By way of introduction: Preluding by 18th- and early 19th-century pianists

Journal of Musicology

Volumn 14, Issue 3, 1996, Pages 299-336

  Goertzen, Valerie Woodring ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 64049090973     PISSN: 02779269     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/764060     Document Type: Article

References (172)

1. Letter from Mozart to his father, dated Vienna 16 January 1782, in Mozart: Briefe und Aufzeichnungen, ed. W. A. Bauer and O. E. Deutsch, 7 vols. (Kassel, 1962-75), III, 193.
2. The competition, which also involved sight-reading and a duo improvisation on a given theme (each performer alternately accompanying the other), is discussed in several sources, among them Katalin Komlós, "Mozart and Clementi: A Piano Competition and Its Interpretation," Historical Performance III (Spring 1989), 3-9.
3. Clementi also performed his Toccata in B Flat, Op. 11; Mozart's variation set may have been improvised as well (Komlós, 4-7). Shorter versions of this essay were presented at the annual meeting of the American Musicological Society in October 1987, the AMS Midwest Chapter Meeting in April 1985, Mt. Holyoke College in February 1987, and the University of Trondheim, Norway in February 1989. I wish to thank Nicholas Temperley and Chris Goertzen for suggestions offered at several stages in my work, and Jenny Raabe for checking translations.
4. References to Mendelssohn's preluding in Rome and Munich in the early 1830s are found in Felix Mendelssohn Letters, ed. G. Selden-Goth (New York, 1945), 111;
5. and in Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Letters from Italy and Switzerland, 3d ed., trans. Lady Wallace (1865; rpt. Freeport, N.Y., 1970), 292, 303, and 313.
6. See also Eduard Devrient, My Recollections of Felix Mendelssohn- Bartholdy, and His Letters to Me, trans. Natalia Mac-farren (London: Richard Bentley, 1869), 140-41.
7. Reports of Clara Schumann's preluding in Berlin and Dresden later in that decade appear in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung XXXIX (April 19, 1837), 257
8. and in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik IX (December 21, 1838), 201.
9. AmZ XXII (February 2, 1820), 82.
10. AmZ VIII (April 2, 1806), 427-28.
11. To cite one important example, Frederick Neumann's Ornamentation and Improvisation in Mozart (Princeton, N.J., 1986) does not address the issue of the composer's improvised preludes. The fullest treatments of preluding during the period are found in Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, "Twenty-four Preludes Op. 28: Genre, Structure, Significance," in Chopin Studies, ed. Jim Samson (Cambridge, 1988), 167-93;
12. and m Robert Wangermée, "L'Improvisation pianistique au debut du XIXe siecle," in Miscellanea musicologica Floris van der Mueren (Ghent, 1950), 227-53.
13. Betty Bang Mather and David Lasocki, The Art of Preluding 1700-1830: for Flutists, Oboists, Clarinettists and Other Performers (New York, 1984), is a modern instruction manual that draws on historical sources.
14. The first edition of Johann Nepomuk Hummel's Ausführliche theoretisch-practische Anweisung zum Piano-Forte-Spiel (Vienna: Tobias Haslinger, [1828]), devoted only its final page (p. 468) to improvisation; Hummel claimed here that a person could neither give nor profit from instructions in this endeavor. (An English translation of Hummel's remarks appeared in "Johann Nepomuk Hummel on Extemporaneous Performance," The Monthly Musical Record XI (November l, 1881), 214-15;
15. a reprint of a French edition containing the one-page discussion of improvisation has been published as Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Méthode complète théorique et pratique pour le piano-forte (Paris: A. Farrenc, 1838; rpt. Geneva, 1981).)
16. G. W. Fink claimed that the public's disappointment with this portion of Hummel's treatise had inspired Carl Czerny's Systematische Anleitung zum Fantasieren auf dem Pianoforte, Op. 200 (Vienna: A. Diabelli und Comp.; London: Boosey; Paris: M. Schlesinger, [1829]), which constituted the first attempt to present a comprehensive work on the subject to the public.
