Académique Documents
Professionnel Documents
Culture Documents
Music
HistoricalHTmec.indd 1
Webb Wiggins
Oberlin College
and Conservatory
INDIANA
University Press
Publications of the
Early Music Institute
Paul Elliott, editor
Well-conceived and
well-written, Historical
Harpsichord Technique
offers valuable information for all who have an
interest in developing
good harpsichord touch.
Indiana
Historical
Harpsichord
Technique
YonitLeaKosovske
5/25/11 3:27 PM
La douceur du toucher
1 2 3 4 5 16 15 14 13 12 11
Contents
Acknowledgments xi
I ntroduction La douceur du toucher 1
1 Preparing to Play 5
Beginning Lessons5
Selecting an Instrument6
Position at the Keyboard10
Posture13
Relaxation18
Arms and Elbows23
Wrists26
Curvature of the Hands and Fingers30
Warm-up Exercises40
Touching the Keys47
Gravity52
Stroking the Keys55
Motion of the Hands and Wrists62
Dynamics64
Playing Different Keyboard Instruments66
3 Articulation 70
What Is Articulation?70
Ordinary Manner77
Legato 80
Slurs87
Arpeggios90
Staggered Playing93
Grace Notes and Trills94
Cantabile 99
Detached Playing101
Silences104
Agogic Accents107
Timing108
4 Fingering 111
Comfort and Context111
Strong and Weak Notes114
Use of the Thumb120
Contraction of the Hand130
Artistic Freedom133
Conclusion 136
Acknowledgments
There are several people I wish to thank for helping to make the completion
of this book possible: my former professors at the Indiana University Jacobs
School of MusicElisabeth Wright, Dr. David Lasocki, Stanley Ritchie,
Nigel North, and Michael McCraw; the editorial staff at Indiana University
PressJane Behnken, Sarah Wyatt Swanson, Elaine Durham Otto, June
Silay, Angela Burtonand Ron Sheriff; my partner, Wolodymyr Smishkewych; and my parents, Howard Kosovske and Barbara Kosovske. I also
want to acknowledge the Cook Music Library and Wells Library at Indiana
University, in addition to numerous libraries that lent me books through
interlibrary loan; The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, 2nd ed.,
and Grove Music Online. All photographs of hands at the keyboard are of my
own, photographed by Wolodymyr Smishkewych with a Nikon D200 Digital
SLR camera. All musical examples were designed by Dr. Beth Garfinkel using Sibelius notation. The harpsichord in the pictures is my own instrument,
built in 1999 by Peter Tkach.
xi
Introduction
La douceur du toucher
In this sense douceur is not just a sweet manner but also a gentle, delicate,
and suave way of playing. Suavity has an air of being polished, refined, highly
sophisticated, and in control of ones art.
Given the fact that not all music is of a sweet or gentle character, it is all
the more striking that Couperin assigns this gentle, sweet approach to playing
in general. In my opinion, this represents the truest definition of grace as it
relates to musicregardless of how difficult (or loud and boisterous) a piece is,
the technique involved must still be one that is performed gracefully, without
appearing stressed, tense, or challenged by the difficulty at hand.
In the following chapters I present excerpted literature that deals specifically with early keyboard techniques of the period 15651800 that will help
both performers and pedagogues of the harpsichord play beautifully by way
of a douceur du toucher. This book will illustrate what many early writings
teach us about this art of gentle and seemingly effortless playingthe core
of what constitutes good harpsichord technique. I encompass not only the
ways in which early methods discuss how players hold and move their fingers,
hands, and wrists, but also how they hold and move their arms, torso, head,
and feet.
A challenge in pursuing this research results from the fact that so many
of the Baroque (and early Classical) treatises pertaining to keyboard playing
do not limit their expertise to the harpsichord. Apart from the Frenchmen
Franois Couperin, Jean Denis, Jean-Philippe Rameau, and Michel de SaintLambert, many authors wrote more about playing other keyboard instrumentsfor example, Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers and Girolamo Diruta, both
church organists, and Toms de Sancta Maria, a priest who played organ and
Introduction
discussion of warm-up exercises. Chapter 3 discusses various types of articulation. Chapter 4 focuses on issues related to fingering. All translations are my
own unless otherwise noted. Where I furnish my own translations, I include
the quoted material in its original language in the endnotes.
I hope to have provided the reader with historical tools that are helpful
in developing a personalized method of playing that will enhance the ability
to play beautifully upon the harpsichord. In addition to musical examples, I
incorporate photographs of my hands that portray some of the different techniques mentioned. By surveying and commenting on these early methods, I
do not intend to suggest that there is any one absolute way of playing. On the
contrary, I hope that the variety of methodologies included in these pages will
contribute to the individual sense of style of every performer and teacher, so
that he or she may explore the endless beauty of sounds at the harpsichord.
One achieves a beautiful tone by way of a sweet and delicate touch: la douceur
du toucher.
1
Preparing to Play
Beginning Lessons
Although the majority of keyboardists today begin their studies on the piano
and later specialize in organ, harpsichord, or clavichord, there is a growing
population of students who choose harpsichord from the start. We read from
at least three early sources that the best time to begin is before the age of ten.
Franois Couperin recommends: The appropriate age for children to begin
is six or seven years, not that that must exclude people who are older; but,
naturally, to mold and form the hands in the practice of the harpsichord, the
sooner the better.1 In Principes du clavecin (1756), Friedrich Wilhelm Marpurg
suggests a similar starting age, but adds that those who begin lessons at a later
age may also succeed:
The earlier one begins to play a keyboard instrument, the more certain one
will be of making progress: although experience sometimes shows that
many feeble persons who start late can become adept, whereas others who
have started early in childhood have remained behind. However, one cannot
always guarantee the success of the student before the age of six or seven.2
Fr. Pablo Nassarre takes into consideration the negative effect of menial
labor upon the hands. We read from his Esquela msica, segn la prtica moderna (1723):
It also occurs in some instances that at a young age, students tendons are
not as flexible. The students are occupied in menial labor, which makes the
tendons hard and inflexible, and for this reason it is very important that
those who are to be engaged in this discipline do not occupy themselves
in other disciplines which might make their hands calloused and impede
the mobility of their fingers, because anything that involves hard or heavy
objects, or touching impure or excessively cold or hot waters, [can] inflict the
humors upon the extremities, and this impedes the docility of the tendons.4
Selecting an Instrument
Having daily access to a good harpsichord is of extreme importance when
learning to play the instrument. There is no single, perfect instrument out
there that will suit all the needs of anyone, no matter what the playing level.
The types and stylistic features of a harpsichord differ greatly, depending
on many variables. This applies to both original, historic instruments and
modern replicas. Not only does every builder have his or her own style of
constructing, but each instrument within any particular shop may feel and
sound different from a sister instrument built within the same year. In an
Preparing to Play
ideal world, each harpsichordist who is serious about playing would own multiple instruments, one for every style of musical repertory available to us: an
early Italian for Girolamo Frescobaldi, a later Italian for Domenico Scarlatti,
spinets and virginals for the various virginal pieces, early and later French or
Flemish single and double manuals, German keyboards, and so on. The wish
list is endless. The majority of players feel fortunate to bring home just one
harpsichord, whether it is rented, bought, or borrowed. Harpsichordists in
such a position often want a multipurpose instrumentan instrument on
which all the harpsichord repertory may be played. There are also the issues
of space and expense to take into consideration.
Most harpsichord repertory composed before the eighteenth century was
written for single-manual keyboards, as is evident from the number of those
instruments that survive. High and late Baroque periods saw the development of larger harpsichords by expanding the compass and often adding a
second manual.6 There are the obvious differences in appearance, ranging
from natural wood to ornately painted decorations of the body and lid of
the harpsichord. In addition, there is variation in the length of instruments,
the internal supports, depth, key dip, key size, and choice of materials used
for strings, keys, and other parts of the instrument. These factors all affect
the sound and touch of the instrument. When selecting an instrument, it is
imperative to research the history and different styles available.
Several eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century treatises mention the
importance of choosing a harpsichord appropriate for the beginning student.
Issues of key size and quilling are discussed. For students new to the harpsichord, the treatises recommend soft quilling and/or playing on only one set
of strings.7
Couperin cannot stress enough the importance of having soft quills for
the instruction of young beginners:
One should only use a spinet or a single manual harpsichord at first for the
very young, and either of them should be very lightly quilled, this point
being of infinite importance. Beautiful playing depends more on suppleness
and great freedom of the fingers than on force, so that if, at the beginning,
one allows a child to play on two [coupled] sets of strings, it will strain his
small hands to make the keys sound and will result in badly placed hands or
a harsh manner of playing. 8
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach also mentions in his Versuch ber die wahre
Art das Clavier zu spielen that a harpsichord should be quilled lightly, but not
excessively. Here, he defines what constitutes successful quilling:
A good harpsichord must have uniform quilling in addition to a good tone.
. . . The tests of the quilling are neat, facile execution of embellishments, and
an equal, quick reaction of each key as the thumbnail sweeps over the entire
manual with a light, uniform pressure. The action of the harpsichord must
not be too light and effeminate; the keys must not fall too deep; the fingers
must meet resistance from them and be raised again by the jacks. On the
other hand, they must not be too difficult to depress.10
Nicol Pasquali states in The Art of Fingering (1758) that he teaches children not only on a lightly quilled harpsichord but also on specially made
spinets with narrow keys. The smallest spinet had an octave the size of an
average sixth. A slightly bigger spinet had an octave the size of a seventh.11
He reasons:
Thus they will be taught good fingering at first, and acquire a good habit
from their earliest lessons. Otherwise they must learn their lessons with
wrong fingers in their infancy, and then learn them over again with proper
fingers in their riper years, which, perhaps, may not be so easily done, and
is more than probable that a tincture of bad fingering will stick to them as
long as they live. This last assertion I can aver by the experience I have had
of some of my own scholars.12
Preparing to Play
One must ensure that the resistance of the keys does not adversely affect
the movement of the fingers, and so the harpsichord cannot be too soft,
but as the fingers develop in strength, one can play upon a less soft keyboard and arrive gradually at being able to press down the more resistant
keys.14
His reasoning is twofoldto teach the student to feel the plucking point
in the key depth as well as to develop finger independence:
One needs to try to acquire the necessary movement in the fingers and to
give to each of them its own particular movement before trying to develop its
strength . . . as at the outset one has difficulty in moving each finger independently, the extra effort in trying to depress the keys might result in ruining
the perfection of their movement.15
10
Preparing to Play
11
keysfrom around four octaves in the late seventeenth century to five or five
and a half octaves in the late eighteenth century. Composers wrote music accordingly; players may need to move farther away from the keys in order to
stretch their arms out wider. How far or close keyboardists sit also depends
on whether or not they will play on the upper manual, which is further away
than the bottom manual.
Where, then, should a harpsichordist sit? The advice of early method
books ranges from the general to the specific. The problem is exacerbated
by the fact that, unlike the majority of modern pianos (excluding the large
concert Bsendorfers),21 harpsichord keyboards do not have eighty-eight keys,
or any standard number of keys, should one even want to sit exactly across
from the middle of the keyboard. As previously stated, the span of keys on a
harpsichord ranges from four octaves to more than five.
Many pianists learn where middle C is during their very first lesson.
What is more, they are taught to center their bodies in front of this particular note or thereabouts. Why? Middle C is not really situated in the middle
of a piano. On a piano with eighty-eight keys, there are thirty-nine notes to
the left of middle C and forty-eight to the right of it. The modern notion of
middle C as the center of the keyboard is thus arbitrary. If one sits opposite
the true center of the piano, E/F above middle C, the left hand may play up
high more often and more easily. Franz Liszt had no fixed position at the
keyboard whatsoever.22
Regardless of the time period, authors from the late sixteenth century
to the late eighteenth century (and beyond) advocate a generally centered
position at the keyboard. Diruta, whose treatise is geared more toward the
organist, says the keyboardist must sit facing the middle of the keyboard.23
Nassarre also mentions that the keyboardist should sit in the middle of the
keyboard.24 Hartong teaches in his Clavier-Anweisung (1749), One cannot
comfortably fix the fingers unless the beginner sits at the right height and
length from the keyboard. Therefore, one sits in the middle of the keyboard.25
Couperin says, The center of the body and that of the keyboard should correspond with one another.26 Does this signify the waist and hip area? Corrette
says, It is necessary to place oneself opposite the middle of the harpsichord.27
Marpurg writes, One should sit directly opposite the middle of the keyboard,
because the left hand must be able to reach the furthest keys on the right
hand side, and the right hand must be able to reach the furthest keys on the
left hand side.28 Similarly, C. P. E. Bach explains, The performer must sit
at the middle of the keyboard, so he may strike [anschlagen] the highest and
12
lowest tones with equal ease.29 Trk teaches that one must sit exactly in front
of middle C so that the highest as well as the lowest notes may be comfortably reached.30 He is among the first writers to designate a specific note as a
positioning point in front of which the keyboardist should sit.
Nowadays, we seem to take this centered sitting position for granted,
but I find it interesting that the writers of many early method books feel the
need to mention it. As pedagogues, we should never assume the obvious with
beginning students. We should inquire about everything and know that there
are usually multiple opinions to be offered on an array of topics relating to
playing any instrument. If children are sitting on a long bench, they may not
instinctively position the body in a centered position. If so, the teacher may
find that place and redirect the student there.
It is equally important to sit at a proper height. This varies from player to
player and is subject to taste. Another factor is whether or not the harpsichord
has a single or double manual. If the upper manual is going to be played, the
harpsichordist needs to sit high enough to avoid tiring the arms.
Baroque treatises have much to say regarding how high one should sit.31 A
few mention the importance of finding the right kind of seat. Corrette affirms,
It is necessary to sit on a comfortable seat, such as a chair or stool, because
an armchair cramps the arms.32 Marpurgs instructions focus on finding a
height that does not exhaust the hands:
One must also sit at the proper height from the keyboard, not so high or
low that the palm of the hand is thrown into a slanted plane with the elbow.
In either case the hand will tire, not to mention [being thrown into] a poor
position.33
Preparing to Play
13
put something of suitable height under young peoples feet . . . so that their
feet are not dangling in the air and so they may keep their bodies properly
balanced.34
Marpurg writes similarly, If the feet of the young person do not reach the
floor, place a bench for balance and so that the body does not rock.35
Posture
After finding an appropriate, comfortable position at the keyboard, one proceeds to perfect the posture of the body. As Couperin points out, Because
one needs to play elegantly, we must begin with the position of the body.36
Many of the historical writings adhere to a posture that is at once upright and
stately as well as relaxed. Modern concerns, such as poor posture (a slumped
torso, a drooped head, etc.), are mentioned in these early treatises.
Diruta says that the keyboardist must not make gestures or movements
with his body, but must keep the body and head upright and graceful.37 John
Baptist Samber instructs us in his Manuductio ad organum (1704), Accustom oneself to sitting erect, not humped, in the middle of the keyboard.38
Franois-Hippolyte Barthlemons New Tutor (1800) remarks: Nothing can
look more awkward than to see a person leaning over the instrument with the
head hanging down, as if ashamed of what he was about.39 Nassarres first
rule for beginners concerns the position of the body:
To clarify the first rule I have mentioned, the position of the body should be
upright in the middle of the keyboard so one may depress all the keys with
the two hands [equally], without extending one arm more than the other. It
is important that the position be this way so that one minimizes the movement of each arm as it descends or ascends the range of the keyboard.40
14
Preparing to Play
15
tion not only hurts the perfect execution of the notes, but is also revolting to
spectators of good taste.45
Couperin offers similar advice: Regarding facial grimaces, one may correct this by placing a mirror on the music stand of the spinet or harpsichord.48
I recommend using a mirror in the practice room as well as in the teaching
studio. Many voice studios follow this practice. Keyboardists (and other instrumentalists, for that matter) may benefit from doing this as well.49
C. P. E. Bach is similarly open about his admonition against inappropriate grimacing at the keyboard:
In playing, the fingers should be arched and the muscles [or tendons] relaxed
(mit gebogenen Fingern und schlaffen Nerven). 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. . . . If he 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 motion of his hands will barely be
noticeable; moreover, everything will sound as if it presents no obstacles to
him. Conversely, those who do not understand these principles will often
play the easiest things with great snorting, grimacing, and uncommon
awkwardness.50
On the other hand, Bach was a great master of dramatic, whimsical fantasias; his music reflected the concept of Sturm und Drang,51 so it comes as no
16
Preparing to Play
17
A few treatises are unique in their directions for the slight turning of the
torso and feet. Couperin teaches:
One should turn the body slightly to the right when at the harpsichord, the
knees not pressed too tightly together; the feet should be placed side by side,
but especially the right foot well out to the side.58
The straight line of the spine allows for relaxed nerves and a good flow
of oxygen. Although a gently turned posture places a potential strain on
the equilibrium of the body by slightly misaligning the spine, it nonetheless
18
Relaxation
Any excess tension in the body can negatively affect ones touch at the keyboard. More specifically, relaxation of the arms and hands is vital to achieving a gentle touch and to conveying expression on the harpsichord. Trapped
tension61 can manifest in many ways, such as raised or slouched shoulders,
flapping elbows, tight wrists that are held too high or too low, useless hand
or finger movements, and fingers that are rigidly spread out. It may also appear in other parts of the body, such as in a nervously tapping foot, a bobbing
torso or a stiff upper body, a clenched or wiggly jaw, a tongue that sticks out
of the mouth, noticeable singing, humming, or groaning, as well as in an array
of facial grimaces that have no connection to the drama of the music. It can
also appear as loud, heavy breathing or, even worse, breathing too quickly or
holding the breath altogether.
There are many possible reasons for such superfluous movements of the
body, such as a chair or bench that is too low, nervousness, anxiety, poor diet,
or poor health. It may take some players years to undo these habits; others,
just a few weeks. A teacher can only do harm to a students progress by not
fully addressing the issue of tension in the students technique.
Tension inhibits the proper flow of oxygen and blood throughout the
body, both of which are vital to clarity of thought and to obtaining a fluid,
graceful technique. Not only does physical tension affect the playing and
thus the music itself, but it can also cause fatigue or, worse, bodily harm to
the player in the form of various repetitive stress injuries, tendonitis, and
even nerve damage. Although this concept of relaxation as it pertains to early
keyboard playing may seem like a new idea, perhaps holistic and even New
Age, this principle is taught repeatedly in many treatises throughout the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
One of my first teachers told me, You shouldnt burn many calories
while playing the harpsichord.62 Motivated out of a wish for me to obtain
a relaxed technique with a delicate touch, her comment harkens back to the
organist Guillaume-Gabriel Nivers, who proclaims in his Livre dorgue (1665),
To play pleasantly, you must do it effortlessly. To play effortlessly, you must
Preparing to Play
19
Concerning the nature of teachers and students, Hartong says that a beginning student must bring to lessons flexible fingers, from which it is hoped
that they will become supple. . . . If one of these qualities is either lacking or
does not soon appear, then the student may as well give up instruction.66
Couperin is a little more hopeful about rectifying the problems of people
who hold tension in their fingers. He proposes that they pull and stretch their
fingers gently to help facilitate flexibility:
People who begin late, or who have been badly taught, need to be careful; for
as the tendons may have become toughened, or they may have developed bad
habits, they should loosen up their fingers, or get someone else to do it for
them, before sitting down at the harpsichord; that is to say, to stretch or pull
their fingers in all directions; that, moreover, will awaken their energy, and
they will find much greater flexibility.67
20
He also tells us that the fingers should not stiffen . . . nor strike the keys.69
He offers a visual image to describe a relaxed hand position:
I will give you an example in order to explain how to hold the hand lightly
and pliantly over the keyboard: when one slaps angrily, one applies great
force. But when one wants to fondle and pet, as we do when caressing a
child, one keeps the hand light without applying force.70
In Trait de laccord de lespinette (1650) Jean Denis avers that a harpsichordist will never play well with a forced and tense technique:
It is wonderful to behold a person who plays well and gracefully, and whose
hand is correctly positioned. But one must be very careful not to play with
either force or tension, for he who is tense or strained in his hands or in his
body will never play well. That is why the masters who teach should carefully consider the ability of the person who is being taught: whether he is
capable of playing according to the rules, and whether his fingers can do so.72
Preparing to Play
21
Trk attaches great importance to the natural relationship between relaxation and finger control. He describes hand and body positions that allow
players to use their hands and fingers in an unconstrained manner:
If the three longer fingers are held extended, the [tendons] will be subjected
to tension at the same time and as a result, it will not be possible to play with
the necessary ease. Only when executing large skips and wide stretches is
it necessary and therefore permissible to hold the three longer fingers in an
extended position.74
Here he alludes to the momentary motion of stretching the middle fingers for the sake of a large interval, but the fingers return to their unstretched,
naturally curved, and relaxed position as soon as possible. His words recall
C. P. E. Bachs description about the rapid extension and contraction of the
hands, which I include under the section Contraction of the Hand in chapter 4.
