Editing Pizzicato (section)

==History==

The first recognised use in Classical Music is found in Tobias Hume’s The First Part of Ayres 1605. Instruction is given to ‘‘play one straine with your fingers, the other with your Bow’, ‘to be plaide with your fingers … your Bow ever in your hand’’. (Morrow et al. 2021)
Another early use is found in [[Claudio Monteverdi]]'s ''[[Il combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda]]'' (around 1638), in which the players are instructed to use two fingers of their right hand to pluck the strings.  Later, in 1756, [[Leopold Mozart]] in his ''[[Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule]]'' instructs the player to use the index finger of the right hand. This has remained the most usual way to execute a pizzicato, though sometimes the middle finger is used. The bow is held in the hand at the same time unless there is enough time to put it down and pick it up again between bowed passages.

===Uses in various styles of music===
In [[jazz]] and [[bluegrass music|bluegrass]], and the few [[popular music]] styles which use double bass (such as French modern [[chanson]], American [[psychobilly]] and [[rockabilly]]), pizzicato is the usual way to play the [[double bass]]. This is unusual for a violin-family instrument, because regardless whether violin-family instruments are being used in jazz (e.g., jazz violin), popular, traditional (e.g., Bluegrass fiddle) or [[Classical music]], they are usually played with the bow for most of a performance. In classical double bass playing, pizzicato is often performed with the bow held in the hand; as such, the string is usually only plucked with a single finger. In contrast, in jazz, bluegrass, and other non-Classical styles, the player is not usually holding a bow and is therefore free to use two or three fingers to pluck the string.

In classical music, however, string instruments are most usually played with the bow, and [[composer]]s give specific indications to play pizzicato where required. Pieces in classical music that are played entirely pizzicato include:
* [[Johann Sebastian Bach|J. S. Bach]]:  the ninth movement of the ''[[Magnificat (Bach)|Magnificat]]'' (1723–1733)
* [[Johann Strauss II]] and [[Josef Strauss]]: ''Pizzicato Polka'' (1869){{efn|Usually accompanied by a [[glockenspiel]].}}
* [[Edvard Grieg]]: Act IV – Anitra's Dance in ''[[Peer Gynt (Grieg)|Peer Gynt]]'' (1874)
* [[Léo Delibes]]: the "Divertissement: Pizzicati" from Act 3 of the ballet ''[[Sylvia (ballet)|Sylvia]]'' (1876)
* [[Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky]]: the third movement of the [[Symphony No. 4 (Tchaikovsky)|4th symphony]] (1877–78)
* [[Johann Strauss II]]: ''[[Neue Pizzicato Polka]]'' (1892)
* [[Helmer Alexandersson]]: the third movement of his second symphony (1919)
* [[Béla Bartók]]: the fourth movement of the ''[[String Quartet No. 4 (Bartók)|String Quartet No. 4]]'' (1928)
* [[Benjamin Britten]]: the second movement of the ''[[Simple Symphony]]'' (1934)
* [[Leroy Anderson]]: ''Jazz Pizzicato'' (1938) and ''Plink, Plank, Plunk!'' (1951)

[[Antonio Vivaldi]], in the "Ah Ch'Infelice Sempre" section of his cantata ''[[Cessate, omai cessate]]'', combined both pizzicato and bowed instruments to create a unique sound. He also included pizzicato in the second movement of "Winter" from ''[[The Four Seasons (Vivaldi)|The Four Seasons]]''.