Performance today on either the pianoforte or the fortepiano can be at once joyful, musicianly, expressive, and historically informed. From this point of view, Sandra P. Rosenblum examines the principles of performing the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and their contemporaries as revealed in a variety of historical sources: their autographs and letters, early editions of their music, original instruments, and contemporary tutors and journals. She applies these findings to such elements of performance as dynamics, accentuation, pedaling, articulation and touch, technique and fingering, ornaments and embellishments, choice of tempo, and tempo flexibility.
Familiarity with the Classic conventions provides a framework for interpretation and an understanding of the choices available within the style, the amount of freedom a performer has, and which areas are ambiguous. Rosenblum’s detailed study, copiously illustrated with musical examples, is invaluable for professional and amateur performers, serious piano students and their teachers and students of performance practices by Scarlatti and Clementi.
"... is and will remain unsurpassed as the study dealing with performance practice as it pertains to keyboard music of the Classical period." —American Music Teacher
"Rosenblum’s monumental achievement is thorough, objective, balanced, and imaginative, a compelling blend of love and respect for the solo, chamber, and concerto literature she addresses." —Journal of Musicological Research
"The extent and quality of her research, the depth of her perception, and her musicianship together break new ground in the study of historic performance practice." —Early Keyboard Journal
"Her attention to details is absolutely scrupulous; no stone unturned, no argument unquestioned or unstated." —The Musical Times
"Its importance to thoughtful musicians cannot be overstated." —Choice
"... thoroughly musicological." —Performance Practice Review
"... indispensable... " —New York Times
FOREWORD BY MALCOLM BILSON PREFACE: ABOUT PERFORMANCE PRACTICES ACKNOWLEDGMENTS SOURCES OF FIGURES INTRODUCTION: USING THIS BOOK ABBREVIATIONS
I. Background for the Study
Point of View Invention and Gradual Acceptance of the Piano The Musical Need Cristofori’s Invention The Piano’s Ultimate Triumph Some Influences on Performance Music and Rhetoric Empfindsamkeit (Sensibility)
Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress)
Haydn and Mozart Beethoven and the Rhetorical Spirit Beyond Beethoven The Musical Score Changes in the Classic Era More-Recent Developments The Composers and Their Pianism Haydn Mozart Clementi Beethoven Czerny’s Observations on Beethoven Performance
II. The Fortepiano circa 1780-1820
General Characteristics of Construction Expansion of Keyboard Compass and Instrument Size Changes in Range and Construction Beethoven’s Extension of Range The Problem of "Note Restoration"
Tone and Touch
"Mutations": Hand Stops, Levers, and Pedals English Versus Viennese Fortepianos Actions and Sounds Attempts to Modify the Viennese Action Four Classic Composers and Their Fortepianos Composer-Performers and Piano Makers Haydn, Mozart, and Clementi Beethoven Instruments Played for This Study Viennese Instruments German Instruments English Instruments Personal Observations
III. Dynamics and Accentuation
Playing Classic Period Music on a Modern Grand Piano Notation and Interpretation of Dynamic Indications Introduction Orientation to Composers’ Notation and Unfamiliar Terms The Scope of Forte and Piano Concinnity of Dynamics and Form Filling in the Missing Dynamics Terraced and Graduated Dynamics Repeats Repeats in Sonata-Allegro Form Inner Repeats in the Minuet or Scherzo Da Capo Evolution of Calando and Related Terms Origin: Use by Haydn and Mozart Clementi’s Definition and Usage Use of Calando by Beethoven, Hummel, and Czerny Qualitative (Dynamic) Accents Indications for Accents Composers’ Uses of Accent Indications Rinforzando Types of Accentuation Accentuation in Beethoven’s Music; The Annotations to Cramer’s Etudes The Annotations to Etudes IX and XII Schindler and Beethoven An Assessment of the Annotations to Cramer’s Etudes
IV. Use of the Pedals
The Damper Pedal: Introduction Types of Pedaling Rhythmic Pedaling Syncopated or Legato Pedaling Stylistic Use of the Damper Pedal Contemporary Descriptions and Uses Planning Appropriate Pedaling The Development of Pedal Indications and Their Ambiguities England and France Germany and Austria Special Effects by Beethoven, Dussek, Clementi, and Others Indications that Create Distinctive Timbres Indications that Highlight Form The "Moonlight" Sonata Adjusting Early Pedal Indications to the Pianoforte The Una Corda Pedal
V. Articulation and Touch
Introduction Nonlegato, Legato, and the Prolonged Touch Nonlegato, Tenuto, and the Heavy and Light Execution A Shift toward More Legato Legato and Legatissimo Touches Described in Tutors The Prolonged Touch The Language of the Slur The Expressivity of Short Slurs Longer Legato Goups and Slurs Do All Slurs Indicate Attack and Release?
