Download -The cello in the eighteenth century until 1780:

Faculty of Arts and Social Science
School of Performance and Screen
Studies
Performance Practice In The 18th Century
With Reference To Beethoven Cello Sonata
In G Minor Number 2 Op.5
Khaled M. Al Bal’awi
MA Performance
Academic Year 2005, 2006.
Abstract
Performance practice has changed since the classical era. Some of these changes
happened because styles of music have changed, but some of the changes took place
because of the changes that happened to the musical instruments. Ludwig Van Beethoven
wrote the cello sonata no.2 op.5 in 1796; this sonata is different from other later cello
works by Beethoven because the cello has evolved considerably since composing the
sonata. The cello has developed in its shape and the materials used to build it such as the
bow and strings, and new techniques were discovered to cope with the changes.
Nowadays, some performers perform the sonata on period instruments similar to those
which were used in Beethoven’s time to imitate the performance practice in the 18th
century.
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List of contents:
Acknowledgment
4
Introduction
5
Chapter 1: The evolution of the cello
7
Chapter 2: The cello sonata and the triple concerto
14
Chapter 3: The cello sonata and other chamber works
19
Chapter 4: Recordings of the cello sonata on period instruments and modern ones
24
Conclusion
28
Bibliography
30
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Acknowledgment
To my family who supported me all the way from the beginning,
To all the people in Jordan who helped me to accomplish this course
And to my teachers and all the people who helped me here in England.
03/September/2006
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Introduction
In the classical era the cello had a bigger position in performance practice than any role in
previous eras. It was a basic instrument in the classical orchestra alongside the violins
and other bowed string instruments. The cello started to get more attention from
composers as a solo instrument; Joseph Haydn wrote two spectacular concertos for cello
and orchestra, and Beethoven wrote six sonatas for cello and piano.
Performance practice for the cello itself is different in our days than that in the classical
era. Many aspects of performance have changed since the end of the 18th century until the
present day, the cello has changed in the way it is built and the materials used to build it,
animal gut strings used to be used at that time, but now they have been replaced by metal
strings, the bow was different than the bow used by cellists these days, the shape of the
fingerboard has changed too. All these changes to the cello made the performance
practice for the cello change too; new playing techniques where developed to exploit
these changes.
Not only the changes to the cello made performers discover new techniques; but
improved new techniques and methods made the cello a more flexible instrument, and
opened new ranges for both performers and composers to make the cello a superior
instrument within the solo instruments, and gave it a great repertoire among well-known
composer’s works. Beethoven's cello sonata number 2 in G minor was dedicated to Jean
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Louis Duport who was a great cellist at that time (Albrecht 1996)1, he was one of the
cellists that made some important changes to the cello at that time.
This research is aimed to give an idea about the changes that occurred to the cello, and
the techniques that were discovered to cope with these changes, in addition to the
techniques that were discovered to help the performance practice for the cello.
Furthermore, this research is intended to demonstrate the differences in performance
practice in the late eighteenth century and the modern time.
1
Albrecht, T(ed) (1996) Letters to Beethoven and other correspondence. Nebraska: University of Nebraska
Press, p.52.
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Chapter 1: The evolution of the cello
In the eighteenth century many musical instruments have been developed in their shape
and the materials used to build them. Musicians became more aware that developing the
instruments would affect performing on them to be better and more professional. String
instruments for example developed from the viola- da gamba and viola- da praccio which
were used in previous eras to the early baroque era, they were developed to be almost as
the ‘violin family’ instruments that we know nowadays1. The fortepiano became more
popular than the harpsichord because it is more flexible in the matters of sound and
techniques. As for the string instruments; new techniques were developed that helped
composers make a good repertoire for these instruments at that time.
