W W i 1 — [—— — _____,4_. — W l 1 ‘V x N WM WW '—|(Q_s I 0—} (IDA—A 'T‘Z'fi? EEAPGR?ANC§ €239 MAM} “‘I'ECHNIQUB Thesis Fur 9m. Dame :9 M‘ A fikflfii‘JE-‘HCXAM MM? {ANWERSH‘Y H-zaéifim Mariam it'd 1. ‘2‘; HESIS LIBRARY _ Michigan State Unimsi‘)’ ' I/I/gmgwgifl/Wo/IWMI ' 50 "XDJ . I“). J If '3! 5‘ FEB 2 4 2031 THE IMPORTANCE OF PIANO TECHNIQUE b“ ‘ by Hertha Horinga A THESIS Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies of Iichigan State University of Agriculture and Applied Science in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of EASTER OF ARTS Department of Music 1957 Acknowledgments ~The writer wishes to express her appreciation to Dr. J. Murray Barbour for the help given in the preparation of this study. The writer, also, is indebted to her former teacher, the late Dr. Max Schwarz, concert pianist and critic of the W, Berlin. Germany- Table of Contents The ultimate purpose of piano technique The changing aspects of piano technique thsie:.l: Tsahnlsne.9:_Llaxing_sihihe”time.QTMCpuperiniand_§ash The harpsichord The clavichord The fin ering The rea issue: Expression Embellishments as means of expression Expression through variation of tempo Instructions of the old masters on keyboard playing Reflections on how the old masters played The revival of the old instruments A specific technique for the music of the pre-classical period thsisr_ll: Ih£_Teshnlsus_ei_ihs_Qlassiesl.£sried Domenico Scarletti, the link to the piano music of the Classical Period The piano The aims of the "Viennese Group" Beethoven adds dynamic power and suggestion The beginning of teaching methods £hs8122_lll: The_%nmsnils_£eried arl Maria von ‘eber, the linx to the Romantic Period Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Schubert Robert Schumann Frédéric ChOpin and'the height 01 intimate expression Franz Liszt and the height of technical accomplishment Claude Debussy The latest development of the piano and its augmented expres- siveness The follow-up of the methods Chapter Iv: mpg Twentieth centggx The modern 'arm' and'weight"methods The challenge of acoustical findings Attempts to omit technique Wrong approach to teaching the piano The ideal technique and its purpose Bibliography Introduction Iha_nliinaia_nnneose_of_nisne_iachniana A great pianist has just finished the last chords of his re- cital. A moment of profound silence follows. Then a burst of app- lause breaks loose that seems to swell like a thundering sea‘ through the hall. People who are retired and dignified in every - day-life stand up and cheer showing an unexpected enthusiasm.and vitality. that makes people act like this after a superb music performance? John Hospers, in his book Iaaning_and_12uth_in_the_Azts, gives this explanation:' It is characteristic of the greatest art that the attitude it communicates to us is felt by us as valid, to be the reaction to a more subtle and comprehensive contact with reality 1 than we can normally make." Geza Revesz, in his book Introduction 12.1h1_211§hglggz_nf;lusig, goes even further in his statement: ', . . the works of great masters are carriers of certain ideas, impulses and aspirations that are rooted in the collective . . . it [musig] gives expression not only to the musical ideas of the artistbut also to the subconscious motive that is co-responsible for the genesis of these ideas and their fashioning. The rhythm, the tempo of life, as well as the inclinations and aspirations of the soul that have not yet penetrated to the conscious, are revealed 1) John Hoovers, Haanins_and_12uih_in_tba_Anial University of North Carolina Press, Chapel Hill, 1946, p.229. 2 in the music. . . . Art can be the herald of dawn and likewise the enunciator of darkness and the threatening storm. It is as f 6 sensitive as a seismOgraph ." Here we are faced with the conveying of emotions and ideas that are, in degrees, common to most people; with glimpses into our subconscious, often, unexpressable feelings; with visions into future trends of feeling and thinning. When we settle down to sober thinking we may ass; By what means are those ideas, glimpses, visions transferred to us? There is the piano, a stringed instrument, whose strings are struck by hammers, attached to keys, and whose sounds can be modified - piano e forte - and "colored" by pedals. This in- strument is set in motion by the music performer who communicates these ideas to us through succession of tones ( melodies), com- bination of tones (harmonies), in characteristic following I (rhythm), in descriptive dynamics. He does it by striking the piano keys with his fingers; he seems to have a thousand nuances of tone quality, from delicate softness to overwhelming power; from slow singing to breathless rapidity. So, it appears that it is through the mastery ox the keyboard technique that those wonders are communicated to us. Therefore it is not surprising that young students as well as parents of children who "study the piano" lay great stress on piano technique. 2, Introduction to the Psychology of Music, University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, 1954, p. 215 to V C) 33 (b\ <‘ (D x (a 3 WWW Keyboard music, through the centuries, has developed from.a rather intimate art of individual expression to a representative of complex feelings and ideas in descriptive patterns that demand intricate and compound technical abilities, often connected with an enormous display of power and speed. But despite these extra- ordinary demands on the skill of performance, one should not forget that technique is only a means of musical expression, it is not an end in itself. Musical expression, on the other hand, has varied, because, during the different periods, people were not interested in the same subject matter; and they presented their ideas and emotions in the light of their period and surroundings.For this reason, piano technique is not static but subordinated to musical content. It is also conditioned by the qualities and limitations of the instruments, the piano and its predecessors, the harpsichord and the clavichord. 4 Chapter l:Technique of playing as the time of Couperin and Bach - -b»”—w-‘_“ ‘4 Fun-H.“ If a student makes a study of the music of the time of Couperin and Bach - even an amateur student should have a knowledge and an experience of it - he should, at first, acquaint himself with the construction and the development of the instruments of that period, the harpsichord and the clavichord. The serum: According to the W, “The harpsichord, French: Clavecin, German: Clavicymbal or’Docken- klavier, Italian: Clavicembalo or Gravicembalo, English: Virginal or Spinet, were names given to all small keyboard instruments irrespective of shape, having one string to a note, plucked by means of a quill or plectrum of leather. . . . the earliest name is clavicymbalum, which occurs in the Enles_gf_the_ylnne- singers (1404) and also in the flunderbngh (1440)." The harpsichord had its beginning in a shape of a sewing box,that young girls could place on a table and play, deriving from this the name 'Virginal". The tone of the harpsichord was of short duration and detached from its neighboring tones; its tone quality could be varied only in a very limited degree. Francois Couperin, in his treatise "LLgrtydertough§r_le_glay§gin, Paris, 1717, reflects on this: ”The tones of the harpsichord are settled, each one in particular, and, consequently, cannot be swelled or diminished. . ."(Les sons du clavecin etant décidé, chacun en particulier, et par I l consequent ne pouvant €tre enfles ni diminues . . .) l)Wilfrid Mellers, Fgangois Couperin and the Frengh_Classical Traditign, Roy Publishers, New York, l95lw p. 293. 