The Evolution of Piano Playing
Work of the organ schools of Venice and Rome--Polyphonic
playing and the advent of the singing style--Scale playing
and the use of the thumb--Bach's fingering and Mozart's vocal
playing--Development of tone-color--Pedalling and variety of
touch--Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt technics.
The origin of piano music, and, indeed, of much of the entire mass of
modern instrumental music, was the organ compositions of the early
masters. The early clavichords were used almost exclusively for the home
practice of organists; and even after it became fashionable for young
ladies to learn the art of playing, there was no difference whatever
between the style of music written for the organ and of that composed
for the clavichord, nor in the manner of playing either instrument.
Every musician knows that in our time the kind of touch used for the
organ is essentially different from that used for the piano, and that
music suitable for one instrument is not suitable for the other. But it
was not thus in the earliest days; for the only professional pianists
(or clavichordists, to be more precise) were the organists, and
instrumental music had not yet reached a state of development high
enough to produce a divergence of styles. The fact that the same
keyboard was used in both instruments was sufficient to suggest to the
early organists that one style of playing was practicable for both. It
naturally did not occur to them to write different sorts of music; and
it is necessary, therefore, for us to inquire what was the nature of the
early organ music.
We have already seen that when the organ was first introduced into the
church it was employed simply to play the same notes as the voices sang.
This practice naturally suggested to composers a style for their organ
music when they began to write for the organ independently of the
voices. Just when they began to do that it is not possible to say,
because the early compositions have not been preserved as the great
masterpieces of church counterpoint have. The first organist of repute
whose name has come down to us was Francesco Landini, of Venice. He
flourished about 1364. But we do not meet with any definite school of
organists in Venice until the third period of the Netherlands school,
when the great Adrian Willaert was the leading master. In 1547 was
published a collection of music entitled "Ricercari da cantare e
sonare," by Jacob Buus. These "ricercari" were compositions in the old
ecclesiastical keys and the polyphonic style. "Da cantare e sonare"
means that they were to be sung or played. Anything "cantata" was vocal,
anything "sonata" was instrumental; and so after a time they began to
call a composition for instruments alone a sonata, though it was a very
different sort of work from a sonata by Mozart. In 1549 fantasies for
three voices, vocal or instrumental, by Willaert were printed. Willaert
used original themes in his fantasies, and his style shows a gradual
approach to the modern manner. In 1551 was issued a collection by
various authors, entitled "A New Collection of Various Kinds of Dances
to be Played on the Harpsichord, Clavicimbal, Spinet, or Monochord." The
word "dances" is very significant, because it shows the first recorded
effort to write instrumental music in purely instrumental form. In this
collection there was no polyphony, but the melody of the dance was in
the treble, and the bass was a simple chord accompaniment. This is an
evidence of the manner in which the music of the people began at that
early date to influence compositions for instruments.
But the dominion of church counterpoint was not to be overthrown at
once; and so we find that the first clearly defined instrumental form
was the "toccata." Those of Claudio Merulo, a Venetian organist, printed
in 1598, were the first to be published. They were written for the
organ, and resembled Willaert's church vocal music in that they
consisted of running or polyphonic passages, followed by successions of
broad chords. Giovanni Gabrieli did more, perhaps, than any other of the
Venetians to lead instrumental music toward the modern style. He wrote
what he called "canzone;" and in these compositions the melody assumed a
position of importance. Furthermore, he showed a tendency to make his
melodic themes recur at regular intervals, although he had no
well-defined system. Still, he made important advances. The Roman school
of organists made valuable contributions to the development of
instrumental music. Girolamo Frescobaldi (1591-1640) wrote ricercari in
which there was something like a systematic employment of clear melodic
themes. He wrote canzone in which there were passages slightly
resembling the choral hymns of the Reformation; and in his "Capriccio
Chromatico" he made a bold use of chromatic harmonies. Indeed, his music
shows a general tendency toward the modern major and minor keys. We are
not surprised, then, to find in the works of Bernardo Pasquine
(1637-1710) arpeggios (running passages composed of the notes of chords,
much used in modern piano music), flowing passages for both hands, and
repetitions of the thematic ideas. But the manner of composing for the
clavichord and harpsichord had been so greatly influenced at this time
by the evolution of a distinct method of playing the instruments that we
must, before advancing any further, go back and briefly review that
topic.
The first systematic method of playing the organ and harpsichord was set
forth in 1593 in a book by Girolamo di Ruta, a Venetian, and it
contained rules for fingering which were in use for more than a century.
