The division of taste: professional and amateur ornamentation in the violin treatises of the mid-eighteenth century

In the middle of the eighteenth century a new type of musical document began to circulate in the cities of Western Europe. Foundational treatises that promised to aide in the aspirations of amateur violinists appeared on the shelves of many middle and upper class homes. These treatises differed from the many violin tutors that had appeared earlier in the century in their significantly wider scope, treating as they did every aspect of violin playing from the basics of finger technique to more refined issues of taste. In recent inquiries into the ornamentation of the eighteenth century these documents have played an important role. Generally they have been interpreted as heralding the rise of a new, more austere taste in ornamentation that would eventually come to constitute the Classical style of performance. I will argue instead that a split occurred at approximately mid-century between the professional and amateur styles of performance.