The Short

Ex. 14.28.(a) Mendelssohn, String Quartet op. 13/iv; (b) Schumann, Violin Sonata op. 105/i; (c) Brahms, Violin
Concerto op. 77/iii
can he be allowed to embellish in the ordinary manner of solo pieces’. 1069 (He had earlier explained that the appropriate
addition of vibrato was an element of solo embellishment.) And in orchestral playing he instructed the string player to
abstain from ‘everything appertaining to the embellishment of solo playing which, if transferred to the orchestra,
would destroy all unity of performance’. 1070 Nevertheless, some wind players can be expected to have applied the same
principles to the performance of solo passages in the orchestra as they would have done in purely solo music, and
string solos in orchestral pieces would have invited a similar treatment. Examples of this can be found in Meyerbeer's
scores, in which his detailed performance instructions are often exceptionally revealing; in the viola solo in no. 2 of Les
Huguenots, for instance, he provided what is evidently an indication for bow vibrato (Ex. 14.29.)
There is every reason to think therefore that, unless a composer specifically requested it, orchestral string sections and
wind instruments in tutti passages
Ex. 14.29.Meyerbeer, Les Huguenots, no. 2
1069
Violin School, 233.
1070
Ibid. 234.
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