As of the amount of different recommendations on the ideal violin hold and their completely different opinions, I will not go into discussing each one of stances stated on each treatises, but I listed below the different factors that may have an influence it:
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The position of the feet
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The position of the violin: whether the chin should be placed on the left or the right side of the tailpiece)
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The Inclination of the Violin
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The Position of the Elbow
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The Position of the Wrist
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The Position of the Fingers (especially the thumb)
After going through the different indications in these treatises and trying out some of them, I concluded the following: while holding the violin, one has to find an ideal position where the neck can be free and the shoulders not constricted. The most crucial aspect would be keeping the flexibility and freedom of movement. I do not think there is a ‘correct’ position for each of these variables, but they are dependent on each other to achieve ease and suppleness of the body.
Spohr was the first to invent the chin rest in 1820, so before that, we can assume that there was no artifact to support the violin on the upper side or below. However, Baillot mentions the following reflection on this matter:
Children or young people whose shoulders are not yet broad enough to support the violin, and women who play this instrument and who have nothing in their attire to help them hold it easily and inclined to the right, may fill in the existing gap between the left shoulder and the violin by placing a thick handkerchief or a kind of cushion there; experience has proved to us that this method offers great advantages without any inconvenience, and that, with the handkerchief placed under the clothing on the shoulder, it should not even be noticed1.
This remark suggests that it was usual for many violinists to have sufficiently padded or thick clothing, which served to stabilize the violin and maintain the ideal 45-degree angle that Baillot himself recommended. Consequently, it seemed to me that it was a good argument for using a small pad under the violin, and chin rest to protect the tailpiece.
Main Positions
In his overview of the use of the principal positions on the violin, Stowell2 mentions that the most commonly used positions until around 1760 were the first and third, which were considered more stable.
L' Abbé les fils (1761) was the first theorist in compiling the second position in his treatise as a commonly used tool.
Already around 1800 it is much more common to see the use of odd positions like second and fourth and higher. Neither in the 18th or 19th Century treatises is there mention of the specific mechanics of position shifting, but they insist that the right choice of reasonable fingerings is crucial. Because of the lack of support already mentioned in the previous section, violinists paid a lot of attention to the selection of fingerings, as changing position was not something that could be done as easily as with a shoulder rest.
The general consensus until the 18th century was that, especially in fast passages, it was better to remain in fixed positions. However, by the turn of the century, especially in the solo repertoire, the left hand takes off from these basic positions, quickly going up and down in very virtuosic passages.
Expressive Fingerings
In other ways, in slower cantabile passages and sustained melodies, Baillot (1834) and Woldemar (1799) accounted for the fact that Viotti often used shifting as an expressive element, taking advantage of the colour of the high positions, which varied widely from one string to another.
Baillot explained extensively about the possibilities that the E and A string offer, and when to use them3:
The E string, whose timbre is clear and silvery, is especially suitable for brilliant passages (..). In its high notes, the timbre of this string is comparable with the piccolo and is suitable for quick pieces that are expressed with lightness. The A string has something sweet and penetrating that gives it the greatest likeness to a woman’s voice. It is one of the principal charms of the violin, for all its power is in its sweetness. Sounds analogous to those of the flute are obtainable on the A string, principally after the fourth or fifth note; this string also takes the timbre of the oboe or bagpipe. In order to imitate this timbre it is necessary to press the bow a little for than usual, to bring it close to the bridge, and to feel that the roughness of the hair delays, so to speak, the vibrations of the string.
Regarding the D and G strings, he attributed more characteristics related to the singing voice to them:
The D string has the noble and velvety character of the contralto voice; above all, it is suitable to the grandiose style, and though it has not the power or strength of the G string, it has nearly all its majesty. The G string is the one that proclaims the empire of the violin; (..) The sounds of the G string lend themselves to the imitation of the horn, above all in the slightly higher notes: it is enough to press quite strongly with the fingers and the bow to give some freedom and bite to these sounds when playing fast, and a considerable roundness when playing slowly, and to bring the bow close to the bridge so that the strength of the vibration can render more faithfully the noble and touching sounds of the horn.
Something that I took some time to understand for me was that, although it is detailed where and with which finger you have to shift, the rest of the passage does not specify where exactly you have to make the change. The choices of positions that Libon made, and where to introduce these slides are rather unusual, something that I alone would never think if it was not notated.
Finger Substitution under a slur
Another left-hand device that I have seen repeatedly in Libón's music is the articulation by finger substitution under a slur.
The first case that we see is a fast passage, where the articulation is very clearly printed and we observe several repeated passing notes under one single slur.
The second case I have to show may argue it is a printing mistake. However, I decided to follow the printed articulation as closely as possible, deeming them as correct, for the sake of experimentation. The simplest solution would be doing the portato under a slur as they were repeated notes. Still, I decided to apply the same principle of the previous passage: articulating under a slur by changing the finger.