17. A modern edition of Czerny's work has been published as A Systematic Introduction to Improvisation on the Pianoforte, Op. 200, trans. and ed. Alice L. Mitchell (New York and London, 1983);
18. Czerny also discussed preluding in his Complete Theoretical and Practical Piano Forte School, Op. 500, 3 vols. (London: R. Cocks and Co., 1839), III, 116-23. Frédéric Kalkbrenner's Traité d'harmonie du pianiste, principes rationnels de la modulation pour apprendre a préluder et a improviser, Op. 185, appeared in 1849 (Paris: the author; Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel; rpt. Amsterdam: A.J. Heuwekemeyer, 1970).
19. Instructions concerning improvisation, including preluding, were also given in Part II of C. P. E. Bach, Versuch über die wahre Art, das Clavier zu spielen (Berlin: George Ludewig Winter, 1762; rpt. Leipzig, 1957), 325-41
20. and in Philip Anthony Corri, Original System of Preluding (London: Chappel and Co., [1813?]).
21. Other method books, e.g., Muzio Clementi, Introduction to the Art of Playing on the Piano Forte (London: Clementi, Banger, Hyde, Collard and Davis, [1801]), contain preludes but no written instructions concerning preluding.
22. The following is a list of principal collections of this type: Tomaso Giordani, Preludes for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte in all the keys flat and sharp (London: for Welcker, [177-]) (RISM G2329);
23. J. N. Hummel, Vorspiele vor Anfange eines Stükes [sic] aus alien 24 Dur und mol Tonarten zum nützlichem Gebrauch für Schüler, in Rèpertoire de musique pour les dames ouvrage périodique et progressif (Vienna: Artaria, [c. 1814]), II/9, later editions through at least 1897);
24. J. B. Cramer, Twenty-six Preludes or Short Introductions in the Principal Major and Minor Keys for the Piano Forte (London: Chappel [sic] and Co. and Clementi and Co., [1818]; several German editions followed);
25. Tobias Haslinger, XXX Vorspiele in den gebräuchlichsten Dur und Moll Tonarten für das Piano=Forte (Vienna: S. A. Steiner und Comp., [1818]);
26. Ignaz Moscheles, 50 Preludes in the Major and Minor Keys, intended as short introductions to any movement and as preparatory exercises to the authors studies, for the piano forte, Op. 73 (London: S. Chappell and J. B. Cramer, [1827], later editions published in several countries through at least 1882);
27. and Frédéric Kalkbrenner, Twenty-four Preludes for the Piano Forte, in all the Major and Minor Keys, being an Introduction to the Art of Preluding (London: Clementi and Co., [1827]).
28. (A later edition [1836?] appeared as Vingt-quatre Préludes pour le piano forte dans tons les tons majeurs el mineurs pouvant servir d'exemple pour apprendre à préluder, Op. 88 (Milan: F. Lucca, plate numbers 1028-1029).)
29. Ars rhetorica, III, 1414b. The passage is given in Greek and translated by Warren Kirkendale in "Ciceronians versus Aristotelians on the Ricercar as Exordium from Bembo to Bach," Journal of the American Musicological Society XXXII (1979), 3. Kirken-dale's study examines the functions and characteristics of preludial pieces up to the time of Bach.
30. Bruno Nettl, "Thoughts on Improvisation: A Comparative Approach," The Musical Quarterly LX (1974), 1-19, examines traditional Western notions of improvisation and composition as they relate to the creation of music in several cultures. This article and Nettl's teachings have influenced my thinking on improvisation.
31. A collection of essays edited by Nettl, In the Course of Performance: Studies in the World of Musical Improvisation, is in preparation. The standard book-length work on the subject is Ernst Ferand, Die Improvisation in der Musik (Zurich, 1938).
32. In German sources Präludium, Vorspiel, less commonly Praeambulum (or Präam-bulum), as a verb präludiren, praeambulieren (or präambulieren); in French prélude, préluder; in Italian preludio, preludiare.
33. Pietro Lichtenthal, Dizionario e bibliografia della musica, 4 vols. (Milan: Antonio Fontana, 1826), 11, 133 (Preludio);
34. Gustav Schilling, Encyclopädie der gesammten musikali-schen Wissenschaften, 6 vols. (Stuttgart: Franz Heinrich Köhler, 1841), V, 532-33 (Praeludium);
35. August Reissmann, Musikalisches Conversations-Lexikon, 11 vols. (Berlin: Robert Oppenheim, 1877), VIII, 155-57 (Präludiren, Präludium).