In the baroque era and the early classical era the role of the cello was mostly the role of
an accompanist. It was usually used to strengthen the weak low register of the fortepiano
in chamber music compositions ‘the role of the cello in such works as the piano trios of
Haydn and Mozart had been essentially to underpin the piano in its weak register.’ 2 But
later in the baroque era and the classical era the cello began to have its own solo pieces,
such as the cello suites by J.S Bach, and the cello concertos in C and D major by Joseph
Haydn. Due to these changes in the shape of the cello and the development of playing
1
Woodfield, I. Viol [viola da gamba, gamba]. Grove Music Online. ed. L. Macy (Accessed 22 July 2006),
<http://www.grovemusic.com>
Watkin. D. (1994) Beethoven’s sonatas for piano and cello: aspects of technique and performance. In R,
Stowell. (ed). Cambridge studies in performance practice 4. Performing Beethoven. Cambridge:
Cambridge university press, p.89.
2
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techniques; more composers became more aware of the importance of the cello and
wanted to include the cello in their compositional repertoire.
The cello had some major developments over the years from the classical era until now.
These changes had many affects on the way the instrument is played and the sound is
produced. This part of the research will analyze mostly the period instrument that was
used in Beethoven’s time and compare it to the modern instrument.
The cello sound and playing techniques depends on the parts which are combined to
make the cello, such as the different parts of wood that are joined together to make the
body of the cello, and also other parts that has the major role in producing sound such as
the bow and the strings. Many researches and studies were done by professional cellists
and instrument makers to develop the cello to the way we know it today.
Gut strings and their development process:
In the period of Beethoven’s life (1770-1827) the cello strings were made of animal guts.
These strings have sound specialties different from the steel strings used in our days, and
that is due to the materials used to manufacture them.
Playing on gut strings was difficult for cellists; the nature of the strings did not allow
much freedom in playing the cello. ‘Early bass strings were enormously thick strands of
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gut and were difficult to play with clear articulation.’1 The lower thick strings required
the cellist to press down with great strength from his left hand fingers; this did not allow
the cellist to shift easily between notes in the same position, as well as for the same
string’s positions.
Bernard Romberg (1767- 1841) a cellist and a composer, used gut strings with different
thicknesses from the usual way. The usual way of strings order is: the G string is thicker
than the D because the G is lower in pitch. But Romberg made that in the opposite way;
the D string was thicker than the G string. The reason why he did that is to make the
shifting between these two strings smoother ‘The very thick D and thin G strings allowed
for a smoother change of tone-colors between these middle strings.’2 This process made
the player to press hard on the D string to make the sound convenient, and that made it
very hard to play smoothly between the positions on the string, but with a good cellist the
sounds produced will be smooth and strong.
After that the wound gut strings were created. In William R. Cumpiano’s article3; in these
strings the normal gut strings are covered with layer of steel which made the tension of
the string high and playing strong strokes would be smoother with a high volume of the
cello. Later came the normal steel strings that cellists use these days which are more
developed to produce strong rich and beautiful sound.
1
Stowell, R [ed] (1999) the Cambridge companion to the cello Cambridge: Cambridge university press,
P.10.
2
Watkin. D. (1994) Beethoven’s sonatas for piano and cello: aspects of technique and performance. In R,
Stowell. (ed). Cambridge studies in performance practice 4. Performing Beethoven. Cambridge:
Cambridge university press, p92.
3
Cumpiano, W. [n.d.] The History of String Making [online] [n.p.] Available from:
http://www.cumpiano.com/Home/Articles/Articles/stringmaking.htm [Accessed 14 August 2006]
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The fingerboard:
The typical cello fingerboard in the classical period was curved with similar angles from
both sides. The curve angle was not big; this made the cellist worry when playing on a
string from touching other strings especially when playing higher positions because the
angle with the strings around it will be smaller. Another difficulty the cellists faces was
playing strong strokes on the low C string. Because of the low tension of gut strings;
playing strong strokes on the low strings made them vibrate widely, and that made the
string attack the fingerboard which produced an ugly sound. ‘The C string should lie
higher; otherwise it would jar when played with a strong bow’1.
