Johann Georg Paschen’s Rapier Lessons: Developing a curriculum for teaching period rapier fencing
Introduction This paper will present an analysis of Johann Georg Paschen’s (1628-1678) Kurtze iedoch Deutliche Beschreibung handlend von Fechten auff den Stosz und Hieb (Short though clear description treating of fencing on the thrust and cut) published in 1661 in Sachsen. Paschen was a prolific author: in addition to treatises on fencing, he also published books on wrestling, spears, flags, gymnastics, military fortifications, and cooking (Conan 1). Despite his wide-ranging interests, his fencing text gives little direct information about him and his pedagogical background. In what follows, I will explore how Paschen converges with and diverges with the Italian rapier tradition and how he can provide crucial perspective on period fencing. I will then analyze four of Paschen’s lessons and provide commentary to help fencers recreate the lessons as drills. The text begins with a short introduction and is followed by eight lessons on fencing with the thrust and eight lessons on fencing with cuts. Each lesson consists of a series of individual techniques loosely tied around a unifying theme. Each lesson builds on the previous one and progresses from beginning to advanced techniques. The format of this text makes it important to anyone interested in studying rapier, regardless of whether their focus is on earlier or later texts. The majority of fencing texts from the sixteenth and seventeenth century tend to focus on the underlying principles of fencing, and the examples of technique they include are chosen to illustrate those concepts. While they give us a wealth of information […]
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Lesson 40
This is a group lesson that we did at practice yesterday. The goal of the lesson was to look at a couple of options for dealing with attacks to the low line – specically, the scannatura as described in plate 13 of Capoferro. From the instructor’s invitation in 3rd, straight thrust From the instructor’s engagement in 3rd, disengagement From the student’s engagement in 3rd, glide From the student’s invitation in 3rd, arrest to the arm with a reassemblement (as described in CF plate 8 ) From the student’s invitation in 3rd, simple parry of 2nd riposte by glide From the student’s invitation in 3rd, simple parry of 2nd riposte by glide with a passing step From the student’s invitation in 3rd, counterattack in 2nd with a passing step From the instructor’s invitation in 3rd, three straight thrusts end of lesson. Share on Facebook
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This is a lesson I did a few weeks ago. The goal was to cover the techniques covered in the basic plays of the first half of the single sword plates in Capoferro. (I’m writing this from memory, so there may be some inaccuracies) From the instructor’s invitation in 4th, straight thrust From the student’s engagement in 4th, glide From the instructor’s engagement in 4th, disengagement to the body From the instructor’s engagement in 4th, disengagement to the head From the instructor’s engagement in 4th, circular cut to the leg (riverso) From the instructor’s engagement in 4th, cicular cut to outside cheek From the student’s engagment in 4th, instructor attacks with a disengagement to the body, time thrust in to the body, hand in second position,opposition to the outside. No lunge, instructor closes distance From the student’s engagment in 4th, instructor attacks with a disengagement to the head, thrust to the face, hand in second, opposition to the outside, with a passing step. Use the offhand to check the opponents guard. From the student’s engagment in 4th, instructor attacks circular cut to the leg. Student withdraws the right foot to behind the left foot, while leaning the upper body forward slightly (Reassemblement) and making a cut to the wrist From the student’s engagment in 4th, instructor attacks circular cut to the leg. Student executes a reassemblement, with a thrust gto the face, hand in 4th. (Same action as above, different target) From the student’s engagment in 4th, instructor attacks with a thrust […]
by adminPosting fencing lesons.
So I’ve been thinking about using livejournal to post some of the lessons I’ve been working on for rapier. The majority of the lesson I’ll be posting are based on Capoferro, and generally follow the rough structure and organization of a Classical Italian lesson. The lessons represent the interpretive work that my friends and I are currently doing with Capoferro. I try pretty hard to stick to techniques that are explicitly covered in Capoferro, but occasionally either add some different actions, modify actions, or simply actions in order to focus on the execution of a specific technique. the terminology I use comes from my Classical Italian training, however there are usually some differences in how I would interpret a term when using it for rapier. For instance, there are some pretty subtle differences between how the guard and lunge is done in rapier as compared to Italian foil, however to simplify what I’m doing, I will leave this out for now. Share on Facebook
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