Mozart's Orchestral Cantabile Style: Eighteenth-century Origins of String Performance Practices

Mozart’s Orchestral Cantabile Style: Eighteenth-Century Origins of String Performance Practices David Bowser Doctor of Musical Arts (2015) Graduate Department of Music University of Toronto A stylistic change in mid-eighteenth-century compositions inspired a decidedly lyrical concept of string playing characterized by connected bowing manner, sustained tone and legato phrasing. At the same time, string instruments and particularly bows were adapted to the changing performance style and became standardized. Mozart’s letters and other historical documents suggest that vibrato and portamento were characteristic to some degree of the string performance style of the late eighteenth century. While Roger Norrington contends that vibrato was not a feature of orchestral string performance before the mid-1930s, historical texts, score indications, string teachers and scholars imply that string vibrato saw a longer evolution over centuries. The instrumental cantabile style in Mozart’s music is inspired by the voice and its qualities. Two characteristics have bearing specifically on performance practices of the orchestral string repertoire: the voice possesses an innate sense of connectivity and a natural tendency to vibrate. This study examines compositional style and corresponding performance practices in orchestral string playing in the eighteenth century and traces the evolution of string vibrato into the twentieth century. It explores the stylistic changes during the mid-eighteenth century, tracking the development from old to new styles and the emergence of melody, the origins and development of the High Classical style of Mozart and Haydn, and the implications of this stylistic evolution for eighteenth-century performance practices, especially as they relate to compositions of Mozart. Included are an analysis of historical texts and treatises referring to string vibrato, a survey of current scholarly opinion, and a discussion of string vibrato indications in scores composed in the nineteenth century and early twentieth century. This study examines research on vocal vibrato by vocal scientists and pedagogues while appraising Mozart’s statement that “the voice trembles naturally” and that “people imitate it…on stringed instruments.” Finally, this research addresses Norrington’s claims and investigates indicators of orchestral string vibrato application revealed in archival footage of Bruno Walter conducting in rehearsal, and in early twentieth-century archival films of German, French and British orchestras.

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