Some cellists solved this problem by adjusting the shape of the fingerboard. According to
David Watkin (1994)2, Romberg had invented a fingerboard that had a groove under the
C string, and that had some advantages such as; playing strong strokes on the C string
without attacking the fingerboard. This invention made a bigger curve to the bridge
which made it easier to play high positions on each string without touching other strings.
This grooved fingerboard was used by other cellists in Beethoven’s lifetime such as
Dotzauer, and eventually the fingerboard evolved to what we have these days; a flat angle
under the C string instead of the groove.
Romberg, violoncellschule (mainz c. 1825), p.59. As cited by Watkin, D. (1994) Beethoven’s sonatas for
piano and cello: aspects of technique and performance. In R, Stowell. (ed). Cambridge studies in
performance practice 4. Performing Beethoven. Cambridge: Cambridge university press, p. 91.
2
Ibid, p.90
1
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Development of the bow:
The cello bow in the late 18th century was mostly a development of the baroque bow. The
shape of the bow was different from the modern bow in many aspects; the tip was thinner
which made the up-bow strokes a little hard. The tension of the hair was less than that in
modern bows because of the shape and curve of the stick. ‘The convex shape of the
Baroque bow allows it to hug the string a little more than a modern bow. This is an
advantage when playing on gut strings as they have more surface resistance than metal,
and dealing with this resistance factor is the key to making a good sound.’1
‘The final form of the bow was determined by great French craftsman Francois Tourte
(1747-1835)’2 the new design allowed cellist more freedom in bow strokes and
articulations, ‘Most sources between 1768 and 1820 suggest that the bow was held
further away from the frog than is nowadays.’3 Although the new design was more
flexible for cellists, this way of holding the bow restricted cellists from more freedom in
the bow. According to David Watkin (1994)4, cellists like Romberg and Dotzauer started
to hold the bow near the frog as it is nowadays. These manners of the bow evolution
helped performers of Beethoven’s sonatas to play the articulations Beethoven wanted
easily and freely, sforzando and fortissimo became more convenient.
1
[Anon] The Baroque Cello [Online] [n.p] available from:
http://www.cello.org/heaven/baroque/baroque.htm [accessed 12 March 2006].
2
Stowell, R [ed] (1999) the Cambridge companion to the cello. Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
P.29.
3
Watkin. D. (1994) Beethoven’s sonatas for piano and cello: aspects of technique and performance. In R,
Stowell. (ed). Cambridge studies in performance practice 4. Performing Beethoven. Cambridge:
Cambridge university press, p.98.
4
Ibid, p.98.
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Bernhard Romberg and Friedrich Dotzauer were in the circle of Beethoven’s life. These
cellists made great developments in the performance practice of the cello, these
developments made Beethoven’s sonatas performed with great flexibility and more
convenient to Beethoven’s music style.
The endpin and holding the cello:
One of the important issues that happened to the cello is the way it was held by the
player. The cello in the baroque era and most of the classical era used to be held between
the player’s legs. This position of the cello was not very comfortable for cellists who sat
and played for a long time. After that the endpin came to hold the cello to the floor
instead of the player’s legs ‘The endpin gradually came into fashion among solo players
during the second half of the nineteenth century’1
The endpin gave the player many advantages than holding the cello between the legs,
according to Tilden A. Russell the end pin gave more stability to the player which
affected playing higher positions to be better, and also it gave more freedom to bow
movements especially when playing the A and the C strings 2. This change of the cello
position to the player made it easier for composers to write themes in higher positions on
1
Stowell, R [ed] (1999) the Cambridge companion to the cello. Cambridge: Cambridge university press.
P.181.
2
Russell, T. endpin. Grove Music Online ed. L. Macy (Accessed 18 July 2006),
<http://www.grovemusic.com>
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the cello fingerboard, which became easier to play because the cello became more
horizontal and access to higher positions became easier.
