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15 Chordal Technique CHAPTER THREE Chordal Technique In 1933, in an article in the Musical Times, Albert Schweitzer promoted the idea, originally conceived by musicologist Arnold Schering at the beginning of the twentieth century, that there had once been a bow that could play chords in the Bach solo sonatas and partitas with all the notes sustained. This prompted violinist Emil Telmányi to invent what became known as the “Vega” bow, whose frog was hinged to enable the player to slacken the hair when playing double-stops and chords, and to tighten it with thumb pressure when playing a single line. Recordings made using this device are notable for the way that each chord stands out from the texture. Without commenting further on the effect this produces, I shall simply point out that there is no historical evidence to support the existence of such a bow. Schweitzer, an organist, apparently conceived of chords literally, without arpeggiation; however, as string players , we should be thinking of them in the way a lutenist might, and, in polyphonic passages, always playing horizontally, not vertically. A number of principles must be kept in mind when playing chords in the Baroque style. But first I offer some suggestions concerning the basic right-hand technique of chord playing: 1. Always keep your elbow low—let the arm hang loosely. 2. The fingers should be relaxed: it is essential for the production of a full, resonant , and unforced tone that the bow be supported loosely. 3. Never start a chord on the string but come from the air at an oblique angle. 4. Never “put” the bow on the lowest string by raising your arm but rather allow the bow to fall there by relaxing the pressure of the fourth finger. You’ll find that this produces a firm yet unforced bass-note for the chord. 5. The fingers should always point away from the direction of the stroke: when playing a down-bow chord let the wrist lead and the fingers trail behind. 6. When playing a chord down-bow, the stroke should be generated by allowing the elbow to fall, with the forearm and hand following. 7. When playing an up-bow chord, make the stroke by letting the forearm fall toward your ribs. 8. Be sure that the upper arm follows in the direction that the bow, hand, and forearm have taken but that it does not lead—never raise it to place the bow on the bass-note. The normal way to play a chord in Baroque style involves a greater or lesser degree of arpeggiation, depending upon the context. The type of “breaking” of a chord such as one finds in the opening allegro of the Max Bruch G-minor Concerto 16 Right-Hand Technique is inappropriate in Baroque music, as are a couple of other methods. In my teaching I have given nicknames to these three ways of breaking chords: The first I call “ta-WHA!” as in: The second, “ha-CHOO!” as in: And the third, which is a combination of the other two, “ta-wha-CHOO!” as in the continuation of the previous passage: 17 Chordal Technique Notice that I have chosen examples from Bach’s unaccompanied music to make my point, and I have done so for a particular reason that I shall touch on here without delving more deeply into the subject of Bach interpretation: there is, in essence, no such thing as “unaccompanied” music. When you play a chord in an unaccompanied piece, you are providing your own bass line, and therefore your own accompaniment. The bottom note of a chord must be on the beat, for it is the “beat.” Imagine—if you can—what it would be like to play with a continuo player who always anticipated the beat in the left hand! In compositions with figured bass accompaniment, one does at times find examples of chords that would seem to ignore this rule, such as this from Jean-Marie Leclair’s Sonata in C Minor, op. 5, no. 6, known as Le tombeau: Even the first chord, with descending grace notes that are rolled downward and then up again, does not break the rule of starting on the beat, because the first note of the measure, the E-natural, must be placed precisely on the downbeat.1 The bottom note of the second chord, however, must be played on the beat, after which the chord is rolled upward through the grace notes...

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