ABSTRACT
The highly complimentary reviews of Spohr's performances in Vienna between 1812 and 1815 make no reference to anything unfamiliar or controversial in his bowing style, and his performances of the chamber music of the three great Classical masters were greatly admired. It is clear that attitudes towards bowing styles changed radically during the nineteenth century. Whereas vibrato was much more sparingly used in the nineteenth century than it is today, portamento was freely employed as an expressive device. The only important respect in which the nineteenth-century violin differed from the modern one was its stringing. The connection between this form of accent and vibrato is a particularly strong one, but there can be no doubt that vibrato and accentuation of all kinds were closely linked in nineteenth-century violin playing. By the time the Joachim–Moser Violinschule was published the current was already running strongly against the concept of sound of which they were advocates.
