The Music

Corelli’s Courante

Arcangelo Corelli’s Courante in Suzuki Volume 7 comes from his Concerto Grosso No. 6. Today a concerto is known as a piece of music in three movements, usually played by one solo instrument and orchestra, but why grosso?

Photo by Larisa Birta

Grosso means big in Italian, and concerto grosso refers to a concerto with a group of soloists plus orchestra – a kind of big concerto. Corelli was the first major composer to use the term and other composers, such as Geminiani, Locatelli, Torelli, Bach and especially Handel, subsequently took up the form. Finally it was superseded by the solo concerto and sinfonia concertante.

Concerti grossi (plural) from the Baroque era (approx. 1600  to 1750) are generally pleasant harmonious pieces, often without prominent solo lines, a reason perhaps why they were overtaken by the solo concerto.

Corelli’s Op. 6, for two violins and cello, with stronger melodies and themes, has the balance about right, and it remains a popular concert piece.

Trills

When violin students first encounter trills in Volume 2, the big issue is finger speed. In the effort go faster, however, the upper trilling finger may hammer down too strongly and the lower finger may press down on the fingerboard with too much force. Paradoxically, it has the effect of restricting speed. It’s better to relax the left hand, focus on clarity and listen for accurate pitch in the upper note.

What is the musical purpose of trills? Are they simply ornamental? One way to find out is to play the piece omitting the trills. If you know the piece well enough, it sounds like part of the melody is missing, though not as much as when you leave out a note or two.

Trills in Baroque music are usually added to produce harmonic suspensions, preparing for and leading into cadences. They may begin on or above the principal note and unless there are specific signs in the score, can be played at the performer’s discretion.

There’s some trill exercises on previous posts here at Teach Suzuki Violin. Here’s the links: Read More →

Allegro by Bach

The Allegro by Bach in Suzuki Violin Volume 8 comes from the Sonata in E Minor for Violin and Keyboard, BWV 1023. The movement has an improvisational quality, like a fantasia, lending itself to a wide range of interpretative ideas and arrangements.

J.S. Bach was a fluent improviser who could extemporize with virtuosic ease. Some genres, such as Jazz, are more or less based on musical invention in the moment, whereas the score grew to dominate classical performance. Now there are signs that the art of improvisation in classical music, especially in cadenzas, is starting to return from its long decline in the 20th century.

Suzuki and Bach

Parents and students sometimes ask me:

Why is there so much music in the Suzuki violin repertoire by Bach, a German composer who lived over 300 years ago, especially when there’s an abundance of violin music by composers from later times that is equally suitable for violin study and performance?

It’s an interesting question.

During the time he lived and studied in Germany, Suzuki heard the works of the great German composers performed by German musicians at home in their native musical culture, and at this poignant period between the wars, this music enjoyed a refreshed authenticity.

It was like experiencing Italian opera at La Scala or Tchaikovsky at St Petersburg. We can imagine powerful musical awakenings in these settings. Suzuki’s well-known attraction to Mozart was formed through profoundly moving experiences with his music.

Yet the reasons for including so much of Bach’s music into the violin books go beyond Suzuki’s musical tastes. As any violinist knows, J.S. Bach’s music lives at the heart of string playing. After hearing, studying and playing his compositions, a musical world without his music is unthinkable, unimaginable.

Bach’s music teaches us so much, but we don’t learn to play it for educational purposes. We do so to live and believe in a beautiful world – and to fly.

Allegro by Bach

At first glance and at first hearing, it seems that the main technical point is associated with speed and tempo, yet for the most part the Allegro moves through a series of chords, which makes for relatively easy and simple fingering.

Melody

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Violin Concerto in A Major, K.219 by W.A. Mozart – Adagio

The Violin Concerto in A Major, K.219, nicknamed The Turkish,  was written by Mozart in 1775, living in Salzburg under the patronage of Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo, already having composed such wonders as his other four violin concertos, five piano concertos, 28 symphonies, and a great host of quartets, piano sonatas and church music, just to name a fraction of his previous works – when he was merely 19 years old!

Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major is considered by many as the finest of the five and the most adventurous, featuring the “Turkish” melody in the key of A Minor within the 3rd movement, Rondo.

After a lively 39 bar introduction by the orchestra, the tempo falls to Adagio as the solo violin enters alone with a simple A major arpeggio. Looking at my score, I see pencilled in several alternative fingerings for this first measure. Not only had I experimented myself with these opening notes, I’d watched the concerto played many times by other players, taking careful notice of their choices of fingering, reflecting their particular interpretations. More about this later.

Some players preferred a little glissando, flavouring it with a taste of melancholy, and the bolder purpose of an intense vibrato. In any case, to be convincing to the audience, the intent must be clear and of one mind. Although the Adagio is preparing us for the approaching Allegro, it also stands alone as a vision of stillness and beauty like beams of sunlight on a mountainside.

Following the poignant pauses in measure 45, we are off on an ebullient run, fired with energy and cheerfulness. The happy mood continues unabated right through the movement.

The Main Points

High Positions

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