Leopold Mozart's violin method

Typewritten. --- Thesis (M.M.)--University of Rochester,In the sumner of 1756 Leopold Mozart of Salzburg published a quarto volume of 264 pages. The title-page reads: "Versuch einer grundlichen Violinschule, entworfen und mit 4 Kupfertafeln sammt einer Tabelle versehen von Leopold Mozart, Hochfuerstl. Salzburgischen Cammermusikus. In Verlag des Verfassers. Augspurg, gedruckt bey Johann Jacob Lotter, 1756". This work had such a pronounced influence on the course of violin playing that modern observers describe it as the Bible of the two succeeding generations of violinists. Its immediate success is attested by the numerous German editions and the Dutch and French translations. An examination of the text reveals at once the qualities which contributed to its popularity. The logical arrangement of the material of instruction, the thoroughness of the material itself, and he painstaking clarity of its presentation are all without precedent in violin texts of that day. The work has been praised by theorists from Burney, Marpurg, and Schubart to Abert and Gerhartz. Since it has not been translated into English, a great number of students are unable to use this important source for eighteenth century musical practices. The purpose of this thesis is to present an exposition of the Violin Method in order to make its subject matter more generally available. Those fields in which Mozart is considered particularly authoritative will be treated in some detail. Furthermore, the writer will attempt to trace the influences from Italy and North Germany and the reflections of the personality of Leopold Mozart himself which made this work such a genuine expression of musical thought in the mid-eighteenth century