Chapter III: Part I: The Classical Period of Pianoforte Music

CHAPTER

I. KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF KEYBOARD
TECHNIQUE 1

Keyboard instruments and their derivation; the clavichord
and its mechanism; the harpsichord and its relatives,
virginal, _cembalo_, etc.; technique and use of the
harpsichord--The beginnings of harpsichord music; the
Gabrielis and Merulo; early forms; the influence of
harmony and the crystallization of form--Frescobaldi
and other organist-composers for harpsichord; early
English virginal collections; John Bull, etc.--Genesis
of the suite; influence of lute-music; Froberger, Denis
Gaultier, etc.; Kuhnau--Development of the harpsichord
‘style’; great players: Chambonnières, etc.

II. THE GOLDEN AGE OF HARPSICHORD MUSIC 40

The period and the masters of the ‘Golden Age’--Domenico
Scarlatti; his virtuosity; Scarlatti’s ‘sonatas’;
Scarlatti’s technical effects; his style and form; æsthetic
value of his music; his contemporaries--François Couperin,
_le Grand_; Couperin’s clavecin compositions; the ‘musical
portraits’; ‘program music’--The quality and style of
his music; his contemporaries, Daquin and Rameau--John
Sebastian Bach; Bach as virtuoso; as teacher; his technical
reform; his style--Bach’s fugues and their structure--The
suites of Bach: the French suites, the English suites,
the Partitas--The preludes, toccatas and fantasies;
concertos; the ‘Goldberg Variations’--Bach’s importance;
his contemporary Handel.

III. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE PIANOFORTE SONATA 89

Vienna as the home of the sonata; definition of
‘sonata’--Origin and history of the standard sonata
cycle; relationship of sonata movements--Evolution of the
‘triplex’ form: Pergolesi’s ‘singing allegro’; the union of
aria and binary forms; Padre Martini’s sonatas, Scarlatti’s
true sonata in C; Domenico Alberti; the Alberti bass; the
transitional period of the sonata--Sonata writers before
Haydn and Mozart; J. C. Bach; Muzio Clementi--Schubert and
Wagenseil; C. P. E. Bach; F. W. Rust.

IV. HAYDN, MOZART AND BEETHOVEN 131

The ‘Viennese period’ and the three great
classics--Joseph Haydn; Haydn’s clavier sonatas;
the Variations in F minor--W. A. Mozart; Mozart as
pianist and improvisator; Mozart’s sonatas; his piano
concertos--Ludwig van Beethoven; evolution of the modern
pianoforte--Musical qualities of Beethoven’s piano music;
Beethoven’s technical demands; his pianoforte sonatas;
his piano concertos; conclusion.

V. PIANOFORTE MUSIC AT THE TIME OF BEETHOVEN 175

The broadening of technical possibilities and its
consequences--Minor disciples of Mozart and Beethoven:
J. N. Hummel; J. B. Cramer; John Field; other
contemporaries--The pioneers in new forms: Weber and
Schubert; technical characteristics of Weber’s style;
Weber’s sonatas, etc.; the _Konzertstück_; qualities of
Weber’s pianoforte music--Franz Schubert as pianoforte
composer; his sonatas; miscellaneous works; the
impromptus; the Moments musicals--The Weber-Schubert era
and the dawn of the Romantic spirit.