THE USE OF MULTIPLE STOPS IN WORKS FOR SOLO VIOLIN BY JOHANN PAUL VON WESTHOFF (1656-1705) AND ITS RELATIONSHIP TO GERMAN POLYPHONIC WRITING FOR A SINGLE INSTRUMENT Beixi Gao, B.M., M.M. Dissertation Prepared for the Degree of DOCTOR OF MUSICAL ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS May 2017 APPROVED: Julia Bushkova, Major Professor Paul Leenhouts, Committee Member Susan Dubois, Committee Member Benjamin Brand, Director of Graduate Studies in the College of Music John W. Richmond, Dean of the College of Music Victor Prybutok, Vice Provost of the Toulouse Graduate School Gao, Beixi. The Use of Multiple Stops in Works for Solo Violin by Johann Paul Von Westhoff (1656-1705) and Its Relationship to German Polyphonic Writing for a Single Instrument. Doctor of Musical Arts (Performance), May 2017, 32 pp., 19 musical examples, bibliography, 46 titles. Johann Paul von Westhoff's (1656-1705) solo violin works, consisting of Suite pour le violon sans basse continue published in 1683 and Six Suites for Violin Solo in 1696, feature extensive use of multiple stops, which represents a German polyphonic style of the seventeenth- century instrumental music. However, the Six Suites had escaped the public's attention for nearly three hundred years until its rediscovery by the musicologist Peter Várnai in the late twentieth century. This project focuses on polyphonic writing featured in the solo violin works by von Westhoff. In order to fully understand the stylistic traits of this less well-known collection, a brief summary of the composer, Johann Paul Westhoff, and an overview of the historical background of his time is included in this document. I analyze these works, including a comparison between the works of Westhoff and those of other composers during his time, to prove that Westhoff’s solo works establish multiple stops as a central factor of German violin playing of the time, and, thus, to promote Westhoff’s works as a complement to the extant repertoire of unaccompanied violin music written in the Baroque era before Johann Sebastian Bach’s solo violin works and Georg Philipp Telemann’s Twelve Fantasias for Violin Solo. Furthermore, this project will help one to better understand the use and function of multiple stops in the German violin repertoire in the seventeenth century Copyright 2017 by Beixi Gao ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my sincerest appreciation to several people without whom this project could not have been completed. First, I am deeply grateful for the immeasurable motivation and guidance from my major professor and mentor, Julia Bushkova, throughout the duration of my doctoral studies. I also wish to whole-heartedly thank Professor Paul Leenhouts for generously sharing his comprehensive knowledge of Baroque music and precious feedback for this project, and Dr. Susan Dubois, for her invaluable advice and help on this project and my study at UNT. Secondly, my true gratitude is also to Ms. Cynthia Roberts for her endless inspiration and significant involvement on this project. Finally, I must send the deepest thanks to my parents for their tireless support and encouragement, as well as their unconditional love for me. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iii LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES ................................................................................................. v CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2. VON WESTHOFF AND HIS TIME ....................................................................... 2 2.1 Biography ................................................................................................................ 2 2.2 Von Westhoff’s Works ........................................................................................... 3 2.3 Chronological List of von Westhoff’s Extant Works: ............................................ 4 2.4 Musical Life in the Dresden Court.......................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 3. POLYPHONY USED IN GERMAN VIOLIN MUSIC IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY ...................................................................................................................................... 8 3.1 Overview of the Emergence of Violin Music in the Early 1700s ........................... 8 3.2 Polyphonic Writing for Bowed Instruments before 1600 ....................................... 9 3.3 Polyphonic Writing for Violin Music in Germany before von Westhoff ............. 10 3.4 The Impact of Printing .......................................................................................... 14 CHAPTER 4. VON WESTHOFF’S UNACCOMPANIED WORKS FOR VIOLIN SOLO ...... 