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Chapter 2: The cello sonata and the triple concerto
The triple concerto was written in 1804-051, it was written in the period that Beethoven
was in his ‘most fruitful period’2. The concerto is written for violin, cello and piano, the
cellist whom Beethoven had in mind for this concerto was Anton Kraft (1749-1820) one
of the important cellists in Beethoven’s circle3, but Kraft was not the one who performed
the concerto in its first public performance ‘ it was J.J. Friedrich Dotzauer (1783-1860), a
founder-member of the nineteenth-century German cello school’4. Nevertheless, if it was
Kraft or Dotzauer; both cellists were technically masters on the cello, Kraft was
collaborator in Haydn’s D major concerto and he also wrote a ‘technically spectacular
cello concerto’5. Dotzauer, on the other hand, had many compositions including a book
that contains 180 exercises for the cello.
Beethoven wrote six sonatas for the cello and the piano, but never wrote a concerto for
the solo cello. In the triple concerto he gave the cello a great part as a solo instrument.
The solo part of the concerto opens with the main theme played fluently by the cello, then
the violin and finally the piano.
Comparing the cello sonatas and especially the sonata in G minor op. 5 with the cello part
of the triple concerto; there are many differences in the cello techniques used, mostly
1
Hopkins, A. (1996) The Seven concertos of Beethoven. England: Scolar press, p.87.
Ibid, p.87.
33
Watkin. D. (1994) Beethoven’s sonatas for piano and cello: aspects of technique and performance. In R,
Stowell. (ed). Cambridge studies in performance practice 4. Performing Beethoven. Cambridge:
Cambridge university press, p.90.
4
Ibid, p.90.
5
Ibid, p.90.
2
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developed than those in the sonata. One of the big differences between the sonata and the
concerto is the high register of the cello. In the sonata the cello plays on the high register
after developing the themes, and the high notes are usually a few notes that resample the
end of a passage (example 1a). However, in the triple concerto the cello has more mature
high register themes that show how fluent the cello could be. For example in the bars
(135-140) the piano plays a theme in its high register and then the cello follows the piano
with a detached scale leading to the theme that is played within the area of the high E of
the cello (example 1b). Another example is in bars (392-396) the cello plays a theme in
the high register directly without any introduction from lower register. In this passage the
cello reaches the high A which does not exist in any of the cello sonatas (example 1c).
Example 1: high register of the cello:
a: high register in cello sonata.
b: high register in triple concerto.
c: high register directly without any introduction
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In the bars (181-184) the cello plays strong strokes on the G string which were a little
hard to accomplish with the old cello, this needed a developed string rather than the gut
strings that were used in the late 1700’s and the early 1800’s (example: 2). Playing this
passage on gut string would not be easy, because the tension of gut strings is low and
playing strong strokes on this type of strings would make the string strike the fingerboard
and produce an unwanted sound. Another aspect is the string thickness; in order to make
somehow good gut G string it should be thick in order to produce a good low registered
sound and that would make it even harder to play such a passage on the old gut strings
cello.
Example 2: strong strokes on low strings.
The cello and the violin duplicate in many locations in the concerto, it is hard for the
cello to match the fluency of the violin in the fast passages, but this situation appears in
more than one location in the concerto, this prove that the cellist Beethoven had in his
mind to perform the concerto must have been a master of his time, and that gave
Beethoven the motive to write such a hard part for the cello. (Example 3)
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Example 3: cello and violin duplicate.
The second movement of the concerto opens with the orchestra followed by the cello in a
magnificent solo, the cello opening takes almost half the time of the second movement. In
this movement the cello part is usually in the high register of the instrument, in the cello
sonata the cello usually plays low notes and rarely plays high register notes.
One of the hard themes to play in the concerto is the fast triplet semiquavers on the
middle and low register of the cello (Example 4); they are repeated many times in the
third movement. This technique is very hard to perform even on the modern cello;
therefore it was really hard to perform it on the old cello that used to be played on in the
time that Beethoven composed the cello sonata in G minor, that’s why we can not find
similar passages in the cello sonata. Another important issue is the balance between the
instruments, the violin and the piano in its high register could produce high volume that
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the old cello could not produce with its strings and bow used, so the cello that Beethoven
wanted in his concerto must have been much more developed than the cello he had in his
mind for the cello sonata.
