Keyboard Music and Fortepiano Development (ca. 1720–1790)
The Time of Change (ca. 1720–1790) and the Galant Style
Stylistic Shift from Baroque to Galant Style:
The period between ca. 1720 and 1790 marked a major transition characterized by the decline of Baroque vocal art and the rise of predominantly instrumental art music.
Composers moved away from strict Baroque idioms, abandoning long melodic phrases and continuous, dense counterpoint.
The Galant Style emerged as an aesthetic favoring music that was accessible, graceful, easy to comprehend, and enjoyable for both listeners and performers.
Texture shifted toward a clear emphasis on a cantabile (singing-style) melody placed in the top voice, supported by a simple accompaniment style such as the Alberti bass.
Unlike the Baroque doctrine of the affections (which maintained a single emotional state throughout a movement), galant and transitional music expressed rapidly changing, contrasting characters and emotions within a single movement.
Socio-Economic Dynamics:
The era witnessed a gradual decline in aristocratic patronage alongside the growth and empowerment of the middle class.
Public concerts catered specifically to middle-class audiences gained popularity.
Demand increased for keyboard music that was accessible to amateur musicians and students.
Evolution of Keyboard Forms:
Development of keyboard genres, particularly the keyboard sonata.
Early sonatas grew out of the sonata da camera (dance suite).
The standard binary form with repeats in both sections directly evolved into the Classical sonata-allegro form.
Development and Evolution of the Fortepiano
Invention of the Fortepiano:
Invented in 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence, Italy.
Key mechanical innovations included:
Hammer Action: Wooden hammers struck the strings to produce sound, allowing dynamics to vary based on touch force (forte to piano).
Escapement Mechanism: Allowed the hammer to rebound/fall back to its original rest position immediately after striking the string, preventing damping while enabling the string to vibrate freely.
18th-Century German Piano Builders:
Gottfried Silbermann (1683–1753): Prominent early German maker who studied and refined Cristofori's design.
Johann Andreas Stein (1728–1792): Renowned builder in Augsburg whose instruments featured a light, sensitive action.
Viennese Fortepianos (Stein-Streicher & Walter):
The Stein factory relocated to Vienna when Stein's daughter married Johann Andreas Streicher (1761–1833).
Known as Stein-Streicher or Viennese pianos.
Characteristics: Light touch/action, precise escapement, 5-octave compass, and knee levers instead of modern foot pedals for dynamic and timbre modification.
English Fortepianos (Broadwood):
Gained international prominence, particularly after 1760.
Championed by builders like John Broadwood.
Characteristics: Sturdier framing, heavier action, higher sound volume, and introduction of foot-operated pedals (replacing knee levers), including the damper pedal and the una corda pedal.
French Keyboard Music: François Couperin and Jean-Philippe Rameau
François Couperin (1668–1733):
Published 27 keyboard suites designated as orders (ordres) across four volumes titled Pièces de clavecin (1713, 1717, 1722, 1730).
Authored the seminal treatise L'art de toucher le clavecin (1717; The Art of Playing the Harpsichord), covering ornament execution, fingering systems, and performance practice guidelines (e.g., specifying that preludes should be played freely, inheriting the unmeasured style of the lute tradition).
Stylistic traits: Exemplified the galant or "modern" French style, built on binary dance forms with prominent upper-voice melodies, light accompanimental textures, intricate ornamentation, and free counterpoint/voice-leading.
Notable work: Les Barricades Mystérieuses (from the 6th Order of Pièces de clavecin, 1716–1717).
Jean-Philippe Rameau (1683–1764):
Maintained a more conservative, Baroque style relative to Couperin.
Musical characteristics: Highly regular phrase structures and rhythms, dense part-writing, and traditional Baroque rhythmic figurations.
Theoretical contributions: Published the influential Treatise on Harmony (Traité de l'harmonie) in 1722.
Notable work: Gavotte and Variations.
Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757)
Biographical Context:
Born in Naples, trained and held early positions in Naples, Venice, and Rome.
Relocated to Portugal in 1719, and subsequently settled in Madrid in 1728, remaining in Spain for the remainder of his career.
Keyboard Output and Cataloging Systems:
Composed 560 single-movement sonatas, forming the core of his musical legacy.
Alessandro Longo Catalog (1906): First comprehensive edition, assigning L. numbers.
Ralph Kirkpatrick Study and Catalog (1953): Revised chronology assigning K. numbers; added 12 previously uncataloged sonatas and grouped works into paired sonatas based on tonal relationships.
Compositional Style & Structural Characteristics:
Early collection published in London (1738–1739) under the title Essercizi per gravicembalo (Exercises for Harpsichord).
The vast majority of his keyboard sonatas were composed during his late 60s and early 70s.
Form: Single-movement structures in binary form.
Texture: Polyphonic and integrated; avoids a rigid distinction between "melody" and "accompaniment."
Instrument Adaptations: Performance demands suggest familiarity with Cristofori's fortepianos, utilizing wide leaps, rapidly repeated notes, extended hand-crossings, and arpeggiated runs.
Timbral Tone-Painting: Incorporated Iberian cultural influences and orchestral color imitations, evoking the Spanish guitar, trumpets, hunting horns, and timpani.
Selected Sonatas:
Sonata in D major, K. 96 ("La Chasse")
Sonata in A minor, K. 175
Sonata in E major, K. 380
Sonata in G major, K. 55
Sonata in A major, K. 208
Italian, Iberian, and German Galant Composers
Regional Overview:
Composers across Europe adapted the traditional sonata da chiesa and sonata da camera into the emerging Galant idiom.