5 Albert Wier, in his book Ihg_£1§ng, says:" The impossibility of producing any gradations of tone on the harpsichord has frequently‘ been referred to . . . this must be accepted as a just criticism."a To gain variety of expression and expressiveness "pairs of virginals" were used that were tuned on different pitch. Wier quotes Mersenne and Praetorius on the subject:” There were three sizes of the spinet; one was less than three feet wide and tuned an octave higher than what was called the "church pitch" . . . the three and a half foot spinet was tuned a fifth higher, and the five foot spinet was in unison with the church pitch(Mersenne) . . . Praetorius speaks of small octave-spinets which were used with larger instruments."3 In later years, according to Wier," the harpsichord had two or more strings to each note . . . The outward form of the modern grand piano differs in no essential respect from that of the harp- sichord. It was called in German 'Kielflflgel'. . . French 'Clavecin a queue' . . . The large harpsichord assumed a position of utmost importance in the orchestra about the beginning of the seventeenth century . . . in the early attempts of opera and oratorio the latter [the harpsichord] became indispensible . . . short incisive chords were required at frequent intervals to keep a singer in pitch 4 and to outline the simple modulations." 2) Albert Wier, Ihg_£iang, Longmans, Green and 00., London, New York, Toronto, 1940, p. 17 3) Ibid. p. 8 4) Ibid. PP. 11 - 12 6 While this may give the impression that the harpsichord was mainly used as an accompanying instrument, Frederick Dorian, in his book Ihe_E1stgzy_gf_flmmic_in_£gr£gzmang§, throws a different light on the use of the harpsichord:' The great composers of English virginal music, such as Byrd, Giles Farnaby, John Bull, Orlando Gibbons and Philips, were associated with Elizabeth's times . . . While these representative composers and famous in- terpreters of virginal music are men, virginal playing was essen- tially a feminine pastime . . . [there were] performances of romantic moods and nuances. Byrd's music conveys impressions of pastoral and lyric scenes; that of Gibbons and Philips elegance and decoration."5 Later he says:' The contemporary Italian per- formers had contributed little, if anything, to the virginal. Significantly, they were called 'sonatori d1 balli' - dance players - . . . the refined type of interpretation on the vir- ginal, demanding a softer, delicate technique, remained in England, whereas for the Italian dance accompaniment of the sonagori d1 balli a more robust and earthy execution was the rule." Ihg_§1§11ghgrd: Parallel with the development of the harpsi- chord went that of the clavichord, an instrument that had a better expressive capacity. The Engyglgpaedia_firitanniga describes it as follows:' Clavichord or Clarichord, a mediaeval stringed keyboard instrument, a forerunner of the pianoforte, its strings being set 5) Frederick Dorian. WWW, VJ. Nor- ton and Company, Inc., New York, 1942, pp, 51 - 52. 6) Ibid., p. 54. 7 in vibration by a blow from.a brass tangent instead of a hammer as in the modern instrument. The clavichord,derived from the dulcimer by the addition of a keyboard, has a long history, being mentioned as early as 1404 in Eberhard Cersne's Enlgl_g£ thg_flinngsingern. There were two kinds of clavichords - the 'fretted' or 'gebunden' and the 'fret-free' or 'bund-frei'. The term 'fretted‘ was applied to those clavichords, which, in- stead of being provided with a string or set of strings in unison for each note, had one set of strings acting for three or four notes, the arms of the keys being twisted in order to bring the contact of the tangent into the acoustically correct position under the string. The first 'bund-frei' clavichord appeared about 1720 . . . was chromatically scaled . . . lead to equal temperament." fThe clavichord", as Wier tells us, "was capable of what is called 'vibrato' . . . and the 'portamento' or sharpening of the pitch by touch pressure. In these respects it was unique among the keyboard instruments.'7 Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, in his WW (Versuch fiber die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen), gives a good des- cription of the execution of the portamento or portato and the vibrato: ”The notes of figure 169 are played legato, but each tone is noticeably accented. The term which refers to the per- 7) Albert Wier, 1hg_£1ang, pp. 22 - 25 8 formance of notes that are both slurred and dotted is 'portato' (Das Tragen der Tone) . . . a long affettuoso tone is performed with a 'vibrato'(Die Bebung). The finger that depresses and holds the key is gently shaken. The sign of the vibrato appears in example a. The best effect is used when the finger withholds its shake until half of the value of the tone has passed."8 Figure 169 f1 .,»/”'f 7771“?“. Footnote 1? of page 156, of the same volume gives us these des- criptionsz' Franz Riegler (Anleitnng_znm_g1§yigr, Vienna 1779) explains the distinction by saying that the 'portato' arises, 'when the key is rather slowly rocked', and the 'vibrato', 'when the key is quite clearly rocked (herausgewieged) according to the number of dots and without repeating the finger stroks'. Daniel Gottlob rfirk (ngxiezgghnle,l789):'At the clavichord (Claviere) this so-called 'Tragen' is easy to express, for, after striking the key, an additional pressure is exerted.'" The effect of the vibrato must have been very impressive, for, in footnote 18, same page, we find:" Dr. Burney, in 1h§_£:§§gn&_ §tglg_gfi_fln§1g_1n_fienmgny, Vol. III, p. 268, describes Bach's vibrato (Bebung) as follows:' In the pathetic and slow movements, whenever he had a long note to express, he absolutely contrived to produce,from his instrument, a cry of sorrow and complaint, 8) Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instrumegtg, translated and edited by William J. Mitchell, W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., New York, 1949. D. 156. 9 such as can only be effected upon the clavichord, and perhaps, by himself." The ability to change the tone quality by pressure, after the key has been struck, is lost to us and with it, apparent- ly, a very valuable means of expression. The clavichord is supposed to have had a soft, but very sweet, tone and, according to lier, "remained the instrument of the artist rather than a vehicle for musical bombast. Its greater flexibility made it especially well adapted to the equal temgerament for which Johann Sebastian Bach had a decided preference." Tha_Eincerina: As we find in the early spinet music, only the first, second, third and fourth fingers were used to strike the keys; later the fifth finger was added. The third finger of the right hand was set over the fourth finger in an ascending line, and over_the second finger in a descending line. This action and the loosely hanging thumb must have made a high wrist neces- sary and an outward and inward turning of the hands. Dorian says: '. . . fingering was well marked in the scripts of the English. . . . [there were] two schools of keyboard performance - the English and the Italo-German. They had one idea in common: te use good fingers on accented notes and weak fingers for passing notes. But the two schools differed . . . as to what constitutes 'good' fingers and 'weak' fingers. . . . The English technique resorted more to the little fingers and less to the thumbs, since the thumb was considered more a handicap than an asset in achiev- 9) Albert lier,.1he_£1§ng,pp. 25-26 10 10 ing their ideal of velocity." In Thompson's Intgnggtlgngl E1al22afll£192.!n§i£_snd_!n§iaians, on Piano Playing, we find a lengthy description on the playing of the harpsichord. The key was released right after the finger struck it, and the finger was curled under "to avoid holding the key down any longer than necessary so that the quill claw which plucked the string . . . might be free to resume the proper position for further action." A reflection on this information should give us an idea on the lightness and distinctiveness of touch that is necessary to re-create music of that time. Any slurring or wiping, any use of tone enforcement through arm weight would be out of place. The'discovery of the thumb” was a phenomenon that revolution- ized the keyboard technique in the time of J. 8. Each. Iier writes:' Among the technical innovations which were crystallized in Bach's teaching and playing was the use of the thumb, the possibilities of which had been entirely disregarded up to this time. By this means the scope of the hand in chord playing was practically doubled, and the facility in scale and other passage work was greatly increased."11 In the introduction to C. P. E. Bach’s,E§§ay, the translator and editor William J. Mitchell, speaks of this development:' It is clear from the reference to fingering as 'secret art, known and practiced by very few', that the Bach family did not discover it but rather organized and elaborated its technique. . . . the older fingering . . . was lolFr-ederick Dorian. WW. I). 