Example 4: fast semiquavers on middle and low register.
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Chapter 3: The cello sonata and other chamber works
The cello sonata is considered as a chamber work for Beethoven. The cello and the piano
in this sonata share the role as a soloist and an accompanist. The role of the cello in the
sonata is similar in some parts to the role of the cello in other chamber music works by
Beethoven, such as his quartets and trios. Some of the techniques in the sonata are more
mature than in some of his other chamber works, because the cello in the sonata has more
solo parts. But there are some techniques that Beethoven did not use in this sonata
because they were hard to achieve or were not discovered yet.
The use of the high register of the cello in the sonata number 2 op.5 is considered
moderate. But in later cello sonatas and chamber music works for Beethoven, it became
obvious that the high register of the cello became more common and preferred. In the
cello sonata number 1 op.102 most of the themes and melodies are located in the middle
and high register of the cello. This indicates that the cello became more as a solo
instrument rather than an accompanist and a cover for the weak low register of the
fortepiano at that time.
One of the differences that occurred for cello writing is the opening of movements. In the
2nd cello sonata op.5 the opening theme of each movement was for the piano, but in some
later works the cello had the role of playing the opening theme. For example in the first
sonata op.102; the cello plays the opening theme followed by the piano (example 5a).
another example is in the opening of the piano trio number 1 op.70; all the instruments
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(the piano, violin and cello) play the main theme in unison, but after that the cello takes
over with a solo only accompanied by the piano with simple chords (example 5b). And in
both the sonata op.102 and the trio, the cello plays in its high register directly without any
building up from lower register of the instrument as it was in both movements of the 2nd
sonata op.5.
Example 5:
a: opening of sonata no.2 op.102:
b: cello solo at the beginning of piano trio:
Thumb position is one of the important improvements that happened to cello techniques.
This technique is used when the left hand is higher than the neck positions, and the thump
is placed on the string ‘in which the thumb is placed horizontally across the strings,
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thereby acting as a moveable nut’1. In Beethoven’s work for the cello; the use of thumb
position varies, in the first few works for the cello the use of this technique was not
necessary most of time. For the cello sonata op.5 no.2, the thumb position is not used
usually by cellists; because most of the high position themes are built gradually without
big intervals between the notes, and could be handled with the normal first, second and
third finger of the left hand (example 6a).
But in later works by Beethoven this technique started to appear more for the cello parts;
in the string quartet in E flat major op.127 there are many locations that require the
thumb position technique to be used. In the last movement of this quartet there is a theme
played between the first E (after the middle C in the piano) and the F a ninth above. This
theme can be played using the normal three fingers without using the thumb, but it would
be much easier to put the thumb on the low E on the D string and play the scale between
the D and the A string without moving between positions, and this will make more sense
because if it is played without the thumb position a glissando like sound will appear from
that (example 6b). And one bar after that there is a theme which is octaves played
between the same E and the E an octave higher; this one also should be played using the
thumb position in which the thumb would be put across the D string over the E note, and
the third finger on the higher E on the A string (example 6b).
1
Slatford, R violoncello Early History: to 1800. ed. L. Macy (Accessed 4 august 2006),
<http://www.grovemusic.com>
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Example 6:
a: bars 374-381 normal fingering in cello sonata no.2 op.5.
b: use of thump position in string quartette
One of the important changes that happened to cello playing is the bow length. The old
classical bow was a little short which did not give much freedom to players to play long
passages in one stroke, and even to play some shorter ones that should be played with ff
or sf. But in the time of Beethoven’s life the cello bow has changed; Romberg who new
Beethoven and worked with him in the Bonn Court opera orchestra (Watkin 1994)1 had a
longer bow than the normal ones that were used at that time ‘Romberg’s bow (of 30.25
inches) had nearly two inches more playing length than Duport’s’2. This bow changed the
way bowing was written for the cello; longer bow strokes are possible now without the
need to divide them into two. One example of that is in the first movement in piano trio
no.1 op.70; in bars 104-107 there are twelve crotchets in one slur, these crotchets are
Watkin. D. (1994) Beethoven’s sonatas for piano and cello: aspects of technique and performance. In R,
Stowell. (ed). Cambridge studies in performance practice 4. Performing Beethoven. Cambridge:
Cambridge university press, p.98.