36. James Grassineau, A Musical Dictionary (London: J. Wilcox, 1740), 183 (Prelude);
37. M. Castil-Blaze, Dictionnaire de musique moderne (Brussels: L'Academie de Musique, 1828), 192 (Prélude).
38. The verb präludieren was used in this sense in a report of a Frankfurt concert in 1805 (AmZ VII [March 13, 1805], 392-93): "In closing, allow me to reproach the orchestra for an unfortunate practice in which they engage in the local concerts, one that was especially noticeable today: This is the loud tuning of everyone at the same time, within the audience's hearing, and the uncivilized preluding. One could tune very conveniently in an adjoining room (as always happens in the amateur concerts), but probably this is not done because the instruments go out of tune easily when they come out of the room into the warmer hall. Yet it is also true that not every player can hear his pitch exactly and tune perfectly when everyone is tuning at the same time and amidst the unbearable improvising and doodling, and in this way the instruments as well as the listeners are put out of tune, and the music hindered in its effect." ("Beym Schlusse dieses sey es mir erlaubt einen Uebelstand des Orchesters bey den hiesigen Konzerten, und der heute besonders auffallend war, zu rügen: Es ist dieses das laute Stimmen aller zugleich, vor den Ohren der Zuhörer, und das ungesittete Präludieren. Man könnte ganz bequem in einem Nebenzimmer stimmen (wie es bey den Liebhaberkonzerten auch jedesmal geschieht) wahrscheinlich wird es aber deswe-gen nicht gethan, weil sich die Instrumente, wenn sie aus dem Zimmer in den wärmern Saal kommen, leicht verziehen; allein es ist doch auch gewiss, dass bey dem Stimmen aller zugleich und während dem unerträglichen Phantasieren und Dudeln nicht jeder seinen Ton genau hören und ganz rein stimmen kann, und auf diese Weise die Instrumente - nicht rein, und die Zuhörer verstimmt werden, und die Musik an ihrer Wirkung gehindert wird.")
39. The reviewer refers to the similar sentiments expressed by Rochlitz in AmZ II (October 23, 1799), 57-59.
40. J.J. Rousseau, Dictionnaire de musique (Paris: la Veuve Duchesne, 1768), 382-83 (Prélude, Préluder);
41. Grassineau, Musical Dictionary, 183;
42. Reissmann, Conversations-Lexikon, VIII, 157.
43. Rousseau, Dictionnaire, 383.
44. Rousseau's definition appears in Castil-Blaze, Dictionnaire, 192
45. and is cited also in Lichtenthal, Dizionario, II, 133.
46. For example, Philipp Wschejansky's five-page Praeludium für das Piano Forte, Op. 5 (Vienna: K. K. pr. chemischen Druckerey, [c. 1800]).
47. Independent preludes were discussed later in the century in Carl Richter, "Ueber selbständige Clavierpräludien, insbesondere Chopin's Op. 28 und Op. 45," Neue Zeitschrift für Musik LI (March 7, 1884), 113-16.
48. On this point see Castil-Blaze, Dictionnaire, 192
49. and Carl Czerny, Systematic Introduction, 5-6.
50. The structure of public concerts in Vienna and the function of the opening number are discussed in Mary Sue Morrow, Concert Life in Haydn's Vienna: Aspects of a Developing Musical and Social Institution (Stuyvesant, N.Y., 1989), 142-44.
51. Clara Schumann was in the habit of improvising transitions to connect short pieces (AmZ XXXIX [April 19, 1837], 257
52. and AmZ XL [March 7, 1838], 165).
53. Modulating preludes of the sort composed by Mozart for his sister, Nannerl (Modulierendes Präludium (F-e), K. deest, in Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke (Kassel, 1982), series 9, group 27, vol. II, pp. 4-5), seem also to have been intended as bridges between two pieces.
54. The purpose of preludes passing through many or all the keys, for instance Beethoven's Zwei Präludien durch alle Dur-Tonarten für das Pianoforte oder die Orgel, Op. 39 (Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1803), is less clear; a letter of Mozart suggests that such preludes were suitable to any key, and that the player would simply stop upon reaching the appropriate key (The Letters of Mozart and His Family, 3d ed., trans. and ed. Emily Anderson [New York and London, 1989], 589).