Trk also advises students who are serious about their music-making to
avoid activities that might harm their hands in any way, either by toughening
up the skin or by exhausting the muscles. He reflects ideas shared by Nassarre and Saint-Lambert, who emphasize the need to care for the hands and
refrain from anything that will cause the muscles to become tight or the skin
to become rough. Although Trk specifically mentions the clavichord in the
following quote, it is undoubtedly just as applicable to the harpsichord, which
he also played:
Those persons, particularly males, who wish to learn to play the clavichord,
should by no means occupy themselves in work that would make the fingers
stiff. Since this is not to be avoided in the case of all music students, one
must at least inform them in advance that they cannot become very facile
players. Whoever wants to make music, and particularly the playing of the
clavichord, his chief occupation must omit such work by all means, because
it is not possible to achieve necessary facility with stiff fingers.75
22
I have also made a general observation that, among both male and female
harpsichordists, the left hand tends to be more supple than the right hand. I
attribute this to the fact that the majority of them are right-handedthus,
their left hand actually uses fewer muscles in daily life. Even if their left hand
is weaker in overall strength, the fingers have more liberty and flexibility. I can
speak only from an overall perspective that is purely subjective and without
scientific foundation. Contrary to this idea, my own hands reflect the opposite
situationmy right hand can play fast passages much more easily and clearly
than my left hand, and I am right-handed.
Saint-Lambert comments: There is nothing freer in harpsichord playing
than the position of the fingers. In that respect, each person seeks only his
comfort and elegance. 77 Comfort requires the appropriate balance between
relaxation and the development of the necessary muscles involved in playing.
He tells us: Regarding the aptitude of the hand, there is no one who cannot
have it, if he begins to practice early in life. This aptitude is nothing other than
a great suppleness in the tendons, which leaves the fingers free to move subtly. 78 He describes the harpsichord as being extremely easy to play, not at all
tiring for those who play it, and not requiring, as do some other instruments,
a constrained posture that very often is not becoming to modest persons. This
is what has given it such a sovereign position that all persons of distinction
now want to learn how to play it. 79
Jean-Jacques Rousseau speaks in general about the need to maintain a
relaxed, natural position, with a remark on the appropriate position of the
thumbs: Place the two hands on the keyboard in such a way that you have a
completely unhindered position, for which one must usually exclude the right
hand thumb, because the two thumbs poised on the keyboard, specifically
on the white [diatonic] keys, would put the arms in a strained and awkward
position.80
Placing two thumbs simultaneously on one note seems rather unnatural,
but one assumes that comments like his come from witnessing such behavior.
Some teachers might also give such finger exercises to beginners, placing their
thumbs together on middle C for five-note warm-ups in contrary motion.
These students could make the mistake of assuming this position in actual
pieces, which is a pity, because it rubs the thumbs together forcefully, causing
Preparing to Play
23
undue strain. Not only are the thumbs crowded, but the pressure from the
two pushing against each other forces the other fingers and the hand itself to
turn unnaturally outward.
We can extract from Francesco Gasparinis continuo treatise Larmonico
pratico al cimbalo (1708), in which he says, Be sure to place the hands carefully
so that each finger assumes a natural position, not forced or twisted, or too
straight, but poised on the keys, relaxed, supple, and with appropriate readiness.81 Manfredini summarizes the delicate way of playing even more simply:
The best position of the hand consists in moving the finger in a manner easy
and beautiful to see.82
In all of these instances in which relaxation is mentioned in relation to
posture and technique, it is important to remember that we are talking about
the avoidance of unnecessary tension. Obviously, if any part of the body were
completely relaxed, we would not be sitting up or holding our hands up on
the keyboard. Totally at rest, the hands would fall of their own accord onto
the keys. Gasparini expresses the concept of poise and readiness, which
clearly conveys the appropriate amount of muscular preparedness needed to
play. The hand, relaxed and poised, becomes a fixed point that supplies stability for the freedom of the fingers.
24
Some authors prefer the elbows to be held close to the body, whereas
others want them slightly away from the torso, swinging freely.
Diruta is among the earliest writers to advocate that the elbow, arm,
and wrist be parallel. The wrists are held higher than the keyboard with the
middle fingers drawn inward in order for the hand to arch itself naturally. In
a section How the Arm Must Guide the Hand, he states:
Without a doubt, this is the most important piece of advice. If you have ever
noticed those who have poorly trained hands, it appears that they are lame,
since one sees only those fingers that touch the keys, the other fingers being
hidden. They also hold the arm so low that it ends up beneath the level of the
keyboard, and the hands seem to be hanging from the keys. Everything goes
wrong for them because the hand is not guided by the arm as it ought to be.
Therefore, it is no wonder that such performers, in addition to the exhaustion they suffer in playing, never give a successful performance. 83
Johann Samuel Petris Anleitung (1767) promotes an arm position with elbows and palms in a straight, horizontal line.85 Pasquali also prefers a parallel
position but allows room for alterations of the pose, apparent in his choice of
the word thereabout. The elbows of the performer should be in a line parallel
with the keys of the instrument or thereabout.86 Saint-Lambert is included
among the proponents of this parallel posture: The wrist should be parallel
with the elbow, depending on the seat that one chooses.87
An anonymous author gives the following explanation in New Instructions for Playing the Harpsichord, Piano-forte, or Spinnet (1798):
Let the elbows be parallel with the keys of the harpsichord when playing.
. . . To give brilliance to the fingers when they play, keep the arms and
wrists rather stiff [emphasis mine], except moving them to the right or left
part of the keys of the harpsichord, as the Lesson may require; but they
must not be lifted up and down at the motion of the fingers, and the part
of the arms above the elbows must be kept nearly close to the sides of the
body. 88
Preparing to Play
25
If this author truly intends for the arms and wrists to be kept stiff, surely this
is poor advice. However, if we interpret stiff to mean firm or supported, not
flopping around, then this is sound advice.
Manfredini reasons that higher elbows allow for an easier reach of the
extreme parts of the fingerboard. To play well, he writes, one needs to sit
in a manner so that the elbow is a little higher or at least at the level of the
keyboard, so as to be able to play high and low notes easily.89 Samber remarks:
The hands and arms should be free from the body.90 J. C. Bach and F. P.
Ricci advise: Sit at the proper height, so that the elbows and the wrist be a
little higher than the level of the keyboard, and so that the hand falls as of its
own accord on the keys.91 C. P. E. Bach says, When the performer is in the
correct position with respect to his height, his forearms are suspended slightly
above the fingerboard.92 Lhlein follows in this tradition:
The seating must be arranged so that the elbow lies in a natural position,
somewhat higher than the keyboard.93 If the keyboard player sits too low so
that the elbow is lower than the keys, then playing is difficult. In this low
position, proper circulation of the blood in the hand will be obstructed.94
26
Placing the elbows lower than the keyboard is perplexing, but in conjunction
with so many of his other comments, it seems that he is merely advocating
for constant contact with the quill and the string (as much as is possible from
touching the key).
Wrists
A woman sitting at the harpsichord appears on the title page of Parthenia, or
the Maydenhead, the first collection of music published for the virginals.101
She has piqued my curiosity for many years and was part of my motivation for writing this book. In particular, I am fascinated by the position of
Figure 1.1. Title page of Parthenia, or the Maydenhead.
This item is reproduced by permission of the Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.
28
her hands. Her left wrist is turned slightly outward while her fourth and
fifth fingers hang away from the keys. In contrast, the right hand is turned
inward toward the thumb while the outer fingers fly upward. The palms of
her hands seem to glide along the keyboard in a horizontal motion. Her left
hand suggests that she is playing with paired fingerings. Her right hand is
using the thumb. The positions of her wrists, hands, and fingers are nothing like the hand positions depicted in nearly all treatises with their still,
rounded curvature of the hand and parallel (or nearly parallel) alignment
of the fingers. Nevertheless, everything about her, from her fingers to her
wrists, arms, and blissful expression, suggests a playing style that is delicate,
graceful, and relaxed.102
A supple wrist is imperative for a delicacy of touch at the harpsichord.
Treatises discuss wrist position in relation to how high they are situated and
to what angle they should be turned, if any. Saint-Lambert explains, Hold
ones hands straight on the keyboard, that is to say, leaning neither inward
[toward the thumb] nor outward.103 If indeed he favors an unturned wrist,
surely he means only for a starting position, not necessarily what happens
during movement.
Georg Friedrich Wolf, on the other hand, describes a position in his
Unterricht im Klavierspielen (1789) that has the hands turned outwards,104
presumably toward the little finger. Wolf s Unterricht is late enough in the
eighteenth century for us to know it has piano as its primary focus, but we
cannot assume that it does not include harpsichord as well.
Rameau is partial to a turned wrist that leans slightly in toward the
thumb:
The hand must also be parallel with the keyboard. . . . One must slightly lift
the side of the hand that is near the little finger with a simple movement of
the wrist, and without the hand losing any of its suppleness. This last position is a bit difficult for beginners, because of the little turn of the wrist . . .
but without this turn, the little finger would not touch the key perpendicularly, and would have neither the same strength nor the same lightness of
touch as the other fingers.105
Elsewhere he says:
The wrist joint must always be supple. This suppleness, which is then spread
to the fingers, gives them all the ease of movement and all the lightness necessary; and the hand, which by this means is, so to speak, as if dead, serves
merely as a support for the fingers that are connected to it and as a way of
Preparing to Play
29
transmitting them to those parts of the keyboard that they cannot reach
solely by their own movement.106
Were the whole arm to move up and down the keyboard without a fixed
elbow position, the result would be a stiffening of the wrist. In Rameaus Code
de musique pratique (1760), he says, In every position, in the largest leaps, the
hand follows the fingers, the wrist joint [follows] the hand, the elbow [follows]
the wrist; and never should the shoulder interfere.108 This contrasts with
Diruta, who says that the arm guides the hand.109 With Rameau, the smaller
components guide the larger ones, starting with the fingers and moving outwards through the hand, wrist, and arm.
Pasquali describes an even plane between the wrist and third knuckle.
The upper part of the wrist should be in a line pretty much parallel with
the highest knuckle of the middle finger.110 This corresponds to Denis, who
elaborates on this position:
There are some masters who have their pupils place their hands in such a
way that the wrist is lower than the hand, which is very bad, and properly
speaking, a vice, because the hand no longer possesses strength. Others
make one hold the wrist higher than the hand, which is a fault because the
fingers then resemble sticks, straight and stiff. For the proper position of the
hand, the wrist and the hand must be at the same height; in other words, the
wrist must be at the same height as the large knuckle of the fingers.111
Marpurg also favors a wrist held parallel to the keys. He specifies a flat
plane between the underside of the wrist and the tips of the fingers:
One must sit at the proper height, not so high or low that the palm of the
hand is thrown into a slanted plane with the elbow; the lower part of the
elbow, the underside of the wrist, and the downward curving fingertips will
form a horizontal or straight line. One should allow the rounded hands
to pass over the manual at equal heights without the wrist either jutting
upward or dropping downward.112
30
Preparing to Play
31
accomplished by lowering the wrists, and extending the fingers from the
middle joint forward, because by playing in this way, the notes sound completely, sweetly, and softly. The reason for this is that, since flesh is a soft
thing, it touches with sweetness and softness. Furthermore, one can play
cleanly, since because the fingers sit upon the keys they cannot slide off or
escape anywhere. Otherwise, when you play with the nails, two grave errors
are committed, [and the notes are] faint and without spirit [lifeless].116
In this latter description, the hand would be shaped less like a cats paw
and held more naturally in a casually arched position. Even though he is writing about the clavichord, his advocacy for playing below the actual fingertip is
well suited to a proper hand position for the harpsichord. As for the infamous
description of the cats paw, the imagery quickly disappears in treatises
around the turn of the seventeenth century. Even when C. P. E. Bach or Trk
address the clavichord two centuries later, they include nothing even remotely
similar to the posture described by Sancta Maria. Diruta, writing only a few
decades after Sancta Maria, criticizes his cats-paw hand position:
If you have ever noticed, those who have poorly trained the hand appear
crippled: they hold the arm so low that it is below the keyboard and the
hands seem to hang on the keys, and then one can only see the fingers which
touch the keysthe others hiding. All this happens to them because the
hand is not guided by the arm as it should be. Thus it is no wonder that
though they labor to play, nothing they do turns out well. If I could draw
a hand to show you this, you would easily understand how it ought to be
guided by the arm, and also how the hand is to be cupped and the fingers
curved. . . . To cup the hand it is necessary to pull back the fingers somewhat, and so at the same time the hand is cupped and the fingers curved; and
the hand should be brought over the keyboard thus.117
Diruta warns against straightening the fingers or curving the thumb and
little finger inward excessively. He advocates a natural curvature:
The fingers should be together on the keys and therefore rather curved:
in addition, the hand should be light and supple on the keyboard, because
otherwise the fingers cannot move with agility and promptness.118
32
the fingertips, which helps one avoid a perpendicular finger position. In many
ways, Nassarres hand position (intended more for organists) as described in
his eighteenth-century treatise is similar to his sixteenth-century Spanish
predecessor, especially when they condemn vertical fingers and the touching
of the fingernails upon the keys. In pursuit of a natural manner of playing, Na
ssarre advises against any motions that seem forced or violent. He describes a
proportionate curvature of the fingers, each one being unequal in length:
The first step needed to demonstrate the music on an organ is the posture
of the hands (for the position of the body is its foundation). As I said in the
eleventh chapter, the fingers should be slightly arched, not so much that one
presses with the nails on the keys nor with the fullness of the pad because
either manner causes great difficulty in performance.120
Preparing to Play
33
. . . The third effect is that all the movements will be natural and unforced,
so that by means of less effort and flexible tendons, one attains agility of the
fingers. For all of the reasons mentioned, it is important that organ masters
take care when they teach. [It is also important] that those who learn are
responsible for their proper hand postures. For if they were to err in this, it
would be the same as if the foundation of a building should fail.121
34
the keyboard without giving specific thought to how I would round out my
hand.
G. F. Wolf (1789) is brief in his depiction of the hands shape: The hand
must be held round so that the thumb and little finger are not too short.122
The latter part of his statement suggests a drawing back of the middle fingers
that is slightly more forced to make them draw nearer to the outer fingers. He
could possibly mean that if the hand were to be held too flat, the two outer fingers would be too far from the keys or would be touching just the outer edges
of the keys. His wording is nonetheless too ambiguous to decipher fully.
C. P. E. Bach, who is meticulous in some areas of his Versuch, is not so
particular in his description of a correct hand profile. However, his admonition of an uncurved hand is clear: Those who play with flat, extended fingers
suffer from a disadvantage. . . . They are too far removed from the thumb,
which should always remain as close as possible to the hand [the other fingers].123 We learn of his own hand position from Forkel, who gives a detailed
hand description and claims that he possessed, at least to some degree, his
fathers keyboard technique.124
As a keyboardist, Bach the elder was admired by all who had the good
fortune to hear him and was the envy of the virtuosi of his day. We do not
know whether or not his particular method of playing greatly differed from
that of his contemporaries and predecessors. Nor is there evidence describing
the differences in his technique on harpsichord, clavichord, and organ. So far,
no one has attempted to explain in what the difference consisted other than
his seemingly immobile, perfect hand with fingers drawn in parallel to one
another and that he played perpendicular to the keyboard, but even that
is disputable, as we do not know at which point the perpendicularity began.
Observations of his technique could be a description of his fingers when he
was in mid-motion, peeling his fingers back toward the palms of his hands.
Depending on whether he was at rest position or in motion, the curvature of
his fingers could have appeared more or less arched as well as vertical. Forkel
describes his hand position in this way:
Bach placed his hand on the [keyboard] so that his fingers were bent and
their extremities poised perpendicularly over the keys in a plane parallel to
them. Consequently, none of his fingers was remote from the note it intended to strike, and was ready instantly to execute every command. Observe
the consequences of this position. First of all, the fingers cannot fall or (as so
often happens) be thrown upon the notes, but are placed upon them in full
control of the force they may be called on to exert. In the second place, since
Preparing to Play
35
Trks description of how to form the fingers depicts only a small curvature of the middle fingers and straight outer fingers. Like C. P. E. Bach, he also
condemns straight middle fingers (with exception) because of the potential
stress caused by such a flat position. Trk explains:
The correct position of hands and fingers is very important, therefore the
following rules should be observed. The three longer (mittlern) fingers must
always be curved a little, but the thumb and the little finger must be held
out straight; because of the shortness of the little finger, the hands and arms
need not sometimes be moved forward and then immediately backward. If
the three longer fingers are held extended, the [tendons] will be subjected to
tension at the same time, and as a result, it will not be possible to play with
the necessary ease. Only when executing large skips and wide stretches is
it necessary and therefore permissible to hold the three longer fingers in an
extended position.127
One has to wonder if he truly intends the thumb and little finger to lie
outstretched without curving whatsoever, or if he means that they should be
nearly straight and less arched than the middle fingers. Given the fact that
he goes on to discuss the need for the thumb to remain on the keys, it seems
that he has observed individuals who have held the fingers so close to the front
of the keys that the thumb dangled off the keyboard when not in use. If this
36
latter position were the case, the player would need to move the hand and arm
in and out whenever the thumb was needed to play. This motion would be
terribly inefficient while playing. Also, if Trk has witnessed thumbs hanging
away from the keys, this might suggest that even at such a late date (when the
thumbs were used quite often), there existed players who employed earlier
finger patterns that favored the three middle fingers. Were they still in fashion
by the end of the eighteenth century? Trk writes:
The thumb must always be held over the keyboard; therefore it should never
hang down or be pressed against the edge of the clavichord, for both of these
mistakes, among other things, would cause unavoidable gaps in the music
incorrect articulation of the musical thoughts before the thumb could
be placed in its correct position. The fingers must not be held too closely
together, but rather a little apart from each other, so that whenever possible,
any stretches can be executed nicely and with continuity, without motion of
the hands, because playing should be done only with the fingers. For large
skips, however, small movements of the hands and arms are unavoidable.128
Corrette (1716) describes the following hand curvature that he feels promotes supple playing:
The beautiful manner of placing the hands upon the keyboard is to curve
the three middle fingers so that they may be almost equal with the thumb
and the little finger, on the same straight line above five successive keys, as
for example, C D E F G, because if several fingers are found on the same key,
not only does the hand look bad, but, moreover, this impedes the freedom
and suppleness of the fingers.129
Although in this paragraph he says almost equal with and the same
straight line, it is likely that he means for the curve of the fingertips, when
placed on five consecutive keys, to have an even, steady line instead of a jagged
one caused by fingers placed in different parts of the keys, some closer to the
edge and some farther inward. He describes a curvature that places the fingertips near each other but not exactly parallel. When the middle fingers lie close
to the outer fingers, they create a slight curve that is almost a straight line.
Nivers says that a natural and graceful manner of playing is achieved by
evenly curling the fingers, especially the longer ones, so their length is equal
to the shorter ones.130 This is similar to the comfortable arch of the hand
advocated by Diruta, in which the arched middle fingers form a straight line
with the little finger and thumb.
Preparing to Play
37
Pasquali advises the player to bend the three middle fingers and to keep
the outer fingers upon the keys, but he does not go into detail. He mentions
the fingernails twice, pointing out that they should be kept short and hidden
from the performers view, although neither of his comments tells us just how
much to curve the fingers:
The points of all the fingers and thumb should always be held over the keys,
whether they play or rest, which will occasion the three longest fingers to
be so bent, that the performer cannot see the nails of them. This is the true
position of the fingers. . . . The nails should always be kept so short as not to
touch the keys.131
Rameau draws our attention to the position of the outer fingers as they rest
toward the fronts of the keys. Notice that he says the other fingers arch naturally to the necessary extent and not parallel to the thumb and little finger:
38
Marpurg writes as though he has seen plenty of poor hand positions. His
thoughts on proper curvature keep the hand in one general position, with
fingers remaining relaxed and curved:
One should not make any forceful movements and frightful leaps with
the hands, nor bring the fingers out of their curved position, sometimes
stretching them out or contracting them; nor force any fingers down
from the keyboard next to the palms of the hand, leaving another lying
stretched out on a key like a pointer; nor sometimes slide carelessly over
the keys, only to thrash them at other times rather than depressing them
[properly].139
Preparing to Play
39
Figure 1.3. Aerial view of hands being placed upon the keys. The fingers do not line
up completely parallel to one another but instead have a natural, subtle arch to them.
The palms form a gentle curvature. Photo by Wolodymyr Smishkewych.
2
Touching the Instrument
Warm-up Exercises
As in most disciplines of the performing arts, physical and mental preparedness is beneficial to the process of learning pieces and perfecting ones craft.
For harpsichordists, this preparation includes exercising the hands both away
from and at the keyboard. We recall Couperins suggestion to pull the fingers
and stretch the hands before touching the keys.1 Players can do this alone or
have someone else do it for them. In addition to general stretches done while
standing, sitting, or lying on the floor, the shoulders may be lifted up and
down, first tightening the muscles and then relaxing them upon the release
downward. To loosen the neck, which is a major source of locked tension for
many people, the head may be moved forward and back, from side to side, and
in slow circular motions. This loosens the muscles and helps release tension
from the body.
After stretching, Couperin tells us to progress to short exercises at the
keyboard:
I always have my students play brief finger exercises, either running or arpeggiated passages, beginning with the simplest ones and in the easiest keys;
and gradually leading them to the fastest and most transposed ones. You
cannot have too many of these little exercises.2
Not only do unhurried exercises warm up and limber the fingers, but
they also quietly draw in the senses, enabling more mental focus and aural
awareness from the player, differentiated from the often busy and noisy sphere
40
41
that lies beyond the sacred space of the practice room. Warm-up exercises
also serve to sensitize the keyboardist to the requisite touch at a particular
instrument, with which one may or may not be familiar.