2
Ibid, p.102.
11
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played with many shifts between three strings, and that requires even more bow length to
achieve that (example 7a). But in the cello sonata no.2 op.5 there are a few long passages
that require long strokes but they are mostly one note played continually for a few bars
(example 7b).
Example 7: bow strokes.
a: first movement in piano trio no.1 op.70 bars 104-107
b: 1st movement cello sonata no.2 op.5 bars 146-149
Some changes happened also to the writing for cello in Beethoven’s later works. For
example he uses pizzicato more often, and also double stop which he rarely used in the
op.5 sonatas except for some chords and simple double stops, but he used it more in the
later sonata no.1 op.102 (example 8)
Example 8: double stops and pizzicato.
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Chapter 4: Recordings of the cello sonata on period
instruments and modern ones
Some modern musicians choose to perform on period instruments. Their point of view is
that the sound produced by period instruments has its specialty which can not be found in
modern ones, and that refers to the shape of the instruments and the materials used to
build them. As for the cello, the strings and bow have changed significantly since
Beethoven’s time to our time, and that affected the sound produced from the cello which
involved some changes in performance practice between performers on modern or period
instruments. In this part of the research there will be a study of recordings of the cello
sonata number 2 op.5 on period instruments and modern ones, one of the recordings is
performed by the cellist Anner Bylsma on a period cello, and the other recordings are
performed on modern ones.
The first noticeable difference between the recordings is the pitch. In the period
instrument recording the pitch is lower than that in the other recordings. ‘The overall
pitch common in the Classical era was rather lower than modern pitch; Pacific Classical
Winds uses A=430 cycles, as opposed to the A=440 (and higher) in use today.’ 1 The
reason for using a lower pitch for the string instruments and specially the cello is the low
tension of gut strings which did not allow the player to raise the pitch more than the usual
1
Pacific Classical Winds [online] New York: New World Records. Available from:
http://www.newworldrecords.org/linernotes/80580.pdf#search=%22pitch%20in%20classical%20era%22.
[Accessed 25 August 2006]
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430 A otherwise the string will not give a good sound or it will be damaged. Nowadays
the normal A pitch is 440 and sometimes higher, the reason behind that is to give a
brighter and louder sound from the instruments.
One of the big changes that happened to the cello and the string instruments in the
classical era is the bow. Before that the bow was shorter and curved in a different way
that made less tension for the bow hair. The new bow gave more flexibility to play longer
slurs and stronger strokes. In the recording of Anner Bylsma there are many places that
he did not play the slurs as it is on the original Urtext; but many times he separates the
slurs to be played sufficiently. For example in bar 19 the three semiquavers should be
played forte with a slur, with a modern bow it is difficult to play it this way but it is not as
difficult as it is with the old bow, because the length of the bow do not cover the three
notes with one bow stroke especially in forte, also the low tension of the bow hair does
not help at all. In Anner Bylsma’s recording he plays the notes without the slur (example
9).
Example 9: bar 19 of 1st mov of cello sonata.
In the period instrument recording there is a noticeable scratchy sound that comes from
attacking the bow strongly on the strings and especially the middle strings. This sound is
usually produces when the bow hair touches the bow wood wile playing strong bow
strokes, and because of the low tension of the classical bow hair this sound could be
easily produced when playing strong strokes. But there is another way that this sound
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could come; when the strings are too low and close to the fingerboard this scratchy sound
could be produced. At the present time the cello bridge is usually higher than that in the
classical cello, which makes strong bow strokes sounds better and more convenient for
musicians and composers who are fond of dynamics such as ff and sf which Beethoven
adored. One example of this is in the bars 79-85 the notes are in forte and fortissimo at
the end, and they are played with full length bow strokes. (Example 9)
Example 10: strong bow strokes on G string.