55. These preludes may also have served as a means of checking the tuning of an instrument, or as compositional exercises. See also Eigeldinger, "Twenty-four Preludes," 171n.
56. The importance of the prelude in this regard is discussed in the second edition of Hummel, Anweisung zum Piano-Forte-Spiel, 465 and 467.
57. Morrow notes that approximately one-fourth of the concertos mentioned in surviving program announcements from Vienna in the 1780s and 1790s are identified as composed by the performer; just under half of the concertos are identified as works of other composers. In the early nineteenth century, a greater proportion (though still less than half) of the concertos mentioned in program announcements were composed by the performer (Concert Life, 159).
58. Reports in the AmZ (e.g., VIII (June 4, 1806], 570, and XV (January 20, 1813], 49) complained about the tendency of some pianists and other instrumentalists to rely too heavily on their own works, resulting in programs that were monotonous or of low artistic quality.
59. Concerning Hummel's improvisations, see the entry for him in F.J. Fétis, Biographie universelle des musiciens et bibliographic générale de la musique, 2d ed. 8 vols. (Paris: Didot Frères, Fils et Cie, 1862), IV, 385-88;
60. also Edward Holmes, A Ramble Among the Musicians of Germany (London: Hunt and Clarke, 1828; rpt. New York, 1969), 260-64;
61. Henry F. Chorley, Modern German Music (London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1854), 8-9;
62. and reviews in the AmZ: XXII (July 5, 1820), 463-66;
63. XXV (July g, 1820), 454;
64. XXXVI (May 7, 1834), 319-20;
65. and XXXVI (December 17, 1834), 864.
66. His stature in German musical life of the first third of the nineteenth century is examined in Reinhold Schmitt-Thomas, Die Entwicklung der deutschen Konzertkritik im Spiegel der Leipziger Allge-meinen Musikalischen Zeitung (Frankfurt am Main, 1969), 341-43, 473-78, and 564-65.
67. F.J. Fétis and Ignaz Moscheles identified the best "modern" improvisers as Mozart and Beethoven, and after them Hummel, Moscheles, and Chopin, Méthode des méthodes de piano (Paris: Maurice Schlesinger, [1840], 73).
68. Hummel, Anweisung turn Piano-Forte-Spiel, 2d ed., 468: Ich schliesse mit einer Empfehlung des freien Phantasirens überhaupt und in jeder achtbaren Form an Alle, denen es nicht blos um Unterhaltung und um Geschicklichkeit im Praktischen, sondern auch, ja vornehmlich, um den Geist und Sinn in ihrer Kunst zu thun ist: diese Empfeh-lung aber ist nie so dringend gewesen, als jetzt, weil es deren, die nur jene, nicht diese beabsichtigen, nie so Viele als jetzt gegeben hat. Selbst wenn man mit Geist immer-während nur Noten spielt, wird derselbe viel weniger genährt, enveitert und ausgebil-det, als durch öfteres, wenn auch nur mässig gelingendes, doch mit vollem Bewustsein, Aufbietung aller Kräfte, nach gewisser Richtung und Ordnung geübtes freies Phantasiren.
69. Hummel, Anweisung zum Piano-Forte-Spiel, 2d ed., 462.
70. Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review I (1818), 394.
71. The music education of amateurs in nineteenth-century Europe is discussed in Irmgard Keldany-Mohr, "Unterhaltungsmusik" als soziokulturelles Phänomen des 19. Jahr-hunderts (Regensburg, 1977), 43-51- In the early to middle part of the century, amateurs with the financial means to do so could study in public institutions run by individuals or musical societies (later in the century by the city or state), or in general departments of conservatories. More usual, however, was private study with a professional or amateur musician, either in individual lessons or in private "academies." As a rule these forms of private instruction provided training in singing or playing an instrument rather than a thorough education in the art.
72. Czerny, Systematic Introduction, 15. Czerny's Piano Forte School, III, 116, similarly states that "every Performer immediately before the piece which he is about to execute, should play an introductory movement, which may be longer or shorter according to circumstances."