A work by Lorenzo Penna, published at Bologna in 1656, shows very
clearly what the general principles of clavichord and harpsichord
technic were in that day. "In ascending the fingers of the right hand
move one after the other,--first the middle, then the ring finger, again
the middle, and so on in alternation. Care must be taken that the
fingers do not strike against one another. In descending, the middle,
followed by the index finger, is used. The left hand simply reverses
this process. The rule for the position of the hands is that they shall
never lie lower than the fingers, but shall be held high, with the
fingers stretched out." This style of fingering held its own until
Bach's time. It was in existence as late as 1741, though more fingers
were employed. But the fingers were still held straight, and the thumb
was not used.
It is difficult to separate the purely musical and the purely technical
causes which led to the abandonment of the polyphonic style for the
monophonic in piano music, and for that reason I must state them
together. The first influence was the introduction of solo singing in
vocal music. We shall review the history of that when we take up opera.
It is sufficient at present to say that before 1600 all vocal music
written by the art composers was in the ecclesiastical polyphonic style,
and that the single-voiced song with accompaniment entered vocal music
at the end of the sixteenth century. The influence of this new element
made itself felt in instrumental music at once. We have noticed already
that in Giovanni Gabrieli's works the melody assumed a new importance,
and this importance constantly increased. The second cause was the full
establishment of the difference between piano and organ technic. This
was chiefly due to Domenico Scarlatti (1683-1757). It was in his day
that the system of equal temperament was made known, though it may be
doubted whether he lived long enough after its publication in those
times of slow communication to profit by it. But he certainly did profit
by the high state of excellence to which the manufacture of harpsichords
had advanced. And he was greatly influenced by the operatic works of his
father, Alessandro, in which the simple aria was the chief element of
attraction. Domenico naturally endeavored to imitate the general form
and melodic fluency of the aria in his sonatas, and in doing this he
developed a harpsichord style of much beauty. He introduced many
technical features which are purely modern, such as the execution of
runs in double notes (thirds and sixths), the rapid repetition of the
same note by striking it with different fingers in succession, and
running arpeggios with both hands in opposite directions. Such feats
were not called for by the polyphonic music, but the new style of
writing made a great use of passages built on the successive notes of
the scale, and to execute these a new manner of playing had to be
evolved. In evolving it the musicians discovered new feats, and these in
turn took their place in the compositions of the time.
In fact the development of the instrument itself affected the
development of the technics of playing, and these affected the evolution
of piano music. Then the music itself reacted on the technic, and this
made new demands of the instrument makers. We have seen that when the
early pianists set about the formulation of rules for playing their
instruments they made poor work of it. Their rules were arbitrary and
were not evolved from a study of the natural action of the hand. Smooth
running of scale passages with such rules as those of Lorenzo Penna
could be accomplished only at a very moderate pace. The old polyphonic
compositions for the clavichord and harpsichord demanded of the player a
technic which would enable him to bring out clearly the three or four
voice parts. The new style, which borrowed so much from vocal music,
naturally sought for a smooth, flowing, even performance, in which the
instrument should, as nearly as possible, sing like a solo voice with
accompaniment. Emmanuel Bach, who wrote an important book on clavichord
playing, proclaimed his belief that the singing style was the only true
one for the instrument. These early musicians had, indeed, arrived at
the heart of the matter, for the highest achievement of piano technic
to-day is the preservation of a pure singing tone throughout the
intricacies of modern music.
The discovery of the value of the thumb revolutionized clavichord and
harpsichord playing. George Frederick Handel (1685-1759) and François
Couperin (1668-1733) both made free use of the thumb, but it was Johann
Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) who systematized its employment. He decided
that the old position of the hand with the back flat and the fingers
stretched to their full extent was unnatural. He saw that the whole
strength of the fingers could not be brought to bear while they were in
this position, and that the thumb could not be placed upon the keyboard
at all. When he attempted to use his thumb, he had to raise the back of
his hand and bend his fingers, and this he saw at once placed the whole
hand in a position of command over the keyboard which it had never
before possessed. He therefore rearranged the fingering of all the
scales, introducing the system which still continues in use. Bach
himself discovered that with his new system of fingering he could play
polyphonic or monophonic music with equal ease, and hence we find that
his compositions abound in both kinds of writing. He himself, being a
church composer, naturally clung to the ecclesiastic style, and in his
great organ and piano fugues transferred the whole contrapuntal science
of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries to instrumental music. But we
shall see that better when we come to a consideration of the music apart
from the technic and the style.