In the period instruments recording, the balance between the cello and the fortepiano is
acceptable. But usually in the eighteenth century the balance between the cello and the
fortepiano was not always as good as it is in this recording. The gut strings and the bow
in that period did not give the cello a great chance to be loud enough to get a good
balance between it and the fortepiano. Even the fortepiano was not as loud as it is today;
the high register of it was usually louder than the low register, and the cello at that time
had a big role as an accompanist and basso continue instrument. The main role of the
cello was to strengthen the low register of the fortepiano. As for the high register of the
fortepiano, the balance between it and the cello was not an easy issue; cellists had to raise
the volume of the cello in the high register, or to keep some distance between the two
instruments. For the recording by Anner Bylsma and Alcolm Bilson the balance between
the cello and the fortepiano is good because it is a recent recording (1986), and the
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recording must have been done using microphones and sound systems that helped a lot to
make a good balance between the instruments.
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Conclusion
Performance practice has changed significantly through the musical eras. Moreover,
performance practice between each era and the modern time has changed also, and that
depends mostly on the developments that happened to the musical instruments and
playing techniques. In the classical era the cello had a great period that many composers
started to consider it in their compositional repertoire as a solo instrument rather than an
accompanist.
Many performers choose to play compositions of the classical era on authentic instrument
similar to those were used to perform on in the classical era. The Beethoven cello sonata
number two op.5 was written in 1796, at that time the cello was different from the
modern cello. The differences included the parts that were used to construct the cello, and
the techniques which were developed later to cope with the changes on the cello and the
performance practice.
The cello body parts which made the main change on the overall cello are the strings,
fingerboard, bow and the endpin. Strings used to be made from animal guts, and that
limited the performer’s ability to play some parts of musical pieces such as strong bow
strokes and high position themes. The fingerboard in the classical era used to be flatter
than the one cellists use now, some cellists in the classical era studied it and tried to
develop it until it became as we know it nowadays; curved with an angle under the C
string to give the player more freedom. Bow had its own studies from performers and
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cello makers; it became longer with more tension to the bow hair, therefore, performers
now can play stronger bow strokes and they don’t have to worry much about how short
the bow is. Finally, the endpin helped players to support the cello and gave them more
freedom to the left hand to play vibrato and high positions.
Cello techniques have developed as well since Beethoven composed the cello sonata.
New techniques were discovered to cope with the development of the cello; higher
positions for example became more popular because the new metal strings produces a
good sound when it is played in high positions, rather than gut strings which high
position playing usually do not give a clear sound, furthermore, thump position was
discovered to make high position playing easier. These changes in the cello and its
techniques changed the compositional process for Beethoven. In later works for
Beethoven, writing for the cello changed according to the changes that happened to the
cello, the themes are usually in higher positions than the sonata no.2 op.5, and bowing
also has changed among other techniques that were discovered.
Some performers nowadays choose to perform the cello sonata and other classical music
pieces on period instruments. Their point of view is that Beethoven and other classical
period composers composed these works depending on the cello that existed at that time
and its capabilities, in addition the sound and tone color is different than the sound
produced by modern instrument, so it is more appropriate to perform on period
instruments so the music created will be the same as the music that their composers
wanted it.
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Bibliography
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Hopkins, A. (1996) The Seven Concertos of Beethoven. England: Scolar press.
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Stowell, R. (ed). (1999) The Cambridge companion to the cello. Cambridge: Cambridge
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[Anon] [n.d.]The Baroque Cello [Online] [n.p] available from:
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Pierre Fournier, Jean Fonda. [Sound Recording] Bologna: Ermitage s.r.l.
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