73. Essentially the same recommendation is given in P. A. Corn, Original System of Preluding (quoted in the Gentleman's Magazine LXXXIV (January 1814], part 1, p. 60).
74. AmZ XXXI (September 2, 1829), 577.
75. Czerny, Systematic Introduction, 6. In his Piano Forte School, Czerny described the proper manner of commencing a public performance of a piece beginning with orchestra: "After making the usual obeisances, first towards the principal boxes, then towards the sides, and lastly towards the middle of the Theater; [the pianist] must take his seat, depositing his dress hat, and drawing out his white handkerchief, he must then give the signal to the orchestra. In this case all preluding must be strictly avoided. The player should take care, before he presents himself, to keep his fingers very warm and flexible" (III, 87). No separate instructions were given to women performers.
76. Schilling, Encyclopädie, V, 533: Einige sagen statt Praeludium auch Praeambulum und statt Präludiren (vorspielen, ein solches Vorspiel vortragen) wohl Präambu-liren. Indeß versteht man unter Praeambulum (wörtlich: Vorgang, was vorangeht) gewöhnlich mehr jene kleineren Einleitungssätze oder Accorde, die Virtuosen bis-weilen ihren Concert=Productionen in hyperartistischen Cadenzen oder dergl. (gewöhnlich die Harmonie der eigentlichen Schlußcadenz enthaltend) vorangehen lassen, urn eines Theils vielleicht sich selbst zum Spiel anzuschicken, andern Theils Publikum und Orchester auf sich und den Anfang ihres Spiels aufmerksam zu machen.
77. Op. 61 (Vienna: A. Diabelli und Co., 1824). The contents of this collection are itemized by Mitchell in her edition of Czerny's Systematic Introduction, 25n.
78. Chopin's "Andante spianato" serves as an introduction to his "Grande Polonaise in E Flat" for piano and orchestra (Paris: M Schlesinger, 1836).
79. For a discussion of private venues for music-making in Vienna from 1760 to ca. 1810, see Morrow, Concert Life, 1-33.
80. Cipriani Potter's account of overhearing one of Beethoven's private improvisations is included in J.-G. Prod'homme, Beethoven raconté par ceux qui l'ont vu (Paris, [1927]), 96-97. Hummel's remarks concerning the value of improvising in solitude have already been discussed.
81. Mannheim, November 13, 1777, in The Letters of Mozart, trans. Anderson, 368. Wangermée's claim that Mozart "never failed to prelude" before a sonata or concerto ("L'improvisation pianistique," 228-29) is probably an exaggeration, notwithstanding the numerous references to improvisation of various kinds in Mozart's letters. Mozart's Fantasie in C minor, K. 475 constitutes a lengthy prelude to his Sonata, K. 457 and was published as such. The title page for the first edition, "Fantaisie et Sonate pour le Forte-Piano ... Oeuvre XI" published by Artaria in 1785, is reproduced in Gertraut Haberkamp, Die Erstdrucke der Werke von Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Tutzing, 1986), II, 199.
82. See also Mozart, Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke (Kassel, 1986), series 9, group 25, vol. II, pp. xiii-xv.
83. Muzio Clementi, Clementi's Musical Characteristics, or a Collection of Preludes and Cadences for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte composed in the Style of Haydn, Kozeluch, Mozart, Sterkel, Vanhal, and the Author, Op. 19 (London: Printed for Longman and Broderip, 1787) (RISM C 2882).
84. A facsimile edition of this curious work is included in Nicholas Temperley, The London Pianoforte School, 20 vols. (New York and London, 1984-87), II, 115-43.
85. The collection has been discussed by Alan Tyson in "Clementi as an Imitator of Haydn and Mozart," The Haydn Yearbook II (1963/64), 90-92
86. and more extensively by Eva Badura-Skoda in "Clementi's 'Musical Characteristics' Opus ig," in Studies in 18th-century Music: A Tribute to Karl Geiringer on His 70th Birthday, ed. H. C. Robbins Landon (London and New York, 1970), 53-67
87. and Leon Plantinga in Clementi: His Life and Music (London and New York, 1977), 129-34. I question (as does Plantinga) Badura-Skoda's assumption that Clementi's imitation of the pianists listed on the tide page necessarily indicates that he heard them play, and also her claim that the work was meant to be a humorous parody.
