Melbourne Conservatorium of Music - Theses
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ItemBefore Bach and Telemann: the style and structure of unaccompanied Austro-German works for violin in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries( 2016)Johann Sebastian Bach’s Sonatas and Partitas for solo violin (1720) and Georg Philip Telemann’s Fantasias for solo violin (1734) have long been regarded as primary examples of Austro-German unaccompanied violin literature. Bach’s works, in particular, are often viewed as the culmination of specific developments in Austro-German violin technique in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, as they displayed relatively newly acknowledged virtuosic capabilities of the violin, such as extensive polyphonic writing of unprecedented length. The profound impact of works for solo violin with basso continuo on these developments has been studied extensively, particularly with regard to the emergence of distinctly Austro-German characteristics. However, the significance of their late seventeenth-century unaccompanied counterparts has hitherto been largely underestimated and overlooked. This thesis critically examines several precedents to the works of Bach and Telemann, arguing that these were part of a wider paradigm shift with regard to Austro-German usage of the violin. Through the in depth examination of two works – Suites pour le Violon Seul sans Basse (1696) by Johann Paul von Westhoff (1656-1705) and Artificiosus Concentus pro Camera (1715) by Johann Joseph Vilsmayr (1663-1722) – this thesis demonstrates the ways in which unaccompanied Austro-German works for violin fit into the overarching Austro-German violin paradigm of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. In addition to these works, other Austro-German unaccompanied violin repertoire before Bach and Telemann is investigated. By examining characteristics of Westhoff and Vilsmayr's works and the broader Austro-German repertoire - including variation technique, polyphony, the stylus phantasticus and scordatura – this thesis aims to show that the Austro-German unaccompanied violin repertory is of a wider range than has previously been acknowledged, revealing new implications for our understanding of idiomatic writing for the violin, as well as aspects of performance practice.