In this second part of my blog series on playing music from the Classical Period on the piano, I go on to explore dynamics, pedalling, ornamentation and embellishment (please click here to view the first part which gives some general backround and covers the subject of articulation).
Dynamics
In the 18th century, mostly f and p were used, but lots of variety was possible within these limits, and crescendo-diminuendo was possible to bridge the gap. We see also fp, mfp, sfp, sf and fz. Beethoven’s markings were very precise, with a range from pp to ff. Schubert’s markings were less precise. With Schubert, we distinguish between diminuendo (get softer and slower) and decrescendo (get softer). For example, in G-Flat Impromptu, both terms appear:
Pedalling
Haydn and Mozart alternated between different types of keyboard instrument when playing their own music (harpsichord, clavichord, fortepiano), adapting style and technique to suit each type. Only the fortepiano had a device for raising the dampers, either a hand stop or (later) a knee lever, so it is unlikely either composer considered a damper-raising mechanism as an indispensable tool.
The exception is Haydn’s C major Sonata, Hob XVI:50, where we find two “open pedal” markings in the first movement. It is clear Haydn was after a special effect here:
Beethoven indicates several special pedal effects, in the Tempest and Waldstein sonatas and, famously, in the first movement of the Moonlight. Listen to the Moonlight on a piano from the period and you will not be disturbed by the resonance. On the modern instrument we must adapt the composer’s instruction to keep the dampers raised, either half-pedalling or releasing the pedal a fraction of a second late. it won’t work if we take a literal approach. In this video, Tom Beghin demonstrates the type of sound Beethoven and others had in mind using open pedals on historic instruments.
Ornamentation and Embellishment
As in the Baroque period, trills still start on the beat with the upper auxiliary. Haydn’s mordent (as described by Leopold Mozart) is played as a turn from the upper note. However, Schubert’s trill starts mostly on the main note.
In 1828, Hummel advocated lower-note trills in his Anweisung zum Piano-Forte-Spiel, after which there is evidence for both types of trill. Therefore in Beethoven, trills in early and middle period music will usually work better from the upper note, in the later works, often a main-note start is possible or even preferable.
In concertos, the soloist maintained prerogatives of the baroque period to embellish. In Mozart, one must almost always add cadenzas at fermatas, also additional cadenzas in slow movements. In Mozart’s concertos, one might fill in long note values that are separated by wide intervals if greater rhythmic activity exists in surrounding bars (Mozart gives us a sketch).
Repeats invite embellishments and the treatises have elaborate explanations, but CPE Bach warns against too much! It was conventional for both halves of a sonata first movement to be repeated. The development-recapitulation section became too long and the repeat was left out by composers.
In Haydn and Mozart it is fine to omit the second repeat, but unsatisfactory to omit the exposition repeat, since it not only gives a second chance to hear the thematic material but also balances the movement. In this video, pianist, fortepianist and scholar, Robert Levin gives a great lecture on the subject of repeats in Mozart’s music. This blog post from Oxford University Press also contains some useful information, as well as sound clips, on 18th century ornamentation.
Delve Deeper!
If you’d like a more hands on demonstration on how to approach these aspects when playing music from the Classical Period, then please do join me on Saturday 2nd March for a set of online workshops dedicated to music from this period. Click here to find out more and to book your place!
Repertoire resources
Our repertoire library contains resources to help you learn a wide range of works from this period, including annotated study editions and video lessons. The ABRSM syllabus features many pieces from this period and can be a useful guide for finding pieces at the right level.
Treatises
C.P.E. Bach, Essay on the True Art of playing Keyboard Instruments (1753).
Leopold Mozart, Violinschule (1756).
Giovanni Battista Mancini, Pensieri, e riflessioni pratiche sopra il canto figurato (1774, rev. 1777).
Johann Adam Hiller, Anweisung zum musikalisch-zierlichen Gesange (1780).
Daniel Gottlob Türk, Klavierschule (1789).
Muzio Clementi, Introduction to the Art of Playing on the Pianoforte (1801).
Baillot/Rode/ Kreutzer, Méthode de violon (1803).
Helpful Modern Books
Sandra Rosenblum, Performance Practices in Classic Piano Music (Bloomington and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1988).
Paul and Eva Badura-Skoda, Interpreting Mozart on the Keyboard (New York: Da Capo Press, 1986).
Howard Ferguson, Keyboard Interpretation (Oxford: OUP, 1975).