The eighteenth-century fortepiano grand and its patrons from Scarlatti to Beethoven
By: Eva Badura-Skoda
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2017
Language: eng
Number of pages: 492
ISBN-13: 9780253022639
Subjects: Piano; History
Description: In the late 17th century, Italian musician and inventor Bartolomeo Cristofori developed a new musical instrument for his 'cembalo che fa il piano e forte', which allowed keyboard players flexible dynamic gradation. This innovation, which came to be known as the hammer-harpsichord or fortepiano grand, was slow to catch on in musical circles. However, as renowned piano historian Eva Badura-Skoda demonstrates, the instrument inspired new keyboard techniques and performance practices and was eagerly adopted by virtuosos of the age, including Scarlatti, J.S. Bach, Clementi, Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Collecting a rich array of archival evidence, Badura-Skoda traces the construction and use of the fortepiano grand across the musical cultures of 18th-century Europe, providing a valuable resource for music historians, organologists, and performers.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Bartolomeo Cristofori; title: Giving Cristofori's nuovo cimbalo a name: terminology problems throughout the eighteenth century; title: Domenico Scarlatti; title: New inventions in Germany, pantalone instruments, and Gottfried Silbermann; title: Johann Sebastian Bach and the "piano et forte"; title: Pianoforte builders in Germany around 1750; title: The generation of Bach's older sons; title: From Alberti, Platti, and Rutini to Eckard and the younger sons of Bach; title: Developments in the second half of the century: Johann Andreas Stein and Sebastien Erard; title: Joseph Haydn-Wenzel and Johann Schantz, young Mozart and Nannette Stein; title: Anton Walter and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; title: From Broadwood, Merlin, and Clementi to Beethoven; title: Epilogue; title: Appendix: Scipione Maffei's article of 1711.