Performance topics in harpsichord music in the second half of the 18th century – Part 1

Abstract

The present article is connected in terms of its topic with the text entitled Harpsichord or piano? Different concepts in the 18th century keyboard music published by the author in “Notes Muzyczny” no. 1 (9) 2018, and it is the continuation of the discussion on the capacities and ways of performance of music from the Classical period, which is now understood as piano music, on the harpsichord. Subsequent parts will touch on peculiar performance topics connected with the role of the harpsichord in that period: the understanding and rendering of the dynamics, the performance of arpeggios, and the ornamentation. The starting point of the author’s deliberations is the textbook by Daniel Gottlob Türk entitled Klavierschule oder Anweisung zum Klavierspielen für Lehrer und Lernende mit kritischen Anmerkungen. (Leipzig, Halle 1789) and textbooks by other theoreticians of that period (J. J. Quantz, C. Ph. E. Bach), as well as modern publications (F. Neumann, C. Brown, S. Rampe, J. Trinkewitz). The possibility of the rendering of the dynamics understood as the capacity to influence the strength of single sounds is not the necessary condition for performing keyboard compositions from the second half of the 18th century. Neither is it the feature placing keyboard instruments in any particular hierarchy of values. In the 18th century sources it is hard to find any opinions stating that harpsichords were perceived as worse than other keyboard instruments due to the impossibility of shaping the dynamics of individual sounds. The most significant remarks referring to the performance are the topics connected with expression. The dynamics is not the only mean thanks to which a performance becomes expressive. It is possible to play in an expressive way on the harpsichord, yet it is achieved thanks to articulatory measures, agogic nuances, the right way of hitting keys and the proper selection of texture while playing basso continuo.