88. See also Temperley, The London Pianoforte School, II, xii and xvi.
89. August Friedrich Christopher Kollman, An Introduction to the Art of Preluding and Extemporizing, in Six Lessons for the Harpsichord or Harp, Op. 3 (London: Printed for R. Wornum, [1792?]). The sonatas are identified in note 57. I am grateful to Jane Lohr for providing me with a copy of this work.
90. Jan Ladislav Dussek, Three Sonatas with Scotch and German Airs and Three Preludes, for the Piano Forte, with or without Additional Keys Being the Continuation of Op. 25. With accompaniments for a Violin or Flute & Bass Ad Libitum, Op. 31 (London: Corri, Dussek and Co., [c. 1795]) (RISM D 4115).
91. This matter is discussed in William S. Newman, The Sonata in the Classic Era, 3d ed. (New York and London, 1983), 52-57.
92. Morrow found no solo keyboard sonatas in reports of public concerts in Vienna c. 1760-1810 (Concert Life, 161), although she cites a public performance of a sonata for two pianos in 1807 (p. 342).
93. According to Schmitt-Thomas, Die Entwicklung der deutschen Konzertkritik, 567, Mendelssohn helped to bring about a change in this situation through his public performances of Beethoven's Sonatas Op. 53 and Op. 27/2 in 1832.
94. As late as 1840, a writer for the AmZ commented on the rarity of sonatas (and here he apparently means sonatas for solo instrument with piano accompaniment) in public concerts in Leipzig (AmZ XLII [February 5, 1840], 116).
95. See also William S. Newman, The Sonata since Beethoven, 2d ed. (New York and London, 1972), 54-55.
96. C. P. E. Bach, Versuch, part II, 327.
97. The practice of preluding before a song is described as late as 1877 in Reissman, Conversations Lexikon, VIII, 155.
98. Walther Dürr believes that Schubert expected preludes to be improvised to many of his songs lacking introductions (Franz Schubert Neue Ausgabe sämtlicher Werke, Series 4: Lieder, 7 vols. [Kassel, 1970], Ia-IIa-IIIa-IVa-Va, xiv and VI-VII, xii).
99. The developing distinction between serious and non-serious music and the shaping of a canon of masterworks is discussed in William Weber, "Mass Culture and the Reshaping of European Musical Taste, 1770-1870," International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music VIII (1977), 5-22.
100. See Nicholas Temperley, The London Pianoforte School, I, xix.
101. Philip Alperson, "On Musical Improvisation," Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism XLIII (1984), 23-27
102. drawing on Francis Sparshott, The Theory of the Arts (Princeton, 1982). My discussion of this analogy reworks and extends the ideas presented by Alperson.
103. The first two types are exemplified in reports of Beethoven's preluding cited in Wangermée, "L'improvisation pianistique," 239-40.
104. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Fantasie über ein irländisches Lied "The Last Rose," Op. 15 (Vienna: C. A. Spina, 1833).
105. Mrs. Fay Peirce, ed., Music Study in Germany, from the Home Correspondence of Amy Fay, 17th ed. (New York, 1897), 325.
106. Josef Hofmann preceded most of the pieces played on his Golden Jubilee Concert with a single chord that set the key (November 28, 1937, released on Columbia KL 4929).
107. Anonymous review, Quarterly Musical Magazine & Review I (1818), 394-96. The full citation for Cramer's set is given in note 7.
108. Czerny supplied examples of this in his Systematic Introduction, 11-15. Concerning the modulating prelude, see note 18.
109. Corri, Original System of Preluding, 1-4.
110. Quoted in the Gentleman's Magazine LXXXIV (January 1814), part 1, 60.
111. See note 7.
112. See note 36.
113. Tyson identifies the first authentic edition as A Sonata for the Piano-Forte and a Famous Toccata for the Harpsichord or Piano-Forte, Op. 11 (London: John Kerpen, [1784])
114. (Alan Tyson, Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Muzio Clementi [Tutzing, 1967], 47).
