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Discover the difference between the Italian violin bow which we know today, and the German baroque bow which is rarely seen or heard today, though popular in baroque Germany. The vital difference: the German bow can play chords - which makes Bach's pieces for solo violin infinitely more interesting, not to mention accurate!

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Asked to visualize a violin bow, most people today would think of the Italian bow which has remained unchanged since the great violin-building days of the 16- and 17-hundreds. But look closely at the baroque lady playing the violin in our headline illustration - the bow is convex-arched well away from the bow strings, and her thumb is placed under the bow strings. This was the German style of bow, which went out of fashion with the end of the baroque era in 1750, as this cartoon from the later, "gallant" or "rococco" period illustrates.

"The old way of playing the fiddle" and the "New Way".... that may be how the cartoonist saw it, but for violinists today who wish to play German baroque violin pieces as they were written and intended to be heard, it is not quite so simple! The German baroque violin bow was quite different from the Italian bow in design, construction and method of use. Bach, himself an accomplished violinist, was familiar with both types of bow, choosing to use - and to compose for - one or the other as best suited the music and circumstances in performance. The two types of bow in current use during baroque times reflected the German, and the Italian musical traditions and the music which these traditions produced.

Italian music was light and airy, requiring agility and rapidity. German music was more introspective; tempi were slower, and the music frequently required individual string players to produce true chords.

These two musical styles were reflected in the violin bows. The Italian bow was slim and light, the bow strings fixed in relatively high tension, while the German bow was highly arched, and the string tension was fairly loose. In contrast to the Italian technique of holding the bow lightly from above with curved wrist, the German bow was held with the thumb placed under the bow strings. In this way the player could tighten or relax the bowstring tension at will. A tighter tension in the bow was used for single string, single melodic line playing, while a relaxing of the bowstrings’ tension permitted playing on two or more strings simultaneously, and thus of course, the playing of true chords.

There are many references in baroque literature to the arched German bow with its accompanying technique of thumb-pressure. Georg Muffat for example, gave this description in 1698:

In Angreifung des Bodens spielen die meisten Teutschen, indem sie die Haare mit dem Daumen nach Bedarf andrücken, und seyend hierinnen von den Welschen, als welche die Haare unberührt lassen, unterschieden. When holding the bow, most Germans play while pressing the hairs of the bow with the thumb as required, thus having the option of tightening the hairs or leaving them loose.

There are, also, many contemporary illustrations. A drawing made by the organist, of musicians in the gallery of Freiberg Cathedral around 1712, clearly shows convex-arched, German-type bows, as does the engraving below, which forms the frontispiece to the Musikalisches Lexikon edited by Bach’s cousin J.G. Walther and published in 1732.

Performance of German music using the correct German type of bow would have several significant effects.

First it would slow down some of the breakneck tempi adopted by many musicians today; it is easy to play rapidly when the bow is held from above in the Italian style because in this position the flexibility of the wrist can be used to full effect. When the bow is held in the German style with the thumb under the strings the wrist is permitted relatively little play; thus the performer is compelled by physical limitation to respect the slower, more deliberate tempi which naturally reflect the introspective, often contrapuntal style of German composition.

A second effect of using the German bow with its generally looser tension is that it would yield a much softer, more mellow sound rather than the rougher, more aggressive sound which so often assails the listener’s ears in “authentic-instrument” performances.

In addition of course, the violinist would be able to play full chords when required to do so.

Bach’s solo violin sonatas and partitas would benefit particularly from the use of a proper German bow, especially in the wonderful chaconne from the Partita 2 in d-minor BWV 1004, where the alternation between single-line melody and chordal harmony is such an important feature of the musical structure. Did Bach ever intend or imagine that these pieces would be performed using an Italian bow, thus requiring broken chords or arpeggios instead of full chords? Hardly. At several points in these solo violin works, when a long chord is to be accentuated, Bach writes "arpeggio". Why would he single out the occasional chords, if all chords were to be performed as arpeggios? This "internal evidence" alone would seem to indicate quite clearly that, other than where expressly indicated, chords were to be played as full chords and not as arpeggios.

Otto L. Bettmann gives this picture of Bach's violin composition at Köthen in his book J.S. BACH - As His World Knew Him

"Aside from composing and conducting violin concertos in Cöthen, Bach was also engaged in exploring, and infinitely expanding, the range of works for solo violin. One motive for creating these latter works was undoubtedly the desire to provide suitable music for the virtuosi who regularly visited the culturally rich court of Prince Leopold. One of these was Bach’s good friend Johann Georg Pisendel (1687-1755), a former student of Vivaldi. Stationed at the Dresden court, Pisendel visited Cöthen in 1719, ready to put his artistry on display - undoubtedly making use of music Bach had prepared for the occasion.

"Violin works to this date were intended to display the violin’s potential for evoking melodic beauty. Bach extended the instrument’s range in a series of three sonatas and three partitas for solo violin, which he completed in 1720. The Chaconne of his second partita (in D minor) - made up of twenty-nine variations - is universally acknowledged as one of Bach’s greatest, most imaginative works. To this day, it remains the ultimate test of violinistic virtuosity. Essentially, the violin was designed to produce simple, single-toned melodies, imitative of the human voice. Within the course of these Sonatas, however, the violinist finds himself confronted with intricate three-and four-note chords, in complex chordal passages that vastly extend the range of this instrument.

"For the violinist of Bach’s time - such as Pisendel - this did not, perhaps, present an unsurmountable problem. The violin bow then in use was curved and loosely strung, enabling the performer to touch the instrument’s four strings simultaneously. Today, a straight and tightly strung bow permits the player to intone the notes only successively, creating an arpeggio effect."
(New York 1995 - Carol Publishing Group, 600 Madison Ave. NY 10002)

The academic evidence is substantial. Now let your ears be the judge! Violinist Rudolf Gähler has made a number of recordings and tv appearances, and is well known as a concert artiste. He also gives master classes and is much in demand at symposia and conferences. While his repertoire includes works played on both types of bow, he has been particularly active in promoting the curved bow for the performance of music which includes polyphonic writing. His 175-page (German language) book with accompanying CD presents a thorough collection of articles and comments on the performance of baroque and pre-baroque works using the curved bow. ConBrio Verlagsgesellschaft, DM 59.- ISBN 3-930079-58-5. Rudolf Gähler has recorded the complete Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin by JS Bach using the curved bow. The 2-CD set is on the Arte Nova label, recorded July 1998. Catalog number is 74321 67501 2.