Note 402 — HIS TECHNIQUE AND WORKS

Geminiani says of the forte and the piano: “They are absolutely necessary to give expression to the melody; for all good music being the imitation of a fine discourse, these two ornaments have for their aim the varied inflections of the speaking voice.” Telemann writes: “Song is the foundation of music, in every way. What the instruments play ought to be exactly after the principles of expression in singing.”

And M. Volbach shows that these principles governed music then in Germany with all kinds of musicians, even with the trompettist Altenburg, whose School for the Trumpet was based on the principle that instrumental performance ought to be similar to vocal rendering.