Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

482 SLIDE SLIDE
called Tirade or Tirata (from tvrare to draw, 'or
to shoot). E. W. Wolf, in his Mudkalische
Unterrickt (Dresden, 1788), calls such passages
'sky-rockets.'
8. Meyeebeee,, 'Roberto.'
Written. .jJ^E:
^
9. Hummel, ' Pianoforte- School.'
Written. ,
_ _ U:ft
-^
m
Played.
.i2|«-*
?E^g^^^i^
Besides the above, a more complicated kind of
slide is mentioned by Emanuel Bach and others,
called the dotted slide, in which the first gracenote
received the addition of a dot. Its execution,
however, varies so considerably —as is proved by
the two examples by Emanuel Bach, selected
from a variety of others (Ex. 10)—that the sign
has never met with general acceptance, although
the ornament itself, written out in notes of
ordinary size, is of constant occurrence in the
works of the great masters (Ex. 11).
10. Written. Played.
^^^m-^^m
Writtm.
f^ ^^—~^ 1^
^^^^^
11. Haydn, Sonata in G.'
hh
Beethoven, 'Sonata Pathetique.'
1^^^^ m
B* P. T.
II. (Fr. Glissade or Porte de Voix ; Ital.
Portamento.) To violinists the ' slide ' is one of
the principal vehicles of expression, at the same
time affording a means of passing from one note
to another at a distance. The rules governing
the ' slide ' are not restricted, as its use and
effect entirely depend upon the judgment of
the player, but the following directions are
generally observed :— (1) A ' slide ' is effected
by allowing the linger already upon the string
to move up or down to within a fourth or third
of the new note. Care should be taken to keep
the fingers strictly within the range of each new
position. Another kind of ' slide ' is made by
moving the finger over two or more adjoining
semitones, without interruption.
In imitation of the matchless legato which the
human voice alone can attain, violinists frequently
employ a ' slide ' limited to adjoining notes.
A third ' slide ' is entirely of a brilliant type,
and belongs to the virtuoso, par exoelleiwe,
having originated with Paganini. It consists
in executing chromatic passages, singly or in
thirds, octaves, or other combinations, entirely
with the same fingers. Paganini's music abounds
in this species of 'slide,' as also do the compositions
of the masters of the Belgian and
French school, who adopted his methods.
This ' slide ' did not come into general use until
the end of the 1 8th century or beginning of the
1 9th. Yet its sister acquirements, the tremolo,
and shift, were known to violinists a century
earlier. Mersenne {Harm. Universelle, 1636)
speaks with delight of such professional violinists
as 'les Sieurs Bocan, Lazarin,' and others,
who employed a certain tremblement '
qui ravisient
I'esprit,' and the same author mentions the
violinists who could mount to the octave on
every string. Notwithstanding the lack of any
direct mention of the 'slide 'previous to the 18th
century, the following remark by Jean Rousseau
in his TraiU de la Viole (1630), might indicate
that the eminent viola da gamba player, Hottman,
was acquainted with it. '
. . . It was
he ' (Hottman), says Rousseau, who ' in France
first composed melodies (pieces d'harmonie) regulated
for the viol, so as to make the effect of
beautiful singing {beaux chants) in imitation
of the voice.' Corelli in the first half of the
17th century founded the correct position
and independence of the left hand, but it is
doubtful whether he, or his immediate successors,
knew the use of the ' slide.' Even at the beginning
of the 18th century the generality of violinists
relied mostly upon every species of turn and
flourish to give expression to their playing. To
the 'Beat,' 'Back Fall,' 'Double BaokfaU,'
'Springer, 'etc., writers of violinmethods devoted
elaborate attention, and, curiously enough, as
though foreshadowing the coming of the ' slide,'
these very turns were in France called by the
name now employed in that country for its English
equivalent, i.e. Porte de Voix. Neither Leopold
Mozart nor Geminani in the middle of the 18th
century mentions the ' slide, ' but like their predecessors
consider good taste entirely dependent
on the judicious employmentof turns. But with
Viotti's advent, and his establishment of the
French School, the old methods began to give