Unlocking the secrets of early violin performance

Drawing on the principles of Francesco Geminiani and four decades ofexperience as a baroque and classical violinist, Stanley Ritchie offers a valuableresource for anyone wishing to learn about 17th-18th-and early 19th-century violintechnique and style. While much of the work focuses on the technical aspects ofplaying the pre-chinrest violin, these approaches are also applicable to the viola, and in many ways to the modern violin. Before the Chinrest includes illustratedsections on right- and left-hand technique, aspects of interpretation during theBaroque, Classical, and early-Romantic eras, and a section on developing properintonation.