53- 11) Albert Wier, The_£igng, p. 103. 11 characterized in general by the sparing use of the thumb and fifth finger with a consequent favoring of the middle fingers. . . . In Francois Couperin's LLA:t_d§_tgn&hgz_le_glgyegin, 1717, the thumb is employed frequently in wide stretches and in run- ning passages for the left hand, but in the right no more fre- quently than others had used it. Characteristic for the French school at this time is the replacement of one finger by another on an unrepeatedly held tone, along with direct repetitions of a single finger in running passages. . . . A very important innovation of the new method was the turning under of the thumb in running and arpeggiated passages. . . . Yet the turned thumb in the Bach fingering must have been known and employed by Domenico Scarlatti, for one, for the virtuoso passages in his sonatas could hardly have been delivered satisfactorily without it.”12 As we study the fingering in P. E. Bach's Efiflfil we see that, in general, he established the foundation of our modern fingering. For instance, he gives three fingerings for the C Major scale: 3 ‘f' n 5 .1. 3 q' ! 1' 5 J, i ‘l’ 3 fig... 1..-; - 3.‘t 3““. 3. ' In-.a.._._.;_ A 5:51". ..'_ 3.1-3 _'_.',':'1.;;3 3 a ' ’ .--...£__-__..__ .a.m-, .1 .__,_ __ n— “r“ "“3““ fi::::f::::::::::: J-VJM... ' ... ..1 ....'.. ._ 3,. ...,L. --..I ...‘1 -.....L.-_. .1--- 5 q 3 a H 3 l ' 3 I a a a i . . . . ' * Bach says of these fingerings:' The best are those directly above and below the notes. Nevertheless, The others may be applied 13 to good ends.“ We still teach Bach's preferred scale fingering. 12) Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach..Eaaax_anliha_Tnua_Ari_of_Plsxins Eaxhesrd_lnsirnmenia. , p. 13. 15) Ibid. p.48. 12 1hg_zggl_iggngi_fizpraggigni All the instruction books on how to play the keyboard instruments, all the treatises and articles that appear in magazines, at that time, point clearly to one goal: Expression. It was expression of emotions that the German school emphasized. Dorian gives us the development of the 'Affectenlehre', which he calls ”Doctrine of affections':' As an aesthetic discipline of musical performance, the roets of the 'Affectenlehre' were imbedded in the antique Greek 'ethos'. It occured also in medieval music and served to guide the performance in the Renaissance . . . Iodern renditions of eighteenth century music, aspiring to recall the spirit of the old time, cannot iggore substantially the ramifications of the Affectenlehre.‘ In this connection, he quotes, among others; Quantzz’ Putting the listener new in this, now in that affection.'; J. D. Heinichen, in his treatise 1h: Iigured_B§§s_in_ggmpg§%tign (1728):" The purpose of music is to move the affections.‘ In the introduction to C. P. E. Bach's Essay, we read:' As the principal practitioner of the 'Empfind- samkeit' with the emphasis on the feelings, the 'affections: with the clavichord as its best-loved instrument, Bach made technical mastery of the keyboard only a contributory factor to the expres- sive and that he sought. lusic here was far removed from the decorative art , from abstract patterns of sound; it was, above all else, a vehicle for the expression of the emotions. Husic must 14 Frederick Dorian ThLfliaiarLaLEnaiLinJanfmmmm . 138. 15; Ibid. p. 139 ’ ’p 13 languish, it must startle, it must be gay, it must move boldly 16 from one sentiment to another." Interesting is also a quotation of lsrpurg (Der_kniiischs_lnsisua_sn_dsr_fiazaa). from the same book:' The rapidity with which the emotions change is common knowledge, for they are nothing but motion and restlessness. All musical expression has as its basis an affect or feeling . . . With the philosopher there are combustible materials which.merely glow or give off a modest restrained warmth. Here, however, [hith the crater, poet, musician] there is but the distilled essence of this material, the finest of it, which gives off thousands of the most beautiful flames, but always with great speed, often with violence. The musician must therefore play a thousand different roles, he must assume a thousand characters as dictated by the composer.'17 P. E. Bach, himself, gives the distinction between a mere technician and a true artist:' Keyboardists whose chief asset is mere technique are clearly at a disadvantage. A performer may have the most agile fingers, be competent at single and double trills, master the art of fingering, read skillfully at sight regardless of the key, and transpose extemporaneously without the slightest difficulty; play tenths, even twelfths, or runs, cross the hands in every conceivable manner, and excel in other related matters. and yet he may be something less than a clear, pleasing, or stirring keyboardist. lore often than not, one meets technicians . . . who astound us with their prowess without ever 16) c. P. E. Bach, Essay on the 2:“; Ant 9: Playing Kggpggng Instruments. 9. 16 17) Ibid. p. 81, footnote 4 I'll"! l4 touching our sensibilities. They overwhelm our hearigg without satisfying it and stun the mind without moving it." Couperin expresses himself in the same vein:' Practice has made me understand that the most dextrous and capable hands that can execute the swiftest and lightest things are not always the ones that perform the tender and sentimental pieces more success- fully; and I declare in good faith that I prefer those who touch me to those who surprise me.‘' (L'usage m'a fait ccnnaTtre que les mains vigoureuses et capable d'executer ce qu'il y a de plus rapids et de plus lager ne sont pas toujours cellos qui reussissent 1e mieux dans lee pieces tendres et du sentiment; et j'avoueray de bonne foy que J'ayme mieux ce qui me touche que ce qui me sur- prend)19 But the French school goes beyond expression of emotion and sentiment; they want to arouse images of persons, objects and happenings in their listeners. Couperin says:' I, always, have had an object in mind when I composed these pieces; different occasions have furnished them: thus the titles correspond to ideas that I have had.'(J'ai toujours en un objet, en composant ces pieces; des occasions differentes me légnt fourni: ainsi 1es titres repondent aux idees que j'ai sues.) To this, lellers makes this statement:' It has sometimes been remarked that his 'portraits',as such, are not very successful, since they mostly sound alike. . . the essence of that civilization was that it 18) c. P. s. Bach, Essa y en the zzng Art 9: 21a ling Keybg and .lnatnnmenis. p. 147 19) Wilfrid Hellers. Exanaoia_Qanaaxinland_ihs_Enench_&laasisal T£_diiian. p. 293 20) Ibid. p. 316 l5 permitted great subtlety and variety of emotional experience within its c1v1112ation."21 Hellers is quoting d'Alambert on the same subject:' All music that does not paint anything is ggly noise." (Touts musique qui ne point rien n'est que du bruit) Rameau has a deeper insight in the aesthetics of music. He realizes that, no matter if one wants to portrait emotions or ideas, or even outside objects, it has to be done through corresponding feelings that arouse outside images in the listener's mind. He says:' The art of the musician does not consist of painting immediate objects, but to put the soul into a disposition that is similar to that which is aroused by their presence." (L'art du musicien