What does "s.v." mean as a performance instruction for strings?

[Michael Schaffer]

I don't think I had seen that one before. s.t.=sul tasto, s.p.=sul
ponticello and similar are old friends, but has anyone seen "s.v."
before and knows what it means? Maybe it is something very obvious, but
I can't think of what it could mean. It occurs in the bass part of
"Pedra Mistica" by Brazilian composer Antonio Cunha, but the parts are
completely marked in Italian, so I doubt it is a Portuguese
abbreviation.

[Michael Schaffer]

Post by Michael Schaffer
I don't think I had seen that one before. s.t.=sul tasto, s.p.=sul
ponticello and similar are old friends, but has anyone seen "s.v."
before and knows what it means? Maybe it is something very obvious, but
I can't think of what it could mean. It occurs in the bass part of
"Pedra Mistica" by Brazilian composer Antonio Cunha, but the parts are
completely marked in Italian, so I doubt it is a Portuguese
abbreviation.

I forgot: Obviously, it could mean "sotto voce", but I think that is
unlikely in the context - it occurs at the same time with sul
ponticello and also in louder dynamics with accents.

[JohnGavin]

Post by Michael Schaffer
I don't think I had seen that one before. s.t.=sul tasto, s.p.=sul
ponticello and similar are old friends, but has anyone seen "s.v."
before and knows what it means? Maybe it is something very obvious, but
I can't think of what it could mean. It occurs in the bass part of
"Pedra Mistica" by Brazilian composer Antonio Cunha, but the parts are
completely marked in Italian, so I doubt it is a Portuguese
abbreviation

Perhaps "sans vibrato"- (a wise instruction for many a string player).

[Lena]

Post by JohnGavin

Post by Michael Schaffer
I don't think I had seen that one before. s.t.=sul tasto, s.p.=sul
ponticello and similar are old friends, but has anyone seen "s.v."
before and knows what it means? Maybe it is something very obvious, but
I can't think of what it could mean. It occurs in the bass part of
"Pedra Mistica" by Brazilian composer Antonio Cunha, but the parts are
completely marked in Italian, so I doubt it is a Portuguese
abbreviation

Perhaps "sans vibrato"- (a wise instruction for many a string player).

That's what I'd say ("senza vibrato").

Lena

[a***@aol.com]

Post by Lena

Post by JohnGavin

Post by Michael Schaffer
I don't think I had seen that one before. s.t.=sul tasto, s.p.=sul
ponticello and similar are old friends, but has anyone seen "s.v."
before and knows what it means? Maybe it is something very obvious, but
I can't think of what it could mean. It occurs in the bass part of
"Pedra Mistica" by Brazilian composer Antonio Cunha, but the parts are
completely marked in Italian, so I doubt it is a Portuguese
abbreviation

Perhaps "sans vibrato"- (a wise instruction for many a string player).

That's what I'd say ("senza vibrato").
Lena

I would also go with Senza Vibrato. In contemporary scores where the
instruction is much used it does however also appear as Senza.vib or
S.vib sometimes.

Kind regards,
Alan M. Watkins

[Bob Lombard]

Post by Lena
That's what I'd say ("senza vibrato").

Well, OK. I was going with "sotto voce", which may be more difficult to
implement.

bl

[J. Teske]

On Sun, 19 Feb 2006 11:12:42 -0500, "Bob Lombard"

Post by Bob Lombard

Post by Lena
That's what I'd say ("senza vibrato").

Well, OK. I was going with "sotto voce", which may be more difficult to
implement.

Hardly "sotto voce" violinists don't "sing" with a voice or at least
they shouldn't - no Glenn Goulds among us. :-)

s.v. for senza vibrato is occasionally seen, but not very often. Most
of the time I encounter it as a player it is written out. Composers,
especially modern ones, don't take chances with stuff like this. Even
"senza vibrato" as a composers' instruction is pretty rare. I most
often do this as an individual artistic decision in a solo work; or,
as a conductors' instruction. Even then, I generally write it out
fully in either Italian or in English, or if we have to write it down
quickly as frequently happens in rehersal, we just write "NO VIB"

Jon Teske, violinist

Post by Bob Lombard
bl

[Michael Schaffer]

Post by JohnGavin

Post by Michael Schaffer
I don't think I had seen that one before. s.t.=sul tasto, s.p.=sul
ponticello and similar are old friends, but has anyone seen "s.v."
before and knows what it means? Maybe it is something very obvious, but
I can't think of what it could mean. It occurs in the bass part of
"Pedra Mistica" by Brazilian composer Antonio Cunha, but the parts are
completely marked in Italian, so I doubt it is a Portuguese
abbreviation

Perhaps "sans vibrato"- (a wise instruction for many a string player).

Senza vibrato - yes, it could be that. In other places, there are
instructions to play "molto vibrato", so that would make sense.