In Lart de toucher le clavecin, Couperin devotes six pages to Progressions or short exercises to form the hands.3 He employs the term evolutions
to signify that these exercises are intended to improve ones technique over
time through a gradual increase of skill. He also provides Little preliminary
and essential exercises to arrive at playing well.4 He gives these exercises in
C major only, but mentions that they should be practiced in every key.5
Edward Miller also uses the word evolutions in his 1780 treatise Institutes
of Music.6 He provides seven examples over which is written: Of different
42
Like Couperin, Marpurg gives a series of exercises called Little progressions appropriate for forming the hand (Petites evolutions propres former la
main). At least six of his exercises are derived from Couperins examples.8 Several of Marpurgs musical examples quote from J. S. Bachs keyboard pieces.9
From Forkels biography, we learn that J. S. Bach gave his students exercises for at least half a year before supplying them with pieces to play. These
isolated exercises, which are unfortunately lost, taught his students how to
develop independence and dexterity of the fingers. Forkel reflects on Bachs
teaching method:
43
First of all let me explain how he taught keyboard. To begin, his students
were encouraged to acquire the special touch of which I have already
spoken. To do this, for months he made them practice nothing but simple
finger exercises in both hands, with emphasis on the need for clear and
precise playing. He gave them these exercises for six to twelve months,
unless he felt that his students were losing interest, in which case he would
compose short pieces, which served to elucidate specific technical concepts.
These include the Six Little Preludes for Beginners and the Fifteen TwoPart Inventions, both of which Bach wrote during a lesson for a particular
student, later improving them into beautiful and expressive compositions.
Besides this finger practice, in exercises as well as in actual pieces composed
for the purpose, Bach taught his students how to play various ornaments in
both hands.10
Trk does not specify when, exactly, to introduce trills, but it is sound advice
to practice them early, at least as one of the core principles to be taught within
the first year, but this depends also on the skill and readiness of the player.
Certainly, when introducing ornaments, the trill should be among the first
embellishments that a student learns.
Trk also advises keyboardists to practice slowly at first:
Granted the necessity and beauty of velocity in playing the keyboard, it can
nevertheless be harmful to the beginner when required of him too soon. For
generally clarity suffers, certain tones will imperceptibly be skipped, and
correct fingering will be neglected, among other abuses.12
44
45
(8) The result, therefore, of all these observations is that frequent and
well-managed practice is, to me, essential for perfect technique on the
harpsichord, and it is from [this principle] that I have created a particular
method of renewing in the fingers the movement granted to them by
Nature, and of augmenting its liberty. . . .
(19) Each finger must have its own movement, independent of the others, so
that, even when the hand must move to another part of the keyboard, it
is still essential for the finger then used to drop onto the key by its own
movement. . . .
(24) Remember to make every finger operate by its own movement, and make
sure that the finger that releases a key always remains so close that it appears to be touching it. . . .
(26) Observe equality of movement among all the fingers and, above all, never
rush these movements, for lightness and speed are acquired only through
this evenness of movement; and it is often the case that by rushing, we
lose that which we are seeking.
(27) One must try to attain the required movement in the fingers, and to give
to each one its own particular movement before putting their strength to
the test; I suggest that in the beginning, [the fingers] only be placed on the
keyboard to become used to the spacing between the keys. However, as
at the start one has trouble moving every finger independently, the added
burden of trying to press the keys might destroy the perfection of their
movement.15
Rameau encourages the reader to practice his finger exercises and other
musical examples repeatedly and with equality of finger motion.16 He also
says that the exercises should be practiced with hands separately at first
and then with hands together when the skill has been mastered in each
hand.17
C. P. E. Bach recommends that children be trained to stretch their hands
and extend their fingers:
It is self-evident that the relaxation of the tendons and the curving of the
fingers cannot be maintained in leaps and wide stretches. . . . One should
habituate the hands (as yet not fully grown) of children particularly, so that
instead of springing up and down with the entire hand . . . they stretch the
hands as much as possible when necessary.18
46
We see from the many quotations that how one prepares to play is just as
important as the compositions that one practices. In addition to good practice
pieces, warm-up exercises (preexistent or self-composed) can be an enjoyable
part of the creative process for both teacher and student. Since these exercises
are usually easy to memorize, I advise experimenting from time to time with
a lowered music stand, so that the sounds coming forth from the harpsichord
can be heard better. The music, when upright, actually blocks the sound from
reaching the player. By lowering the music desk (or removing it altogether),
both the fingers and the ears can benefit from warm-up exercises and tune in
to the qualities of touch and sounds coming from the instrument. This is also
helpful when playing pieces, not just exercises. Lowering or removing the music stand also requires the player to memorize music, or at least in part, since
it is not easy to read the music when it is lying flat. Traditionally, harpsichord
playing relies less on memorization in performance, but it is nonetheless a
useful skill, whether or not one uses the score in an actual concert. I also encourage the occasional practice of playing with the eyes closed or in the dark,
as taught by C. P. E. Bach: In order to become oriented at the keyboard . . .
it is a good practice to play memorized pieces in the dark.22 This may be done
with warm-up exercises as well as with actual pieces.
47
Writing over a century earlier, Diruta, who is writing primarily about the
organ, has sound advice for harpsichordists, who need close contact between
finger and key:
Finally, the fingers must press rather than strike the key, lifting [the finger]
only as much as the key rises. Even if these instructions seem of little or no
significance, one should have the highest regard for the help they bring: they
ensure that the harmony turns out pleasant and smooth and that the organist is not hampered in his playing.24
Diruta also warns the keyboardist not to raise the fingers too high when
playing faster, more ornate figures:
On playing diminutions . . . remember how to carry the hand in line with
the arm, somewhat cupped, with the fingers curved or together, so that none
48
Over and over again, I have observed, both in my own playing and in
that of students and harpsichordists in general, that when the key is struck
from above and not from close by, the tone is drastically diminished.26 When
a key is played too quickly from on high, sometimes the pitch is barely audible. This often occurs when a finger has darted upon the note and left it too
quickly, as if it were too hot to touch. This tends to happen in fast, technically
advanced pieces that require rapid hand crossing or large leaps, but it can
occur elsewhere as well. When passages like these are played from the point
at which the finger feels the plectrum ready to pluck the string, the tone is
vastly improved.
Nassarre discusses aspects of depressing the keys that pertain to the
touch required for beautiful playing at the harpsichord:
There are some players who press the keys so little they are hardly audible,
others in whose diminutions we hear rests from note to note that are more
than the [value of the] notes sounding themselves, others who play with
such force that they sometimes destroy the keyboards, and others, who at
the moment of laying down the finger [on the key] rock the key violently
from one side to the other, which is often the cause of keys that stick. . . .
Regarding the pressing of the keys, the pedagogy that masters should follow
with beginners should be that at the moment of depressing [the key], it is
only the finger which moves; for some not only move the hand but also the
arm. Others, [in an effort] to remove the fingers from the keys, lift the hand,
and this movement is superfluous, for it is enough to move the fingers. For
this reason Nature gave the ability to move them without requiring them to
move the hand.27
He adds:
It is also important that the pressing of the keys, in whatever music is played,
be natural and not forced. Some lift the hands from the keyboard too much.
Others apply such force to the fingers that you hear the striking of the keys
more than the sound of the notes, and others press with such softness that
they do not sufficiently press the keys in order to form the sounds properly.
Those who lift the hands play in a most improper manner, for as they lift the
hands more and more from the keyboard, greater will be the interval of time
49
from sound to sound, which robs the notes of their correct value of time, and
in this way [the player] will not give the proper character to the music. Those
who make a habit of adding force to the fingers when playing upon the keys
make it impossible to play diminutions quickly, because this causes their
hands to tire quickly. Though they justify this as a means of performing
well on those organs that have heavy keyboard [action], it is not a convincing
reason; because the force that they apply is more excessive than that which
is necessary to lower the keys, no matter how heavy the action.28 . . . Neither
the hands nor the fingers should ever be lifted [high above] the keysonly
enough to stop the keys from sounding in such a manner that one can barely
perceive the interval of time from sound to sound.29 This should not be done
so powerfully that the fingers are forceful. Rather, one should employ the
least amount of effort needed to lower a key. . . . There are some students
who naturally have a heavier hand or have more strength in it. These [individuals] can, by applying less force [or weight], apply the right amount of
energy needed to play the keys. Others, in contrast, being weak, need to use
their strength more efficiently by applying the right amount of pressure, and
they may practice this until it becomes habitual. Thus will individuals learn
to control more efficiently [and equally] the amount of pressure applied to
the keys, regardless of finger strength.30
50
the keys.32 Rameau says, Remember to move each finger by its own individual movement, and see that the finger that releases a key always stays so
close that it seems to touch it.33 Recalling his perspective on the position of
the forearms and hands of a beginning student, as mentioned in chapter 1,
the hands should be glued to the keyboard, allowing the players touch the
utmost connection to the keys.34 As for the manner in which players should
touch the keys:
The fingers must fall onto the keys and not hit them; moreover, they must
flow [glide], so to speak, from one to the other when playing successive
notes, which should give you some idea of how gently one has to go about it
from the beginning.35
As every harpsichord is different, keyboardists should take care to familiarize themselves with every harpsichord they play. The plectra on any given
instrument may not be voiced regularly nor voiced like another instrument
of the same style. The key dip will be different as well. When touching the
keys, it is important to gauge the resistance of the quills against the string and
how strongly or weakly they pluck. Harpsichords need to be regulated quite
frequently; it is prudent to learn some basic harpsichord maintenance skills
or to ask a professional to work on ones instrument so that the action and
voicing are to ones taste.
Keeping the fingers in contact with the keys may be challenging at first,
especially when coming from a modern piano background. To alleviate this
problem, teachers may opt to emulate the Baroque practice of placing a stick
(such as a small ruler or a pen) on the hand to keep the fingers from flying
upwards and to maintain a calm hand position. The teacher may also hold
down students fingers gently if they fly upward. This helps to retrain the fingers and relax the muscles. The only drawback to this practice is that it does
not allow for much flexibility in wrist motion, which is necessary for supple
playing and relaxation.
One advocate for this practice is Marpurg, who suggests a piece of metal
be put on the fingers:
Today one does not strike the keyboard instrument, one plays it . . . ; however, no matter how wary one is of heavy blows on the keys, one also must
not slide down indolently over them so that the strings do not produce the
proper sound. In the beginning, a little piece of lead may be placed upon the
hands of pupils in order to accustom them to this. If the lead remains there,
it is proof that the movement is uniform.36
51
Le Gallois remarks that when less successful harpsichordists play the notes,
they either pass over them too quickly, or they do not press the keys [hard]
enough to make the notes heard, or they hit the keys instead of [letting
them] flow [from one note to the next].40 He observes others with faults of
the opposite kind:
But if the brilliant style of playing has its faults, the flowing style also has
its own, which are easy to observe in those in whom affectation greatly
impedes the flow of their playing. For they make such great contortions of
the hands and fingers, they raise them one over another with such excess,
and stiffen them in an extraordinary manner, that the result is distasteful
and pitiful.41
52
the heart, the other touched the ear.43 Le Gallois describes Chambonnires
playing as more natural, more delicate, more tidy, and consequently more
delightful.44 He was the source of the beautiful approach to touch, the
beautiful and agreeable manner that made him a perfect model.45 He had
knowledge and brilliance and a delicacy of the hand that others did not have
. . . a way of holding [the hand] and a way of pressing down the fingers on the
keys that was unknown to the others.46 In short, Le Gallois describes not
just a manner or a way, but a highly personalized and refined art, a language
expressed through la douceur du toucher.
Gravity
It is important not to confuse the concept of keeping the fingers in contact
with the keys with that of finger weight or gravity. Gravity plays a major role
in sound production on the piano, in that more weight or force on the keys
produces louder dynamics. Harpsichord touch resists hand or arm weight
falling into the keys. Instead, the arm holds up the hand, which acts as a support to the fingers. This does not mean that the arm is held in a stiff position;
instead, when the finger falls, the hand, wrist, and arm follow the movement
instigated by the fingers. The fingers, in turn, remain poised on the keys, ready
to drop further into them. Only in this sense does gravity play a role by way
of the fingers falling downward. But as the finger falls into the key, the quill
rises to pluck the stringthe imagery involved is technically an upward one.
This manner of touching the harpsichord is documented in several treatises
of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Rameau informs us:
Never let the touch of your fingers be weighed down by your hand. Conversely, let it be your hand, which, by supporting your fingers, makes their
touch lighter; this is of utmost importance.47
Mersenne, writing nearly a century earlier, compares the sound of a harpsichord when played delicately with that of a plucked instrument:
Now it must be further observed that the lightness of the hand is very
different from its speed, for many have a very fast hand that is nevertheless
quite heavy, as the hardness and roughness of their playing will testify. Now
those who have this lightness of hand may be called absolute masters of their
hands and fingers, which they let weigh as little on the keys as they wish so
as to soften the tone of the spinet, as is common with that of the lute.48
53
John Parsons addresses both approach and release of the keys by letting
the fingers fall with their own weight:
The hand should be poised above the keys, so that the thumb may easily pass
under the fingers to change the position. . . . No weight of the hand or arm
should bear on the keys and every finger should be put down, with an elastic
spring, and be recovered from them in the same manner. The thumb should
be put down with a spring from the joint of it only.49
Forkel describes Bachs technique as allowing for the fingers never to fall
or (as so often happens) be thrown upon the notes, but placed upon [the notes]
in full control of the force they may be called on to exert.50
Friedrich Konrad Griepenkerl, writing well into the nineteenth century,
is one of the few to mention arm weight at the keyboard from a positive standpoint if we apply it to harpsichord technique:
The mechanism of the hand is based upon its ability to grasp. In grasping, all
of the fingers bend themselves together with the thumb into the palm of the
hand, and by this motion reveal all of their innate force and security. . . .
Every operation that the hand can accomplish by this motion succeeds in
doing so with ease, freedom, and security, since the operation corresponds to
the hands natural inclination.
. . . The inequality of the fingers as regards strength and flexibility, however,
makes yet another artistic resource necessary . . . in overcoming the natural
obstacle inherent in the weakness of the fourth and fifth fingers. J. S. Bach
found this resource in the use of the weight of the hand and arm, which
anyone may maintain with ease and at will, either at the same degree or at a
greater or lesser degree of effort. No finger is too weak to serve as the point
of support for this weight; the fourth and fifth fingers may bear it to the
same degree as the second and third and may transmit it to the keys with
equal amount of effort, insofar as the elasticity inherent in each finger is
brought into use. The most intimate connection of this elasticity with the
weight of the hand in the pressing of the keys is therefore the most vital
component in the entire technique of keyboard performance according to
Bachs method.51
54
Figure 2.1. Inner view of right hand shifting its weight onto the little finger.
Photo by Wolodymyr Smishkewych.
Figure 2.2. Outer view of right hand shifting its weight onto the little finger.
Photo by Wolodymyr Smishkewych.
55
played by the weaker fingers. This will inevitably cause a brief contraction
or slight turning of the hand. The hand follows the fingers, much like a ballerinas hand gestures gracefully change as she moves in different directions.
Figures 2.1 and 2.2 show how my right hand looks when shifting its weight
onto the finger that is playing the note. Notice in these photos how the hand
is poised over one note. The hand is not falling heavily onto the key, but is
suspended over it.
Teachers may assist students who have too low or heavy a hand or
arm at the keyboard by gently pressing upwards from under their wrist(s)
with one finger or the length of a pencil. This will help them find the balance point of the finger without dropping the weight of their hand, wrist,
or arm.
56
(as opposed to a directly vertical release of the key). This manner of stroking
the keys produces sparkling and brilliant effects in fast passages, as well as
lush, sonorous shades of overlapping tone and color in slower sections. In
such slow, legato passages, this technique may feel like a loving caress upon
the instrument.
As early as 1565, Sancta Maria mentions the stroking of the keys through
a gliding motion when he discusses the upper mordent as a type of quiebro,
a Spanish ornament containing two tonesthe main note, the one above it,
and the return to the main note:
The finger that plays the first note should not be raised from the key after
having depressed it, but it should remain on it, and the finger that plays the
second note should be removed from the key by sliding across it, like someone scratching, and the finger that plays the first note should press a little in
the key pushing it well down.52
Figure 2.4. Side view of key edges. Arequipa, Peru. Convent of Santa Catalina.
Photo by Lourdes and Andrea Arias Grupp.
Figure 2.5. Side view of keys. Arequipa, Peru. Convent of Santa Catalina.
Photo by Lourdes and Andrea Arias Grupp.
57
58
Although the phrase well down reminds us that he is writing more for
clavichord, the sliding motion is nonetheless applicable on the harpsichord.
He adds:
The finger that plays the highest note of the redoble and the quiebro should
always play nearer the end of the key than the adjacent finger with which the
ornament ends. Furthermore, from the beginning of repeated redobles and
quiebros, that finger should gradually be drawn further and further out until
it is completely withdrawn from the key at the end of the ornament, which
is why the finger which ends the ornament ends up at the edge of the key although it began further in, which is necessary if the redobles and the quiebros
are to end crisply and cleanly.53
59
60
The only caveat in applying Quantzs suggestion is that the harpsichordist needs to make sure not to curve the fingers too much at the beginning.
If the arch is too excessive, the fingers will have nowhere to go and thus will
not be able to use his recommended release toward the palm. When done
correctly (i.e., in moderation), this technique produces sparkling, distinct
running passages.
Three sources from the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries give
testimony to the release toward the palm for clear, articulate passagework.
These later sources represent a continuation and transfer of this particular
harpsichord technique to the fortepiano. Lhleins Clavierschule suggests that
in five-finger exercises, especially in rapid sections, the fingers should never
be lifted upwards but should be drawn towards the inner part of the hand
. . . with a gentle sliding action along the keys.59 For fast, clearly articulated
passages, Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1820) explains that the fingers should
be hurried away from the keys very lightly and in an inward direction.60
A. E. Mller and Carl Czerny both recommend a scratching or tearing
motion for fast scale passages.61
Ruth Nurmi, in A Plain & Easy Introduction to Harpsichord (1974 and
1986), describes at least two basic types of touch as they pertain to the release
61
Figure 2.6. Index finger stroking the keys. Photo by Wolodymyr Smishkewych.
of the key.62 She calls one an instant release and the other a gradual release.
According to Nurmi, the instant release (a vertical or near vertical down-andup stroke) is the only kind of release possible in fast passages, whether legato
or articulated. She also states that the gradual release is not a part of the
legato touch, nor is it used in fast passages.
She also suggests that the gradual release may be done with three separate types of motions: (1) a lifting motion when making an instant release more
slowly, (2) a rolling motion, in which the wrists rotate as weight shifts from
finger to finger, and (3) an elliptical motion that is the same movement needed
for the gliding or scratching technique. These descriptions are highly useful
for harpsichordists, but I disagree with the limitation she places on their application. Although this elliptical, rounder technique is not the only method
for touching the harpsichord, it may benefit nearly all musical contexts and
tempos, especially if one is adept and facile enough. Furthermore, it does not
need to stand apart from other techniques. The fingers may peel back toward
the palm while the wrist gently rotates, as seen in figures 2.6 and 2.7.
62
Figure 2.7. Middle finger stroking the keys. Photo by Wolodymyr Smishkewych.
63
measures in a row in order to place the hand in the position necessary for
playing them all with grace and agility.65
Similarly, Forkel praises J. S. Bach for his ability to maintain a calm hand
position, regardless of the musics tempo or difficulty:
We gather that the action of Bachs fingers was so slight as to be barely perceptible. Only the top joint seemed to move. His hand preserved its rounded
shape even in the most intricate passages. His fingers rested closely upon the
keys. . . . An unemployed finger remained in a position of repose. . . . If he
wished to express deep emotion he did not strike the notes with great force,
as many do, but expressed his feeling in simple melodic and harmonic figures,
relying rather on the internal resources of his art than external dynamics.
Therein he was right. True emotion is not suggested by hammering the
clavier. All that results is that the notes cannot be heard distinctly, much less
be connected coherently.66
64
Dynamics
The production of different tones and shades on the harpsichord is a popular
topic among harpsichordists. People often ask, Can the harpsichord produce
dynamics? The answer is yes and no. Rather than viewing as a flaw the harpsichords inability to make the same gradations of volume that a piano does, one
may see this issue as an opportunity to explore the musical techniques particular to harpsichord playing. These techniques form a collection of intricate tools
that can create a rich palette of dynamic shading and dramatic nuance.
Broderip writes, Expression is produced by regulating the time, to the
style of the music, by giving attention to the graces and embellishments, by
the touch, and by a judicious management of the tone of the instrument in
its different gradations of soft to loud.69 Assumedly, he is talking about the
harpsichord here, since the title of his method includes both harpsichord and
the fortepiano.