ne consist point a peindre immediatement 1es objets , mais a mettre 1'fih. dag; une disposition semblable 3 cells ou la mettrait leur presence) To quote Rameau again:” The expression of the thought, the sentiment, the emotion should be the true goal of music.” (L'expression de la pensee, gu sentiment, des passions, doit Qtre le vrai but de la musique) 3 o.: Iith the desire for an almost unlimited range of expression, and with instruments of very limited capability, the masters must have felt discouraged at times, and they admit these shortcomings. Couperin is the most outspoken when he says:" It appears to be impossible, up to the present time, that one can give an expression of the soul on this instrument.” (. . . il a paru insoutenable jusqu'au present qu'cn put donner de l'ame a cat instrument)24 It was the embellishments that were, significantly enough, born out of the necessity of 21) Wilfrid lellers, Fran erin a t e Fre h Clas a , p. 317 3; Ibid. p. 317 Ibid. p. 318 24) Ibid n. 2.95 16 keeping long tones alive, that became functional in expression. Dorian considers them so important that he devotes a whole chapter to them, tracing them to their origin in nature as means of emotional expression:'. . . the astdnishing ccloratura tech- nique in bird songs . . . would primarily be a multiplicity of graces. . . . First attempts of primitives to express theme selves musically are likewise based upon the principles of tone variation . . . Even today, they occur in the performances of the Arabs, Hindus, Persians and Turks. . . . also in the orien- tal church song and in the Jewish synagOgue all over the world . . . the ornament creates music by spinning forth its own motifs into scrolls and graces adorning the primitive melos. . . . This excursion into primeval music has emphasized an un- mistakably serviceable character of the graces. To put it para- doxically: 'ornaments are functional'. In other words, they are neither mere embellishments nor musical tapestry. What often is referred to as graces proggs to be an integral part of the tex- ture of the composition.“ That the embellishments are an "integral" part of the music of the Baroque age - just as they were an expression of beauty, of grace, of heightened emotion in the other branches of art - is shown by the length and thoroughness with which they are treated in Couperin's and P. E. Bach's treatises. Also Johann Christoph (the Bfickeburg Bach), brother of Philipp Emanuel, wrote on ornamentation in his lugigalisghg_flgbenstundgn (Music hours of leisure)- 25) Frederick Dorian, f s a , pp. 88-89. 17 Dorian says:'Jehann Sebastian, the father, made a chart . . . a very condensed but accurate index to his own ornamentation . . . Johann Sebastian's grace executions and thgge of Philipp Emanuel do not coincide in certain details.” C. P. E. Bach writes in his chapter on embellishments:' No one disputes the need for embellishments. This is evident from the great numbers of them everywhere to be found. They are, in fact, indispensable. Consider their many uses: They connect and enliven tones and impart stress and accent; they make music pleasing and awaken our close attention. Expression is heigh- tened by them; let a piece be sad, joyful or otherwise, and they will lend a fitting assistance. Embellishments provide opportunity for fine performance as well as much of its subject matter. . . . Without them the best melogy is empty and ineffec- w tive, the clearest content clouded . . . .. . .: Slight variations in tempo as expressive means were advocated in the essays of the great masters. P. E. Bach recommends them in executing embellish- ments in slow tempo, in the cadenza, and in the passages in a major mode that are repeated in the minor mode. Couperin also speaks of tempo changes, but reserves them for the cadence: ' Measure definitely the quality and eveness of the tempi, and the cadence is the proper place where the spirit and the soul can join . . . The cadence and the good taste can, independently, 26) Frederick Dorian. 111W p 91 27) c. P. E. Bach, - .- Instmsnta. p. 79. U 18 maintain, more or less, the lengthening of tempo.” (Mesure definit la qualite et l'egalité des temps, et Cadence est proprement l'esprit st 1'im. qu'il faut joindre . . . La Cadence et la Goat 28 peuvent s'y conserver independamment du plus ou moins de lenteur.) Here Wilfrid Hellers adds this:' The correct interpretation of these irregukarities of movement is one of the most.difficult23f all problems involved in the early eighteenth century music." Dorian proposes that the quality of expression conditioned the tempo changes:'The Affectenlehre developed a whole discipline for the purpose of achieving tempo diagnosis by external means . . . . 3o Petri and Marpurg point to . . . changes of affection.“ W: P. 3- Bach gives us some information on finger position, muscle relaxation and I'singing" tone quality:' In playing the fingers should be arched and the muscles relaxed. The less these two conditions are satisfied, the more attention must be given to them. Stiffness hampers all movement, above all, the constantly required rapid extension and contraction of the hands. All stretches, the emis- sion of certain fingers, even the indispensable crossing of fin- gers and turning of the thumb, which should always remain as close as possible to the hand, demand this elastic ability. . . . If he [the performer] understands the correct principles of fingering and has not acquired the habit of making unnecessary gestures, he will play the most difficult things in such a manner that the 28) lilfrid Isllers, a i a Tradition. p. 294. 29) Ibid. p. 295. 80) Frederick Dorian. Tha_fiisisr1_sf_knais_in_Performsnaa. P- 145. 19 motion of his hands will be barely noticeable; moreover,every- thing will sound as if it presented no obstacles to him. Con- versely, those who do not understand these principles will often play the easiest things with great snorting and uncommon awkward- ness.'31 He advises the practice of the trill:” The trill must be practiced diligently with all fingers so that they become strong and dextrous.”32 Again, speaking of the trill, he says:' Such embellishments must be full and so performed that the liggener will believe that he is hearing only the original note." With regard to the "singing" quality of playing, Bach says: ”My principal aim, especially of late, has been directed towards playing and composing as vocally as possible for the keyboard, despite its defective sustaining powers . . . I believe that music must, first and foremost, stir the heart. This cannot be achieved through mere rattling, drumming, or arpeggiation, at least not by me."34 At another place, he advises:" Far more troublesome, in fact, is a good performance of simple notes. These bring fretful moments to many who believe that keyboard instruments are easy to play. . . . lose no opportunity to hear artistic sing- ing. In so doing, the keyboardist will learn to think in terms of song. Indeed, it is a good practice to sing instrumental melodies3 5 in order to reach an understanding of their correct performance." Couperin calls for the sensitive touch:" The suppleness of the 3T7 C. P. E. Bach, Essay on the True Art of Playingggeyhgang Instruments. pp. 42-43. 32) Ibid., p. 109. 33) Ibid. pp. 149-150 34) Ibid. p. 10. 