Ondulé

(Fr.; It. ondeggiando).

A term, or variants of it, used in the 19th century for various ways of creating an undulation in the sound – hence it was occasionally used to describe vibrato. More commonly, however, it referred to a ‘wavy’ motion executed by moving the bow back and forth across two or more adjacent strings, a device found in violin literature as early as the 17th century. It is, thus, similar to Bariolage. Habeneck (c1835) emphasizes that the technique requires a free arm and flexible wrist. See Bow, §II, 2(viii).

PETER WALLS