The inter-war period of the twentieth century represents something of a ‘golden age’ in solo violin playing. In addition to an unprecedented degree of technical prowess, a huge amount of variety existed between different performers, with the majority of well-known artists exhibiting their own unique sound and manner of delivery. One area of expression in which a divergence of approach is most evident is that of musical timing, whereby performers utilise what is generally termed ‘rubato’ in order to convey either the structure or emotional character of the music. This thesis utilises specialised computational methods of empirical analysis in order to investigate how rubato is used in thirty recordings of the Adagio from Brahms’ Violin Concerto, Op. 77, made by eminent performers who were active during this period. By comparing these recordings in detail, the principle aim is to ascertain just how much performers differ in their approaches to musical timing and, conversely, where there is some degree of common practice. Literary sources pertaining to rubato from the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries are also scrutinised, in order to determine to what extent these written descriptions of rubato relate to use of the device in real-life performances. Key stylistic traits are identified and categorised, in order to inform performers who are looking to incorporate something of this twentieth-century style of rubato into their own playing. To date, the vast majority of empirical studies of performance have been conducted in the field of music psychology, with musicological approaches tending to favour closelistening methods in order to identify key stylistic traits. This study has attempted to use both empirical analysis and close-listening in tandem, which allows for the identification of common timing patterns across all thirty recordings, as well as the detailed examination of idiosyncrasies within their respective musical contexts. Sonic Visualiser software has been used to create a number of innovative video examples that incorporate tempo graphs with the original recorded sound, in order to see and hear what is happening in the music simultaneously.

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This practice-led research investigates late nineteenth-century Romantic performing practice with special reference to the Brahms violin sonatas. It is conducted with the aim of understanding the composer’s expectations, which lie behind the notation on the score. In the nineteenth century, performers used to approach notation in a much more liberal and musically inspired way, whereas our current approach tends to be constrained by a reliance on literal accuracy (i.e. keeping note values, articulations, dynamics, and other performing instructions on the score very strictly) as representing ‘the composer’s intentions’. The nineteenth- and early twentieth-century treatises and early twentieth-century recordings confirm that portamento, vibrato, tempo rubato, tempo and rhythmic modifications, arpeggiation, and dislocation were expressive performing techniques often used by performers in the late nineteenth century. These interpretative elements are only partially notated or completely omitted from the score, which means performers consciously or unconsciously following a modern notion of ‘faithfulness to the score’ may not be able to discern the composer’s expectations as they exist behind the notation, especially in relation to Romantic repertoire. This research demonstrates how expressive performing techniques of the nineteenth century may be the subject of experiments and later internalised by a performer emerging from the modern tradition, and how this information may contribute to understanding hidden messages behind Brahms’s notation. The process behind this research involves exploring late nineteenth-century expressive resources more closely by imitating selected early twentieth-century recordings. Chapter One discusses the research context including research questions and methodology. Chapter Two contains extensive investigations into the nineteenth-century expressive resources such as portamento, vibrato, and tempo rubato based on early recordings. Chapter Three presents the application of the accumulated experiences and insights gained from practical experimentation with early recordings and other historical sources to Brahms’s Violin Sonatas, for which there are no relevant early recorded examples. This research is not intended to provide definite interpretative ideas in relation to the Brahms violin sonatas. It is ultimately conceived as an example of how modern performers might utilise historical knowledge, including ideas about how the composer’s expectations may be recognised, and also as an encouragement to engage with historical practices in a more varied, interesting, and creative modern context. This thesis includes two CDs containing my imitations of early recordings and independent interpretations of Brahms’s Violin Sonatas, which were produced as an indispensable part of this research.

The thesis investigates Sergei Prokofiev’s Violin Sonatas (Op. 80 and Op. 94bis) within the historical contexts of their years of composition (1938-46), dissemination (1944-48) and publication (1946-51) in the Soviet Union, the USA and, partially, the UK. It therefore considers Sergei Prokofiev’s Soviet years (1936-53) from a new perspective and unfolds the Western dissemination history of the Violin Sonatas and Prokofiev’s relationship with Western musicians during the Second World War and the Stalinist era. Moreover, the thesis sheds light upon the Soviet and Western cultural and diplomatic organisations that facilitated the dissemination and publication of the Violin Sonatas in the USA and the UK during the 1940s. The thesis examines and deduces via extensive study of primary sources the chronology of the composition of the Violin Sonatas. The First Violin Sonata (Op. 80, 1938-46), which has hitherto been examined most briefly in the literature, is traced from sketches to the Autograph Manuscript. The sketches are organised chronologically around the interrupted compositional period (1939-44), while the Autograph Manuscript dates from 1946. The Second Violin Sonata (Op. 94bis, 1944), a transcription of the Flute Sonata, is examined via copyist manuscripts, which trace the collaboration process between Prokofiev and the violinist David Oistrakh, who initiated the transcription of the Flute Sonata into the Second Violin Sonata, and subsequently became the dedicatee of the First Violin Sonata. Furthermore, the thesis evaluates the perception of the Violin Sonatas through the press reviews of premieres and interpretations of the works during the 1940s, both in the Soviet Union by David Oistrakh, and in the USA by Joseph Szigeti. The analysis of the first performance editions edited by Oistrakh and Szigeti in late 1940s and early 1950s (Muzgiz, Leeds Music Corporation, Anglo-Soviet Music Press) sheds light upon different historical approaches to the interpretation of the Violin Sonatas and is reflected in the recital that supplements the thesis.