Couperin finds no flaw in the harpsichords lack of overt degrees of dy
namics:
The harpsichord is a complete instrument by virtue of its range, and sufficient unto itself. However, as one can neither swell nor diminish its sounds,
I shall always be grateful to those who, by consummate skill supported by
good taste, are able to render this instrument capable of expression.70
Marpurg also gives due praise to the musicians who create dynamic expression: Skilled artists know how to beguile the ears at the harpsichord,
so that we believe we are hearing loud and soft tones, even though the quills
produce them with mostly equal force. 71 Marpurg also states:
One should not believe that it makes no difference what manner of treatment
the keys of a harpsichord are accorded, or that a distinction in tone may be
achieved perhaps only with the flute, because of variety in attack, or with the
violin, because of bowing variety. It is true that the intensity on a harpsichord is always the same, no matter whether the keys are struck gently or
with such force that one hears the simultaneous knocking of wood. Nevertheless, just as [players] hands vary, the manner of linking many successive
tones varies . . . there may only be one true way of operating the keys . . . as to
be pleasing to the ear.72
65
He then provides an example of a bass line with continuo figures in which dissonant chords are marked forte and consonant chords are marked piano.75
Gustav Leonhardt, one of the worlds greatest harpsichordists, poetically
states:
A good clavichord plays like butter and does everything that you require
from it with the greatest willingnessit is like a pilot flying only in good
weathernot quite that challenging or rewarding. This is in contrast to its
colleagues the harpsichord and organ. Here, one must employ all ones artistry and tricks to give the impression of dynamic variation. And this is the
66
Again, my intention is not to prove scientifically whether or not the harpsichord is capable of producing dynamics or if it is all a trick of the ear and thus
some type of musical illusion. I offer the possibility that it is a combination
of both. Just as music is both a science and an art, playing beautifully and
meaningfully on the harpsichord requires both a high level of technical skill
and imaginative artistry. The perfect balance of these qualities renders the
harpsichord an expressive, dynamic instrument.
When asked which of the two instruments he found easier to play (harpsichord or clavichord), Leonhardt, who started very early on the harpsichord
and organ, replied: After having dived as much as I could into making the
67
Marpurg notes that Duphly, a student of the organist Franois Dagincourt, eventually played only the harpsichord, in order not to spoil his hand
with the organ.80 This might have had something to do with heavy actions
on some historical organs, which would have required more development of
hand muscles than needed for playing the harpsichord.81
As a teacher, Marpurg favors the harpsichord:
The harpsichord is preferable to the clavichord because its tone does not
die away so quickly, and thus one may hear more clearly whether or not the
pupil lifts his fingers promptly upon expiration [release] of the note values.
Consequently one may caution him against the sticky manner of playing. 82
C. P. E Bach and Trk both support the idea of playing multiple keyboard instruments. Bach feels that a good keyboardist should play pieces
interchangeably on a minimum of two instruments. He briefly expounds upon
the virtues of playing both the harpsichord and the clavichord:
Every keyboardist should own a good harpsichord and a good clavichord to
enable him to play all things interchangeably. A good clavichordist makes an
accomplished harpsichordist, but not the reverse. The clavichord is needed for
the study of good performance, and the harpsichord to develop proper finger
strength. Those who play the clavichord exclusively encounter many difficulties when they turn to the harpsichord. In an ensemble where a harpsichord
must be used rather than the soft-toned clavichord, they will play laboriously;
and great exertion never produces the proper keyboard effect. The clavichord-
68
69
It is probably an indisputable fact . . . that a clavichord is better than a harpsichord or a pianoforte for the beginner. Because anyone who learns from
one of the latter instruments will never be as refined in playing and in expression as a person who receives beginning instruction on the clavichord. 85
3
Articulation
What Is Articulation?
Articulation is a cornerstone of many standard courses about Baroque performance practice. It is often taught in conjunction with the principles of
rhetoric,1 phrasing, rhythm, and overall expression, with special emphasis on
how these topics are based on historical sources. Until my first official harpsichord lesson in the early 1990s, I had never heard articulation mentioned
in relation to music, only applied to speech. In particular, I had understood
articulation simply as a way to speak clearly so that our words will be heard
and understood.
Rhetoric takes its name from the Greek word rhtr, an orator or teacher.
It is generally understood to be the art of communicating effectively and
convincingly by finding all available means of persuasion in a given situation. Music abounds with rhetorical elements. Instrumental music mirrors
spoken language, and is full of grammatically governed phrases, sentences,
pauses, and punctuation marks. Rameau says in his Dissertation, Music has
its phrases, just as discourse has its sentences, and each phrase or sentence
has its particular texture.2 Similarly, Trk writes:
Just as the words: He lost his life not only his fortune can have an entirely
different meaning according to the way they are punctuated (He lost his life,
not only his fortune; or, he lost his life not, only his fortune), in the same
way the execution of a musical thought can be made unclear or even wrong
through incorrect punctuation. Thus, if a keyboard player, other than at the
end of a musical period, does not join the tones together well and conse70
Articulation
71
quently divides a thought where it should not be divided, then he makes the
same mistakes that an orator would if the latter would pause in the middle
of a word and take a breath. . . . If a musician would play through a point
of rest in the music without breaking the continuityin one breath as it
werethis would be as faulty and contrary to purpose as if, while reading,
one would read beyond the point where a phrase or a sentence ends without
interruption.3
To arouse the listener effectively requires (among other things) good articulation. Not only is articulation the art of speaking or playing clearly so that
everything is heard and understood; it also involves an understanding and
interpretation of the hierarchy imbedded within the musical language. In the
historical context of the period, this musical architecture is governed by strong
and weak beats, rhythmic variation, dissonant and consonant harmonies,
tempo, intervallic steps or leaps, melodic direction, character, social context,
and so on. All musicians, instrumentalists and singers alike, make use of
articulation. In the field of Early Music, Renaissance and Baroque music in
particular, articulation is emphasized frequently, both in modern circles and
in early treatises, including method books for wind instruments, in which the
musician is taught to use a variety of tongued syllables.5
Articulation is at the core of expressive harpsichord playing; it governs
the production of legato, staccato, and everything in between. There is a direct
correlation between technique and articulation. The more that harpsichordists develop a douceur du toucher, the more they will be able to produce a wide
range of appropriate articulations. Articulation on the harpsichord involves
a light and unrestrained finger motion that affects the amount of time given
both to the notes and to the silences between the notes through carefully
directed beginnings and releases of note lengths.
72
Forkel asks, If all the players are equally competent, ought not their
performances to be uniform? He answers:
The fact that they are not so is due to difference of touch, a quality which to
the clavier stands as enunciation to human speech. Distinctness is essential
for the enunciation of vowels and consonants, and not less so for the articulation of a musical phrase.6
Of course, the general character of a piece must always govern how one
plays. Too much or too long an over-legato that does not adjust to considerations of tempo, phrasing, acoustics, and the feel of the instrument may
produce a poor tone and unpleasing performance.
Articulation
73
Bach lists the elements of a good performance, which include the loudness and softness of tones, the touch . . . legato and staccato execution.10 He
elucidates:
Good performance, then, occurs when one hears all notes and their embellishments played in correct time with fitting volume produced by a touch
which is related to the true content of a piece. Herein lies the rounded, pure,
flowing manner of playing which makes for a clarity and expressiveness.
With these points in mind, however, it is urgent that the performer test
his instrument in advance to avoid too heavy or too light an attack. Many
instruments do not produce a perfect, pure tone unless a strong touch is
employed; others must be played lightly or the volume will be excessive. I
encourage a more musical way of portraying rage, anger, and other passions
by means of harmonic and melodic devices rather than by an exaggerated,
heavy attack. In rapid passages every tone must be played with a fitting pressure or the effect will be turgid and chaotic.11
Bach encountered technicians who were nimble keyboardists by profession who overwhelm our hearing without satisfying it and stun the mind
without moving it.12 Clearly he advocates performances that combine both
technique and musicianship.
Lhlein, who like other late eighteenth-century writers does not deem
harpsichord the instrument of choice, also discusses the need for performers to incorporate different types of touch into their playing. He encourages
keyboardists to emulate various effects on the harpsichord, such as using slurs
to represent string instruments:
With regard to expression, the keyboard is not as perfect as bowed or wind
instruments. Nevertheless, a group of notes may be played in different ways,
and we may imitate various types of bowing [by varying the articulations].13
74
Articulation
75
76
Despite such statements about heavy and light touches as they pertain
to national styles, elsewhere Trk gives a much more detailed description
of different types of pieces. In the following paragraph he presents himself
with more integrity and an open-mindedness that crosses national lines:
Compositions of an exalted, serious, solemn, pathetic character, and similar
character must be given a heavy execution with fullness and force, strongly
accented and the like. To these types of compositions belong those which are
headed grave, pomposo, patetico, maestoso, sostenuto, and the like. A somewhat
lighter and markedly softer execution is required by compositions of a pleasant, gentle, agreeable character, consequently those which are customarily
marked compiacevole, con dolcezza, glissicato, lusingando, pastorale, and the like.
Compositions in which lively, humorous, and joyous feelings are predominant, for example, allegro scherzando, burlesco, giocoso, con allegrezza, risvegliato, etc., must be played quite lightly, whereas melancholy and similar affects
particularly call for the slurring of tones and portato. Compositions of the
latter type are designated by the words con afflizzione, con amarezza, doloroso,
lagrimoso, languido, mesto, etc. . . . It is understood that in all of the aforementioned cases, various degrees of heavy or light execution must be applied.23
Articulation
77
Ordinary Manner
Both Marpurg and Trk describe a specific manner of playing the keyboard
as ordentliche or gewhnliche.27 This manner of playing has been the subject of
much inquiry. If there is an ordinary way of touching the keys, some basic way
of articulating that is neither connected nor detached, the topic raises many
questions: What is it, exactly? When should it be used? Is it truly intended as
some kind of default when nothing else is marked? Is this the touch we should
first teach beginners? At what point do the fingers alternate their motions
and release from one note to the next so that the movement is not considered
more of a legato or staccato touch? What factors tell us when to apply it? Does
it change depending on when and where the piece was written? Are we able
to be precise about how to play in this manner?
At the end of the sixteenth century, Diruta demands clear articulation:
Remember that the fingers clearly articulate the keys so that one does not
press another key until the finger rises from the previous one. One raises and
lowers the fingers at exactly the same time. I warn you not to lift the fingers
too high over the keyboard and, above all, to hold the hand easily in a ready
manner.28
Nassarres eighteenth-century Spanish organ treatise describes something similar to this manner of playing, which is neither connected nor de
tached:
Others go to another extreme, which is to not give enough movement to the
fingers; for to depress one key, they do not lift the one they depressed before,
and the sounds overlap. One must avoid these two extremes, for they are
undesirable and of no small consequence, and one should adjust the timing
in such a manner that the sounds follow one another distinctly and with
clarity, neither delaying nor overlapping, so that there is no confusion. 29
78
He adds:
Contrary to the legato and staccato is the ordinary manner of playing, which
consists in lifting the finger nimbly from the previous key just before the
next note is played. Because this ordinary manner of playing is always implied, it is never marked.31
Trk writes: For tones which are to be played in customary fashion (that
is, neither detached nor slurred) the finger is lifted a little earlier from the key
than is required by the duration of the note. This is not staccato, either. The
silences are barely audible. He goes on to say, Each note should be heard with
its requisite strength, roundly and distinctly separated from the others. He
describes the correct connection and separation of musical phrases and criti-
Articulation
79
cizes those who do not connect the notes together sufficiently. Trk dislikes
extremes of touch because they obscure a clear manner of performance. He
does not specify when to use the ordinary manner.36
Without instruction to play in a specific manner, Rellstab favors the
rule of the middle road (die Mittlestrasse).37 Similarly, Merbach warns against
extremes of touch that are too sticky or too light. He complains about beginners who tend to leave all five fingers on the keyboard at once, depressing all
the keys in an inappropriate overlapping manner. He encourages students to
find a happy medium. The finger should be lifted immediately after touching
the key for its complete note value.38
Adolph Friedrich Petschke criticizes Merbach for his immediate lifting
of the fingers, remarking that it is not always required:
[When playing] a sustained note, the finger must remain on the key for a
long time. It must remain on the key for the exact value and length of the
note, unless dots or dashes signify that the notes are to be played otherwise.39
80
Legato
My staccato is always legato.
Wanda Landowska, quoted in
Harich-Schneider, The Harpsichord
Articulation
81
82
Example 3.1. Minuet by Rameau, mm. 13, from Miller, Institutes, 28.
or the actual sounding of a note. We face the same confusion with Rameau,
from whom Duphly copies the first sentence verbatim. Rameaus preface says
that the fingers should drop onto the keys (i.e., the point at which the quill
touches the string) and glide in succession from one note to the next, raising
and lowering the successive notes simultaneously.48
In general, it appears that Rameau is an enthusiast of legato playing.
Specifically, he elaborates on this technique in his Dissertation, which focuses on the art of playing from figured bass. He connects notes by holding one or more common tones from chord to chord. Although it is highly
doubtful that he intends all continuo parts to be played legato, at the very
least he is a proponent of good voice leading and keeping the hand still to
avoid choppy playing which occurs when it jumps around the keyboard. In
his preface, he indicates his familiarity with techniques taught by others in
the Parisian circle, such as Denis, Saint-Lambert, and Couperin, all of whom
discuss legato in their writings. Rameaus comments in Trait de lharmonie
are somewhat conservative in regard to use of the thumb, but there he writes
in the context of playing from figured bass, not solo playing.49 In the preface
he advocates using the thumb as an equal, active finger, especially for solo
playing.
In Institutes, Miller observes that the best masters recommend legato
as the most appropriate touch for the harpsichord. He gives fingerings that
promote a smooth, equal, and connected manner.50 Among his practice
pieces, which are intended to teach different types of articulation, is a minuet
by Rameau (example 3.1), for which Miller adds very long slurs that span three
measures. He notes, As far as the curved lines go, you take such fingers as
naturally lie over the keys.51
Among his many finger exercises are ones for learning different types of
articulation. In example 3.2, he puts slurs over groups of notes, most of them
in pairs, for the purpose of practicing legato.
Articulation
83
Example 3.2. Aria for producing legato, mm.14, from Miller, Institutes, 51.
84
Example 3.3. Couperin, Lart de toucher le clavecin, Agrments qui servent au jeu.
For tones which are to be slurred, the finger should be allowed to remain on
the key until the duration of the given note is completely past, so that not the
slightest separation results.57
For slurred notes, G. F. Wolf explains that one finger is not raised until
the next one is played. He calls this klebricht Spielart (notes held beyond their
value).58 Franz Paul Rigler, in his Anleitung zum Gesange (1798), also writes
about connecting notes as much as possible in slurred passages; specifically,
the keyboardist should hold the first note until the second one has been
sounded.59
Johann Peter Milchmeyer, in his treatise Die wahre Art das Pianoforte zu
spielen (1797), points out that holding notes beyond their written value does
not always apply to every note in a passage:
The legato style of playing . . . requires a smooth and languishing approach.
. . . However good or bad sounding they may be, such passages as contain
only the true notes of the chord are enhanced by this manner of playing. . . .
This method of playing requires that the fingers may remain a little longer
on various notes; moreover, the notes, provided that they remain in one
position, are played without moving the hand or arm. 60
Although his treatise is about playing the piano, his words are appropriate for holding certain notes down when playing chords and arpeggiated
harmonies on the harpsichord, such as in the French unmeasured preludes.
In these preludes, the earliest of which were written entirely in whole notes,
different types of curved lines (liaisons) appear in the score. Some of these lines
are ties; others are slurs over groups of notes both large and small. All of these
slur markings inform the performer about which notes to sustain or overlap,
allowing the other notes to be played in passing. Those that are held create
the fundamental harmonies, while those that are released constitute fanciful,
Articulation
85
Couperin is among the first to notate and to discuss the use of finger
substitution as a means to a sustained manner of playing.62 He remarks about
his use of the technique in his piece La Milordine, Notice what connection the
changing of fingers lends to playing! However, people tell me that this requires
more agility than the traditional manner. I agree.63 Couperin illustrates finger
substitution through exercises, such as is seen in example 3.3. He explains this
technique:
The two numerals over the same note mark the change from one finger to
the other, except that when the higher number is played first, one must
ascend at once, and when the lower is played first, on the contrary, descend.64
His affinity for this technique is evident in the fact that his very first prelude
is devoted to it.65 It is a technique that can (and should) be used in many of
his pieces for solo harpsichord. Notice in example 3.4 how he uses finger substitution in both hands on notes of differing time values and for notes with
and without ornaments.
86
Hartong (writing more for piano, where pedaling helps facilitate legato) prefers the finger slide to finger substitution, specifically when moving from an
accidental to a diatonic key:
In those keys [tonalities] in which I would have to overreach from a black
[raised] key to a neighboring white one, I prefer in these cases to spring
down with the finger that I have on the black key, snapping down to the
white key.68
Articulation
87
played. Given the quick decay of sound when a string is plucked on the harpsichord, mastering the fine art of legato playing is among the essential tools
needed to sustain tones and to create lush sonorities.
Slurs
Slurs indicate that notes belong together in some kind of grouping. They
usually suggest a connected style of playing, but they do not tell us exactly how
joined the notes in question should be played. In early seventeenth-century
keyboard repertory, slurs are sometimes intended to imitate string instruments. One such example is found in the first two volumes of Samuel Scheidts
Tabulatura nova (1624), where slurs are placed over several groups of sixteenth
notes. The score is marked Imitatio violistica:
Where the notes, like here, are tied together, it signifies a special manner
similar to the violinists slurring with the bow. This manner is often used
by celebrated German violinists, and it is also possible to use it on lightactioned organs, regals, harpsichords, and spinets, where it produces a
pleasant sound. For this reason I became very fond of this manner and
grew used to it.70
Most often, however, discussions of slurred passages and their execution are
less about special effects and more about general technique. Several treatises
give examples of slurred notes, differentiating between adjacent notes and
notes that constitute a broken chord.
Rameau tells us, A slur that embraces two different notes . . . indicates
that the finger must not be raised from the first note until after the second
note has been played. 71 How long these notes should be overlapped is not
clear from his description or from the example he provides in his table of ornaments. What we may infer is that there is a definite legato, especially when
we contrast this statement with the one in the preface, where he describes a
general finger technique in which the raising of one finger and depressing of
a key by another must be carried out at the same time.72 At the same time
conveys a simultaneous touch applicable to a non-legato, whereas until after
the second note has been played denotes overlapping.
Marpurgs definition of a slur is similar to Rameaus: A slur over two
different notes signifies that the notes are to be connected. To connect them
means that the fingers are not raised from the previous note until the next
finger has played the following note. 73
88
Example 3.5. C. P. E. Bach, Versuch (1787 ed.), slurred notes, fig. 168.
C. P. E. Bach explains how to play his examples in which two and three
notes are connected by a slur:
Notes that are to be played legato must be held for their full value. . . . The
slur applies to all of the notes included under its trace. Patterns of two and
four slurred notes are played with a slight, scarcely noticeable increase of
pressure on the first and third tones. The same applies to the first tones of
groups of three notes. In other cases only the first of the slurred notes is
played in this manner. It is a convenient custom to indicate by appropriate
marks on the first few of prolonged successions of detached or legato notes, it
being self-evident that all of the tones are to be played similarly until another
kind of mark intervenes.74
Clearly, Bachs use of the word pressure indicates that he is referring to either
piano or clavichord. Nonetheless, his lesson may be applied to how we interpret and perform slurred notes on the harpsichord: not by exerting more
pressure, obviously, but by lengthening and overlapping certain notes more
than others to create a hierarchy of important notes. Bach demonstrates in
example 3.5 how to prolong note values when three notes of a chord are embraced by a slur.
In situations like these, Trk tells us when to release the fingers from
the notes being held:
When there is a curved line over harmonies that are to be slowly arpeggiated
. . . especially in compositions of agreeable character, and the like, to let the
fingers remain on the keys until the appearance of the next harmony.75
He then provides assorted examples that show how long to hold slurred notes
in different contexts, depending on the tempo or character of a piece.76
Rameau says, A slur that embraces many notes indicates that one must
hold them all down from one end of the slur to the other.77 Example 3.6 shows
how Rameau wants the notes under a liaison to be held. Saint-Lambert also
gives examples of groups of slurred notes that are part of a broken chord, such
as those in example 3.7.
Articulation
89
90
Arpeggios
Tones decay quite rapidly on the harpsichord; how fast the sound decays differs from one instrument to the next. Although it is a keyboard instrument,
its plucking mechanism is more akin to that of a harp or a lute. Because of
this attribute, harpsichordists are forever faced with the need for expressive
moulding of a continuum of sound.80 One of the principal ways to sustain the
sound on a harpsichord is through arpeggiation: when the notes of a chord
are played in broken succession rather than simultaneously. An arpeggio may
be written out as individual notes, or it may be indicated by a sign, such as a
wavy or curved line running vertically alongside a chord. It may be played in
numerous directions, depending on the number of notes: upward, downward,
and in a mixed direction (style bris), etc. Not only may an arpeggio prolong
harmonies, but the manner in which it is performed may produce infinite
contrasts in character and affect the expressive shaping and drama.
One of the earliest sources to mention the need to sustain the sound on a
harpsichord is Diruta in Il Transilvano. In a paragraph discussing the differences between organ and harpsichord technique, he tells us:
Articulation
91
The same effect that one derives from the organ, that of sustaining sound,
should be employed on a quilled instrument; for example, when a breve or
semi-breve is played on an organ, one hears the entire sound without again
pressing the key, but when playing the quilled instrument for the same note
duration one loses half the sound. One must, then, with the vivacity and
dexterity of the hand, make up for the lack of sound by playing the notes
often and gracefully. 81
92
the D-minor chord note by note, altering the speed at which the arpeggio
is played, lingering on some notes more than others, and even adding some
acciaccaturas (the momentary application of nonharmonic, melodic passing
notes within an arpeggiated figure).84
French keyboard tradition also makes use of passing nonharmonic tones.
