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Classical fencing, often abbreviated as "CF", is a way to distinguish one branch of Traditional Fencing from modern "sport" or Olympic Fencing . It is described by the International Masters at Arms Federation (IMAF): "The second half of the 19th Century is historically the classical period, in which the art of fencing reached its furthest development, but we may include the whole of the 19th century in this era, as this was the age when fencing was formally codified, systematized, and fully expressed in complete systems and styles. 'Classical,' in this sense, means 'the golden age,' the period when the art saw its highest peak." We get a sense of the 'ideal' Classical fencer from 19th Century contemporary and fencing Master, Louis Rondelle: "A classical fencer is supposed to be one who observes a fine position, whose attacks are fully developed, whose hits are marvelously accurate, his parries firm and his ripostes executed with precision. One must not forget that this regularity is not possible unless the adversary is a party to it. It is a conventional bout, which consists of parries, attacks, and returns, all rhyming together." The essence of CF is that one fences in a martially accurate manner with the weapons used (with different schools selecting different weapons in addition to the 19th Century counterparts of the modern foil, epee, and sabre). Emphasis is placed on training as if for a real encounter with sharp blade - "to hit and not be hit". It should also be noted that while Classical Fencing is a term which was used and defined in the 19th Century, it has been misappropriated in recent years to mean everything from early 20th Century sport fencing to 17th Century rapier fencing. The three standard fencing weapons, foil, epee and sabre, are used, though in a slightly different manner than in sport fencing. CF also uses side judges to determine if touches land, rather than the electrical scoring system used in sport fencing. Some classical schools also incorporate earlier weapons such as the smallsword, rapier and dagger and singlestick, however, only in so far as they were taught during the Classical era. Study of the weapons and techniques of fencing prior to the 19th Century is properly termed Historical Fencing . There are teachers of both the French School and the Italian School who continue in the classical tradition. After the Second World War , Duels , already in decline, went out of use in Europe, and classical fencing as a training for a real fight disappeared. Fencing continued as a martial sport like boxing or karate, with tournaments and championships including the Olympic Games where it was one of the original events. With the advent of the electrical scoring apparatus, which replaced the previous system of using four judges to see if a touch landed, a minority of fencers felt that fencing had become increasingly stylized and less like a real duel. Classical fencers feel that in sport fencing being hit is acceptable, as long as you amass enough points to win, with less emphasis on not being hit at all. There are CF tournaments, which use scoring rules similar to sport fencing. Fencing masters and students who rejected modern fencing either preserved their tradition, abandoned it in favor of employment as fencing masters in modern style, or retired. Today, CF has small groups of practitioners in France, Italy, England and the US. It should be mentioned that the overwhelming majority of fencing masters and fencers enthusiastically adopted the new conventions and electronically scored fencing, which were designed by fencing masters and other members of the fencing establishment. For these fencers, electrical scoring is a vast improvement over "dry" visual judging, which was notably subject to bias and the inherent difficulty of judging fast fencing actions. For the majority of fencers, the conventions of CF are equally stylized and unrealistic. Classical Fencing is not SCA Fencing , nor is it Sport Fencing . There is disagreement about whether or not it is Historical Fencing , with analysis by the CFML moderator at http://sports.groups.yahoo.com/group/classicalfencing/message/7829 asserting that it is simplistic to call CF "clean" or "proper" fencing. In addition, a vocal and prolific author and fencing master also called his style of early 20th Century competative fencing 'classical' to differentiate it from modern competitive fencing. This caused much confusion, until this master published an article in which he definitively separated his practice from the traditional 'Classical' schools of fencing prior to the 20th Century. Nonetheless, for many in CF, its goal is "to give and not to receive" a touch, and some schools emphasize the character-building, "martial art" aspects of practice. For CF practitioners not interested in tournaments, "winning" is seen as the result of excellence, not its definition. Martial wins are generally achieved by defensive prowess as many CF torunaments are scored based upon hits against. As such the fencer with the least hits is the winner. Seeding and promotion from round to round is solely determined by lack of hits against. This contrasts with sport fencing, which is completely results oriented, and winning is seen as the proof and definition of excellence. The winning and seeding is based upon those who have given the greatest number of hits. In seeding from pools to direct elimination rounds, seeding indicators are effected by both the number of hits given and received. Such competitive wins, especially in direct elimination rounds where indicators no longer effect promotion, may often be achieved with both fencers being hit, the winner having only hit shortly before the loser. WEAPONS Classical Fencing uses the three modern weapons Foil , Epee and Sabre , as well as historical weapons such as the rapier and dagger. CRITIQUES OF CLASSICAL AND SPORT FENCING Many classical fencing advocates, believe that the current sport of fencing has lost meaningful connections with its origin as a martial art. They feel that the sport as it is practiced in the Olympic Games and in fencing's sponsoring organizations (the FIE or the United States Fencing Association , for instance) is stylized and unrealistic, and often no longer resembles any actual combat with live weaponry. They believe that tactics like the Flick that are enabled by fencing's modern scoring system detract from realism. They believe that sports fencing has philosophy geared towards winning a maximum number of victories as soon as possible rather than a philosophy that demands mastery of martial, and therefore defensive, techniques, tactics and strategies. In contrast, the sport fencing world mostly ignores the much smaller classical fencing movement, or points to the unwillingness of its members to compete - even in epee, which has few conventions to favor one style or the other. Sport fencers also point to stylized and unrealistic components in CF, such as the extreme emphasis in some CF schools on "proper form". A perennial conflict stems from rules on priority of attack in the conventional weapons. CF form requirements in the conventional weapons of foil and sabre require a fully extended weapon arm to gain the priority of the attack. Sport fencing, on the other hand, has changed its rules to recognize an extending arm as sufficient. In some ways, the Sport Fencing approach more accurately represents the probable technique in a martial encounter, where the fencer is trying to conceal his actions. On the other hand, the conventional weapons having been training weapons, the rule of full extension was more to teach fencers at the early stages that it is important to make attacks from positions of safety to maximize their chances of 'hitting without being hit'. Both CF and Sport Fencers recognize this when fencing Epee, the most realistic weapon in common. Epee fencers take defensive (en guard) position with a much more extended arm, however, an epee fencer may disguise his attack by removing his arm to lure an action and then counter attacking. Sport fencers also challenge the credibility and qualifications of CF fencing masters. Many sport fencers feel that until a CF practitioner achieves a reputation by showing skill in competitive situations, their claims against sport fencing will be dismissed as "sour grapes" by that community. This is problematic as neither side endorses the scoring and judging conventions used by the other. On the other hand, many Traditional Masters who can trace their training directly back to 19th Century Masters, or further, do not feel the need to validate their titles under the competitive regime. Due to the disparity between the principles they teach and those required for producing an Olympic champion, such validation is felt as meaningless for their practice. This conflict does not seem to be going away. Some classical fencing thinkers believe that the solution is to try to reclaim the sport of fencing for classical traditions - which seems unlikely considering its minority status and unfortunate expressions of contempt for the competitive fencers by some vocal individuals. Others think that classical fencing should separate from the existing sport fencing structure to form its own world. SEE ALSO |
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