Exposition

The endpinless cello in the 19th / early-20th century and today (2020)

Matyas Virag
open exposition

About this exposition

Despite the fact that playing the cello without an endpin was common practice throughout the 19th and even early-20th century, it is a playing style that, in my experience, most of today’s cellists associate with the baroque cello only, and barely experience in general. However, this so-called da gamba posture was preferred by some of the leading cellists of the 19th / early-20th century – Auguste Franchomme, Alfredo Piatti, David Popper or Robert Hausmann, to name a few – all of whom made this choice at a time when the new ‘trend’ of using an endpin was becoming more popular. With the first part of my research, my goal was to gain insight into this transitional period – between approximately 1850 and 1920 – by looking into treatises, other written documents, illustrations and photographs of the time. This was followed by the documentation of my own practical experiments – mainly working on Brahms’ Cello Sonata in F Major (Op. 99) – which led me to the conclusion that: by trying to play instinctively and thus experiencing what is more natural to do – in terms of bow speed, the amount of bow weight in the string, the intensity/amplitude of vibrato etc. – in this changed position, one may get a sense of what types of sound or articulation a cellist from that era might have played with. And having these two equally important elements, the background research and my practical experiments, I chose to present my work as a research exposition.
typeresearch exposition
keywordscello, endpin, Robert Hausmann, David Popper, Alfredo Piatti, Johannes Brahms, historically informed performance, 19th century, Instruments & Techniques
date24/02/2020
published20/08/2020
last modified20/08/2020
statuslimited publication
copyrightMátyás Virág
licenseAll rights reserved
urlhttps://www.researchcatalogue.net/view/544471/723497
published inKC Research Portal
portal issue3. Internal publication


Copyrights

nameCarlo Alfredo Piatti (1822-1901)
copyrightpublic domain
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usagespicture, picture
nameDavid Popper (1843-1913)
copyrightpublic domain
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usagespicture
nameRobert Hausmann (1852-1909)
copyrightpublic domain
licenseAll rights reserved
usagespicture
nameBrahms_Hausmann
copyrightpublic domain
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usagespicture
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nameJules Delsart
copyrightRené-Gabriel Ojéda / Musée de beaux arts de Valenciennes
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nameTortelier
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nameKummer: Violoncell-Schule
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nameBernhard Romberg
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nameBernhard Romberg - 2.
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nameServais_1862
copyrightServaiscollectie Halle
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nameFranchomme_photo
copyrightElisabeth Pénicaud-Legagneur
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nameLee_Violoncello-Schule_rev.Becker
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nameJules de Swert
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nameVan der Straeten
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nameLeo Schulz
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nameHelene de Katow
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nameLisa Christiani
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nameBrahms_1_da_gamba
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nameBrahms_2_da_gamba
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nameBrahms_2_endpin
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nameBrahms_3_da_gamba
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nameBrahms_3_endpin
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nameBrahms_4_da_gamba
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nameBrahms_4_endpin
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nameBrahms and Hausmann
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comments: 1 (last entry by Anna Scott - 10/12/2018 at 10:27)