This is sometimes notated (e.g., in DAnglebert) as a slash (/ or \) between the
notes of a chord or a vertical slur to signify either an upward or downward
motion, often called a slide. The most common of these slides fills in the
harmonic interval of a third and signals the harpsichordist to sustain the main
notes while playing a passing note in between them. The slide is often called
a coul or tierce coul or coul sur tierce.85
Much may be learned about arpeggiating from the music of other plucked
instruments, especially those in the lute family. Perrines Pices de luth en
musique (1680), written in keyboard notation, provides instructions for performing the arpeggio. Reviewing lute pieces with written-out sections in the
style bris (broken style) is valuable to the harpsichordist who seeks creative
ways to break up a chord, so as not to leave the instrument empty and to
mould the continuum of sound. The style bris is found in many early lute
manuscripts, such as in Kapspergers arpeggiated toccatas (Rome, 1604) or
the doubles of courantes in Robert Ballards lute books (1611 and 1614), and it
eventually became a distinctive feature of French lute playing. It serves to give
expressive shape and nuance to an otherwise ordinary harmonic progression.
It also sustains the vibration of the strings and prolongs their harmony. With
its foundations in lute repertory and lute performance of the late Renaissance
and early Baroque, style bris soon found its way into solo harpsichord performance. Some of the earliest appearances of this broken style appear in the
allemandes of Chambonnires. Chords written out in this style continue to
be seen in compositions throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
including the cadential passages of courantes and other movements of the
harpsichord suites by such composers as Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer.
There is much to be learned about inventive arpeggiation from the French
unmeasured preludes written for solo harpsichord; in particular, the later
preludes, such as those by DAnglebert, include black notes of varying notelengths and reveal which notes to play as passing melodic notes and which to
sustain as fundamental harmonies.
For arpeggiation to sound effective, the fingers must never stiffen. Slow
practice is useful in learning to shift the position of the hand as it is guided
by the fingers with a graceful, gradual motion. It is most important to keep
Articulation
93
all the fingers relaxed and near each other in a natural manner, without force.
If the music calls for the finger to linger on one note, the whole hand should
linger there without leaving some fingers outstretched as though they were
preparing to play other notes. That only causes unnecessary tension in the
hand and fingers.86
Staggered Playing
Another expressive device on the harpsichord is staggered playing: when
two notes that are written as simultaneous are played at different times, with
the upper note slightly delayed with respect to the lower one (sometimes the
reverse). It is related to the arpeggio in the sense that the notes of a given
harmony are not played at the same time. I have also heard it called fringing, because the upper part is played a little outside of the beat, i.e., on the
fringe. The Englishman Roger North uses the word in this context as well
when he says that this manner of playing doth not corrupt but rather fringes
the tone.87 It also resembles the French agrment called the suspension. Staggered playing needs at least two notes written in harmony on the same beat.
Delaying a note so it is not exactly together with those notated on the same
beat is often a useful tool in ascending passages when the final top note is
reached. The slight postponement of the upper note reminds me of the sensation I sometimes get at the top of a hill or a roller coaster. It may also feel like
a small but highly emotive, musical sigh.
Both Duphly and Antoine Forqueray provide written instructions on
where and how to apply staggered playing. In Duphlys piece Les Grces he
places dots above the notes with instructions at the top of the page: Dots
above the bass mean that they should be played before the upper part. In
Forquerays pieces La Sylva, La Lon, and La DAubonne, he puts little crosses
(+) above some notes with these directions:
This piece must be played with a great deal of taste and feeling. To convey
this I have marked little crosses which signify that the chords of the bass are
played before those of the treble; and for all those [chords] where [crosses]
are not found, the treble is played before the bass. 88
Pierre-Claude Foucquet is another proponent of staggered playing. His instructions are more general, however, and without specific notation. Foucquet prefaces his second book of harpsichord pieces with this remark: In
all pieces that are graceful or tender, one must play the bass note before that
94
of the upper part, without changing the meter [i.e., without using tempo
rubato].89
Henry Purcell notates staggered playing in the Almand from his harpsichord Suite in A Minor, mm. 1516, in which he delays the downbeat of the
top line by a sixteenth note while the bass line plays on the beat. This is an
example of a written-out fringing technique.
Staggered playing is an extremely effective tool on the harpsichord for
bringing out certain notes and being expressive. It tends to work better in
slower pieces, but it is left up to the discretion of the player to determine where
to apply it. If overused or performed distastefully, it may sound sloppy, as if
the keyboardist were unable to play notes at the same time. Just how long the
performer waits to play the delayed note is a matter of artistic choice and, to
use the familiar French expression, of bon got: good taste.
Articulation
95
96
Articulation
97
that they dont suit the piece, and add others according to his preference. He
may even, if he so desires, disregard all those that I have taught here (excepting only the essential ones) and compose new ones according to his own
taste, if he believes himself capable of inventing ones that are more beautiful. But he must be careful not to be too liberal in this area, especially in the
beginning, for fear of ruining what he hopes to embellish by trying to be
too refined too soon. This is because it is both good and necessary to follow
others ornaments from the beginning, and to perform them only in those
places where they are marked in the pieces, until one is advanced enough to
discern that other ornaments would not be bad there. The student must be
convinced, no matter how good his taste is for the harpsichord, that if he has
only had six months of practice, he cannot tell what makes playing elegant
as easily as those who have been in this profession for twenty or thirty years
and who through this long experience have acquired a surer knowledge of
what can beautify their art. Therefore, if the reader believes me, he will followthe ornaments that I teach in this book and that I propose with all the
more freedom, since I have little personal interest in their being followed,
as there are very few of my own; all the rest come from the most famous
masters that our century has produced, which alone is sufficient to give them
authority.101
Trills are mentioned in nearly all the treatises that discuss ornaments.
Diruta recommends in Il Transilvano that the keyboardist embellish music
with tremoli [trills] and lovely accenti.102 Specifically, he prescribes these
embellishments for harpsichord, not organ, as a means to sustain harmonies
and perpetuate the sounds from the quickly decaying vibrations of strings.
Trills add shimmer, and like an arpeggio, they prolong a harmony. Finger
technique, touch, and the speed at which a trill is played all help to create
expressive nuance and dynamic contrast. For example, by starting slower,
speeding up in the middle, and slowing down again at the end of a trill, a
crescendo-diminuendo is produced (<>). Some keyboardists tend to play trills
as if they were pasted hastily onto the page. Worse, they play every trill (even
every ornament) in the same manner, regardless of its musical context. C. P. E.
Bach discusses the challenge of playing trills:
Trills are the most difficult embellishments, and not all performers are
successful with them. They must be practiced industriously from the start.
Above all, the finger strokes must be uniform and rapid. A rapid trill is
always preferable to a slow one. In sad pieces the trill may be broadened
slightly, but elsewhere its rapidity contributes much to a melody. . . . Never
advance the speed of a trill beyond that pace at which it may be played
98
Articulation
99
Those who fancy themselves as great experts of the vocal art would not for
anything in the world omit that preparation of the trill [he refers here to
whether or not to include the appuy, the prepared or supported trill] . . . as
if it were of its essence, even in the case of the shortest trills. They consider
it a crime to do otherwise and thereby render the performance dull and
monotonous without realizing that the most universal rules have exceptions,
which often produce more pleasing results than the rules themselves.105
Cantabile
Several texts of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries encourage keyboardists to study voice and other instruments. Not only is this advisable in
order to learn the art of phrasing, breathing, and cantabile playing, but because
it enables players to make even greater progress at the keyboard107 and leads
[instrumentalists] more deeply into the meaning of the music.108
Most keyboardists are familiar with the Italian term cantabile. We usually think of it as meaning a singing style or that which may be sung. Gioseffo Zarlino explained in his Le istitutioni harmoniche (1558) that the parts
[sections] of the song are singable; that is to say, they lend themselves well to
being sung.109 Over a century and a half later, Johann Gottfried Walthers
Lexicon describes cantabile in a similar way: When a composition, whether
for voices or instruments, is composed so that every voice or part is singable
or each one contains its own melody. Kochs Lexikon includes the terms
usage as an autonomous tempo marking for a fairly unhurried speed, but
surely this is not representative of the majority of pieces containing the Italian marking.
Given the fact that Domenico Scarlatti gives a musical instruction for
each of his harpsichord sonatas, it is clear he envisioned a tempo and mood for
each.110 The majority of his keyboard sonatas are marked allegro, allegrissimo,
100
or presto, but a handful of them are marked cantabile. When cantabile appears,
it is usually written together with another marking, such as andante, andantino, or moderato. Only a few are marked cantabile by itself. Some of these
cantabile (or cantabile andante, etc.) sonatas seem singable, but others do not.
In general, they seem more lyrical and flowing than many of his faster, more
virtuosic sonatas. Some, but not all, of the sonatas marked cantabile feel songlike. Moreover, some resemble sonatas marked andante or moderato, leaving us
to question what he means when he actually calls for cantabile.
J. S. Bach rarely, if ever, mentions a type of articulation, yet cantabile appears on the title page of the fair copy of his Inventions and Sinfonias (1723):
Upright instruction wherein the lovers of the keyboard, and especially those
desirous of learning, are shown a clear way . . . above all to arrive at a singing
style of playing.111
In his Livre dorgue I, Nivers says, One must consult the method of
singing, for it is in this way that the organ learns how to imitate the voice.112
Singers need to breathe in appropriate moments that coincide with musical
and textual phrases. They also must convey words clearly and effectively. In
addition, they should strive to produce a beautiful tone and a lyricism that is
full of different dynamics. By learning to sing or by observing singers, keyboardists can emulate these vocal skills when playing the harpsichord. Thus I
suggest that the term cantabile is a reminder to think lyrically and rhetorically
like a singer who conveys text through music.
C. P. E. Bach writes: The whole approach to performance will be greatly
aided and simplified by the supplementary study of voice and by listening to
good singers.113 He adds:
The keyboardist will learn to think in terms of song. Indeed, it is a good
practice to sing instrumental melodies in order to reach an understanding
of their correct performance. This way of learning is of far greater value
than the reading of voluminous tomes or listening to learned discourses.114
Most of the early sources do not specify what type of articulation should
correspond with cantabile playing. Manfredini is one of the first writers in
Italy to describe legato within the context of a cantabile style of playing. In his
section Del portamento della mano, he discusses a singing style and its
difficulty to achieve on the harpsichord. To do so, he teaches that a harpsichordist should not release a key until the next one is played. He insists that
his method is to be followed ma quasi sempre (almost always).115
Articulation
101
Although we find only a few writers equating cantabile with a legato style,
it is important not to associate legato solely with stile cantabile. What is important is for keyboardists to think vocally and lyrically as they play; they
should be encouraged to sing the music in their heads while playing. It is also
helpful to sing the music aloud when practicing, remembering to breathe at
necessary and musical moments.116 Last, when working on a piece and trying
to figure out what one wants to say with the music, one can make up a text
for it and dramatize it like an actor.
Detached Playing
We know from previously mentioned sources that all styles of articulation,
ranging from detached to connected, are indeed a part of musical performances of the Baroque period. Certain performers leaned more toward one
end of the spectrum. In this section, I include what some writers have to say
about the detached style of playing. Some of these observations are positive;
others are more critical.
In a letter to his parents, Franz Schubert criticizes the accursed chopping in which even distinguished pianoforte players indulge, and which delights neither the ear nor the mind.117 Although this does not mean that late
eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century trends favored a detached style, it
suggests that he observed performances that he disliked because of keyboardists choppy playing. This manner, choppy as it may have been, was likely the
result of a transitional period in which the early piano was emerging. With the
harpsichord still in fashion, keyboardists may have been adapting harpsichord
technique to the piano. In addition, the sustaining power of the fortepiano
was still in its early stages of development.
Mozarts performances were remembered by his successors for his detached style. Czerny, who could only have acquired such information through
Beethoven, describes Mozarts distinct and considerably brilliant manner of
playing, which was calculated rather on the staccato than on the legato.
Then [Beethoven] . . . called my attention to the legato which he himself
controlled to such an incomparable degree, and which at that time all other
pianists regarded as impossible of execution on the fortepiano, for even after
Mozarts day, the choppy, short detached manner of playing was the fashion.
In the latter years, Beethoven himself told me that he had heard Mozart
play on various occasions, and that Mozart, since at that time the invention
102
For seven years in Dorset, England, Muzio Clementi studied the works
of J. S. and C. P. E. Bach, Handel, and D. Scarlatti. Records show that he
practiced during this period only on a harpsichord, not a piano.119 The young
Mozart, in a letter to his father (1782), criticizes Clementi, whom he says is a
mere mechanic.120 Looking over Clementi sonatas, Mozart advised that his
sister should not practice his kind of music too much . . . so that she would
not spoil her quiet, even touch, and so that her hand would not lose its natural lightness, flexibility, and smooth rapidity.121 He added that Clementis
music produces an atrocious chopping effect. It is unclear whether Mozart
was criticizing Clementis compositions, his keyboard technique, or both.
Regardless, it seems that over time Clementi developed a rounder, smoother
way of playing. This may have been a direct result of technical maturity in
conjunction with the development of the English fortepiano. Some material
also points to Clementi having been inspired by listening to well known singers of the time.122 Clementi writes, The best general rule is to keep down the
keys of the instrument the full length of every note. He adds:
When the composer leaves the legato and staccato to the performers taste,
the best use is to adhere chiefly to the legato, reserving the staccato to give
spirit occasionally to certain passages, and to set off the higher beauties of
the legato.123
Articulation
103
mance very thin and dry . . . a fault which speaks sufficiently for itself.126
In addition to this comment being highly subjective, it is inconsistent with
evidence from the sources, such as finger patterns found in manuscripts, that
suggest the opposite trend in detached or legato playing styles.
G. F. Wolf writes, In todays style of brilliant playing, the dtach [das
Abstossen] is very common; in Allegro the runs are all played detached, if
not expressly forbidden by the slur, as often happens.127 Although he writes
more about the clavichord, it is nonetheless interesting to read what he says
on producing a dtach:
One strikes the key with a stiff finger (as when playing a syncopation), and
then immediately draws the finger back towards the player so that it slides
off the front, and the key quickly springs back up. The tone, when thus
struck on good clavichords, sounds rather as if the consonants tnt! were
sounding along with it; this tnt! has a better effect than the tt one gets
when the finger releases the key without the slide-off.128
Example 3.10 is taken from Couperins Sixime Ordre, in which his fingering patterns (especially in the second of the two measures) suggest articulations in a detached style.
Last, I include a lengthy selection from Le Galloiss Lettre, in which he
compares jeu coulant (flowing playing) with the brilliant style, attacking
players for being too careless and for playing without much soul.
But when one observes closely, one finds that their trills are often too hurried, and as a consequence too abrupt, being produced by too much passion.
Because they are unequally played and poorly sustained, which deprives the
ornament of that which is most beautiful in playing; for there is nothing
which embellishes it more, nor that can make it appear beneficial than to
execute [it] equally and to sustain well. Those [keyboardists] who have a
104
It is clear from these early sources that not every keyboardist in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was capable of effectively producing a detached articulation at the harpsichord. Some applied it too liberally, while
others possessed poor technique. Deciding where to detach notes is only the
first step in the process of articulating music. The more challenging part is
calculating how much to detach notes. In addition to the finger technique
necessary to achieve a high level of playing with these varying degrees of
separation between notes, mental preparedness is requiredthat is to say,
when one wants to emphasize a note by articulating it, one has to release the
note prior to it. How quickly or slowly the finger releases from the preceding
key affects the tone of the following key. Again, I reiterate the importance of
close, constant contact between finger and key. Fingers that fly up and point
in different directions cannot have much control over detailed nuances of
articulation.
Silences
Various sources list silence as a part of certain ornaments. To Couperin, inserting the aspiration and the suspension give soul (lme) to the harpsichord:
Each note on the harpsichord has been fixed, and thus cannot be swelled or
diminished. It has seemed nearly untenable, up until now, for anyone to give
soul to this instrument. . . . The expressive effect that I propose makes its
effect in the cessation and suspension of the notes, made appropriately and
according to the character of the melodies of preludes and pieces. These two
Articulation
105
Example 3.11. Example 14. Couperin, Premier livre de pices de clavecin (1713),
Explication des agrments, et des signes: Aspiration et Suspension.
ornaments [the aspiration and the suspension], by their contrast, leave the
ear in suspense, so that on the occasions where bowed instruments make a
crescendo on their notes, the suspension of [the notes] of the harpsichord, by
a contrary effect, seems to make the ear hear what it expects.131
Couperins aspiration shortens the value of a note and thus creates a silence
after it. The suspension delays the initial sounding of a note, thus inserting a
brief silence before it. He tells us that when playing the aspiration, it is necessary to detach the note over which it is placed, less quickly in tender and slow
pieces than in those which are light and fast.132 As for the suspension, he says,
It is rarely used except in slow and tender pieces. The silence before the note
over which it is placed must be regulated by the taste of the performer.133
Both he and Rameau include examples of these agrments in their tables of
ornaments, first as they are notated, followed by an explanation of how they
should be played, as seen in example 3.11 and 3.12.
Saint-Lambert also has an ornament he calls aspiration, but it is not
the same as Couperins, having nothing to do with silence.134 However, SaintLambert does illustrate the dtach, which he attributes to DAnglebert and
106
In the late 1700s, Marie-Dominique-Joseph Engramelle invented the tonotechnie, a machine designed to preserve and repeat performances by setting
pins on a cylinder of a mechanical instrument. Through his recording experiments, he noticed that on keyboard instruments a finger that had just released from a note was often lifted long before being placed on the next and
that this method was vital for producing short rests, which he called silences
darticulation between the notes. He felt that no note was exempt from the
silence darticulation. Engramelles work was expanded by Franois Bdos de
Celles (known also as Dom Bdos), who claimed that it was a manner of conceiving music entirely different from the one taught in all the treatises upon
the art. Dom Bdos says that the treatises failed to take into consideration
the combination of silences, held, and touched notes.137
The musical examples above demonstrate how silence is notated as a type
of ornament for expressive purposes. The absence of sound (and the shortening or delaying of a note) is not only ornamental; it has many functions in
expressive playing. How we use silence at the harpsichord is analogous to how
we pause in speech or how dancers hold their bodies motionless between different gestures. As in the spoken word, in music we insert silences to breathe
and for dramatic expression. Pauses before and after notes are as much a part
of our musical delivery and declamation as are the melody, harmony, and
lengths of notes.
The spaces between notes, notated or not, function in multiple ways. No
matter how large or small the rest, a silence is used to clarify and to accentuate notes that follow and to separate ideas. The music does not stop during
rests; it allows for a previous musical thought to sink in, as it were, allowing
the listener to reflect upon an idea. Rests may also be pregnant with musical
and dramatic expectation.
Articulation
107
Agogic Accents
In Kochs Lexicon we read the definition of an accent: The finger remains
on an accented note of this type for a moment longer than its notated duration requires.139 One of the many ways to emphasize a note or chord on the
harpsichord is to give it an agogic accent, applicable for both solo and continuo
playing.140 It involves three parts: (1) the shortening of the previous note (or
chord) to create a silence before the note in question, (2) a slight delay of the
note in question, and (3) the slight lengthening of that note.
According to Trk, agogic accents are a natural way of playing, similar to
a speaker accentuating important words or syllables by giving a slight pause
or glottal sound before them, in addition to lingering on the first part of the
word. In music, where to place an agogic accent is dependent on the importance of the note, the harmony, and the duration of the note and its relation
to the remainder of the passage.141
Agogic accents may be applied liberally and generously, even when they are
not specifically notated (such as with wedge marks). But in order for them to
be musically successful, they must be implemented tastefully, which requires
diversified degrees of inflection and emphasis, depending on the context and
character of the piece. The release of the previous note and the placement of
108
the accented note (or chord) will change in each situation. An agogic accent
in speech accentuates certain words or syllables that have special meaning or
significance. Sometimes it is a word (or note) that is repeated multiple times.
Stating them the same every time would produce a dull execution. The author
or composer reiterates ideas to affect the listener emotionally. Accentuating
each utterance with an increasing level of emphasis, such as through agogic
accents, is one way of dramatizing the expression. Likewise, in painting, the
artist highlights parts of a picture so that the spectators eye will notice those
particular areas. In a musical setting, where, when, and how much the harpsichordist inserts musical highlights is a journey of artistic refinement.
Timing
The preceding sections have dealt with different types of articulation on
the harpsichordordinary manner, legato playing, and detached playing.
What they do not mention is how the Baroque treatises describe the appropriate lengths of notes or silences. Constant and subtle manipulation of note
lengths is an integral part of harpsichord technique and vital to expressive
playing.
Both C. P. E. Bach and Trk try to illustrate in their treatises how long
to sustain a note within different musical contexts. According to Bach:
Tones which are neither detached, connected, nor fully held are sounded for
half their values, unless the abbreviation Ten. [hold] is written over them, in
which case they must be held fully. Quarters and eighths in moderate and
slow tempos are usually performed in this semidetached manner. They must
not be played weakly, but with fire and a slight accentuation.142
Articulation
109
When extending the length of a note beyond its notated value, Trk
says that a note should never be prolonged by more than half its value. This
is common sense (assuming he is not referring to notes with fermatas placed
over them or notes at the end of a piece), for prolonging a note in mid-passage
for more than half of its notated value could affect the stability of the rhythm
and disrupt the harmony.
