J. Lee Graham

A lot of study has been done on this subject as it relates to performance practice, style and interpretation ”“ especially during the last 40 years or so, citing a mountain of period sources. As evidenced by what you may have heard in so-called “authentic”� or “period instruments”� recordings of music written before 1830 especially (and sometimes later), musicologists and performers concentrating on this specialty have come to a fairly universal consensus about what common practice was in most places during the 18th and early 19th Centuries. While this consensus is continually subject to revision as new evidence comes to light, the following guidelines are representative of our understanding at the moment.

In general, until after 1850, vibrato in general was considered an ornamental technique. It was not until later that its current use as an integral part of tone production became common. There is one school that subscribes that Austrian violinist Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962) was among the first to use vibrato ubiquitously in string playing. Imagine Joseph Joachim (1831-1907) playing one of Brahms’ sonatas on his gut-strung Stradivarius with little vibrato; difficult as it may be to feature, that’s more than likely how it was.

Orchestral Strings: vibrato was used relatively sparingly to sweeten or add shape to certain notes in a phrase. Slightly more was used by 1st violinists or whichever part was taking a lead or melodic role. Lower strings and 2nd violinists would have used little if any. In general, notes would begin and end straight-tone, with a little vibrato added in the middle. This was as true of Beethoven as it was of Bach.

Solo Stringed Instruments: as with 1st violinists in an orchestral texture, string soloists would have employed somewhat more vibrato than the ripieni ”“ but not much, and always judiciously.

Orchestral Winds and Brass: Woodwind players would have subscribed to much the same conventions as string players did, with the exception of single reeds (clarinets, bassett horns), which have always been played without vibrato except in modern jazz and folk music. Brass instruments never used vibrato at all. The valve mechanisms enabling horns and trumpets to play a full chromatic scale were not invented until the 1820s, and after various innovations and improvements were not in common use until nearly 1850. Considering the technical difficulty of playing such instruments, it is not surprising that vibrato never became an important element of brass playing. Trombones followed the lead of the horns and trumpets. To this day, brass players use little if any vibrato in ensemble playing, and only sparingly in solo playing.

The Human Voice: There has been some debate on this subject, especially since most trained singers today believe that vibrato is a necessary component of a free and sufficiently voluminous operatic vocal sound. It is known, however, that in vocal music before 1600 virtually no vibrato at all was used, and vocal technique was very different. As the Baroque period progressed more vibrato was used in singing, but always with the same restraint as instrumentalists would have employed, with the understanding that vibrato was purely ornamental. There are contemporary descriptions of singers such as Manuel Garcia (1775-1832) who sang Mozart and Rossini operas, describing them as singing with a pure, straight tone much of the time ”“ an idea incomprehensible to modern operatic singers - though his children Manuel Garcia (1805-1906) and Maria Malabran (1808-1836) came to sing very differently as the bel canto school reached its zenith in the 1830s. By then, vibrato became increasingly common in singing, until by the end of the 19th Century it was ubiquitous. Even so, in listening to early recordings, it is still apparent that vocal vibrato was narrower, tighter and more rapid a century ago than it is today.

Strings In A Chamber Setting: String players in a small ensemble, such as a string quartet, would have considered themselves more soloists than ensemble players, and slightly more vibrato would have been used. The 1st violinist would have employed it the most liberally, and the ‘cellist could get away with more than usual. The inner voices would have used the least, unless taking a leading role.