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 18th 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.