Dot, Stroke and Wedge
VI. Historical Technique and Fingering
Point of View Specific Functions of Technique Role and Position of the Arm and Hand Finger Technique How to Practice Staccato Touches Playing the Incise Slur Repeated Notes, Octaves, and Glissandos Summary Increasing Technical Demands Clementi’s Introduction and Gradus Beethoven’s Exercises and Other Fragments Fingerings by Clementi and Beethoven
VII. Ornaments
Introduction Appoggiaturas and Other One-Note Ornaments Identification The Short Appoggiatura The Long Appoggiatura Afternotes and Grace Notes Afternote and Anticipatory Performance of Other Short Ornaments The Trill Overview Evolution of the Trill Start The Trill Start in Works of Haydn, Mozart, and Their Contemporaries The Trill Start in Works of Beethoven The Short Trill and the Schneller The Mordent The Turn and the "Quick" Turn Haydn’s Notation of Turns and Mordents Interpretation of Haydn’s Turn "over the Dot"
Early and Anticipatory Turn Realization Beethoven’s Ambiguous Placement of the Turn Sign The Inverted Turn The Trilled Turn The Double Appoggiatura The Slide The Arpeggio Improvised Ornamentation
VIII. "Mixed Meters" and Dotted Rhythms
Mixed Meters The Theory Application of the Theory
IX. Choice of Tempo
Elements in Tempo Choice Interaction of Meter, Note Values, and Tempo Headings Practical Results of These Customs Additional Elements in Tempo Choice The Basic Tempo Groups Contemporary Descriptions Which Was the Slowest Tempo?
Diminutive Terms; Andante and Andantino The Changing Allegro The Meaning of Assai Increasing Individualization of Tempo The Metronome Beethoven and the Metronome Problems Related to Beethoven’s Metronomizations Universal Problems of Metronomization The "Hammerklavier" Sonata Six Metronomizations of Beethoven’s Sonatas The Haslinger Gesamtausgabe; Czerny and Moscheles as Metronomizers The Gesamtausgabe and Czerny’s Other Metronomizations Compared Tempo Trends in Europe Czerny’s Metronomizations of the 1840s and 1850s Moscheles’s Metronomizations; Comparison with Czerny’s Conclusion Fast and "Moderate" Minuets Beethoven’s "Moderate" Minuets: His Metronomizations, Extrapolated Tempos, and Present Practice Extrapolation of Other Tempos For Beethoven For Clementi Appendix A: Theoretical Tempos of Quantz and Turk Appendix B: Six Sets of Metronomizations for Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas
X. Flexibility of Rhythm and Tempo
Introduction Rhetorical Accentuation by Agogic Means Agogic Accentuation of Notes Rhetorical Rests The Fermata Ritardando and Accelerando Sectional Change of Mood and Tempo Eighteenth-Centry Tempo Rubato Freely Shifting Contrametric Rubato Contrametric Rubato by Uniform Displacement Contrametric Rubato in the Piano Works of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven Descriptions of Contrametric Rubato in French Tutors Tempo Flexibility as Tempo Rubato Early Evidence of Agogic Rubato Agogic Rubato in the Piano Works of Haydn, Mozart, and Clementi Agogic Rubato in the Piano Works of Beethoven’s Piano Music
XI. Performing Beethoven’s Bagatelle Op. 126, No. 5
Use of the Instrument Dynamics and Accentuation Slurs, Articulation, and Fingering Pedaling Tempo Choice and Tempo Flexibility Repeat of the Middle Section Critical Report
NOTES SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY INDEX
PLATES AND CHARTS
PLATE I Two Fortepianos Played for This Study PLATE II Excerpt from the Holograph of Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 53, Rondo PLATE III Excerpt from the Holograph of Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 111/ii PLATE IV Excerpt from the Holograph of Beethoven’s Sonata Op. 26/i, Var. 2
PLATE V Ludwig van Beethoven, Bagatelle in G major, Op. 126, No. 5, First edition
CHART I Apparent Uses of the Damper Pedal or Knee Lever in the Classic Period CHART II Likely Choice of Touch for Harpsichord, Clavichord, and Fortepiano Music until about 1790
CHART III Comparison of Four Metronomizations of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas
Overview
Performance today on either the pianoforte or the fortepiano can be at once joyful, musicianly, expressive, and historically informed. From this point of view, Sandra P. Rosenblum examines the principles of performing the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and their contemporaries as revealed in a variety of historical sources: their autographs and letters, early editions of their music, original instruments, and contemporary tutors and journals. She applies these findings to such elements of performance as ...