35) Ibid. p. 151 20 nerves contributes much more to beautiful playing than force.” (La soupless des nerfs contribue beaucoup plus an bien jouer, que la force) And Mellers adds to this:”'Douceur de toucher' ggpends on keeping the fingers as close to the keys as possible." In the flazyard;hicticnary, on Piano Playing, I found this very interesting accountz” . . . a description which Forkel gives of J. S. Bach's playing (fiber Johgun_8ebasti§g:8ach'sdhgbggg_§ung§ .ngg_§nngtwgnke)'According to Bach's manner . . . the five fingers are curved so that . . . each of them is placed immediately above its respective key . . . the finger should not fall down on the key or . . . be thrown, but merely should be carried through the move- ment with a certain feeling of security and mastery." Dorian, at the beginning of his book, brings a reproduction of 'Ihs_ggncent by Giorgione (1478 - 1510). Below it is an enlarged detail of the monk's hands on the keyboard of the clavichord, showing the characteristic finger position. The hands look so relaxed and natural that the picture could apply to any of the modern books on piano technique. We read the statement in Tobias Matthay's An_§pitgmeggf~ghg La1s_Q£_Piangforte~1echnique (1934):” With the 'thrusting‘ finger the tone can neither be sympathetic, full, nor carrying in.me%odic passages. Nicety of tone control is also greatly stultified.” This is - more or less - the negative twentieth century approach to the much simpler and clearer directions of finger position by Bach. 36) Wilfrid sellers. Wiccnmwcmi , p. 295 Tradition 37) Tobias Matthay, Ag Epitome of thg;haws of Pigngtgrteflleqhnigue, Oxford University Press, 1934, p. 34E. 21 Independence of the hands is demanded by P. E. Bach, when he says:' The most difficult but most important task is to give all notes of the same value exactly the same duration. When the execution is such that one hand seems to play against the bar and the other strictly with it, it may be said thgg the performer is doing everything that may be required of him.“ Baflactiana.an.hsw_tha.old_maatars_slaxad: Dorian brings this important question up:" Was old music played more slowly than modern? . . . Certain interpreters today think of the fundamental tempo in preclassical times as slower, more rigid and stately . . . this idea proves to be a prejudice . . . A method of employing the human pulse for setting tempi (anticipating Quantz's system) is mentioned as early as 1596 in Lodovico Zacconi's Engttiga g1 musics. And Marin Mersenne, in his treatise flanmgnieguniyerselle, 1636, makessghe time value of a minimum equivalent to that of a heartbeat.” At another place, Dorian says that ' the masters employed virtuoso technique in an almost modern sense, their scores presenting48roblems of manual independence comparable to those of Chopin." In contrast to this, Ralph Kirkpatrick, in his book ngmpnigg .§canlatt1, makes these rather sceptical statements on the per- formances of the pro—classical period:" The existing accounts of Scarletti's playing are few indeed . . . confine themselves largely to remarking on the brilliancy of his execution and the richness as) c. P. s. sach:*cssax 9g Lge_gggc_g;£:cz PlayiuguKeypqarg ‘ .Eastnuments. P- 162- 39) Frederick Dorian, The History of Hgsicflin‘Pgrformancg, p. 180 40) Ibid. p. 54 22 of his fantasy. . . . I doubt if Couperin, despite his peculiar command of the harpsichord in his own style, would have been able to negotiate a single sonata of Scarlatti. . . . Although Handel would probably have played the Scarlatti sonatas with great dash . . he would have scarcely avoided a great many wrong notes. J. S. Bach would have been among the very few who could have played all of them perfectly.'4l Despite the extensive research that has been made on J. S. Bach's music, we must resort to theories and inferences when it comes to the interpretation of his keyboard music. Dorian says: "What'authentic' German Bach interpretation really was can only be a hypothesis. . . . There are two distinctly different schools of Bach interpretation - the objective school and the subjective - . . . The objective school, of course, follows with strict allegiance the meager directions of the score of the tempo and dynamics. . . . The subjective school, in contrast, allows con- siderable deviatibn from the origiggl Bach directions. . . . Dynamics and phrasings are added.” I think one should be careful in adding dynamics and unre- stricted changes of expression to the old masters, or one might turn up with a piece by Rameau that sounds like a Chopin piece. In the pro-classical period people did not put their most intimate emotions on display. 0n the other hand, each artist goes through a romantic period in his life. Dorian says:” Romanticism is an ww—w vv ‘ fl 4—‘ AA-‘—~Vw fi ‘ 41) Ralph Kirkpatrick, nggnigg_§qgrlatti, Princeton University Press 1953, pp, 186 - 187. 42) Frederick Dorian ,.Iha_Hiatan3_o£.flu§1g_in_2enfignmanga, pp,76- 77. 22a eternal factor in the performance of music. All epochs created 43 romantic works , . .' To play an obviously romantic composition of the Bach period in an unemotional, dry manner would be just as wrong. It takes a good insight into the trends of the time as well as into the personal feelings that are expressed in a certain piece to come to the proper content of expression. The revival of the old instruments: Curt Sachs, in his book Tha_fliaianx_af;uusicalllnstnumania. tells of the efforts of the Society of Historians and Musicians to restore the keyboard music of the pro-classical period to its original performance:' The desire to re-discover thefireasures of the ancient music began as early as the middle of the nineteenth century. . . . Their /Society of Historians and Musicians/ point was to be faithful, not to 'history' but to art. They demanded harpsichords . . . a cross-stringed piano suffocated the unemotional melody of a harpsichord piece. They saw what to a painter would be self- evident, that design and color could not be separated, that an outline drawn by Raphael could not be colored with Cezanne's 44 palette , , ,' But despite of this sound argument, Sachs admits: . . . we are far away from coloristic authenticity, even with the resurrection of all these old instruments. . . . harpsichord- ists believe that they play 'the' authentic style. They rarely realize that such a thing does not exist. Styles differed with 45 every country, and in every country it changed continuously." v. 4—“ 43) Frederick Dorian, The History of Musiq_in_§grfgrmance, p. 217. 44) Curt Sachs. Iha_Biaian11af_kusical.lnsiruments. W. W. Norton and Company, Inc., New York, 1940, p. 449. 45) Ibid.,p. 450 23 Having arrived at this rather frustrating conclusion, we are most happy that Arthur Schnabel, with the insight of one of the greatest performers, says, in his book Music_and_thg_Liue_of_fio§t_3g§i§tange: ”Musical productions of our civilization, regardless of time and place, have more common than contrasting traits. . . . Art cannot be approached like a furniture exhibition, a fancy dress ball or a political map. Costumes in the eighteenth century were daintier than in the nineteenth, but men not weaker. . . . Pleasure in old instruments, particularly of the keyboard class, is very fashion- able. . . . Modern instruments can do almost all that the old ones can, can do much more than the old ones, and they are free 46 from their defects.” WaWWWW thg_prg;glasaiqg1_penigd: Reflecting on the foregoing research, we should come to a good conclusion on the technique necessary to give a performance of the old masters that is as truthful as possible. ‘ From the construction of the instruments, the harpsichord and the clavichord, and from the use of the limited fingering, up to the time of Johann Sebastian Bach, we must resolve that we are dealing with music of a fine and intimate character that was not meant for the concert hall, though there was an element of tech- nical display already in it. This demands an agile and even finger technique. Great tone variations were not possible, therefore an absolute evenness of touch is "a must" here. But, even with the 46) Arthur Schnabel, t L t Princeton University Press, 1942, pp. 87-88. 24 greatest care, avoiding all play with supporting arm weight, we shall not be able to re-create entirely the daintiness of the old instruments; for the fall of the keys of our modern pianos is deeper, and it takes more weight to bring them down. This will cause the whole performance to become somewhat heavier and clumsier. With the exploitation of the thumb, technique was put on a much higher plane of expression and skill. P. E. Bach speaks of ”single and double trills', of playing "tenths, even twelfths, or runs, cross the hands in every conceivable manner, and excel in other related matters.” He recommends:' All difficultigs in passage work should be mastered through repeated practice.