The Evolution of the Baroque Bow
Location: Harkness Chapel
This program will showcase the parallel developments of the lengthening of musical material and the physical lengthening of the Baroque bow, using three Baroque bows ranging from short (stylistically appropriate for early 17th c.), medium-length (mid-17th c. to turn of the 18th c.), to long (early to mid 18th c.). From the birth of the Italian Baroque era, the short bow with its lightness for crisp articulations will showcase the tradition of division writing that Fontana inherited from the Renaissance. The medium-length Baroque bow with a clipped-on frog will be used for Couperin’s Concert, reflecting the stylistic union of his French roots in dance music with the fashionable Italian cantabile style. The long sonata bow with more weight and sustaining power will be used for Vivaldi’s “Tempesta di mare” and Bach’s work for solo violin.
Free and open the public.