Was Berlioz The First Composer To Use Col Legno Bowing Technique?

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• 10 Comments sorted by Votes Date Added
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  John McKay

  February 2015 @jzmckaySend jzmckay a private message.Vote Up1Vote Down

  I believe generally the earliest cited example for a col legno technique is from Tobias Hume's The First Part of Ayres (1605), where the instruction is given to "drum this with the back of your bow."  There are a couple other sporadic uses in the 17th century (Biber's Battalia comes to mind).  But if you're asking when it become well-known enough that composers might actually think of it as a standard technique, it's really not until the 19th century.

  As for other techniques, some of the other accepted "standard ones" have their first use in the 17th century.  (For instance, both Hume and Biber also appear in the early history of pizzicato instructions.)  But again, most of these techniques only caught on gradually, at first being used in rather extreme works, appearing only as "special effects." 
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  William Helmcke

  February 2015 @William_HelmckeSend William_Helmcke a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Chopin used col legno in the kujawiak-finale of his Piano Concerto No. 2 (1829/1830), which was performed in Warsaw privately in February 1830 and publicly in March 1830. Symphonie Fantastique also dates from 1830, but I'm not sure which months. So Chopin's use probably predates Berlioz's more celebrated use. In any event, I hope that Chopin's innovative col legno could be cited as evidence against the often repeated and weakly supported criticism of Chopin's approach to orchestration.
• Carson Farley

  February 2015 @carsonicsSend carsonics a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Thank you for the information John and William.  I look forward to investigating the works you have suggested.  It will be interesting to see if I can find samples and hear earlier usage of col legno.    
• 1 Like

  Michele Ignelzi

  February 2015 @ignelziSend ignelzi a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Dear all,

   

  The first instance of the pizzicato snapping technique I'm aware of is in Mahler's 7th Symphony, third movement.

   

  Best,

  Michele Ignelzi

  Michele Ignelzi
  
  Conservatorio di Musica, Florence, Italy
• Carson Farley

  February 2015 @carsonicsSend carsonics a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Thanks Michele, I look forward to listening to the Mahler.  
• Carson Farley

  February 2015 @carsonicsSend carsonics a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  I found the Hume col legno example.  Here's a video which features col legno at about 1:33

  

  The viola da gamba is quite a complex instrument - part harp, guitar, lute, string instrument.  I thought the Bach cello suites were difficult until seeing this long forgotten rich repertoire.  I really do think the da gamba is a superior chordal instrument compared to the modern cello.   
• Carson Farley

  February 2015 @carsonicsSend carsonics a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  And here's the Biber example of col legno at about 0:40

  

   
• Carson Farley

  February 2015 @carsonicsSend carsonics a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  . . . and the Chopin col legno at 26:30:

  

   
• Eric Chernov

  February 2015 @chernoveSend chernove a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  In addition to the use of mutes, Haydn calls for col legno at the end of the second movement of his Symphony No. 67 in F Major. The Trio from same work's Minuet movement is for two muted solo violins, the second of which uses scordatura, detuning the fourth string to an F. These are hardly the only examples of Haydn's seemingly inexhaustible creativity in his use of novelty in his symphonic writing. (Symphony No. 60 has the violins tuning up in the last movement; Symphony No. 22 has a pair of English horns in it; Symphony No. 24 has a flute concerto movement in it; Symphony No. 45, of course, has musicians exit in turn; etc., etc.)
• Carson Farley

  February 2015 @carsonicsSend carsonics a private message.Vote Up0Vote Down

  Thanks for that information Eric.  I'm a huge Haydn disciple and look forward to investigating your references.  Bach also uses detuning of strings in the 5th and 6th cello suites.  There are often two notation versions in the cello suites for regular tuning and the alternate tunings.