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On 12 December 1814, an unusual concert took place in Paris, one exclusively featuring chamber works. The audience gathered to listen to string quartets and quintets led by acclaimed violinist Pierre Baillot. The Séances de quatuors et de quintettes de Baillot were thus born and continued to operate until 1840. Parisian musical life was dominated by opera, a genre that the majority of modern historians working on nineteenth-century Paris tend to focus on. However, we discover that, owing to Baillot’s efforts, the public chamber music concert seemed to have a future. The central aim of my thesis is to give chamber music the place that it deserves in music history and to demonstrate that a deeper knowledge of concert culture can enhance our perception of conservatism and canon formation during the first half of the nineteenth century. I discuss the circumstances under which Baillot set up his séances and his ability to educate his audience through his programmes. The result was a genealogy of instrumental music, which represented the early stages of historization. We also look at Baillot’s status as a violinist, prompted by Paganini’s concerts in Paris, through a juxtaposition of the two performers, but also through Baillot’s own compositions. Further, Baillot’s treatises Méthode de violon du Conservatoire (1803) and L’Art du violon (1834) allow us to gain a deeper understanding of his aesthetic values, including the much-discussed beau idéal. The séances were made possible by the strong support network that Baillot had surrounded himself by, consisting of his contemporaries, as well as artists of the next generation. We acknowledge critic François-Joseph Fétis, whose writings in La revue musicale helped advance Baillot’s project, and composer George Onslow – the only French composer to have his works performed chez Baillot – whose nickname ‘le Beethoven français’ stimulates a discussion on French musical identity, or indeed frenchness. In the new generation of musicians, Eugène Sauzay and François Habeneck were both Baillot’s students at the Conservatoire; the former’s mémoires offer invaluable information on concert culture at the time, while the latter’s founding of the Société des concerts du Conservatoire in 1828, which featured Beethoven’s symphonies as the concert centrepiece for several decades running, illustrates how Baillot’s work shaped the future of Parisian instrumental music.

Yorgos Sicilianos (1920–2005) was educated in the tradition of Greece’s National School Movement, but managed to break away and to define his own musical personality. Over a 30-year period from 1954, he experimented with atonal neoclassical styles, the twelve-tone method and integral serialism, while searching for solutions to problems of form and structure. After 1980, Sicilianos concluded that the term ‘post-diatonic music’ best described his compositional style, which by then drew inspiration from literary works to give form and meaning to his music. This thesis analyses the compositional influences, process and technique used by Yorgos Sicilianos in String Quartet No. 2, Op. 13 (1955), String Quartet No. 4, Op. 28 (1967), Sonata for Violin and Piano, Op. 45 (1981), and Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 51 (1987). It evaluates the extent to which analysis informs the performance of each piece and suggests an interpretative approach. Utilizing various methodological approaches, the analyses reveal critical structural parameters that not only impact subjective aspects of interpretation, but in some cases also determine practical matters of performance such as the bowings that the performer must execute. The objectives of this thesis are to provide guidance to future performers of these compositions, enabling them to be interpreted with fidelity to the composer’s vision, and to provide editions of these compositions, which are currently unpublished and commercially unavailable. These editions incorporate indispensable context and performance suggestions to aid performers. The findings of this study will also be expressed practically in the form of a recital.

