The cello / Elizabeth Cowling.
| Author/creator | Cowling, Elizabeth |
| Format | Book |
| Publication Info | New York : Scribner, [1975] |
| Description | 224 pages, 16 unnumbered leaves of plates : illustrations ; 22 cm |
| Subjects |
| Contents | I: The instrument. The anatomy of the cello. Remarks on some practical aspects of the physics of cello sound ; Early makers of cellos ; Variants of the cello ; Changes, improvements, and attempted improvements after Antonio Stradivari ; The bow -- 2: The early development of the cello. Sixteenth-century beginnings to 1556 ; Jambe de Fer's Epitome musical of 1556 ; Sixteenth-century uses of the cello and its rise in prestige ; Seventeenth century: problem of nomenclature regarding the cello ; Sizes and tunings of the cello ; Interpretation of the continuo: role in chamber music, church music, and orchestral music ; The rise of the first solo virtuosi ; The eighteenth century: the spread of the popularity of the cello to other countries ; The battle with the gamba in France ; The end of the system of patronage ; Eighteenth-century uses of the cello ; Cello methods and their proliferation -- 3: About the literature for the cello. The earliest literature ; The eighteenth-century continuo sonata to 1750 ; Johann Sebastian Bach Suites for unaccompanied cello ; The early concerto ; The continuo sonata from 1750 to 1800 ; The transition to Beethoven: the pre-classical piano sonata with cello ad libitum or obbligato ; Ludwig van Beethoven ; Beethoven's contemporaries ; Romantic nineteenth-century literature ; Twentieth-century literature to c. 1960 -- 4: A selective group of twentieth-century cellists -- Appendix: Cello continuo sonatas: Italian Baroque composers ; A short list of effective pieces for cello and piano ; A short list of effective transcriptions. |
| Abstract | After a history of some 450 years the cello--thanks to the achievement of virtuosi such as Casals, Piatigorski, Feuermann and Rostropovitch--now enjoys a greater musical prestige than ever before. That this is so is borne out both by the increasing number of concerts at which the cello today appears either in consort or as a solo instrument, and also by the proliferation of important works which twentieth-century composers have written for it. The author has in mind a readership made up of amateurs as well as students and professional musicians. In an opening section she describes the instrument itself, its anatomy, physics, early makers, variants, development, and its bow. The early history of the cello is then outlined, starting from the sixteenth-century origins and continuing to the spread in popularity during the eighteenth century to countries outside Italy. The literature of the instrument is next described, from the earliest compositions to the work of such twentieth-century composers as Elgar, Bloch, Debussy, Rachrnaninov, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Britten. A final section discusses the qualities of some eminent modern cellists, and the book ends with the author's conclusions and reflections on her theme. Particularly useful are Professor Cowling's list of pieces for piano and cello and of effective transcriptions. |
| General note | Includes index. |
| Bibliography note | Bibliography: pages 215-217. |
| LCCN | 75318804 |
| ISBN | 0684141272 : |