"In this country those intrusted with editorial responsibility as
regards violin music have upheld a truly American standard of
independent judgment. The time has long since passed when foreign
editions were accepted on their face value, particularly older works. In
a word, the conscientious American editor of violin music reflects in
his editions the actual state of progress of the art of violin playing
as established by the best teachers and teaching methods, whether the
works in question represent a higher or lower standard of artistic
merit.
"And this is no easy task. One must remember that the peculiar
construction of the violin with regard to its technical possibilities
makes the presentation of a violin piece difficult from an editorial
standpoint. A composition may be so written that a beginner can play it
in the first position; and the same number may be played with beautiful
effects in the higher positions by an artist. This accounts for the fact
that in many modern editions of solo music for violin, double
fingerings, for student and advanced players respectively, are
indicated--an essentially modern editorial development. Modern
instructive works by such masters as Sevčik, Eberhardt and others have
made technical problems more clearly and concisely get-at-able than did
the older methods. Yet some of these older works are by no means
negligible, though of course, in all classic violin literature, from
Tartini on, Kreutzer, Spohr, Paganini, Ernst, each individual artist
represents his own school, his own method to the exclusion of any other.
Spohr was one of the first to devote editorial attention to his own
method, one which, despite its age, is a valuable work, though most
students do not know how to use it. It is really a method for the
advanced player, since it presupposes a good deal of preliminary
technical knowledge, and begins at once with the higher positions. It is
rather a series of study pieces for the special development of certain
difficult phases, musical and technical, of the violinist's art, than a
method. I have translated and edited the American edition of this work,
and the many explanatory notes with which Spohr has provided* it--as in
his own 9th, and the Rode concerto (included as representative of what
violin concertos really should be), the measures being provided with
group numbers for convenience in reference--are not obsolete. They are
still valid, and any one who can appreciate the ideals of the
_Gesangsscene_, its beautiful _cantilene_ and pure serenity, may profit
by them. I enjoyed editing this work because I myself had studied with
Carl Richter, a Spohr pupil, who had all his master's traditions.
*Transcriber's note: Original text read "provied".