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There was a vague logic in what Matilda said; but logic none the less. Unbelievable, and yet so horribly actual as this was, was what had thus far happened only the legato and pianissimo passages of their adventure, with crescendo and fortissimo still ahead? Mrs. De Peyster closed her eyes, and did not speak. She strove to regain some command over her routed faculties. Matilda waited.
'Adagio molto espressivo, sempre legato, she read next. O, here's another with some more. Andante patetico. And she began to glance over the music. 'O dear me, she thought, 'he must be terribly modern! It all seems discords to me. Let's try the air. It is very strange, it seems familiar. She began to sing it, and suddenly broke off with laughter.
Mozart, who led the Viennese school, developed the singing style of playing and the smooth flowing legato. Leaving behind him the triumphs of his wonder-boyhood with spinet and harpsichord, he boldly entered the public concert-hall with the pianoforte, now greatly advanced by the improvements of Silbermann.
The final beauty of the violin tone, the pure legato, remains in the beginning as in the end a matter of holding the violin and bow. Together they 'place' the tone just as the physical media in the throat 'place' the tone of the voice. "Piano teachers have made greater advances in the tone developing technic of their instrument than the violin teachers.
Throughout there are connections seemingly interminable in length, and indications of legato, sempre legato, which the author not only did not indicate, but in places where it is easy to see that he intended the exact opposite. If this is the case, what shall be said of marking the fingering on all the notes which often makes good playing impossible.
Shifting, extension and string crossing have all been previously considered, and hence the legato should be allowed to take its even course. "Although I do, temporarily, place these studies on a purely mechanical level, I am convinced that they thus serve to call into being a broader musical appreciation for the whole set.
To secure an absolute legato tone, a true singing tone on the violin, one should play scales with a perfectly well sustained and steady bow, in whole notes, slowly and mezzo-forte, taking care that each note is clear and pure, and that its volume does not vary during the stroke. The quality of tone must be equalized, and each whole note should be 'sung' with a single bowing.
My most innocent device, and one which I frequently adopted, for disguising the irritating stiffness or the orchestral movement in the original, was a careful modification of the Basso-continuo, which was taken uninterruptedly in common time. This I felt obliged to remedy, partly by legato playing, and partly by pizzicato.
"Is that a dog barking?" was his sudden exclamation at a rough attack. He taught the scales staccato and legato beginning with E major. Ductility, ease, gracefulness were his aim; stiffness, harshness annoyed him. He gave Clementi, Moscheles and Bach. Before playing in concert he shut himself up and played, not Chopin but Bach, always Bach.
On the grand piano of the present day we regard it as irreconcilable with conditions of crescendo legato." This Chopin fingering in reality derives directly from Hummel. See his "Piano School."
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