Principles of Double Bass Technique

When one thinks of the most iconic German musician of the Baroque era, the obvious name that comes to mind is that of Johann Sebastian Bach. During their lifetimes, however, Bach was decidedly less famous and appreciated than his contemporary Georg Philipp Telemann. Whilst Bach had been almost predestined to the musician’s career, as he was but one of the numerous musicians of his family (to the point that “Bach” had become a synonymous for “musician”), Telemann had had another path traced for him. He was encouraged to study law, and at first did obey his family’s orders. Soon, however, it became clear that nothing except music could satisfy his genius and his talent.

Like many of his German and Austrian contemporaries, Bohemian-born composer Heinrich von Biber was strongly influenced by the Italian school of violin composition that included Biagio Marini (1587-1665) and Marco Uccellini (1603-1680). A noted virtuoso himself, Biber and his teacher Johann Heinrich Schmelzer (1621-1680) were two of the most important figures of the late seventeenth-century Viennese violin style. Biber's keen understanding of the technical and expressive possibilities of the instrument is evident in his innovative use of pizzicato (plucking of the string with the finger), double and triple stops (more than one note played at once creating "chords"), col legno (stick of the bow on the string), sul ponticello (played close to the bridge), and, especially, scordatura (intentional "mistuning" of the strings). Scordatura allowed the performer to play chords in particular keys more easily, extended the range of notes, and provided more open strings in order to negotiate the difficulty of polyphonic writing for a single instrument. Biber's imaginative and original use of these techniques or special effects brought violin virtuosity to an entirely new level of musical expression in the Baroque period. It can be argued that J. S. Bach's masterful Sonatas and Partitas for Solo Violin, written in 1720, are direct descendants of Biber's grounding breaking Mystery or Rosary Sonatas, composed nearly a quarter of a century earlier.