The singing style of playing was further developed by the immortal
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791). The instrument on which he played
was the harpsichord, and the evenness of its tone encouraged his natural
predilection for a vocal style. Mozart was a master of writing for
singers, as is shown by his operas, and he readily saw his way to
preserving the vocal manner in his playing of the harpsichord and his
compositions for it. He held that a good pianist should have a perfect
legato style (legato means "bound," and legato style is that in which
the notes flow smoothly one into the other) a singing touch and a manner
without affectation. Mozart did not live long enough to benefit much
from the growing acquaintance with the newly invented piano, but one of
his contemporaries, who outlived him by more than two-score years did
so. This was Muzio Clementi (1752-1832), a man of no genius in
composition, but of exceptional capacity for the reception of
suggestions from his instrument. Clementi's mind appears to have been
largely occupied with the problem of the possibilities of the piano. Yet
he was not wholly devoted to the development of power and rapidity, for
after a memorable meeting with Mozart he cultivated the singing style
more assiduously than he had previously. He lived through a period of
vital growth in music, for he was a contemporary of Haydn, Mozart, Weber
and Beethoven. It would have been strange had he been insensible to the
productions of such an era. In his youth, and indeed through most of his
life he lived in England, and there he formed his early style on the
English piano, which had thick strings, a heavy touch and a deep hammer
fall. The result was that his music abounded in bold and brilliant
passages of octaves, thirds, and sixths. He aimed at a sonorous and
imposing musical diction, and he demanded of a pianist great physical
power. Clementi's piano technic was the first which was clearly
differentiated from that of the harpsichord and his "Gradus ad
Parnassum" (1817) a series of 100 studies, remains to this day the
foundation of solid piano playing. Many things have since been added to
piano technic, but Clementi's rules lie at the base of it.
The works of Beethoven, to which more extended attention will be given
hereafter, introduced nothing strictly new in the technic of piano
playing, but they did compel certain changes in style. Beethoven wrote
often in a new kind of polyphony, more free and striking than that of
the early composers for the clavichord and harpsichord, and very much
more difficult. This new polyphony was made practicable by the technics
of Clementi, but it required an attention on the part of the pianist to
the enunciation of the several voice parts not required by Clementi's
music. Again Beethoven displayed great originality in the treatment of
musical rhythms, and the proper accentuation of notes having unexpected
emphases required unusual independence of finger. This independence was
highly developed by Beethoven's successors, and at the present day is
absolutely indispensable to piano playing. But the most important demand
of Beethoven's piano music was dramatic style. His music, as we shall
see later, was the first outside of opera in which the expression of
passion was sought, and this expression required that the pianist should
have at his command a great range of force, from the gentlest pianissimo
to the most imposing fortissimo, and a wide variety of what is called
tone-color. This tone-color means quality of instrumental tone, and in a
piano it is capable of many changes, hard or soft, sweet or harsh,
melting or icy, as the necessities of the music require.
Beethoven, having departed by reason of the dramatic nature of his
music, from the continually smooth legato of Mozart, paved the way for
Weber, Chopin, Schumann, and Liszt to develop the highest powers of
expression in the piano. To do this they had to carry variety of touch
to its present state of progress and to evolve the modern use of the
pedals, for tone-color is produced by different combinations of touch
and pedalling. Weber imparted a new and joyous brilliancy to piano
music, and much of his music requires a luxuriant richness of color.
Beethoven had begun to make use of the pedals and in his last piano
sonatas explicit directions are given for their use. Weber's music
requires still more extended employment of them, but it was Chopin who
systematized their use and showed how to get varieties of tone-color by
employing them separately or in combination. Again, Chopin remodelled
the Bach system of fingering by adapting some of the early methods to
modern music. It is quite common now in certain kinds of passages to
pass the third finger over the little one of the right hand or the
little one under the third. Chopin wrote new kinds of passages of great
beauty which cannot be played without resorting to this expedient and to
others introduced by him.
Schumann added more to piano playing by writing in a very original
style. His rhythms are very much involved, he treats accompaniments in
an unusual manner, and he writes "interlocking" passages, in which both
hands have to participate. To play Schumann's music well, a pianist must
go through a special series of exercises to fit his hands for the work.
Finally Liszt, who felt that the piano was as capable an instrument as
the orchestra, if rightly treated, gave us the present development of
the varieties of touch. He wrote studies designed to give pianists the
most complete independence of finger,--a very necessary thing in modern
piano music, in which very often two fingers of one hand may be engaged
in enunciating a melody while the other three are assisting in the
accompaniment. Liszt showed us the immense value of the loose wrist,
without which the velvety quality of tone produced, when required, by
such pianists as himself, Rubinstein, and Paderewski, is quite
unattainable. Liszt taught his pupils to hold the wrist high, but more
recent players use either a high or a low position accordingly as they
desire sonority and brilliancy or mellowness and gentleness.
The whole development of piano playing has, of course, gone hand in hand
with that of piano music, and that has followed the course of music in
general. It becomes necessary, then, for us now to review the evolution
of piano music. We have seen how it grew out of organ playing and was at
first polyphonic. We have seen how the monophonic style--the melody with
accompaniment--came in. We must now try to see how the polyphonic style
worked itself out in the great compositions of Bach, and how the
monophonic style developed itself in a new and highly organized form,
the sonata, whose fundamental principles lie at the basis of all modern
composition.