which the personal influence and example of his strikingly
artistic proficiency might have gained. If he had remained there he
would, doubtless, have been to his countrymen as regards cello playing
what Corelli and Tartini were to Italian violin playing. But under the
prevailing conditions Italy lacked a recognised musician who might
have been the means of further successfully developing that branch of
art. Moreover, the decided preference of the Italians for opera from
the end of the last century, which prevailed to the cost of all other
musical efforts, checked for a time further impulse to or demand for the
cultivation of stringed instrument playing, which until then had been so
successfully pursued on the Apennine Peninsula. What, however, Italy’s
sons attained in the art of violoncello playing was not lost, but was
further perfected by German and French masters, concerning which the
following sections will give the necessary explanation.