“ Recognizing the importance of good fingering, he made a thorough study of it and laid the found- ation to our modern scale fingering. The purpose of all great masters, at all times, is expression. We recall the Affectenlehre of the German school and the "painting of portraits" by Couperin, or, as Rameau expresses it so much better: ” L'expression de la pensee, du sentiment, des passions, doit‘gtre 1e vrai but de la musique." The masters found means of expression despite the limited tone quality of their instruments. They could not produce the crescendo and decrescendo of our modern piano; but, through time variations in the embellishments, the improvized cadenza etc., they could give a great variety of expressions that surpassed the simple crescendo and decrescendo.P. E. Bach says, in this connection:' Any passage 47) C. P. E. Bach, Essay cg thg True Art of Playing Keyboanfi .lnatnnmants, p. 151. 25 can be so radically changed by modifying its performance that it will be scarcely recognizable.'48 These means 0f expression demand an absolute control over every finger and complete flexibility of the playing apparatus. The ability to mold passages, embellishments into patterns of emotional expression by unnotice- able time variations is a true art, indeed. It is significant that all the masters stress the importance of the touch of the fingers. Finger position and stroke are dis- cussed at length, and those instructions, as we saw, are still valid. It is here, in the touch of the instrument, where music begins. It is the same factor that we demand in speech:' It is not so much What you say, but.§cw you say it." Already, at that time, the importance of technique had reached a point where performers lose sight of the purpose of it and look at it as an end. We may recall the warnings of Couperin:' j'aime mieux ce qui me touche que ce qui me surprend”, and P. E. Bach: ' Ibre often than not, one meets technicians, nimble keyboafidists by profession who . . . astound us with their prowess without ever touching our sensibilities. They overwhelm our heazéng with- out satisfying it and stun the mind without moving it." Today we have a better chance to ”sing" on our pianos than P. E. Bach did. We even have the advantage to be able to bring out the main motive over the accompanying counterpoint. This, also, calls for great independence of the fingers which can only be gained by patient practice. Even the ”singing" effect of a 48) 0- P. E- Bach. Esaa1_cn_ihe_lnuanArt_df_nlsxins_§alhcand . 151. 49) ¥bid. p. 14? p 26 single voice requires a skill that takes long practice. Too often it is being neglected for the desire to acquire speed and brilliance. Hearing these dainty compositions performed, we, frequently, underestimate the technical reqirements, that is, technique as a tool of expression; or, as Arthur Schnabel says:" All masterworks ’demand the totaé of all imaginable technique, but only in a second- ary function."5 If we use the compositions of that period in a concert hall we have to have a bigger tone volume. Virgil Thomson, in his book Ihg_ént_g;_gngg1ngdgu§1c,says:' They blow up the piano music of the pasglby dynamic proportions that are not always an advantage to it.” While some of the compositions may become more impressive, they certainly lose the original soft and delicate texture, the character of intimacy. 50) Arthur Schnabel. Wm. 66. 51) Virgil Thomson. 111W, Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1948, p. 247. 27 _Ch..__tnt_______e r I I : WWW WWW- .sl_lanicd= In the Thompson international_fiialanadia_affluaic_and Insicians, on Piano Playing, we read:' Domenico Scarlatti (1685- 1757) must always be remembered, and Justly, as the true father of modern piano playing in developing a technical virtuosity at the harpsichord as epochal in its way as that of Liszt at the piano a century later. Scarlatti it was who introduced the cross- ing of hands, passages of double notes, the use of far-flung arpeggic passages and the rapid repetition of one note.’ Albert Wier sings his praise in the following words:" His tcccatas, by their brilliance of content and breadth of musical expression, place their composer among the greatest musicians of all time.” Describing Scarlatti's Practice Pieces (Exercizii), he says:" In the selection of the figures, and in the manner of presenting them, the master often shows his consummate control of the tech- nical resources of the keyboard, and the extreme difficulty of many of his pieces, with the repetition of characteristic figures suitable to the genius of the harpsichord, gives us a glimpse of the future possibility of the development of the etude as an art form . . . his predilection for wide skips in his figures . . . points the way toward greater freedom of movement. . . . His essays in this direction had their ultimate culmination in the great piano works of Liszt. . . . a great innovator along tech- nical and formal lines; his work in emotional expression is second- 2 ary to his accomplishment in the realm of tonal effect." ’ 96 9 P- 28 Domenico Scarlatti's father, Alessandro, is credited with out- standing development of the Italian opera. Domenico also wrote several operas, but his real contribution lies in the expressive — and with it, the technical - expansion of keyboard music. The desire for dramatic presentation and descriptive effects» caused him to create augmented means of technique that brought keyboard music out into the limelight and attracted the attention of the classical masters - mainly Haydn, Hozart and Beethoven. 1hg_zigng: The desire for augmented expression called for an instrument of added expressiveness and it appeared in the piano- forte. The Encyclopaedia_flnitann1ca tells of its first appearance: " We learn that in 1709 Cristophori had completed four 'grave- contaii col piano e forte' - keyed psaltries with soft and loud - three of them being of the long or usual harpsichord form. . . . There were two pianofortes by Cristophori, dated respectively 1720 and 1726, which show a much improved construction, for the whole of an essential piano movement is there." Ralph Kirkpatrick tells of the modest beginnings of the pianoforte, and, though after 1720, many ruling houses in Europe owned one or more pianofortes, there was a great preference for the harpsichord.Wier, on the other hand, says:' . . . the tendency about that time was toward the total disregard of the harpsichord and clavichord principles, and the use of entirely new methods; the strength of the strings was wholly inadequate to the pounding of the hammers, and radical 29 departures had to be made. . . . The man who contributed most to the development of the hammer action was Gottfried Silbermann in Germany. . . . One of them [Bilscrmann Pianos] is said to have been played by Bach, when the great master met Frederick the Great in l7e7."u Later Wier also points to the disadvantages of the pianofortez" Frederick's pianos were of the heavy, clumsy astion so vehemently condemned by Bach; their mechanical imper- fections made them most unsatisfactory for purposes of musical expression."4 In Thompson's International Cyclopedia of Musig and Eusicigns, on Piano Playing, we find:" With the piano established as the successor of the harpsichord the whole problem of touch and technique had to be entirely restudied ." It was interesting to me that, with the adverse comments on the pianoforte and its beginnings, he one pointed out the reason for its eventual success, namely the steadily swelling crescendo and evenly diminishing decrescendo that gave a truer representation of our emotions than the stcp-by-step of p - mf - f of the older instruments which, besides, was very limited. Only Virgil Thomson I established the reason clearly;' Like the modern orchestra, moreover, it [the piang/ can produce