Much of the material in Rellstabs Anleitung mirrors that of Bachs Versuch but pays closer attention to certain topics, such as unmarked notes and
their note values in performance, especially when marked allegro or adagio:
With regard to the value of unmarked notes, one must ensure that quarter
and eighth notes in fast tempos such as the Allegro, etc., must only be held
for half their intrinsic value; sixteenths are played with the greatest rapidity,
but firmly; this also applies to eighth, sixteenth, and thirty-second notes
in slow tempos. All long notes, such as full and half notes in Allegros, and
quarter notes in Adagios, are held for their full value; but if these quarter
notes in the Adagio do not form part of the melody, but rather the accompaniment, they are held for half their intrinsic value, and played short like all
unmarked accompaniment notes.145
110
4
Fingering
All his fingers were equally skillful; all were equally capable of the most
perfect accuracy in performance. He had devised for himself so convenient
a system of fingering that it was not hard for him to conquer the greatest
difficulties with the most flowing facility.
From J. S. Bachs obituary (1754), The Bach Reader
In his Syntagma musicum (1619), Michael Praetorius has a generous, cheerful attitude toward fingering choices:
Let a player run up or down with the first or middle or third finger, ay, even
with his nose, if that could help him, providing everything is done clearly,
correctly, and gracefully.2
111
112
Comfort and convenience play significant roles in fingering choices, but musical declamation is the primary determining factor.
Fingering
113
114
The following sections address various topics pertaining to fingering patterns. They include discussions of touch and technique as they relate to issues
of strong and weak beats, paired fingering, thumb usage, and contraction of
the hand.
Although Diruta insists that keyboardists follow his rules if they want
to have good technique and effective musicianship,11 he makes exceptions to
Fingering
115
his rules, such as in regard to the third finger, especially in rapid diminutions
and trills, where that finger may play good notes because the music moves so
quickly one does not notice a difference:
The bad notes often lend elegance to the good notes. Thus, in diminution,
it is better to focus on making the ornaments decorative and light than to
observe your [these] rules.12
Diruta departs from other Italian contemporaries in this matter, including Adriano Banchieris Conclusioni nel suono dellorgano, op. 20 (Bologna,
1609) or, several decades later, Lorenzo Pennas Li primi albori musicali per li
principianti della musica figurata (Bologna, 1672), which usually associates good
notes with the middle finger. Others use the third finger interchangeably on
both strong and weak beats. Contemporaries in the English virginalist school
also favor the middle finger on good notes, such as in pieces by John Bull and
Orlando Gibbons.13
Dirutas practice of putting the third finger on weak beats reflects some
of the earlier German sources, such as Buchners Fundamentbuch (1551). Other
German composers of the time, such as Elias Nikolaus Ammerbach, use the
middle finger for both good and bad notes.14
Depending on the context, Dirutas 2323 patterns may have implications
for lombardic rhythms (short-long short-long). His application of middle finger to bad notes also contrasts considerably with our modern application of
strong and weak fingers, in which we tend to favor fingers 1, 2, and 3, with the
ring finger (4) and little finger (5) being the weakest.
Dirutas ascending scales are played 2343434 in the right hand and 4323232
in the left hand if the beginning note is on a strong beat. He differentiates
between the right- and left-hand fingerings when playing descending scales
because he feels that the ring finger of the left hand is weaker than that of the
right. Thus, if the right hand plays 4323232 in such a passage, the left hand
might play 2323232, using just two fingers instead of three. He mentions the use
of the thumb by some players in left-hand ascending passages, but discourages
its use to avoid its landing on an accidental key, as this would thrust the hand
into an unnatural position: Truly, the thumb is very far from the black [accidental raised] key, and in order to reach it the whole hand is disturbed.15
Diruta prefers certain intervals to be played according to his rules, such
as putting fingers 2 and 4 on thirds, 2 and 5 on fourths, 1 and 4 on fifths, and
1 and 5 on octaves (he does not mention sixths). But he also reminds players
in all situations to seek convenience, first and foremost.
116
Sancta Maria takes into account both the shape of the hand and the muscular ability of the fingers. Too often, modern keyboardists, especially those
Fingering
117
Figure 4.1. Hand position using paired fingering of the middle and ring fingers
as described by Sancta Maria. Photo by Wolodymyr Smishkewych.
new to the concept of early fingerings, will attempt to play these fingering patterns with their fingers completely parallel, or too flat, too curved, or too far
from the keys. Owing, perhaps, to a natural response when trying something
new and seemingly difficult, they frequently tighten their wrists, which works
against their efforts. The wrists need to be supple and flexible.
According to Sancta Maria, the middle finger, which is usually the longest, is held further into the keys. The ring finger, which is generally the
weakest finger, should not be lifted off the keys. By sliding it along the keys,
the middle finger may cross over it. It helps to do this by turning the hand
slightly outwards and opening up the palm. In doing so, the thumb and little
finger naturally relax and lean slightly in toward the other fingers or under
the palm while the three middle fingers play. Figure 4.1 demonstrates my right
hand playing in this manner.
Paired fingering patterns continue to appear in treatises and musical
manuscripts throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In 1665,
Nivers provides a scale fingering that uses the thumb along with such patterns. In example 4.1, his choice of 3434 (and other adjacent fingers) on weak
118
Example 4.1. Nivers, Livre dorgue I, De la position des doigts. The eighth rest, second
measure, is original and probably meant to be a quarter rest.
Fingering
119
he intended a specific type of phrasing for each passage, because his descent
in the right hand uses a modern fingering of 54321321 (like the left hands
ascent), and the descent in the left hand mirrors the right hands ascending
passage, using 1234343(4). Also, he may be acknowledging more suppleness
for the paired fingers in the left hand.
Similarly, he employs different fingerings in separate appearances of
another type of passagework, such as when pairs of notes descend in twos,
using LH32323232 in one instance but LH4242424 in its repeat occurrence.
Compare the fingering patterns in examples 4.3 and 4.4.
Multiple purposes may be inferred from the fingerings supplied in this
toccata: that Scarlatti wants varied articulations for the same type of passages,
or that he wants to demonstrate that there are numerous ways to finger a passage or else to develop flexibility by using nonadjacent fingers.
Fingering patterns apply not only to passages, such as scales and runs,
that may require paired fingerings but to chords and grace notes as well. As
mentioned earlier, we often decipher good and bad notes by which beat they
fall on as well as by their harmonies.
To emphasize the dissonance and its consonant resolution, the keyboardist may do a number of things, such as articulate before the beat, arpeggiate
the chord, lengthen the note, and slur strong notes to weaker notes. For instance, in John Dowlands Pavana Lachrymae set by William Byrd (example
4.5), in the first beat of m. 2 there is a strong beat with a dissonant harmony
(the interval of the seventh created between the A and B-flat) followed by a G
on a weak beat. Articulating before this chord will emphasize this dissonance.
A practical fingering choice here might be to place the third and fifth fingers
120
Example 4.5. John Dowland, Pavana Lachrymae, set by William Byrd, mm. 78.
of the right hand on the A and D of m. 2 so that the A slurs into the G with
the second finger. In doing so, a dynamic shape is created that produces a
crescendo into the downbeat of the second measure and a diminuendo when
the A moves to the G.
Diversity of fingering choices (and thus the possible varied types of ar
ticulation) enhances the rhetoric, drama, and overall expression of a piece. The
more supple ones fingers, the more easily these subtleties may be realized.
One of the more frequently asked questions is whether or not early keyboard
fingerings make use of the thumb. Realistically, the thumb is indeed a part of
early keyboard playing, but practice changed over 250 years. Both treatises
and music manuscripts from the late sixteenth century to the late seventeenth include the thumb less than those of the eighteenth century, but they
do not exclude it. It may come as a surprise to some musicians that what we
Fingering
121
Example 4.7. Sancta Maria, Arte de taer fantasia, ff. 40v, 43.
122
Example 4.8. Couperin, Lart de toucher le clavecin, Manire plus commode pour les
tons diss et bmoliss.
Couperins early fingering patterns for playing consecutive thirds appear to be invented by him, not based on an earlier treatise or example. His
proposed old fingerings are unrealistic, in that they create an articulation
between every eighth note and avoid any relationship between strong and
weak beats, grouped notes, or phrasing. Ironically, he includes early fingerings in some of the preludes in his Lart de toucher le clavecin, where he gives
right-hand patterns of 12334 for an ascending five-note scale passage that is
embraced by a slur, or 5433232 for a descending scale passage.26 Furthermore,
his claim about being the first and only author to discuss beautiful and tasteful harpsichord playing has an air of self-righteousness. Clearly, he was not
Fingering
123
Example 4.9. Couperin, Lart de toucher le clavecin, Manire ancienne de faire plusieurs
tierces de suite.
Example 4.10. Couperin, Faon moderne pour couler ces mmes tierces.
aware of the fingered examples left by the English virginalists that reveal the
same pattern he suggests for parallel thirds.27
Hartongs Clavier-Anweisung also provides an example for fingering
thirds but uses fingers 1 and 3 on strong beats and 2 and 4 on weak beats or,
as a second possibility, 1 and 4 alternating with 2 and 5 in the same manner.28
His treatise, published more than thirty years after Lart de toucher le clavecin,
reflects the growing trend toward the inclusion of the thumb.
Saint-Lambert, whose Principes du clavecin antedates Couperins Lart de
toucher le clavecin by fourteen years, similarly reflects a transition period for
fingering scales. Saint-Lambert is more inclusive of the thumb in his section
Remarques, in which he favors equal use of all the fingers:
Because if one observes all the skillful Parisian masters, one will find that
those who are distinguished the most by the beauty of touch and surety of
execution are those who make equal use of all their fingers.29
124
Example 4.11. Miller, Institutes, C-major scale, part 2, progressive lessons for practice.
Fingering
125
C. P. E. Bach describes the thumb as the finger that most determines the
relaxed nature of good keyboard technique:
Those who do not use the thumb let it hang to keep it out of the way. Such a
position makes even the most moderate span uncomfortable, for the fingers
must stretch and stiffen in order to encompass it. May anything be well
executed this way? The thumbs give the hand not only another digit but also
the key to all fingering. This principal finger performs another service in that
it keeps the others supple, for they must remain arched as it makes its entry
after one or another of them. . . . Those passages, which, without the thumb,
must be pounced upon with stiff, tensed muscles, may be played roundly,
clearly, with natural extension, and a consequent facility when it lends its
assistance. This principal finger performs a service because it keeps the other
fingers flexible in that they must bend every time that the thumb presses
in next to one or another finger. . . . It is self-evident that the slackness of
the [tendons] and the curving of the fingers cannot be maintained in leaps
and wide stretches . . . but these are very rare occasions, and Nature herself
teaches them.34
My experience shows that a much rounder, pleasing tone may be produced from the harpsichord when the hand does not stretch (except in cases
where it is necessary to hold notes down in wide leaps). When the hand does
not need to hold notes down for a leap, stretching the fingers causes unnecessary tension in the hand. A more relaxed hand position allows for more
control. In leaps, a better tone is produced when the fingers peal off from each
key and move gracefully with the whole hand to the next note.
We know that Bach supports the need for relaxed tendons when playing
the keyboard. His comments suggest that he has seen poor hand and finger
movements, due to stiff tendons and tight muscles, which he claims were
caused by not using the thumb. Indeed, there are numerous passages that
may be played roundly and clearly without the thumb, but it depends on
the context and on the individual technique of the player. For his music, it is
necessary to employ all of the fingers.
C. P. E. Bach reflects upon hearing his father talk about the less frequent
use of the thumb by earlier keyboardists:
My deceased father told me that in his youth he used to hear great men who
employed their thumbs only when large stretches made it necessary. Because
he lived at a time when a gradual but striking change in musical taste was
126
Trk shares C. P. E. Bachs view of employing as many fingers as possible. In fact, both of these eighteenth-century German authors banter about
wanting even more than the given ten fingers:
All fingers must be utilized in playing, for there are certain passages which,
without the thumb or the little finger, may either not be played at all or, at
least, only clumsily and falteringly. Therefore, it is not correct to let these
two fingers be idleespecially the thumbor to use them only in time
of utmost need. Our present compositions are for the most part so constituted that one often wishes for even more fingers. Formerly this wish would
probably have been superfluous, because the older manner of composition
was quite different from ours now. At present, it is not possible to play some
passages reliably without the thumb, assuming that one does not want his
hands always jumping back and forth on the keyboard or even have his arms
moving about here and there. Those who play in this manner certainly do
not exhibit the best execution.36
Fingering
127
hand posture and keeps the hand parallel to the keys. Other authors who
similarly caution against using the thumb on accidentals discuss this in contexts where the thumb acts as a pivot. For instance, C. P. E. Bach writes:
Crossing and turning, the principal means of changing the fingers, must be
applied in such a manner that the tones involved in the change flow smoothly. In keys with few or no accidentals, the crossing of the third finger over the
fourth and the second over the thumb is in certain cases more practicable
and better suited for the attainment of unbroken continuity than other
crossings or the turn. With regard to the latter, when a black [accidental]
key acts as the pivot the thumb is conveniently provided with more room in
which to turn than in a succession of white keys. In keys without accidentals
crossing should cause no stumbling, but in the others care must be exercised
because of the black keys.38
A few pages later he writes, From the study of these scales we learn that the
thumb is never placed on a black key, that it may be used after the second
finger, after the second and third fingers, or the second, third, and fourth, but
never after the fifth.39 Examples 4.13 and 4.14 demonstrate his admonition
against using both the thumb and little finger on raised keys, even when the
thumb would facilitate an easier stretch to the following note.
In these passages, depending on the size of the hand and its ability to
stretch the span of an octave with the index and little finger, Bachs fingerings favor a more connected style for adjacent notes but a more articulated
separation of octaves.40 Bach does, however, present an exception, because he
128
values comfort and relaxation in playing. Despite the fact that he says, The
thumbs and the little fingers of both hands should seldom be employed on the
raised keys, he admits. A slight discomfort being preferable to a great one,
it is better to commit the little finger or the thumb to a black [accidental] key
than to omit them and cause an excessive, hazardous stretch.41
Contrary to his dislike of thumbs on raised keys, he presents some fascinating fingering patterns that allow certain fingers to cross over rather
than under, such as putting the index finger over the little finger in the right
hand.
Unless the finger releases slightly early from the tied F, this fingering is
not comfortable. If he insists on placing the second finger on the G following the tied note, finger substitution on the F would make this shift much
smoother.
Pasquali also says that the thumb is to be used neither on accidental
keys (see example 4.15) nor in intervals smaller than a seventh, unless the
highest and lowest notes are on accidental keys (and are too wide to play with
fingers other than the thumb and little finger).42 Example 4.16 demonstrates
his avoidance of the thumb on raised keys in an arpeggiated passage.
Trk permits the use of the thumb and little finger on raised keys only
rarely unless the passage in question is such that no other way of playing it
is possible, for these more distant keys cannot easily be reached by those two
Fingering
129
Marpurg avoids the little finger on raised keys because it requires more
effort and is uncomfortable:
Since the little finger is closer to the keys than the thumb is, one may consequently use it to play the smaller keys [accidentals] more easily than with the
thumb. But since one always requires more effort to play the accidentals than
the larger keys, and since the little finger is the weakest of all the fingers,
this is also the reason that it is not necessary to employ it upon accidentals
as long as one is able to play the passage more comfortably with the other
fingers. But if this is no longer the case, one is free to use the little finger on
accidentals, whether in running through scales, or in arpeggios, in sustained
passages in one or two parts, by steps or leaps, etc.45
Miller advises: Never use the thumb on the short keys, except in very
particular cases of many sharps or flats, where it cannot always be avoided.
In addition: The natural place of the right hand thumb in ascending notes is
immediately after, or to the right of the short keys [raised] and in descending
[passages] its place is immediately before a short key. . . . The natural place for
the bass or left hand thumb ascending is before a short key, and in descending
[passages it] is generally immediately after a short key.46
130
Fingering
131
Example 4.17 shows one of Pasqualis fingered musical exercises for contracting the hand.
In his Code de musique pratique, Rameau alludes to a graceful opening
and closing of the hand position:
As the hand opens, the fingers lose their roundness; but when left to act
with their own movement, they determine how the hand should adjust to
the smaller or bigger intervals that [the fingers] encompass, and all work
with ease; even the little finger adjusts in turn by advancing less on the key.53
132
He then provides two measures of the same passage (see example 4.18). Over
the first measure he writes, Example of the method many performers [use
to] finger the following passages, and over the second, The same passage as
it ought to be playd by contracting the fingers. He adds:
It may be observed that by the first way of fingering the above passage, the
position is alterd at the end of every four notes, consequently the vibration
of the Strings is interrupted, nor can every note be of an exact length. But in
the second way, by contracting the Fingers, there appears from the effect, to
be but one position: the Notes being all of a [i.e., the same] length, causes a
better Tone to be produced from the Instrument.
Fingering
133
Figure 4.2. Hand position just after playing 4321, preparing to place the
fourth finger down on the key. Photo by Wolodymyr Smishkewych.
Sancta Maria offers two distinct methods of fingering the passage. Using
the repeating pattern 43214321 demands a slight contraction of the hand at the
moment at which fingers 1 and 4 follow one another. I call it the crab walk
because of its horizontal, repetitive opening and closing motion. This fingering permits a fairly steady wrist. The alternate fingering of 43234323 requires
less of a contraction in the hand than it does a crossing of 3 over 2. It calls for
a slight flexibility in the wrist, which, by opening up on the little finger side to
turn inward toward the thumb, facilitates a smooth execution of the alternate
fingering. The fact that he offers various options for fingering this (and other)
passages demonstrates his open-mindedness on the subject.
I conclude this section with two photos taken of my hand contracting
while playing passages similar to the one given above by Sancta Maria in
example 4.19, seen in figures 4.2 and 4.3.
Artistic Freedom
Despite the detailed lessons provided by various treatises, some authors leave
room for artistic license. Pasquali is among them:
134
Figure 4.3. Hand position after the fourth finger has been placed down, preparing
to play the 4321 descending pattern. Photo by Wolodymyr Smishkewych.
When they [these rules] are perfectly understood, still there is room for the
genius of the performer to improve upon them, by altering now and then a
finger with a view to avoid any uncouth stretch of the fingers, or to introduce
a grace, or a chord.55
Fingering
135
Conclusion
136
Appendix
Brief Biographical Notes on People
Mentioned in the Text
138
Appendix
Appendix
in the royal chapel. Often regarded as
the father of the French school of harp
sichord playing.
Chopin, Fryderyk (181049)
Leading nineteenth-century Polish com
poser and pianist, later resident of France.
Clementi, Muzio (17521832)
Italian-born English composer, key
boardist, and teacher. His Introduction
to the Art of Playing on the Piano Forte
(1801) was published several times and
translated into several languages. The
treatises musical compositions (for
which he provides suggested fingering
patterns) include pieces by various Ba
roque composers, such as F. Couperin,
G. F. Handel, and Arcangelo Corelli.
Correa de Arauxo, Francisco
(15841654)
Spanish organist, theorist, and com
poser. His music is found in his treatise
Libro de tientos y discursos de msica
practica, y theorica de organo intitulado
facultad organica (1626).
Corrette, Michelle (170795)
French organist, teacher, composer, ar
ranger, and writer. Les amusemens du
Parnasse (1749, enlarged 2/1779/R) is of
interest to keyboardists, especially for
his fingered examples. Other pertinent
methods are his Premier livre dorgue, op.
16 (1737) and Le matre de clavecin pour
laccompagnement, mthode thorique et
pratique . . . avec des leons chantantes o
les accords sont nots (1753, 2/1790).
Couperin, Franois (16681733)
French composer and keyboardist.
From a family of musicians, he is known
139
140
Appendix
Appendix
and late Baroque performing practices.
Engramelles work was subsequently
revised and expanded by Franois Bdos
de Celles, known also as Dom Bdos
(170979), the French organ builder and
writer on organs.
Ftis, Franois-Joseph (17841871)
Musicologist, keyboardist, composer,
teacher, and critic. An influential figure
in nineteenth-century Europe within
the Franco-Belgian musical establish
ment. He studied harmony with J. B.
Rey, a student of Rameau. He published
several writings, including the Mthode lmentaire et abrge dharmonie et
daccompagnement (1823), the Biographie
universelle des musiciens (183544), the
Trait de lharmonie (1844), and the
Trait de laccompagnement de la partition
sur le piano ou lorgue (1829).
Fischer, Johann Caspar Ferdinand
(16561746)
German composer. His collections of
keyboard suites were published as Les
pices de clavessin (1696), Musicalisches
Blumen-Bschlein (1698), and Musikalischer Parnassus (n.d.). His suites combine
the French and German compositional
styles. Ariadne musica neo-organoedum
(1702) consists of twenty short preludes
and fugues, beginning in C major and
moving through eighteen keys with acci
dentals, ending in C minor (with a Cmajor Picardy third for the final chord).
J. S. Bach was familiar with this work,
which served as inspiration for his Das
wohltemperierte Clavier.
Forkel, Johann Nicolaus (17491818)
German music historian, musicologist,
theorist, and bibliographer. Began a de
141
142
Appendix
Appendix
Hipkins, Alfred (James) (18261903)
English writer on musical instruments.
A pioneer in the revival of early keyboard
instruments, performing Bach on the
clavichord and harpsichord. Wrote many
articles for Grove 1 as well as articles on
pitch and the piano for Encyclopaedia
Britannica (9th ed.) He also published A
Description and History of the Pianoforte
(1896) and Musical Instruments: Historic,
Rare, and Unique (1896).
