The Short

In Germany, Spohr, who freely acknowledged the powerful influence of the Viotti school on the early formation of his
style, also drew a parallel with singing and warned against too-frequent vibrato, though in less colourful language than
Fürstenau, instructing in his 1832 Violinschule that the player ‘should guard against using it too often, and in improper
places. In cases corresponding to those in which … this trembling is observed in the singer, the violinist may also avail
himself of it.’ 1001
Spohr's authority remained strong in the German school of violin playing for more than seventy years, and in the
Joachim and Moser Violinschule (1905) Spohr's account was cited at length, taking up more than half of the short
section on vibrato; the rest consisted of a few additional technical hints on its execution and a further caveat: ‘the pupil
cannot be sufficiently warned against its habitual use, especially in the wrong place. A violinist whose taste is refined
and healthy will always recognize the steady tone as the ruling one, and will use vibrato only where the expression
seems to demand it.’ 1002 And in part 3 of the Violinschule, Joachim's colleague Andreas Moser stressed the necessity for
extreme restraint in the use of vibrato; giving the opening bars of Joachim's Romance op. 2 as an example, with words
added to clarify the accentuation and character (Ex. 14.4,) he observed: ‘If therefore the player wishes to make use of
the vibrato in the first bars of the Romance (which, however, he certainly need not do), then it must occur only, like a
delicate breath, on the notes under which the syllables “früh” and “wie” are placed.’ 1003
Ex. 14.4.Joachim and Moser, Violinschule, iii. 7
VIBRATO 531
In the French (Franco-Belgian) school, too, the position adopted by Baillot was maintained into the sixth decade of the
century. Charles de Bériot's admonitions against the overuse of vibrato in his 1858Méthode were even stronger than
Baillot's (perhaps because its incidence was on the increase:
Vibrato (son vibré) is an accomplishment with the artist who knows how to use it with effect, and to abstain from it
when that is necessary: but it becomes a fault when too frequently employed. This habit, involuntarily acquired,
degenerates into a bad shake or nervous trembling which cannot afterwards be overcome and which produces a
fatiguing monotony. The voice of the singer, like the fine quality of tone in the violinist, is impaired
1001
Violin School, 163.
1002
Pt. ii. 96a.
1003
p. 7 . Alfred Moffar's 1905 rranslarion inaccurarely has ‘should certainly not do’ for the last four words in parenthesis.