The Role of the Violin in Expressing The Musical Ideas of the Romantic Period and the Development of Violin Techniques in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

Abstract

The aim of this project was to explore the development of violin techniques in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the role of the violin in expressing the musical ideas of the age. The project was motivated by Guhr's Paganini's Art of Violin Playing, first published in 1829 and translated and edited in 1982 by J. Gold, which revealed Paganini's techniques. He is often seen as the bridge between the Classical and early Romantic Period. It was the aim of this thesis to reveal the performance practice of the age. I compared and examined treatises and violin playing methods in order to determine the development of violin techniques, and the role of the violin in expressing the musical ideas of the period. Since the project was concerned with the nineteenth to early twentieth-century period, it therefore included consideration of the analysis of music and/or treatises of composers and/or writers such as Paganini, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, Baillot, Spohr, Beriot, Brahms, among others. My thesis also included an historical overview.