16 4.1 Overview of the Solo Suites by von Westhoff...................................................... 16 4.2 German Dance Suite ............................................................................................. 16 4.3 Comparison with Works of Contemporary Composers ........................................ 18 4.4 Performance Practice of Multiple Stops in the Suites .......................................... 24 4.4.1 Three-or Four-Note Chords ...................................................................... 25 4.4.2 Two-Note Chords...................................................................................... 26 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSION...................................................................................................... 28 BIBLIOGRAPHY ......................................................................................................................... 29 iv LIST OF MUSICAL EXAMPLES Page Example 1: Von Westhoff, Six Suites. Beginning of Allemande, Suite I (1696) ........................... 4 Example 2: Von Westhoff, Six Suites, Suite I, Courante, mm.1-3............................................... 18 Example 3: Walther, Scherzi da Violino Solo (1676), Suite I in A major, Corrente, mm.12-15.. 18 Example 4: Biber, Rosary Sonatas, Sonata V, Sarabande, mm.1-4. ............................................ 19 Example 5: Von Westhoff, Six Suites, Suite VI, mSarabande, mm.1-5. ...................................... 19 Example 6: Bach, Partita I for Solo Violin, Sarabande (1720), BWV 1002, mm.1-5. ................. 20 Example 7: Walther, Hortulus Chelicus (1688), Suite VI, Allemande, mm.1-4. ......................... 20 Example 8: Von Westhoff, Six Suites, Suite III, Allemande, mm.1-6. ........................................ 21 Example 9: Bach, Partita I for Solo Violin, Allemande, BWV 1002, mm. 1-2. .......................... 21 Example 10: Walther, Scherzi da Violino Solo, Suite I in A major, Giga, mm.1-4. .................... 22 Example 11: Biber, Rosary Sonatas (1676), Sonata VIII, Gigue, mm. 1-3. ................................. 22 Example 12: Von Westhoff, Six Suites, Suite III, Gigue, mm.1-7. .............................................. 22 Example 13: Johann Kuhnau, Neuer Clavier-Übung I (1689), Partita II, Allemande, mm.1-2. .. 23 Example 14: Von Westhoff, Six Suites, Suite II, Allemande, mm.1-2 ........................................ 23 Example 15: Bach, Praeludium XX, BWV 889, mm.1-2, 17-18. ................................................. 24 Example 16: Von Westhoff, Six Suites, Suite I, Gigue, mm.1-2, 11-12. ..................................... 24 Example 17: Von Westhoff, Six Suites, Suite III, Allemande, mm.1-6. ...................................... 25 Example 18: Von Westhoff, Six Suites, Suite II, Allemande, mm.1-2. ....................................... 26 Example 19: Von Westhoff, Suite pour le violon sans basse continue (1683), Courante, mm.11- 13................................................................................................................................................... 27 v CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION Johann Paul von Westhoff’s (1656-1705) solo violin works, consisting of Suite pour le violon sans basse continue published in 1683 and Six Suites for Violin Solo in 1696, feature extensive use of multiple stops, which represents a German polyphonic style of the seventeenth- century instrumental music. However, the Six Suites has escaped the public’s attention for nearly three hundred years until its rediscovery by the musicologist Peter Várnai in the late twentieth century. This project focus on polyphonic writing featured in the solo violin works by von Westhoff. In order to fully understand the stylistic traits of this little known collection, a brief summary of the composer, Johann Paul von Westhoff, and an overview of the historical background of his time will be included in this document. I analyze these works, including a comparison between the works of von Westhoff and those of other composers during his time, to prove that von Westhoff’s solo works establish multiple stops as a central factor of German violin playing of the time, and, thus, to show that von Westhoff’s works are a crucial link between the extant repertoire of unaccompanied violin music written by violinist composers of the Baroque such as Heinrich Ignaz von Biber and Johann Jacob Walther and later violin solo masterpieces: Johann Sebastian Bach’s solo violin works and Georg Philipp Telemann’s Twelve Fantasias for Violin Solo. Furthermore, this project will help one to better understand the use and function of multiple stops in the German violin repertoire in the seventeenth century, and to see von Westhoff’s music