This volume presents a comprehensive history of violin performance against the background of the violin's evolution and the music written for it. Boyden focuses on the techniques of violin playing in centuries past, and discusses such practical questions as the development of bowing disciplines, the performance of staccato, the use of vibrato, the meaning of performing directions, the notation and performance of double stops, the rules of scordatura playing, and the sound of the violin in early times. `Way back in 1965 Boyden's 'History' was a good buy at eight guineas and at today's values it is an outstanding bargain' Robert Lewin, Strad`IThis book is the authoritative work on the history of violin playing up to the middle of the 18th century. ... essential reading for classical violinists and violin teachers ... it is a tribute to the scholarship of David Boyden that, 25 ... it remains a respected and valuable addition to one's library.' ISM Music Journal Musicologist and expert on string instruments, now deceased