the effect that is the specific, the differential characteristic of musical Romanticism, namely, the quick or expressive crescendo. . . . The first of Mozart's real piano sonatas - the No. 7 in A minor - . . . not only makes use (in the slow movement) of expressive crescendo and diminuendo, 3) Albert Wier, In: Piano, p. 33 4) Ibid. p. 34 30 but (at the end of the first) of an architectural crescgndo that is the keyboard transcription of an orchestral effect.” Ihg_g1mg_Qfi_§hg_:!11nn§§§_flzgnn_: Before we can look at the technical requirements we have to find the aim of expression of the classical period; for technique is conditioned by the emotional and ideal content of music. .The style of composing has undergone considerable changes also; and, though we find counterpoint parts and melodies with chordal accompaniment (Alberti base), its foremost construction is, as Vir- gil Thomson says, "keyboard transcription of an orchestral effect." The technique of playing takes a development in two directions; one is the expressive crescendo and decrescendo; the other is the mastering of the intricate voice construction of the piano music that is, practically, an orchestra score. Keyboard playing which, up to this time, had been greatly a matter of improvisation, of extemporaneous playing, becomes a re-creation of carefully con- structed music that was to be performed correctly to the last dot. Kirkpatrick is speaking of this development when he says:' . . . when keyboard playing became a profession in itself as apart from improvisation and composition did a genuinely universal technique such as that exemplified in the piano methods of Hummel and Czerny become standart equipment even for players of only average ability.“ Joseph Haydn used piano music mainly as an expression of happy, Jovial moods that are set in effective contrasts, or, as Wier says: “The element of personality becomes a matter of paramount import- ance . . . his works have a spontaneous, lively character which ihighly recommended them to the public of his day."7 Speaking of Mozart, Wier comments:" The grace and elusive qualities 31 of Mozart are not easily described, his music was almost of ethereal beauty of conception and perfection of detail. . . . lozart is said to have been a performer such as has never since been heard . . . [speaking of his sonatas] their flawless per- fection demands the unerring finger work of a complete master of the keyboard. . . . he made more demands upon the left hand . . . shifting bgck and forth between widely separated parts of the keyboard.” There is one quality in Iozart's music that neither Wier nor others mention, but which influences the technique of his works; that is the dramatic contrast in his principal and secondary sub- jects. Though they should not be brought out in crude, sharp con- trasts of dynamics, there should be a characteristic, individual expression in each of them which demands a mastery of timbre. II: Ludwig van Beet- hoven's powerful personality augmented the expressive capability of piano music, and, with it, its technique. Thompson's chlgpedia ,nglusic_and_Mnsicians, on Piano Playing, says:” . . . a new element of vitality and dramatic emphasis was injected into piano playing by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), who was a player of great dynamic energy and whose compositions of their very nature demanded a new nobility of utterance. He used, too, an 5) Virgil Thomson. W. p. 2'75 6) Ralph Kirkpatrick. W. p. 187. 7) Albert Wier, 1hs_£i§nn, p. 113 8) Ibid. pp. 113 - 115 32 English piano, with a much heavier action than that of the Viennese instruments and with greater tonal volume. The claim of great digital facility to first consideration suffered an eclipse and the inevitable reaction on the part of Beethoven's contemporaries to his personal style of playing and to his music was the cultivation of a more aggressive approach and the eventual sacrifice of tonal beauty to power.“ Wier adds to this:' they [Beethoven's sonatag? were made the vehicles of his ever broadening genius. . . . the sonatas provide a vivid picture of the various stages through which his soul passed on its search for the highest expression of art, revealing a consistent expansion of power. . . . Beethoven had a definite idea of the pictorial possibilities of music . . . he rejoiced in his power of suggestion in music, and was fully conscious of the enormous force of his musical ideas. . . . he . . . leaned more towards massive tonal effects and sharply defined contrasts. His scale playing was definitely more colorful in the matter of touch, but he frequently sacrificed smoothness in order to attain this diversity. . . . In the matter of digital ability, he himself performed readily all the wellknown tricks of the virtuoso of his day, including double and trgple trills, as well as rapid scales in thirds, sixths and octaves.” This expansion of technique in tone volume and complexity must have made Beethoven, as Dorian says, 'a self-taught virtuoso”. Quoting Czerny on Beethoven's playing, Dorian continues:' His attitude while playing was masterly in its quietness, noble and beautiful, without the least grimace, though he bent forward as his deafness grew upon him. He attached great importance, in his teaching, to correct position of the fingers . . Beethoven was very anxious that his pupils should acquire a perfect ‘1'A1'hnn'l' '14s“ Mk- Uri-inn. run 11c 11d 33 10 legato, his own legato being, as may be imagined, wonderful." These masters' works covered a great diversity of moods, moods, that were , at times, not definable; to which Beethoven added pic- torial possibilities and suggestive means. And all this was written with little regard to the ability of the hands and fingers. Little runs or thirds curve up and down, demanding continuous setting over and under of fingers, or great skips in soft playing impair the free arm swing. These masters wrote the music down as they heard it in their imagination with little concern if it would be hard or easy to perform. Ing_pgg1nning‘gfi_1gggh1ngdmetngds: The mounting technical difficulties caused the development of "methods of teaching” the piano. A group of ”piano pedagogues' began teaching technique in a direct way instead of attaching all exercises unto the pieces. They made studies and etudes out of difficult parts as they found them in the compositions. They also created exercises for the weak fingers, for octaves, for skipping, etc. Muzio Clementi's insane gd_£annasnnn grew out of these attempts; Carl Czerny's books of exercises and etudes served the same principle. There are no records as to how these masters taught. The fact that both of them developed a number of outstanding performers proves the validity of their teaching. Wier writes:' All technical problems have been solved by the master-teachers of the early days of the piano, such as Czerny, Clementi and Moscheles . . . the fact that so little of such material is available from the pens of modern writers is testimony to the value of the standard works.”11 To the same group belong Johann Hepomuk Hummel (177s - 1837), Francois-Joseph Fétis (1784 - 1371) 10) Frederick Dorian..Iha_Hiatorxlofihuaic_in_fia£fonnsnca. p. 203 111 Albert Wier, The FianQ, pp. 240 - 241 34 and Friedrich Wilhelm Kalkbrenner (1788 - 1849). Ignaz Moscheles (1794 - 1870) takes a place of greater dis- tinction in the teaching field. Wier praises "the charm of his cantabile playing", but he adds:" brilliant passage playing, as exemplified by Czerny, teacher of Liszt, was not neglected . . . The traditions of Italian song had been introduced into piano technique, and the best teachers laid much stress on the soulful interpretation of melody . . . While his [ioschelesi] technique has been superseded in principle, he attained marvelous results with a level wrist and a quiet hand.'12 At another place, Wier says:". . . hia/‘Hoscheiea‘J wrist was stiff which was undoubtedly 13 a handicap . . . he did not play the works of Chopin and Liszt.” 