Joseph Mayseder (1789-1863) was one of the most significant musical figures in Vienna in the first half of the nineteenth century as a violinist and composer. His participation in musical life in Vienna was of central importance, as a ‘Soloist’ at the Hofkapelle, as the Director of the Orchestra at the Kärntnertortheater and as a friend of Beethoven. The dissertation offers an in-depth survey of Mayseder’s achievements in Vienna in his lifetime. A biographical overview of Mayseder’s life in Vienna is given, evaluating the role of his persona as a musician. Chapter 1 focuses on Mayseder as a violinist, drawing attention to his performances with new, detailed information taken from contemporary sources on his musical activities. The second chapter explores Mayseder’s compositions and highlights his key compositional elements in more detail, such as his relationship to the violin, his playing technique and his performance practice as a soloist and with an ensemble. Chapter 3 analyses Mayseder’s role in context, illustrating his importance for the development of solo violin music and its performance in this period in history. The appendices consist of the Thematic catalogue that presents a detailed listing of the complete works of this composer. The concluding catalogue provides an overview of public solo violin performances in Vienna between 1800 and 1828.

This dissertation describes a new method of computer performance of bowed string instruments (violin, viola, cello) using physical simulations and intelligent feedback control. Computer synthesis of music performed by bowed string instruments is a challenging problem. Unlike instruments whose notes originate with a single discrete excitation (e.g., piano, guitar, drum), bowed string instruments are controlled with a continuous stream of excitations (i.e. the bow scraping against the string). Most existing synthesis methods utilize recorded audio samples, which perform quite well for single-excitation instruments but not continuous-excitation instruments. This work improves the realism of synthesis of violin, viola, and cello sound by generating audio through modelling the physical behaviour of the instruments. A string's wave equation is decomposed into 40 modes of vibration, which can be acted upon by three forms of external force: A bow scraping against the string, a left-hand finger pressing down, and/or a right-hand finger plucking. The vibration of each string exerts force against the instrument bridge; these forces are summed and convolved with the instrument body impulse response to create the final audio output. In addition, right-hand haptic output is created from the force of the bow against the string. Physical constants from ten real instruments (five violins, two violas, and three cellos) were measured and used in these simulations. The physical modelling was implemented in a high-performance library capable of simulating audio on a desktop computer one hundred times faster than real-time. The program also generates animated video of the instruments being performed. To perform music with the physical models, a virtual musician interprets the musical score and generates actions which are then fed into the physical model. The resulting audio and haptic signals are examined with a support vector machine, which adjusts the bow force in order to establish and maintain a good timbre. This intelligent feedback control is trained with human input, but after the initial training is completed the virtual musician performs autonomously. A PID controller is used to adjust the position of the left-hand finger to correct any flaws in the pitch. Some performance parameters (initial bow force, force correction, and lifting factors) require an initial value for each string and musical dynamic; these are calibrated automatically using the previously-trained support vector machines. The timbre judgements are retained after each performance and are used to pre-emptively adjust bowing parameters to avoid or mitigate problematic timbre for future performances of the same music. The system is capable of playing sheet music with approximately the same ability level as a human music student after two years of training. Due to the number of instruments measured and the generality of the machine learning, music can be performed with ensembles of up to ten stringed instruments, each with a distinct timbre. This provides a baseline for future work in computer control and expressive music performance of virtual bowed string instruments.

The thesis is a critical reading of pedagogical and biographical texts by and on violinists, written in the early twentieth century. It contributes to historical and discursive studies by providing a limited engagement with a largely neglected group of historical sources relating to musical performance, and further advances the historical research on subjectivity, the body, pathology, and erotics, in relation to discourses of music. The thesis also contributes to studies of performance practice, and empirical and psychological studies of musical performance, in that it engages with discursive notions of theoretical and performance categories, such as tempo, melody, vibrato and portamento. By taking a hermeneutic approach to detailed discussions of performative practices, primarily found in pedagogical texts, the project aims to provide a more nuanced assessment of many of the topics that have played a central role in the ongoing research on early twentieth-century performance (which principally consists of recordings analysis). The project does this by demonstrating the extent to which these practices are culturally and historically mediated. Following an introduction, chapter 2 demonstrates that notions of consciousness inform writers’ notions of musical virtuosity, and shows that Nietzschean and Wagnerian notions of self underpin the idea of the violinist as a superior producer of art. Chapter 3 argues that these ideas combine with metaphysical notions of melody to make the concept of ‘tone’/Ton the cornerstone of string playing during this period, which in turn has important implications for how writers conceive of tempo, rhythm, vibrato, portamento and dynamics. Chapter 4 demonstrates that writers perceive their ideal of tone to be threatened by moral and physiological disease, manifested in individual/social bodies, which leads to a very different articulation of these same practices. Chapter 5 explores traces of notions of intersubjectivity, arising from metaphors of erotic desire, which challenge the hegemonic ideal of universal mind. The conclusion frames the discourse as a problematic attempt to posit an authoritarian model of string playing. It also includes a preliminary study of early twentieth-century discourses of cello playing, and engages with the research to date on national styles of violin playing in the same period.