Style and interpretation in the nineteenth‐century German violin school with particular reference to the three sonatas for pianoforte and violin by Johannes Brahms

摘要

From the mid nineteenth to early twentieth centuries the performance ofudBrahms’s music was intricately bound with the performance style of artists within hisudcircle. In violin playing Joseph Joachim (1831‐1907) was the foremost exponent of theudGerman violin school. The stylistic characteristics of this school, which includedudselective use of a pre‐modern style of vibrato, prominent application of portamento,udpredominantly legato approach to bow strokes and the frequent and noticeableudmodification of tempo and rhythm, were considered indispensable expressive devicesudby Joachim, Brahms and others associated with this circle. While the use of suchuddevices in the nineteenth century has been well documented in published researchudover the past 15 years or so, there is currently much contention about the extent toudwhich such devices were employed. Importantly, in addition to written documentationudand solo recordings, this thesis examines recordings of chamber ensembles—whoseudmembers had a connection to the German violin school and/or Brahms—that as yetudhave been little consulted as primary source evidence. Spectrogram analyses of manyudof these recordings provide definitive evidence of vibrato that was narrow in width,udfast, and applied selectively. Other new evidence in my thesis strongly supports theudhypothesis that portamento, tempo modification and rhythmic alteration were used touda much greater extent than today, and this significantly enhanced the rhetoricaludfeatures in Brahms’s music. A detailed Performance Edition with Critical Notes aboutudBrahms’s three Sonatas for Pianoforte and Violin Opp. 78, 100 and 108, applies theudevidence elucidated throughout the thesis.