Hodermann, Georg Caspar (17401842)
German composer who composed sev
eral pieces for harpsichord, organ, or
piano. He wrote Kurzer Unterricht fr
Musik-Anfnger (1787).
Hllmandel, Nicolas-Joseph (17561823)
Alsatian composer and performer on
harpsichord, piano, and glass harmonica.
Lived and worked in London and Paris.
According to Ftis, he was one of C. P. E.
Bachs students and Mozarts patron.
His only compositions were for harpsi
chord or piano, sometimes with violin
accompaniment. Wrote Principles of Music Calculated for the Pianoforte or Harpsichord, and supplied the article Clavecin
for the Encyclopdie mthodique (Paris,
17911818).
Kapsperger, Giovanni Girolamo
(ca. 15801651)
German-born Italian composer, lutenist,
theorbist, and guitarist. Played a chief
role in the development of the theorbo as
a solo instrument.
Kirnberger, Johann Philipp (172183)
German composer and theorist. A lead
ing contributor to the Berlin circle of the
orists, which included Quantz, C. P. E.
143
144
Appendix
Appendix
Miller, Edward (17351807)
English organist, composer, and histo
rian. Published Institutes of Music, or
Easy Instructions for the Harpsichord, op.
4 (1780) and Elements of Thorough Bass
and Composition (1787).
Mller, August Eberhard (17671817)
German conductor, flutist, keyboardist,
and composer. Author of Klavier- und
Fortepiano-Schule (1804 [as 6th ed. of
G. S. Lhlein, Clavierschule, 1765];
8/1825, ed. C. Czerny).
Nassarre, Fr. Pablo (ca. 1654ca. 1730)
Spanish theorist, composer, and organ
ist. His Esquela msica, segn la prtica
moderna (1723) took him over fifty years
to write. More than one thousand pages
long, the treatise covers an enormous
range of musical topics, including several
pages devoted to organ technique.
Nivers, Guillaume-Gabriel
(ca. 16321714)
French organist and composer. Became
organist of the Chapelle Royale in 1678.
The first of his three livres dorgue con
tains a preface on music and technique.
Parsons, John (fl. mid-eighteenth
century)
English keyboardist. Author of The Elements of Music with Progressive Practical
Lessons for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte
(ca. 1794).
Pasquali, Nicol (171857)
Italian-born English composer, violin
ist, and theoretician. Of importance to
harpsichordists are his instruction book
Thorough-bass Made Easy (1757) and The
Art of Fingering the Harpsichord, Illus-
145
146
Appendix
Appendix
147
148
Appendix
Notes
Introduction
1.Trk, School of Clavier Playing,
354.
2. Cited in Hogwood, The Keyboard
in Baroque Europe, 112.
3. On sait quoutre la science & la
nettet, il avoit une delicatesse de main
que les autres navoient pas . . . quil avoit
une adresse & une maniere dappliquer
les doigts sur les touches qui estoit
inconnu aux autres. Lettre . . . Mademoiselle Regnault de Solier touchant la
musique, 69. The author is assumed to be
Jean Le Gallois (16321707). The identity
of Mademoiselle Regnault de Solier re
mains unclear. Writing almost ten years
after Chambonnires death, Le Gallois
attempts to clarify the differences in
harpsichord playing between Chambon
nires and Louis Couperin, bringing to
light their unique traits as players.
4. Et cest dequoy nous avons un bel
exemple dans les personnes de Chambon
nires & de Couperin . . . il est certain
neanmoins quils avoient deux jeux dont
les differens caracteres ont donn lieu de
dire que lun touchoit le coeur, & lautre
touchoit loreille. Ibid., 85.
5.Forkel, Johann Sebastian Bach, 52.
Forkel was Bachs biographer fifty years
149
150
Notes to pages 36
Notes to pages 68
remedy the situation with certain food,
herbs, or medications.
5.Rameau, Dissertation sur les
diffrentes mthodes daccompagnement
pour le clavecin ou pour lorgue; trans. in
Jacobi, Complete Theoretical Writings
of Jean-Philippe Rameau, 5860. Trans.
revised.
6. Additional sets of strings and
options of registration allow for different
colors and timbres to be combined.
These include using the front eight or
the back eight, coupling two eight-foot
registers, playing pieces written in crois
style (hand-crossing or playing on two
manuals with one hand on each manual),
as found in some of the harpsichord
pieces by Rameau or Couperin, as well as
some of J. S. Bachs Goldberg Variations
and Italian Concerto. Single manual
harpsichords that were not virginals or
spinets usually had 8' + 8' (two eight-foot
sets of strings), 8' + 4', or 8' + 8' + 4'.
7. On a harpsichord, each string
has its own plectrum. These plectra
are approximately one centimeter long,
one and a half millimeters wide, and
half a millimeter thick. They are cut
to be wider at the base and narrow at
the tip, which is the plucking end. The
plectrum is held inside the tongue of the
jack, which allows it to pluck moving
upward and pass almost silently along
the string downward to its return
position. In the past, plectra were made
of feather quillshence the common
usage of the term quilling. The quills
were usually from crows, ravens, and
sometimes vultures. Italian instrument
maker Bartolomeo Cristofori (16551731)
was one such builder to use vulture
quills. Some harpsichords employed
plectra of leather, often on just one set of
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
Notes to page 45
tremblemens de tous les doigts: mais
comme cela depend en partie de la dis
position naturle; et que quelquesunes
ont plus ou moins de libert, et de force,
de certains doigts; Il faut laisser ce choix
aux personnes qui les instruisent. Cou
perin, Lart de toucher, 22.
15. (1) La perfection du toucher sur
le clavessin consiste principalement dans
un mouvement des doigts bien dirig. (2)
Ce mouvement peut sacqurir par une
simple mchanique; mais il faut quon
sache le mnager. (3) Cette mchanique
nest autre chose quun exercice frequent
dun mouvement rgulier: les disposi
tions quelle demande sont naturelles
un chacun; il en est comme de celles
quon a pour marcher, ou si lon veut,
pour courir. (4) La facult de marcher
ou de courir vient de la souplesse du jar
ret: celle de toucher le clavessin depend
de la souplesse des doigts leur racine.
(5) Lexercice continuel o lon est de
marcher, rend un chacun le mouvement
du jarret Presque galement libre. Le peu
dexercice que nous faisons, au contraire,
du mouvement necessaire aux doigts pour
toucher le clavessin, ne permet pas que
leur libert se developpe: dailleurs nos
habitudes particulieres font contracter
aux doigts des mouvemens si contraires
celui quexige le clavessin, que cette libert
en est sans cesse traverse. . . . (8) Il re
sulte donc de toutes ces remarques quun
exercice frequent & bien entendu est
lauteur infaillible de la parfaite execution
sur le clavessin: & cest del que jai conu
une mthode particuliere, pour renouvel
ler dans les doigts le mouvement dont la
nature les a douez, & pour en augmenter
la libert. . . . (19) Il faut que chaque
doigt ait son mouvement particulier &
indpendant de tout autre: de sorte que
163
164
Notes to page 49
fluo, porque basta el de los dedos: que
por esso les di la naturaleza Facultad de
moverlos, sin necessitar del movimiento
de la mano. Nassarre, Esquela, pt. 2, 461.
28. Harpsichords may also suffer
from key action that is too heavy. One
should try to voice the quills so they
are not over-plucking, or check to see
that the wood of the jacks or the slots
into which they fall are not swollen,
causing them to stick. Temperature
and humidity are two chief factors that
affect both the swelling and drying out
of wood. When working correctly, the
jacks should rise and fall back into their
slots smoothly and easily. There may be
other reasons for a stiff action on a harp
sichord. The answer to this problem is
not to force ones fingers to press harder,
although in live performance situations
where we do not always have the option
of maintaining the instrument as we so
desire, we may be forced to reconcile
these differences by altering our touch.
29. This resembles Rameaus discus
sion of the movement required for good
technique on both the harpsichord and
the organ. Rameau describes a motion
from finger to finger, key to key, that is
simultaneous in its movementas one
drops down, the previous one is raised.
Du doigt par lequel on a commenc,
on pass son voisin, & ainsi de lun
lautre; en observant que celui qui vient
denfoncer une touche, la quitte dans le
mme instant que son voisin en enfonce
une autre: car le lever dun doigt & le
toucher dun autre doivent tre executs
dans le mme moment. Rameau, Pices
de clavecin, 17.
30. Importa tambien, que la pul
sacin de las teclas en toda quanta musica
se executa, sea natural, y nada violenta.
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
172
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
183
184
Bibliography
Barthlemon, Franois-Hippolyte. A
New Tutor for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte Wherein the First Principles
of Music Are Fully Explained with an
Easy Method for Fingering in a Set of
Progressive Lessons in Which Is Introduced Two Easy Methods for Tuning.
London, 1800.
Bemetzrieder, Anton. Leons de clavecin
et principes dharmonie. Paris, 1771.
Facsimile, New York: Broude Brothers, 1966.
Bermudo, Juan. Declaracin de instrumentos musicales. Osuna, 1555.
Documenta musicologica, 11. Kassel:
Brenreiter, 1957.
Broderip, Robert. Plain and Easy Instructions for Young Performers on the
Piano-forte or Harpsichord. London:
Longman & Broderip, 1788.
Brossard, Sbastien de. Dictionnaire de
musique. Paris, 1703. Facsimile of 2nd
ed. (1705), Hilversum: Frits Knuf,
1965.
Buchholtz, Johann Gottfried. Unterricht
fr diejenigen weiche die Musik und
das Clavier erlernen wollen. Hamburg,
1782.
Buchner, Hans. Abschrifft M. Hansen
von Constantz des wyt beriempten Or-
Primary Sources
Anglebert, Jean Henry d. Pices de clavecin. Paris, 1689.
Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel. Versuch
ber die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen. 2 vols. Berlin: G. L. Winter, 1753
and 1762. Facsimile edited by Walter
Niemann. Leipzig: C. F. Kahnt, 1906
and 1925.
Bach, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and
Wolfgang Horn. 1994. Versuch ber
die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen.
Faksimile-Reprint der Ausgaben von
Teil I, Berlin 1753 (mit den Ergnzungen der Auflage Leipzig 1787) und Teil
II, Berlin 1762 (mit den Ergnzungen
der Auflage Leipzig 1797). Kassel:
Brenreiter.
. Essay on the True Art of Playing
Keyboard Instruments. Translated
by William J. Mitchell. New York:
W. W. Norton, 1949.
Bach, Johann Christian, and FrancescoPasquale Ricci. Mthode ou recueil de
connaissances lmentaires pour le piano
forte ou clavecin. Paris, 1788. Facsimile,
Geneva: Minkoff, 1974.
Bacilly, Bnigne de. Lart de bien chanter.
Paris, 1679. Facsimile, Geneva:
Minkoff, 1974.
185
186
Bibliography
Bibliography
Ftis, Franois-Joseph, and Ignaz Moscheles. Mthode des Mthodes de
Piano, ou Trait de lArt de jouer de cet
Instrument. Paris: Schlesinger, 1837.
Forkel, Johann Nikolaus. ber Johann
Sebastian Bachs Leben, Kunst, und
Kunstwerke. Leipzig, 1802.
. Johann Sebastian Bach: His Life,
Art, and Work. Translated by Charles
Sanford Terry. London, 1920. New
York: Da Capo Press, 1970.
Forqueray, Antoine. Pices de clavecin.
1747.
Foucquet, Pierre-Claude. Pices de
clavecin, second livre. Paris: Boyvin, le
Clerc, de Bretonne, 1751. Facsimile,
Geneva: Minkoff, 1982.
Frescobaldi, Girolamo. Toccate e partite
dintavolatura di cimablo . . . libro primo. Rome, 1615; rev. and enl. 1616.
Ganassi dal Fontego, Sylvestro di. Opera
intitulata Fontegara. Venice, 1535.
Gasparini, Francesco. Larmonico pratico
al cimbalo. Venice, 1708.
. The Practical Harmonist at the
Keyboard. Translated by Frank S.
Stillings. Edited by David L. Burrows.
New Haven, Conn.: Yale University
Press, 1963.
Hartong, Philipp Christoph. Dess musici theoretico-pratico . . . enthaltend
eine methodische Clavier-Anweisung.
Nuremberg, 1749.
Hays, Elizabeth Loretta. F. W. Marpurgs Anleitung zum Clavierspielen
(Berlin, 1755) and Principes du clavecin
(Berlin, 1756). PhD diss., Stanford
University, 1977.
Hensel, Johann Daniel. Ausbende Klavierschule, erster Gang. Leipzig: Breitkopf & Hrtel, 1796.
Hodermann, Georg Caspar. Kurzer Unterricht fr Musik-Anfnger: wie sie das
187
188
Bibliography
Bibliography
Petschke, Adolph Friedrich. Versuch
eines Unterrichts zum Klavierspielen.
Leipzig, 1783.
Praetorius, Michael. Syntagma musicum. Vol. 1: Syntagmatis musici tomus
primus: musicae artis analecta. Wittenberg & Wolfenbttel, 161415. Vol.
2: Syntagmatis musici tomus secundus:
de organographia. Wolfenbttel, 1618
[with pictorial suppl., Theatrum instrumentorum]. Vol. 3: Syntagmatis musici
tomus tertius: termini musici. Wolfenbttel, 1619.
. Syntagma musicum III. Translated by Jeffery T. Kite-Powell. Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2004.
Prencourt, F. Short, Easy & Plaine Rules
to learne in a few days time the true
principles of Musick and chiefly what
relates to the use of the Spinette, Harpsichord, or Organ. British Library, Add.
Ms. 32531.
Quantz, Johann Joachim. Versuch einer
Anweisung die Flte traversiere zu
spielen. Berlin, 1752; 3rd ed., 1789. Facsimile of 3rd ed. edited by Hans-Peter
Schmitz. Kassel: Brenreiter, 1953.
. On Playing the Flute. Translated
by Edward R. Reilly. New York:
Schirmer Books, 1985.
Rameau, Jean-Philippe. Code de musique pratique. Paris, 1760. Facsimile,
New York: Broude Brothers, 1965.
Facsimile edited by Erwin R. Jacobi.
Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 1969.
. De la mechanique des doigts sur
le clavessin. Appended to the 1st ed. of
Pices de clavecin (1724). Edited and
translated by Erwin R. Jacobi. Kassel:
Brenreiter, 1972.
. Dissertation sur les diffrentes
mthodes daccompagnement pour le
189
190
Bibliography
Bibliography
Anderson, Emily. The Letters of Mozart
and His Family. Vol. 3. New York:
Norton, 1985.
Apel, Willi, and Ralph T. Daniel. The
Harvard Brief Dictionary of Music.
Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1960.
. The History of Keyboard Music to
1700. Bloomington: Indiana University
Press, 1972.
Baker, Nancy Kovaleff, and Thomas S.
Christensen. Aesthetics and the Art
of Musical Composition in the German Enlightenment: Selected Writings
of Johann Georg Sulzer and Heinrich
Christoph Koch. Cambridge Studies in
Music Theory and Analysis 7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1995.
Bedbrook, Gerald Stares. Keyboard
Music from the Middle Ages to the Beginnings of the Baroque. New York: Da
Capo Press, 1973.
Benoit, Marcelle. Dictionnaire de la musique en France aux XVIIe et XVIIIe
sicles. France: Arthme Fayard, 1992.
Berger, Ludwig. Erluterung eines
Mozartschen Urtheils ber Muzio
Clementi. Allgemeine musikalisches
Zeitung 31, no. 28 (July 1829): 468.
Bond, Ann. A Guide to the Harpsichord.
Portland, Ore.: Amadeus Press, 1997.
Boxall, Maria. Harpsichord Method:
Based on Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century Sources. New York: Schott, 1977.
Boxall, Maria, and Mark Lindley. Early
Keyboard Fingerings: An Anthology.
New York: Schott, 1982.
. Early Keyboard Fingerings: A
Comprehensive Guide. New York:
Schott, 1992.
Brauchli, Bernard. Aspects of Early
Keyboard Technique: Hand and Fin-
191
192
Bibliography
Bibliography
Hogwood, Christopher. French Music
and the Fitzwilliam. Cambridge: Fitzwilliam Museum, 1975.
, ed. The Keyboard in Baroque
Europe. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Huang, Hao, and Harold Lee. How
Piano Technique Changed over 300
Years. Clavier 36, no. 2 (February
1997): 3133.
Hubbard, Frank. Three Centuries of Harp
sichord Making. Cambridge, Mass.:
Harvard University Press, 1965.
Jacobi, Erwin R., ed. The Complete
Theoretical Writings of Jean-Philippe
Rameau. 6 vols. Rome: American Institute of Musicology, 196772.
Jacobs, Charles. The Performance Practice of Spanish Renaissance Keyboard
Music. PhD diss., New York University, 1962.
Jenkins, Glyn. The Legato Touch and
the Ordinary Manner of Keyboard
Playing from 17501850. PhD diss.,
University of Cambridge, 1976. Textfiche.
Johnson, Calvert. Early Italian Keyboard Fingering, Early Keyboard Journal 10 (1992): 788.
Kastner, Macario Santiago. The
Interpretation of Sixteenth- and
Seventeenth-Century Iberian Keyboard
Music. Monographs in Musicology, 4.
Stuyvesant, N.Y.: Pendragon Press,
1987.
Keller, Hermann. Phrasing and Articulation: A Contribution to a Rhetoric
of Music with 152 Musical Examples.
Translated by Leigh Gerdine. New
York: W. W. Norton, 1965.
Kenyon, Paul. Imitatio Violistica in
Scheidts Tabulatura nova. Musical
Times 130, no. 1751 (January 1989).
193
194
Bibliography
Bibliography
Soderlund, Sandra. How Did They
Play? How Did They Teach? A History
of Keyboard Technique. Chapel Hill,
N.C.: Hinshaw Music, 2006.
. Organ Technique: An Historical
Approach. Chapel Hill, N.C.: Hinshaw Music, 1980.
Speer, Klaus. HarpsichordSome
Additional Thoughts. American
Music Teacher 12 (May/June 1963):
2223.
Strahle, Graham. An Early Music Dictionary: Musical Terms from British
Sources, 15001740. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.
Sulzer, Johann Georg, Christian
Friedrich von Blankenburg, J. A. P.
Schulz, and Johann Philipp Kirnberger. Allgemeine Theorie der schnen
Knste in Einzeln, nach alphabetischer
Ordnung der Kunstwrter aufein
anderfolgenden, Artikeln abgehandelt.
1774. Hildesheim: Georg Olms,
1967.
