Walter S. Reiter

The Baroque Violin & Viola: a Fifty-Lesson Course

I wrote this 2-volume book to offer the would-be Baroque violinist and violist a comprehensive course in ‘Historically Informed Performance.’ The reader is thus guided step-by-step through seminal works of the violin repertoire from 1600 to the music of Bach.

In the ‘Observations’ sections of the Lessons there are bar-by-bar analyses of the text, with musical, interpretive and technical suggestions, pertinent quotations from historical sources and thoughts on the holistic approach to playing. There are 125 specially devised Exercises to help broaden an understanding of a vast range of issues.

The subject of Rhetoric, at the heart of the Baroque way of playing, pervades the book; the starting point is the playing of words, reproducing their rhythms, stresses, consonants and vowels, with the help of audio clips. The study of the early Baroque sonata is preceded by an examination of its origins in vocal music: thus the historical transition from vocal to instrumental music is re-enacted within the experience of the reader. The advice to copy the human voice, ubiquitously referred to in the sources, is a dominant theme of the book.

The identification and communication of emotions and the means to achieve this is taught throughout the book, starting with the cultivation of responses to simple intervals and the ‘Emotional Information’ these contain.

There are five Modules on Ornamentation, four ‘Interludes’ of historical and cultural interest and Lessons focusing on topics as diverse as temperament, shifting, vibrato and dance.

Developed over many years of teaching, the effectiveness of this course of Lessons has been well established. The writing style is informal, accessible and authoritative, appealing to professional and amateur musicians alike. The scores, transcribed for both violin and viola, are published on the website, and there are six accompanying videos.