ECU Libraries Catalog

The Amadeus book of the violin : construction, history, and music / Walter Kolneder ; translated and edited by Reinhard G. Pauly.

Author/creator Kolneder, Walter
Other author/creatorPauly, Reinhard G., translator, editor.
Format Book and Print
Publication InfoPortland, OR : Amadeus Press, ©1998.
Description597 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Subject(s)
Uniform titleBuch der Violine. English
Contents Part one. The instrument -- Tone production -- Violin making. The wood. Preparing the top and back ; The model ; Making the top and back ; The f holes and bass bar ; The rib structure ; Varnishing ; Adjusting the violin -- Bow making -- Manual work and machines -- String making -- Violin maintenance: repair. Worm damage ; Cracks in the top and back ; Damage to the edges of the top and back, and to the ribs ; Various changes in the wood ; Loss of wood in the top and back ; Replacing the bass bar ; Damage to the varnish ; Correction of measurements ; Fingerboard repairs ; Pegbox repairs -- Part two. The history of the violin. The prehistory -- String instruments in thirteenth- and fourteenth-century Europe -- The violin's early history -- Musical developments in the fifteenth century -- Viola da gamba and viola da bracchio -- The origin of the violin -- The violin in the early sixteenth century -- The rise of the Amati family ; Cremona becomes the center of violin making -- Gasparo da Salò and the early Brescia school -- Violin making in the seventeenth century ; The Cremona school from Nicolò III Aamati to Antonio Stradivari -- Violin making in seventeenth-century Brescia -- Italian seventeenth-century violin makers outside Brescia and Cremona -- National schools in Europe before 1700 ; Jacob Stainer -- Italian violin making in the eighteenth century ; Antonius Stradivarius and Josephus Guarnerius del Gesù -- The decline of Italian violin making during the second half of the eighteenth century -- The "secret" of the old Italian luthiers -- The old Italian varnish -- Eighteenth-century violin making outside Italy. France ; Austria and Germany ; Holland and Belgium ; England ; The Iberian peninsula -- The industrialization of violin making -- Violin collectors and dealers -- Violin making and the development of the natural sciences. New experiments -- Violin making since 1800. Italy ; France ; England ; The Americas ; The Iberian peninsula ; Belgium and Holland ; Scandinavia and Finland ; Germany ; Switzerland ; Austria ; Czechoslovakia and Hungary ; Poland ; Russia ; The Balkans ; Turkey ; Japan ; Australia ; New Zealand ; South Africa -- Violin making as a hobby -- The history and making of violin bows -- List of bow makers. France ; England ; Germany -- Summary and projections --
Contents Part three. Performance, pedagogy, and composition -- Violin playing and teaching in the sixteenth century -- Early seventeenth-century developments -- Monteverdi and the violin -- Biagio Marini -- Forms of seventeenth-century violin music -- Farina and virtuoso playing -- Standardization of the orchestra ; Categories and formal design in orchestral music -- Chamber music and orchestral music before Corelli -- Germany and Austria in the seventeenth century -- France and England in the seventeenth century -- Corelli and violin music at the end of the seventeenth century -- Seventeenth-century violin instruction books -- Torelli and the beginnings of the solo concerto -- Antonio Vivaldi and the solo concerto -- The origin of the solo cadenza -- Italian violin playing after Vivaldi ; Geminiani, Somis, Veracim, Locatelli -- Johann Sebastian Bach's compositions for violin -- The "Bach" bow -- Instruction books from the first half of the eighteenth century -- Mid-century style changes ; Johann Stamitz ; Giuseppe Tartini -- The Classic solo concerto -- Mozart's compositions for violin -- The origins of the string quartet. Quartets by Haydn and Mozart -- Orchestra playing in the eighteenth century ; The classical symphony -- Instruction books, 1750-1800 -- The etude's origin -- The development of violin playing in the principal countries of Europe during the eighteenth century. Italy ; France ; Germany and Austria ; England and other European countries -- The founding of the Paris Conservatoire ; The beginnings of modern music education -- Beethoven's compositions for violin -- Traveling virtuosos -- Nicolo Paganini -- Nineteenth-century violin playing. France and Belgium ; Vienna ; Italy ; Germany ; Bohemia ; Hungary ; Poland ; Russia ; United States ; England ; Scandinavia ; Spain -- Nineteenth-century violin music. Works for violin and orchestra ; Works for violin and piano (or harp) ; Works for unaccompanied violin ; Duets -- Nineteenth-century violin pedagogy ; Teaching as a science -- Instructional works -- Otakar Ševčík, or The Perfect Method -- The violinist's physical and mental health ; Twentieth-century problems -- Fritz Kreisler and modern violin playing ; Vibrato -- Fingering -- Violin music since 1900 -- Violin pedagogy since 1900 -- Great twentieth-century violinists: virtuosi -- Great twentieth-century violinists: virtuose -- String quartets -- Into the twenty-first century.
Abstract First published in 1972, Walter Kolneder's Das Buch der Violine quickly established itself as the standard work on the violin, dealing with every aspect of the instrument in truly encyclopedic fashion. This first English-language translation, by eminent scholar and educator Reinhard G. Pauly, is based on the fifth German edition, published in 1993. Ours is more than a translation, however. Dr. Pauly also took the opportunity to revise the text, for American and English readers particularly, and has included information on recent developments not available to the author. The book begins with an examination of the violin's construction and history. Part One offers fascinating detail on woods, glues, varnishes, shapes and dimensions, and bows and strings. Part Two traces the evolution of the instrument's form, from the violin's pre-history through the five centuries, roughly, that have elapsed since it took its present shape. Part Three is a chronological survey of the violin's musical aspects, treating performance techniques, pedagogical philosophy, and literature for the violin. Kolneder examines the various national schools for their distinguishing characteristics and shows the influence of composers (Bach and Beethoven, among others), virtuosos (Paganini, Kreisler), and teachers (including Tartini and Geminiani) upon the development of the modern violin and its music. Together the three parts form the best single volume on the violin and its music, an extraordinary encyclopedic resource for the general music-lover as well as for violinists.
Bibliography noteIncludes bibliographical references (pages 547-564) and index.
LCCN 97046198
ISBN1574670387

Available Items

Library Location Call Number Status Item Actions
Music Music Stacks ML800 .K6413 1998 ✔ Available Place Hold