The focus of this document is the collection of etudes known as Pierre Gaviniés’s Twenty-four Matinées. While not as challenging as Paganini’s Caprices, Gaviniés’s etudes are still quite capable of providing significant challenges for violin and viola students. Yet neither Ivan Galamian nor Carl Flesch (two of the most influential violin pedagogues of the twentieth century) refers to them in their pedagogical manual. Still published and known by many violinists, the Twenty-four Matinées are not often used by teachers and students, especially here in the United States. Having begun my violin studies in France, I was introduced to Gaviniés’s Matinées there, but curiously never got to practice them. It is only recently that I have been interested in exploring them and came to realize that many violin students are deprived of the challenges and joys of working with these etudes. By looking at the technical aspects that they cover and by comparing their melodic and technical interest to the more popular etudes studied today (Rode’s Twenty-Four Caprices, Kreutzer’s Forty-Two Etudes and Dont’s Twenty-Four Etudes and Caprices Opus 35), I intend to show that these Matinées deserve greater attention.
The document is divided into three parts. The first part consists of a brief biography of the composer and describes his place in the French Violin School. The second part provides a comprehensive description of the Twenty-four Matinées and presents Kreutzer’s Forty-Two Etudes, Rode’s Twenty-Four Caprices, and Dont’s Twenty-Four Etudes and Caprices Opus 35. Finally I will approach each etude individually. I will analyze each etude from a violinistic point of view by explaining their technical content rather than providing a musical analysis, and compare some of the Matinées with some of Rode’s, Kreutzer’s, and Dont’s etudes.