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City Research Online City, University of London Institutional Repository Citation: Moschos, P. (2006). Performing Classical-period music on the modern piano. (Unpublished Doctoral thesis, City University London) This is the accepted version of the paper. This version of the publication may differ from the final published version. Permanent repository link: https://openaccess.city.ac.uk/id/eprint/8485/ Link to published version: Copyright: City Research Online aims to make research outputs of City, University of London available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the author(s) and/or copyright holders. URLs from City Research Online may be freely distributed and linked to. Reuse: Copies of full items can be used for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-profit purposes without prior permission or charge. Provided that the authors, title and full bibliographic details are credited, a hyperlink and/or URL is given for the original metadata page and the content is not changed in any way. City Research Online: http://openaccess.city.ac.uk/ [email protected] PERFORMING CLASSICAL-PERIOD MUSIC ON THE MODERN PIANO Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA) Petros Moschos ýý*** City University Music Department June 2006 Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................. iii Abstract ................................................................................................ iv List figures of ......................................................................................... v Preface ................................................................................................. vi i. Historical issues .......................................................................... vi U. Editions in this used study ............................................................ xiii PART ONE: THE INSTRUMENTS Chapter 1: The the early and modem piano ........................................................ I i. The the its features 2 origins of piano and early mechanical ........................... ii. Significant developments in the 10 nineteenth century ..................................... iii. The these developments touch 18 effects of on and tone .............................. iv. The instrument modern ................................................................ 21 Chapter 2: Composers, their instruments in the Classical 25 and sound aesthetics era ....... i. Composers their instruments: Haydn, Mozart, Clementi Beethoven 25 and and ... ii. Sound in 32 perceptions this era ......................................................... PART Two: THE MUSIC AND ITS PERFORMANCE Chapter3: Articulation 40 and touch ................................................................ i. Articulation 40 and musical rhetoric . ..................................................... ii. Short 45 articulating slurs ............ ..................................................... iii. Longer legato 55 slurs and the style ..................................................... Chapter 4: Dynamics 64 and accentuation ........................................................... i. Dynamic range ........................................................................... 65 ii. Sudden in dynamic level 66 changes .................................................... iii. Gradual dynamic 77 changes ............................................................. iv. Accents 80 ................................................................................... Chapter 5: Pedal indications 90 ....................................................................... i. Pedal indicating tonal 93 markings mixtures ........................................... H. Pedal indicating tonal 100 markings not mixtures ..................................... iii. The left 104 pedal .......................................................................... Chapter 6: Timbre 106 and register ................................................................... i. Separation balance 106 and ................................................................ ii. Close 112 position chords ................................................................. iii. Extending the 115 range ................................................................... Chapter 7: CaseStudy: Mozart Piano Sonatain G Major, KV283 122 .......................... Bibliography ........................................................................................ 137 11 Acknowledgments Many thanks and my deepest appreciation to my supervisor Professor Rhian Samuel for her patience, support and guidance. I would also like to thank Professor James Gibb for his valuable advice as well as Dimitris Karydis for his useful suggestions and support. I would also like to thank the Germanishen Nationalmuseum, Nuremberg, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna and the Finchcocks Museum, Kent for granting me access to their wonderful collection of historical keyboard instruments, as well as the Biblioteka Jagiellonska, Krakow for sending me useful material. I grand powers of discretion to the University Librarian to allow this thesis to be copied in whole or in part without further referenceto me. This permission covers only single copies made for study purposes,subject to normal conditions of acknowledgement iii Abstract Most performances of Classical-period keyboard music today are given on the modem piano. However, the understanding of the sound-differences between the modem piano and the instrument for which this music was composed will most probably reveal that some features of Classical music can be problematical on our present-day instrument. This study will present the main differences between early and modem pianos and will focus on certain aspects of performance practice of the music under discussion, including articulation, dynamics, pedalling and timbre relationships that can prove challenging when transferred on to the modem piano. It will analyse their role and significance, and will demonstrate how they are affected by the changes that have been applied to the piano in the last two centuries. This dissertation will also attempt to suggest possible solutions for the modem player whose aim is, as much as possible, to maintain the style and project the right spirit of the music on the present-day instrument. iv List of figures 1. Maffei's diagram Cristofori's of piano action............................................... 3 2a. Viennese action .................................................................................. 5 2b. English action ................................................................................... 5 3. Prellmechanik (Heilman 1785) action c. ...................................................... 6 4. English (Broadwood, 1799) action c. ......................................................... 7 5. Comparison between hammers 11 six piano and strings ..................................... 6. Erard's double-escapement the English 1822 14 action after patent of ..................... 7a. Straight-strung (Broadwood, 1974) 15 piano c. ................................................ 7b. Cross-strung (Steinway, 1990) 15 piano c. ..................................................... 8. Keyboard compass.............................................................................. 17 9. Hammer Walter Steinway 19 responseof piano comparedwith a grand................... 10. Tone decay ...................................................................................... 20 11. Reconstruction by R. Maunder of Mozart's Walter piano with pedalboard............ 28 12. Piano by Clementi & Company, 1821 c. .................................................... 29 13. Beethoven's Erard 1803 piano, c. ............................................................ 31 V Preface i. Historical issues A modern pianist, on playing the fortepiano for the first time, will probably be astonished: the instrument that Mozart and Beethoven composed for is remarkably different in touch and sound from the instrument to which we are accustomedtoday, and music, when played on it, sounds remarkably different from when it is played on a modem instrument. Alfred Brendel asserts,`[W]e have to resign ourselvesto the fact that whenever we hear Beethoven on a present-dayinstrument, we are listening to a sort of transcription'. ' Yet, it is the modem piano on which this music is most often played, and indeed,Brendel prefers this instrument: The has demanded by modern concert grand ... not only the volume of tone modern orchestras, concert halls and ears; it also - and of this I am deeply better convinced - does justice to most of Beethoven's piano works than the Hammerklavier [fortepiano]: its tone is far more colourful, orchestral, and rich in contrast, and these qualities do matter in Beethoven, as can be seen from his orchestraland chambermusic. 2 Frederick Neumann offers similar views concerning the performanceof Mozart's works, claiming that `[When this music is] played by a fine artist on the modern piano [it] offers 1 Alfred Brendel, Musical Thoughtsand Afterthoughts (London: RobsonBooks, 1976),p. 16. 2 Ibid, p. 16. vi an artistic experiencethat to a listener with an open mind will convey the spirit of the work with greaterimmediacy, power, and intensity.'3 On the other hand, one of the leading fortepianists of our time, Malcolm Bilson, has frequently affirmed the `unsuitability'