195
Index
198
Index
board, 10, 12, 2326, 52, 55; relaxation of, 18; thumb position and, 22,
36; weight, 5253, 59, 62, 168n81
arpeggios: articulation of, 9093; batteries, 29; finger use in, 9293, 129;
harmony and, 97, 173n84; in legato
playing, 84; little fingers in, 129;
nonharmonic notes in, 173n84 (see
also acciaccatura); roulements, 29; slurs
and ties (liaisons), 8889; and staggered playing, 93; style bris, 90, 92;
sustaining by ornaments, 97
Lart de toucher le clavecin (Couperin, F.),
2, 41, 81, 8485, 86, 103, 122123,
122123
The Art of Fingering the Harpsichord,
Spinet, or Organ (Pasquali), 8, 80,
124, 128129, 131, 179n148
Arte de taer fantasia. See Libro llamado
arte de taer fantasia (Sancta Maria)
articulation, 4; in absence of designated
musical direction, 72; adagio, 72;
agogic accents, 107108, 178n140; allegro, 7276, 99, 103, 109; arpeggios,
9093; artistic license, 9697, 133
135; brilliant style, 51, 103104, 113;
cantabile, 99101, 176nn110,116;
detached playing, 101104, 108; and
differences in harpsichords, 113;
dynamics, 65, 96; finger motion, 71;
fingering and, 65, 113, 118120, 122,
134135; and good performance, 73;
of grace notes, trills, 9499; harmony, 9192, 95, 173n85; legato playing,
8087; musical terms, 7576; note
lengths, timing of, 108110; ordinary
manner, 72, 7779; piano playing
and, 65; preparedness, 104; purpose
and scope of, 7076; signs, effect
on, 72; silences, 104108; slides, 92;
slurs, 8790; speed of, 60; staggered
playing, 9394; stroking the keys,
60; style bris (broken style), 90, 92;
Index
Banchieri, Adriano, 115, 137
Barthlemon, Franois-Hippolyte, 13
batteries, 29, 124, 182n32
beautiful playing, 2, 4, 7, 20, 23, 36, 44,
5152, 66, 85, 182n29; belle manire
du toucher (a beautiful manner of
playing), 166n38; fingers and, 23; of
ornaments, 9499
Bdos de Celles, Franois (Dom Bdos),
106
Beethoven, Ludwig van, 101102
Bermudo, Juan, 116, 137, 181n17
body. See posture
le bon air, 17
le bon got, 17, 94
Bsendorfer, Ignaz, 152n21
Boyvin, Jacques, 138
Brauchli, Bernard, 159n115
breathing: and cantabile, 100101; freedom in, 17; rests, 71; tension and, 18;
voice studies, 99
Briareus, 121, 182n20
brilliant style, 51, 55, 5960, 86, 101,
103104, 113
Broderip, M. Robert, 3, 64, 138
broken chords, 8788, 90
broken style. See style bris (broken style)
Brossard, Sbastien de, 91
Buchner, Hans, 62, 115, 138
Buelow, George, 71
Bull, John, 115, 121, 138, 157n101
Burney, Charles, 16, 63, 138
Byrd, William, 119, 120, 138, 157n101
Cabezn, Antonio de, 138, 181n17
Cabezn, Hernando de, 20, 116, 138,
181n17
Caccini, Giulio, 178n147
cadence, 104, 177n129
calm hand position, 50, 6263
Camidge, Matthew, 130, 138
cantabile, 99101, 176nn110,116
cats paw position, 3031
199
200
Index
Index
ing when not marked, 81; in brilliant
style, 51, 86, 103104, 113; compared
to legato, ordinary manners of playing, 77; and contraction of hand, 132;
dtach in, 103, 105106; detached
notes, how much to detach, 104; distance to keys, effect on, 83; fingering
for, 103, 103, 113, 132; in leaping passages and rapid tempos, 72; in nonlegato fingering, 81; before ornaments,
106; of silences, 170n31
Deutsch, Otto Erich, 157n101
dictionaries, musical, 76, 81, 91, 112,
158n105
Dictionnaire (Brossard), 91
Dictionnaire de LAcadmie franaise, 2
Dictionnaire de musique (Rousseau, J.),
81, 112, 158n105
Of different Evolutions, and the manner of contracting the Fingers (Miller), 4142
On the different touches (Pasquali),
179n148
diminuendo, 9697, 120
diminutions, 4749, 115, 181n12,
183n48
Diruta, Girolamo: about, 140; on accenti,
97, 175n102; on arm guiding hand,
29; on articulation, 77; on cats paw
position, 31; on elbow, arm, wrist position, 24; on fingering, 31, 114118; on
hand position, 29, 31, 36, 155n64; on
making gestures and movements, 13
14; on minimizing lifting of fingers,
4748; on ornaments, 97, 175n102; on
position at keyboard, 11; on posture at
keyboard, 1314, 155n64; on supple,
light hand, 1920; on sustaining
sound, 9091, 173n81; on techniques
for organ, harpsichord, 180n9; on
trills, 97, 175n102; writing on playing
other keyboard instruments, 2
Dissertation (Rameau), 70, 82, 130
201
202
Index
Index
finger strength, 30, 53, 68, 98, 136
finger substitution, 46, 8485, 8586,
128, 171n62
finger weight, 3, 52, 79
fingering, 4; of accidentals, 126130,
127129, 183nn40,44,48; and agility,
112; Applikatur, 112; and articulation,
65, 113, 118120, 122, 134135; and
artistic license, 130133; for brilliant
style, 113; for comfort, 111113,
128129, 134; consonance and, 114,
119; context, affected by, 113, 115,
125; for contraction of the hand,
130133, 131134; convenience in,
112; crab walk, 133; crossing of fingers, 127, 133; for detached playing,
103, 103, 113, 132; and differences
in harpsichords, 113; for different
intervals, 115, 119, 128, 130131,
183n48; diminuendo, for, 120; for
diminutions, 115, 181n12, 183n48;
dissonance and, 114, 119; diversity
in, 136; evolving practices of, 122;
expressive fingerings, 134; finger
substitution, 46, 8485, 8586, 128,
171n62; flowing facility of, 111; good
and bad fingers, 114115; in legato
playing, 8485, 8586, 171n62; for
lombardic rhythms, 115; non-legato
fingering, detached notes in, 81; for
ornaments, 84, 98; paired patterns,
28, 113114, 116119, 117, 121123,
135; for phrasing, 119, 122; preparedness, 6263; for quiebro, 56, 58;
raised keys, for, 126130, 127129;
for redoble, 58; for scales, 115, 118,
118119, 123124, 124, 126127,
129; in Silvains (Woodland nymphs),
81; speed, effect on, 43; for strong
and weak notes, 114120, 117120;
techniques for, 111135; tension in,
effect, 116; for thumb use, 42, 42,
113, 120130, 122124, 127129;
203
and trends in detached or legato playing, 103, 103; for trills, 115, 182n29;
varied articulations and, 65; in warmup exercises by Miller, 42
fingers: achieving proper touch with,
19; agility of, 19, 22, 31, 33, 44, 51,
53, 63, 85, 112, 116, 119, 125; arch
of, 15, 37, 39, 60; in arpeggios, 9293,
129; balance point of, 55; connection
with keys, 47, 5051, 104, 109110,
135136; contraction, 38, 4142,
130133, 131134; crossing of, 46,
127, 133; curvature of, 19, 21, 2939,
33, 39, 82, 107; distance between
keys and, 83; elasticity of, 9, 38, 46,
53, 102, 183n44; in extension, 21;
extension of, 35, 45; flow of, 50, 81,
111; force of, 3435; freedom of, 7,
23; good and bad fingers, 114115;
gravity, 35, 5253; hands as support
for, 2829, 5255; leaps, 4546, 125,
129; in legato playing, 86; lifting of,
4749, 60; lightness of, 28, 45, 63,
71; parallel alignment of, 28; pivot
fingers, 126127, 130; placement on
keys, 34, 37; pressure of, 32, 35, 49,
59, 69; relaxation, 1921, 38, 50, 83,
9293, 136; strength development of,
9; stretching of, 19, 35, 40, 4546;
stroking the keys, 9, 3435, 5561,
5657, 6162, 107, 164n26; suppleness of, 5, 7, 19, 120; and sweet tone
on harpsichord, 20; touching the
keys, 4769; uneven length of, effect,
3233, 3637, 151n12. See also middle fingers; small fingers; thumbs
fingertips: avoiding using, 3133; control
of, maximizing, 135; curve of, 29, 36;
depressing key with, 109; pads of fingertips, 37; sliding of, 59; in stroking
the keys, 55
Fischer, Johann Caspar Ferdinand, 92,
141
204
Index
Index
falling onto keys, 23, 26; fast hand,
20; to follow fingers, 29, 52, 5455;
formation of, 155n64; free from body,
25; guided by arms, 23, 29, 31, 48; and
harsh physical labor, 2122; heavy
hand, 20; height of, 10, 29, 50; holding
and moving, 2; lightness of, 1920,
48, 52, 102; menial labor on, 6; mens
hands, 2122; placement on keyboard,
2223, 36; poised over one note, 54;
poorly trained, effect, 24; position at
the keyboard, 10, 14, 2223, 27, 28
31, 6263, 158n102, 159n115; proper
use of, 19; Rameau on, 3; relaxation
of, 18, 20, 33, 75, 93, 125; rounded,
2829, 33, 34, 63, 131; shape of, and
comfort in fingering, 134; shifting
weight over fingers, 5354, 54; sideways motion, 62; sitting height and,
12; small hands, effect, 130; and soft
quills for beginners, 78; strength of,
29, 46; stretching of, 4546; suppleness of, 19, 28, 31; as support for fingers, 2829; tension and, 18; weight,
5253; womens hands, 2122; young
students, 78
Hanon, Charles-Louis, 142
hardness, of playing, 20
harmonies: and agogic accents, 107; arpeggiated harmonies, 84, 88, 89, 90,
97, 173n84, 178n147; consonance,
71, 95; dissonant harmonies, 71, 95,
119; fundamental harmonies, 8485,
85, 92; and good and bad notes, 114,
119; in legato playing, 8485, 85;
musical delivery and declamation,
106; nonharmonic passing notes, 92,
173n84; note value and, 109; opening harmony, 91; ornaments, and, 92,
97, 173n85; prolonging of, 9092,
173n85; slurs in, 88, 89; in staggered
playing, 93; sustaining by ornaments,
97; sweet harmony, 2
205
206
Index
Index
fingers and, 83; distance to in detached playing, effect on, 83; dryer
tone when key struck from height, 47;
finger weight, 23, 26, 3435; fingers,
constant contact with, 34, 37, 47, 50,
104, 109110; overlapping touch, 79;
raised keys (accidentals), fingering
for, 126130, 127129, 183nn40,44;
release of, 35, 45, 58, 6061, 65,
8687, 100; small fingers, placement
on, 26, 28, 3738; sticking, causes,
48, 165n28; striking the keys, 1112,
20, 40, 4748, 60; stroking the keys,
9, 5561, 5657, 6162, 107; thumbs,
placement on, 26, 28, 3539; touching, 8, 20, 23, 4769, 54, 5657,
6162, 6162, 65, 165nn28,29; worn
key edges, 56, 57
Kirnberger, Johann Philipp, 143
Klavier, 3, 150n9
Klavier- und Fortepiano-Schule (Mller), 3
Klavierschule (Hensel), 78
Klavierschule (Lhlein), 16
Klavierschule (Trk), 1, 83
klebricht Spielart (notes held beyond
value), 84
Kleine theoretische Klavierschule
(Knecht), 102
Kleines Elementarbuch (Mller), 3
Knecht, Justin Heinrich, 102, 143
knees, 17, 44
knuckles, and wrist position, 29
Koch, Heinrich Christoph, 74, 99, 107,
143
Die Kunst das Clavier zu spielen (Marpurg), 173n84
Kurzer Unterricht fr Musik-Anfnger
(Hodermann), 78
labor, avoiding harsh, 2122
Landowska, Wanda, 80, 143
Le Gallois, Jean, 1, 5152, 86, 103104,
144, 149n3
207
208
Index
Index
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus, 76,
101102
Mller, August Eberhard, 3, 60, 145
muscles, 15, 19, 2123, 94
muselar, 113, 187n7; child ottavino of,
152n13
music: articulation and, 70110; and
expression, 64; grammar of, 7071;
memorizing, 46; and rhetoric, 70,
168n1, 169n20; singing, 101
music stand, removing, effect, 46
musical dictionaries, 76, 81, 91, 112,
158n105
musical expression. See expression
musical instructions, 99100, 176n110
musical keys, exercises, practicing in different keys, 4142
musical language, understanding, interpreting, 71
musical phrases, 72, 7879
musical phrasing, and differences in
harpsichords, 113
musical terms, 7476, 99, 176n110
musicality, and note lengths, 110
musicianship: effect of playing on different keyboard instruments, 69; and
good performance, 73; multiple keyboard study and, 10
Musikalisches Lexikon (Koch), 74, 99, 107
My staccato is always legato. (Landow
ska), 80
Nassarre, Fr. Pablo: about, 145; on accidentals (raised keys), 130, 183n48;
on care of the hands, 21; on curvature
of hand, fingers, 3133; on depressing
the keys, 4849; on effect of menial
labor on hands, 6; on finger size,
3233; on fingering, 116, 181n17;
on movement of arms, 13; on movement of limbs, 15; on playing neither
connected nor detached, 77; on position at keyboard, 11; on posture at
209
210
Index
Index
partitas, 126
Pasquali, Nicol: about, 145; on accidentals (raised keys), 128; on
arm, elbow position, 24; on artistic
license, 133134; on contraction of
hand, 130131, 131; on curvature of
fingers, 37; on fingering, 124, 124,
128129, 128131, 131; on fugues on
harpsichord, 179n148; on legato playing, 8081, 109, 179n148; on note
lengths, 109; on teaching children, 8,
151nn11,12; on thumb use, 124, 124,
128, 128, 129; on tone of harpsichord,
179n148; on wrist position, 29
passagework: in allegro, articulation
of, 73; arpeggiated passages, 128,
178n147; artistic license in fingering,
135; detached notes, 72; fast passages,
22, 29, 55, 6061, 81, 113, 126, 135,
169n27; improvisatory passagework,
85; leaping passages, 72, 89; in legato,
61, 85; and ordinary manner, 169n27;
phrasing, 135; scale passages, 29,
4950, 7475, 86; slow passages, 56;
slurred passages, 8890; stepwise
passages, 72; and stroking the keys,
60; strong and weak notes in, 119;
thumbs, passing in passages, 81
passing nonharmonic tones, 92, 173n84
Pavana Lachrymae (Dowland, set by
Byrd), 119, 120
pedagogues, 2, 4, 12, 69
Penna, Lorenzo, 115, 145
perfection, of touch, 44
performance: articulation and, 70110;
context, fingering affected by, 113; expression in, articulation for, 70110;
gestures during, 13, 1517, 20, 55,
106, 122; good performance, elements
of, 6768, 73; listening to other musicians, 136; memorization and, 46;
over-legato use, effect on, 72; period
costume, effect on, 113; and playing
211
212
Index
Index
port de voix, 96, 174n99
portative organs, 159n115
portato, 76, 78, 170n34
portraying the music, articulation and,
70110
position: of arms, 10, 2226, 36, 52, 55;
of body, 3, 1013, 24, 62, 159n115;
calm hand position, 50, 6263; cats
paw position, 3031; comfort, 1011,
13, 22, 26; of elbows, 10, 12, 2326,
2930; of feet, 10, 1213; finger position, 11, 22, 34; of forearms, 23, 25;
hand position, 3, 78, 10, 14, 20, 23,
25, 27, 2831, 33, 50, 6263, 9293,
158n102, 159n115; of little fingers,
31, 3538, 117; at organ, 3, 32; of
palms, 24, 2829; relaxation and,
1823; of thumbs, 2223, 3031,
3438; of torso, 1013; of wrists,
2329, 27, 6263, 159n115
posture: of body at keyboard, 1318, 37,
153n41; and breathing, 17; comfort,
136; constrained, 22; distance between torso and keyboard, 10; elbow
position, 24, 62; as foundation, 32;
gently turned, effect, 1718; hands
and arms, 25; holding and moving, 2;
of J. S. Bach, 14; position at the keyboard, 3, 1013; posture, 1318, 37,
153n41; relaxation of, 1823, 153n41;
stretching of, 40; tension, 18, 20, 40;
tree imagery and, 14; unnecessary
movements of, 18, 14; voice lessons
and, 154n49
practice room, 41
practicing: of arpeggiation, 9293; and
artistic license in fingering, 135; dtach, 106; in different keys, 4142;
frequently, 136; ornaments, 9798;
perfect technique and, 45; slowly, 43;
for success at keyboard, 46; trills,
4344, 9798, 182n29; warm-up
exercises, 4142
213
214
Index
Index
rounded hands, 2829, 33, 34, 63, 131
Rousseau, Jean, 86, 94, 112, 146
Rousseau, Jean-Jacques, 22, 146
rubato, 94, 109, 178n147
rules, playing according to, 20
running passages, 29, 60, 81, 126, 135
Saint-Lambert, Michel de: about, 147;
on accidentals, 126127; on age to
begin lessons, 56; on agrments,
174n99; on appoggiaturas, 9697; on
artistic license, 9697; on aspiration,
105, 174n99; on cadence, 177n129; on
a calm hand, 6263; on care of the
hands, 21; on dtach, 105106; on
elbow, wrist position, 24; on finger
position, 22, 37; on fingering, 123,
126127; on harmony, filling out
of, 173n85; on legato playing, 82; on
playing scale passages, 4950; on port
de voix, 96, 174n99; on slurs, 8889,
89, 90; on students, vii; on teaching,
vii; on thumb use, 123, 126127; on
trills as exercise, 4344; on wrist
position, 28; writing about playing
harpsichord, 2
Samber, Johann Baptist, 13, 25, 37, 147
Sancta Maria, Toms de: about, 147; on
accidentals, 126; on contraction of
hand, 132, 132133; on elbow position, 23; on finger curvature, 3031;
and finger substitution, 171n62; on
fingering, 111, 116117, 120, 121,
126, 181n17; on hand motion, 62; on
hand position, 23, 3031, 159n115;
on monocordio (clavichord), 159n113;
on stroking the keys in playing mordents, 56, 58; on thumb use, 120, 121,
126; writing on playing other keyboard instruments, 23
scales: demarcation and connecting of
notes in, 74; finger motion for, 4950;
fingering for, 115, 118, 118119,
215
216
Index
Index
stiff fingers: avoiding, 1921, 82; technique using, 58, 103
stile cantabile, 99101
stool, for seating, 12, 17, 153n31
strength: of fingers, 9, 30, 53, 68, 98,
136; of hands, 29, 46
stretching: of fingers, 19, 35, 38, 40,
4546, 125, 129; general stretching
of body, 40
striking the keys, 1112, 20, 60; avoiding, 50; dryer tone when key struck
from height, 47; sound made by, effect, 48
strings: connection with, 9, 26, 47, 49,
65, 136, 174n94; decaying tone of,
87, 90, 97, 173n81, 179n148; dryer
tone when key struck from height, 47;
ghost sound, 49; legato and overlapping sounds, 8081; materials for, 7;
remaining on, for playing ornaments,
94, 174n94; and resonating length of
notes, 65; vibration, precise termination of, 109, 132
stroking the keys, 9, 5561, 5657,
6162; and release of jack, 107
strong notes, 114120, 117120
students: on age to begin lessons, 56;
and balance point of fingers, 55;
calm hand position, training of, 50;
constitution of, effect, 46; ensuring
proper hand position, 33; feet, position of, 1213; grace notes, playing,
94; hands of, 78; harpsichords for
beginning students, 79; mordents,
playing, 94; playing on different keyboard instruments, 6669; quilling
for, 79, 19, 94; and relaxation, 19;
spinet, use by, 8, 151n11; trills, playing, 43, 94
Sturm und Drang, 15, 154n51
style: brilliant style, 51, 86, 103104,
113; broken style (style bris), 90, 92;
changes in, and fingering, 113; from
217
218
Index
Index
for, 74; playing of, 91; trills in, speed
of, 98
Toccata no. 1 in G Major (Scarlatti, A.),
118119, 118119
Toccatas (Frescobaldi), 178n147
tone: appoggiaturas, release tone of,
96; beautiful tone, 1, 4, 182n29;
clusters, 126; contraction of hand
and, 182n29; decay of, 87, 90, 97,
173n81, 179n148; detaching of, 75;
diminished when key struck from
height, 48, 164n26; dryer when key
struck from height, 47; dynamics
and, 6466; and expression, 64; flow
of, 127; good tone, 109; of Italian
harpsichords, 173n81; linking successive tones, effect, 64; loudness of,
73; management of, 64; overlapping
tone, 56; over-legato use, effect on,
72; passing nonharmonic tones, 92,
173n84; production of, 64; regulation
of, 35; round tone, 125; in schwer and
leicht styles, 75; and stroking the keys,
56, 60; sustaining of, 75; sweet tone
on harpsichord, 20; sweeter, producing, 20; when key struck too quickly,
harshly, 109
tonotechnie (performance reproducing
machine), 106
torso. See posture
touch: achieving proper touch with
fingers, 19; basic touch in playing,
72; beauty of, 20, 44; belle manire
du toucher (a beautiful manner of
playing), 166n38; delicacy of, 47;
on different keyboard instruments,
23, 6669; la douceur du toucher, 2,
4, 47, 52, 71, 136; dynamics and,
6466; evenness in instrument, 10;
and expression, 64, 76; extremes of,
avoiding, 79; and good performance,
73; good touch, 85, 160n124; gravity and, 5253, 55; in leicht (light)
219
220
Index
velocity, in playing, 43
Venegas de Henestrosa, Luis, 116,
147148, 181n17
venue, considerations when playing
slurs, 90
versatility, multiple keyboard study and,
10
Versuch einer Anweisung die Flte traversiere zu spielen (Quantz), 60
Versuch ber die wahre Art das Clavier
zu spielen (Bach, C. P. E.), 8, 34, 109,
112, 120, 167n55
vibrato (bebung), on clavichord, 68
violin, imitatio violistica, 87
violinists, German, 87
virginal, 26, 27, 157n101; Dutch virginal
school, 121; English virginal school,
115, 121, 123; legato in repertory for,
81; muselar, 113, 187n7; repertory for,
81, 113, 121; and thumb-under fingering, 113; trills played on, 98; types
of, 152n13
visualizations, 14, 20, 31
vocal music, 118; artistic license in, 98
99; emulating in playing, 100; tempo
and dynamics in, 74
voice leading, 82
voice lessons, 14, 99, 154n49
voicing: by builder, 152n17; key action
and, 165n28; maintenance, basic
skills, 50; of plectra, 50; of quills,
165n28
Vollkommene Kapellmeister (Mattheson),
16
volume, and good performance, 73
Vorschlge, 95, 95
Index
Walther, Johann Gottfried, 99
warm-up exercises, 4, 2223, 4046,
4142
weak notes, 114120, 117120
wedge marks, for agogic accents, 107
Wegweiser (Speth), 19, 155n64
weight: arm, hand weight not to affect
fingers, 5254, 54; finger weight, 3,
5253, 79
wide stretches, 45, 125, 129
wind instruments, tongued syllables for
playing, 71
Wolf, Ernst Wilhelm, 148
Wolf, Georg Friedrich, 28, 34, 69, 76,
84, 103, 109, 148
womens hands, 2122
221
Yonit Lea Kosovske holds a Doctor of Music degree in Early Music from
Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, where she studied harpsichord
and other historical keyboards with Elisabeth Wright. She has given master
classes in the United States and South America and has performed as a soloist
and chamber artist in major cities throughout the United States, Israel, Hong
Kong, Spain, and South America. She teaches harpsichord and piano in a
private studio and has taught at Indiana University. She has recorded several
CDs, the most recent of which are Keyboard Music of Girolamo Frescobaldi
(Focus, 2010) and La Gracieuse: French Chaconnes, Passacailles, and Preludes
(La Douceur, 2010). Upcoming recordings include a CD of Romantic Spanish music for voice, fortepiano, and guitar with Canto Romntico. For more
information, visit her website: www.yonitkosovske.com.