Key Figures:
Benedetto Marcello (1686–1739): Venetian composer known for galant keyboard works.
Domenico Alberti (1710–1740): Popularized two-movement sonatas (typically with a duple-meter first movement followed by a triple-meter minuet, dance, or gigue); originator of the broken-chord Alberti bass pattern.
Giovanni Battista Sammartini (1701–1775): Developed three-movement sonata designs in Milan.
Padre Antonio Soler (1729–1783): Spanish composer heavily influenced by Domenico Scarlatti.
José Antonio Carlos de Seixas (1704–1742): Leading Portuguese harpsichordist and composer of galant sonatas.
Johann Peter Kellner (1705–1772): German organist and keyboard composer.
Johann Joseph Fux (1660–1741) and Johann Adolf Hasse (1699–1783): Influential figures contributing to the German keyboard and operatic galant transitions.
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714–1788)
Historical Significance:
Second surviving son of J. S. Bach; served as a pivotal historical bridge connecting the early Galant style to the High Classicism of Joseph Haydn and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Cataloging system: Compiled by Alfred Wotquenne in 1905, assigning W. or Wq. numbers.
Composed over 400 keyboard works, including approximately 180 keyboard sonatas.
Treatise: Essay on the True Art of Playing the Keyboard:
Published in two parts (Part 1 in 1753, Part 2 in 1762).
Comprehensive instruction manual detailing 18th-century German performance practice, ornamentation execution, fingering systems, and figured bass realization.
Empfindsamkeit / Empfindsamer Stil (Sensitive Style):
A North German aesthetic movement emphasizing intense, direct emotional expressiveness.
In musical composition, individual phrases were designed to depict rapid changes in human emotion.
Stylistic markers: Abrupt tempo changes within single movements, unmeasured recitative-like passages, improvisatory cadenzas, dynamic contrasts, and deeply expressive slow middle movements.
Preferred Instrument: The clavichord, prized for its delicate dynamic gradation and capacity for Bebung (a finger-pressure vibrato effect). His late sonatas explicitly specified the fortepiano.
Major Keyboard Publications:
Six Prussian Sonatas (1742): Dedicated to King Frederick the Great of Prussia.
Six Württemberg Sonatas (1744): Dedicated to Carl Eugene, Duke of Württemberg.
Für Kenner und Liebhaber (For Connoisseurs and Amateurs, 1779–1787): A six-volume collection comprising sonatas, rondo settings, and fantasias.
Representative Work: Sonata in A major, W. 55 no. 4.
Johann Christian Bach (1735–1782)
Biographical Context and Innovation:
Youngest surviving son of J. S. Bach; studied under his elder half-brother C. P. E. Bach following their father's death.
Known as the "London Bach."
Instrumental in popularizing the early fortepiano; performed one of the earliest solo public fortepiano recitals in London in 1768.
Sonata Output & Stylistic Characteristics:
Key publications: Op. 5 (1768) and Op. 17 (1779) sonata collections.
Introduced melodic, lyric themes known as the "singing allegro."
Structural features: Concise development sections paired with complete, well-proportioned recapitulations. Final movements used Classical forms, including minuets, theme-and-variations, and rondos.
Representative Work: Sonata in G major, Op. 17 No. 4.
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809): Keyboard Sonatas
Biographical Profile:
Born in Rohrau, Austria; died in Vienna.
Entered the service of the wealthy Esterházy family (Hungarian nobility) in 1761, serving as Kapellmeister for the rest of his active career.
Isolation at the remote Esterházy estate at Eisenstadt forced independence: "I was set apart from the world. There was nobody in my vicinity to confuse and annoy me in my course, and so I had to become original."
Supervised and experimented with the resident court orchestra.
Lifetime output includes 68 string quartets, 106 symphonies, and 52 keyboard sonatas.
Cataloging Systems for Haydn Keyboard Works:
Anthony van Hoboken Catalog (1957):
Hob. XVI: Represents the 52 solo piano sonatas.
Hob. XVII: Other solo keyboard works (e.g., Variations in F minor, Fantasia in C major).
Hob. XVIII: Keyboard concertos (11 total).
Christa Landon Chronology (1963): Published through Universal Edition, assigning L. numbers.
Three Stylistic Periods of Haydn's 52 Piano Sonatas:
Early Period (1750s–1760s; Vienna & Lukavec):
Written in the light galant style.
Designed as instructional pieces (divertimenti) before his Esterházy employment.
Mostly cast in three movements, frequently featuring a minuet and trio as the second movement.
Example: Sonata in A major, Hob. XVI:12.
Middle Period (1761–1771; Esterházy):
Influenced by the German Sturm und Drang ("Storm and Stress") movement and the expressive writing of C. P. E. Bach.
Characterized by minor keys, heightened dramatic intensity, dynamic contrasts, and structural development.
Example: Sonata in C minor, Hob. XVI:20 (the first Haydn sonata with extensive dynamic markings, including measure 14 alternating and on successive notes) and Sonata in D major, Hob. XVI:33.
Late Period (1784–1794; including the Three London Sonatas):
Highly refined, virtuosic, and structurally expanded style.
Example: Sonata in C major, Hob. XVI:50 (features brilliant concertante writing and explicit "open pedal" markings for timbral color) and Sonata in E-flat major, Hob. XVI:52 (majestic, dramatically contrasting gestures and complex rhythms).
