Piano Literature Essay

I am taking a Piano Literature class this semester, and our midterm consisted of four essays and memorization of all the Beethoven sonatas and Chopin works. Here is one of the essays I wrote that is very interesting. :)




    Discuss the period of transition between the harpsichord and the pianoforte. Who were some important composers during this time, and how did this significant shift in keyboard instrument design and production affect compositional styles and performance practice?

Harpsichords, along with clavichords, began developing in 1397. The harpsichord had a uniform sound, mutes (called a buff used as a knee device), and the music itself was one dynamic with similar ornamentations in every piece written during that time. Fortepianos began developing in 1698 as a quiet, small, dainty, and weak instrument. Throughout the 18^th century the roots of the Classical genre was occurring and the piano began to eclipse the harpsichord because dynamics and personal expression was now possible through the instrument. The original name for the fortepiano was: gravicembalo con piano a forte [harpsichord with soft and loud]. The modern pianoforte developed during Beethoven’s time and the early Romantic period. The three most important developments were the metal frame allowing more sound [cast iron allowed more tension unlike fortepiano’s wooden frames], the action and keys with double escapement allowing fast, repeated notes, and the pedals for resonance.

Composers during this important developing period of time can begin with Johann Sebastian Bach. He wrote many pieces for organ and the harpsichord, but also composed pieces with Clavier-Ubung which is nonspecific to harpsichord or piano yet still for a keyboard. The Well-Tempered Clavier (1722-1744) was a new system of writing right at the beginning of the fortepiano development. This was composed for “keyboard” practice, and not “harpsichord” practice. The most important composer for bridging the gap with the harpsichord and pianoforte is C.P.E. Bach. He composed sonatas introducing the classical genre eclipsing the Baroque period. The piano developed from 1700-1800 allowing many of his pieces to be played on the pianoforte and not the harpsichord.

The shift in keyboard instrument design and production affected the compositional styles and performance practice in many ways. In the Baroque period the many forms of composition were toccatas (mostly for organ), preludes, fugues, inventions, and exercises. Bach’s compositions originally played on the harpsichord were transferred over to the piano. His works are nourishment for the mind and hands full of rhythm, topography, perpetual motion, motivic with harmonics and all played fuller with more sound and better action on the pianoforte. The equal temperament on the pianoforte allowed the new harmonies developing to be in tune and heard with better quality. Haydn, Clementi, and Mozart began the sonata genre through the development of the fortepiano. The sonata was piano proper, compositions that lend well to the instrument. Light textures instead of one texture were now possible through the pianoforte. Mozart introduced the emotional content possible through the new piano with more musical possibilities. Most important to Mozart was the piano concerto. Through his piano concertos, the possibilities of what the pianoforte could accomplish was advertised and used by the many composers to follow. 

Because of this new instrument, new expression possibilities were possible. It was more than something to play, but became a compositional process with numerous of harmonic possibilities that would grow in the Classical and Romantic period. That finding and discovering a voice and sound at the piano was a learning landscape for these composers. The pianoforte allowed to expand and create new forms of compositions and moves it up to new levels of new possibilities.