12) Albert Wier,.1hg_£iano, pp. 246 - 247 13) Ibid. p. 129 35 QQQELQL_111 .Ih£_BQE§QLLQ_£§£12d The cantabile playing in piano music that Wier traces to the influence of the Italian song has really its source in the be- ginning of romanticism and the revival of the songs of the Min- nesingers. Schubert and Schumann are often called "the Minne- singers of the nineteenth century”. The content of expression of the Romantic Eeriod turns away from viewing humanity in the attempt of understanding the re- lationship to God and fellow-men. It turns to the exploitation at the innermost feelings and emotions of the individual, the subconscious yearnings and the display of mixed, undefinable emotions. Dorian says:' . . . the romantic performance becomes more and more an appeal to the listener's imagination, to his subconscious, which is more exciting than the plea of the baroque interpreter for conscious intellectual understanding." This movement ended in an overwhelming display of the individ- ual's emotional life that left little room for clear thinking, for action, for striving. Curt Sachs describes it as “the ex- cesses of the later romantic style, such as the decomposition of form, its obliteration of distinct outlines, its harmonic and coloristic superrefinement, its calcglated effect on the listener, its exaggerated subjectivity.“ But the Romantic Pieriod is also the time of Liszt, the de- veloper of the virtuoso technique of description and story 1) Frederick Dorian;i WW, . 219 2) Curt Sachs, The History of Musical Instnnmgnta, p. 450p .36 suggestion. Absolute music becomes program music - beginning with Schumann - and emotions that are connected with singular outside objects call for specific expression. Ga Ma a w ' 3s w: Weber was a successful opera composer, which means that he could pro- duce healthy, effective contrasts. But his contrasts were not the intellectual characteristics of Mozart. He contrasts dark, supernatural mystery with lovely melodious, often folk-like, music, and this again with sweeping, joyful emotions. Some of his melodies trail, vaporlike, unreal, into the high octaves of the piano. Wier calls Weber’s contrasts:” a mystical-spirituality . . . unflagging vigor . . . fresh and spontaneous inspiration." Weber is the first one who recognizes the ”singing quality" of a single tone; of a melody, set effectively against a short, clipped accompaniment: con duolo 6 ben tenuto la melodia Conzertstfick Opus 79 The right hand, taking the strictly connected melody, has to play part of the short accompaniment, too; this takes patient practice and concentration. At times he loads his music with powerful chordal successions, even in tenths. Weber's hand is supposed to have had a large stretch - he was a brilliant per- former on the piano - and the keys of his piano were a little bit smaller. Long, tiring chord successions in large stretches are 3) Albert Wier, Ihg_§iang, p. 124 37 one reason why his piano music is very seldom performed today. He had a definite understanding of the means of creating thundering dynamics and brilliance, but he disregarded the construction of the hand and fingers, their limits of effort, their need for rest. Later, Liszt could create the same effects with much less effort. Eg11x_ggnQg1ggghn_gnd_fingnz_§ghnh§nt stayed well within the lim- its of the established technique. Schubert was a little more original in his descriptive parts, as they appear, for instance, in the Impromptu, Opus 90, No. 4. Wier says of him:' His muse was lyric . . . The Wanderer Fantasy and the Fantasia Sonata . . . strove for tremendous effects . 4 . show the composer's weakness in the realm of virtuoso music." In the book Ih§_!n§1£.ai_§ahn: hart, edited by Gerald Abraham, Kathleen Dale writes?” Schubert's piano music, while calling for high powers of interpretation, is not of great technical difficulty; moreoger, it does not, on the whole, require large or powerful hands." Bohert_§chumann is given an outstanding place by Wierz“ . . one of the outstanding figures of the romantic era . . . a great poet of the keyboard . . . an experimenter and a pioneer . . . to explore music in the delineation of characters and events . . . to leave nothing unexplored in the matter of novel keyboard effects . . . [but] the technique that he acquired can hardly be6considered as closely adapted to the instrument as that of Chopin." Schumann introduced a new help of defining his content of expression, the 4) Albert Wier, The_£iano, pp. 125 - 126. 5) Editor Gerald Abraham, Ih§_!n§1gflqf_§chubgnt, W. W. Norton and Company Inc. New York 1947 p. 148 6) Albert Wier: Ihg_é1ang, pp.’131 -’132 1‘. 38 descriptive title. His music became program music in the best sense of the word; that means, it is good music without the title, the title only identifies it. This outside help gives us the hint as to the often novel tone qualities and effects that are required. In some of Schumann's music is also an expression of several emotions,at the same time, present; a true picture of reality, for we mostly do not experience one single emotion but a mixture of them, with one dominating. Exédéric.fihcpin“andlihs_hsiaht_nf_intimats_sxarsssiend It was Chopin who devoted himself almost exclusively to the piano and de- veloped its expressive capabilities mainly in the direction of the tender, delicate emotions, often mixed with a feeling of fatality. Thompson's Cyclopedia 9f Music and Musicians saysz" Frédéric Chopin (1810 - 1849) who, as he sang his intensely personal melodies, in- troduced an unprecedented intimacy of content . . . filmy lace of utmost delicacy . . ."(see Piano Playing) Wier says of Chopin: " . . . his is the unassailable position of one who, more than anyone else, was able to draw musical expression from the instrum- ent in terms of its own idiom. . . . the quality and aloofness that baffles any but the most sympathetic player; the elusive beau- ty of his compositions often fails to reveal itself except in the most competent hands . . . its greatness is beyond the power of most players to comprehend, and accordingly to interpret for others. . . . The delicacy and subtlety of his touch, and his mastery of pedalling were the constant wonder of his audiences; his effects were produced rather by the infinite variety of his nuances than 7 by extreme contrasts." Later, with regard to his technical con- ch-.— .— ~— .—-—-— _. . —— *~-—. ...-o. — .... _ — 7) Albert Wier, The Plans, pp. 156 - its"‘ 39 tributions, Wier says:" . . . he introduces countless melodic figures, constructed from vital notes of an accompanying figure . . . the difficulty of bringing out melodic notes at wide inter- vals : . . his recognition of the cardinal law, required by the nature of the instrument, that piano music must be ever in.motion to be effective. . . . a complex web of sounds . . . in later works the accompaniments extend almost from one end of the keyboard to the other . . . Chopin had no patience with virtuoso play . . . those who play his works with this end in view are simply re- hearsing the notes . . . The so-called ornamengs are an integral part of the texture of any given composition." Dorian comments on Chopin as follows:" . . . no romanticist is more performed than Chopin, none as widely exposed to misunderstanding and mis— representation. . . . the style of Chopin has suffered in per- formance through sentimentalization by amateurs as well as through aggrandizement by virtuosi. . . . What Chopin sought was the sub- dued quality and tonal charm of the smaller instrugent. . . . Chopin's own playing was of superlative delicacy." Speaking of his "rubato? Dorian recalls that it had been used and acknowledged al- ready by Mozart's father,Leopold, and that “Chopin regarded the rubato as by no means a departure from the metrical accuracy . . . [quoting Chopin] 'The left hand is the conductor. It must never waver or lose ground. Do with the right hand what you will and 10 can!" I—"v~.~~—v~p.——.-fi-Q—.—--—-—-—.n-——-... k‘-‘~'—.—-->