Resources

Unfortunately the knowledge of how to play baroque music was lost in the 19th century. Fortunately there still exists a lot of  printed and written information from the period, the original instruments and the music itself. The Early Music pioneers of the 19th and 20th centuries used this and experimented, finding ways to bring baroque music back to life. Some of their experiments were faulty so it is unwise to assume that everything that you read in modern texts  and every recording you hear has got things right. Beware of generalisations! Beware of dogmatic statements! Beware of rules! Beware of simplifications aimed at beginners! Beware of gurus! Beware of non-experts posing as experts - the baroque period had its share too. Even if you ignore this excellent advice, however, you can still do some worthwhile music making but you will probably get so much more enjoyment and satisfaction if you can take responsibility yourself for   finding out how this music was played. It isn't necessary to become an in-depth expert in this - there are modern editions with translations and commentaries which now serve us very well. An excellent book on this theme is "The Notation is not the Music" by the eminent baroque flute player Barthold Kuijken (it's not a flute book!)

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Fortunately one real baroque expert who really knew not only his own instrument, but all the music of his time from the inside, wrote a book which I think that every modern baroque player should own, read and re-read. My own copy is falling to pieces with use over the years. The author was the great player and teacher Johann Joachim Quantz but don't be misled by the title "On Playing the Flute". To quote from the publisher's blurb (fully justified) "one of the primary sources of information about eighteenth-century performance practice. In spite of its title, it is not simply a tutor for the flute, but a fully-fledged programme for training musicians of all types, with detailed information on intonation, ornamentation, dynamics, the 'duties' of the various accompanying performers, including the leader of the orchestra, and the principal forms and styles (French, Italian and German) of the time. Although Quantz is most often identified as the teacher of Frederick the Great, his musical roots were in Dresden, the most brilliant musical establishment in Germany; and his travels and studies in Italy, France and England gave him direct experience of most phases of European musical life in the 1720s and 30s." Apparently one should avoid the Kindle edition  due to problems with the music examples. Go for the paperback for the best value for money that you will ever get in the baroque.

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Here is a list of books I can recommend:

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"Method for the One-Keyed Flute" by Janice Dockendorff Boland. Excellent starting point for traverso players.

Doretthe Janssens "New Method for the Traverso" publ. by De Fluithoek. Excellent - lots and lots of (short) authentic playing material structured to help with articulation, inequality, ornaments, intonation etc. Best thing since sliced bread. Probably useful too for oboists and violinists since there is a lot on phrasing, inequality and ornaments which apply to all "top line" players.

"Interpretation of French Music from 1675 to 1775" by Betty Bang Mather. Primarily for wind players but a useful resource for all on French style. Remember that the major influence for many baroque German players and composers came from France.

"Baroque Flute Studies" by Elizabeth Walker. Excellent for intermediate to advanced traverso players.

Johann George Tromlitz "The Virtuoso Flute-Player" trans.and edited by Ardal Powell - originally written 1791 but refers back to what has been changing and what has been constant over much of the 18th century with many references back to Quantz.

"The Early Flute A Practical Guide" by Rachel Brown gives a starting point for learners of the traverso but you will need much more than this.

"Principles of the Flute, Recorder and Oboe" by Jacques Hotteterre edited by David Lasocki - on playing baroque wind - printed 1707 - written by a member of the family of makers and players who "invented" the baroque forms of flute, recorder and oboe. A key text, but you won't learn how to play from it.

"A treatise on the Fundamental Principles of Violin Playing" by Leopold Mozart trans by Edith Knocker - originally published 1756. From beginning to advanced baroque violin playing in over two hundred pages. You'll still need a good teacher. Not just for violinists though since it covers style, appoggiaturas and so on.

Not just for string players (but essential on how to bow in a French baroque style) - written around 1700 in order to teach Germans how to play French music. Modern edition "Georg Muffat on Performance Practice" by David K. Wilson. Wilson has produced a Youtube video illustrating baroque violin bowing - well worth watching at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJvFb_QwWj0

 

Highly rated, although I haven't seen it myself, is "Baroque String Playing for Ingenious Learners" by Judy Tarling. Apparently an essential book on the topic, with companion CD.

 

A book new to me is "The baroque violin and viola - a fifty-lesson course" by Walter Reiter who is an experienced teacher in the field. I'm not a violinist but what I have sampled points to the book being an excellent resource for anyone wishing to discover how to "convert" to baroque playing. It is available through Amazon as a legitimate well-priced Kindle download or in book form. I found it accidentally online in an apparently pirated downloadable form - hence I was able to give it a quick survey - but please buy your own copy. Publishers and authors deserve their reward.

Early keyboard fingering differed from modern piano fingering for very good reasons - not all notes are equal and fingerings which helped express pairings of notes were common. Opinions varied of course (and the great Praetorius wrote at the start of the baroque era “Let a player run up and down the keyboard with his first, middle or third fingers, or even with his nose if that will help him…”). Even so, fingering is important. A useful survey is online at https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:182500 where you should find a thesis titled: "Historical Overview of the Philosophy Behind Keyboard Fingering Instruction from the Sixteenth Century to the Present".

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"Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments" by C.P.E.Bach trans and edited by William J. Mitchell - originally published 1759. Fingering, technique, ornaments, performance, realising thorough bass.

"18th Century Continuo Playing" by Jesper Christensen - a sort of "teach yourself to realise a figured bass", for keyboard players.

By Alison Crum : "Play the Viol" and "The Viol Rules a notebook". Excellent for beginning ( and beyond) gamba players.

"The Viola da Gamba Society of America" website gives you free access (even for non-members) to some very useful short videos on gamba technique. Youtube also has lots of good videos on gamba playing - use Youtube's own Search box with "viola da gamba lesson" to find lots. Also search for Alison Kinder, Jacqui Robertson-Wade.

Sam Stadlen's Youtube videos are truly excellent, whether you are just starting or if you need to improve your basic viol technique. (So many of us play "scruffily" - it's much better to have a sound basic understanding and apply it all the time so refresh your technique and go back to basics from time to time . Sam Stadlen's videos are excellent for this and you can keep returning to them to check on whether you really are getting the best out of your viol.) Here's a useful link:

https://www.samstadlen.co.uk/gamba-tutorials.html

 

The Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment has several interesting Youtube videos on baroque instruments.

"Recorder Technique" by Anthony Rowland-Jones - without a good knowledge of alternative fingerings for trills and passage work etc you won't get far in baroque recorder playing. This book will give you the knowledge.

 

A warning: get advice before buying an instrument. Some Asian made instruments are worthless but some are excellent so approach online purchasing with great caution.