115. He identified the other five preludes as belonging to Burney's Sonata IV, Op. 1;
116. Hässler's Grand Sonata forThree Hands, Op. 12;
117. Haydn's Sonata II, Op. 58;
118. Horn's Sonata I, Op. 1;
119. and Hulmandel's Sonata III, Op. 4.
120. Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Mus. ms. autogr. 9. A fair copy of the preludes in another hand and an autograph of four of the preludes are in the Archive of the Robert-Schumann-Haus, Zwickau (MS Nr. 7486,5 and MS Nr. 11514-A1).
121. See also Berthold Litzmann, Clara Schumann: Ein Künstlerleben nach Tagebüchern und Briefen, 2d ed., 3 vols. (Leipzig, 1903-9), III, 601. I wish to thank Nancy Reich for bringing the collection to my attention, Wolfgang Goldhan for providing me with a microfilm of the Berlin manuscript, and Gerd Nauhaus for providing me with photocopies of the Zwickau manuscripts and allowing me to work with them in the Archive. My study of Schumann's preludes is forthcoming in In the Course of Performance: Studies in the World of Musical Improvisation, ed. Bruno Nettl.
122. Schumann's careful programming of her husband's music is discussed in Nancy Reich, Clara Schumann: the Artist and the Woman (Ithaca and London, 1985), 265-75
123. and in Martin Schoppe, "Schumann-Interpretation Clara Schumanns (Tageskritik und Konzertbericht), in 3. Schumann-Tage des Bezirkes Karl-Marx-Stadt, 1978 (Zwickau, 1978), 17-24.
124. The earliest performance of "Des Abends" and "Traumeswirren" documented in Die große Programm-Sammlung Clara Schumanns (eigene Konzerte) (Zwickau, Robert-Schumann-Haus, Nr. 10463, 1-A3, C3) is in a concert played in Dorpat on February 11, 1844.
125. The properties attributed to keys are examined in Rita Steblin, A History of Key Characteristics in the Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries, Studies in Musicology no. 67 (Ann Arbor, MI, 1983).
126. Concerning key characteristics and choices in the nineteenth century, see Hugh MacDonald, "9/8 G-flat," 19th-century Music XI (1988), 221-37.
127. For example, the anonymous review of Book I of Kalkbrenner's Twenty-four Preludes in the Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review IX (1827), 248-50. Czerny's statement that the student must transpose sample preludes into all the keys (Systematic Introduction, 11) was meant to encourage development of technical and creative facility at the keyboard; it should not be understood to mean that a given prelude would serve equally well in any key.
128. For example, Giordani's Preludes for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte in all the keys flat and sharp, published in the 1770s, includes only 14 keys, in this order: C major and minor, D major and minor, E major and minor, F major and minor, G major and minor, A major and minor, B-flat, and E-flat.
129. See MacDonald, "9/8 G-flat."
130. See note 37.
131. Op. 77 (Vienna: Diabelli und Co., [182-]).
132. (London: Colliding, D'Almaine, Potter and Co., [c. 1811-23]).
133. Op. 52 (London: Goulding, D'Almaine, Potter and Co., [c. 1811-23]).
134. Mozart's connection with this free style of improvisation is discussed in Katalin Komlós, " 'Ich praeludirte und spielte Variazionen': Mozart the Fortepianist," in Perspectives on Mozart Performance, ed. R. Larry Todd and Peter Williams (Cambridge and New York, 1991), 28-29.
135. Quarterly Musical Magazine and Review IX (1827), 248-49.
136. I have found no copy of this publication. The review by Bourges appeared in the Revue et gazette musicale VII (November 4, 1840), 523-25.
137. Frédéric Chopin, 24 Préludes, Op. 28 (Paris: Catelin; Leipzig: Breitkopf und Härtel, 1839).
138. Neue Zeitschrift für Musik XI (November 19, 1839), 163: Es sind Skizzen, Etudenanfänge, oder will man, Ruinen, einzelne Adlerfittige, alles bunt und wild durch einander.
139. Review of a concert by Chopin on April 26, 1841, Revue et gazette musicale VIII (May 2, 1841), 246: Les Préludes de Chopin sont des compositions d'un ordre tout-à-fait à part. Ce ne sont pas seulement, ainsi que le titre pourrait le faire penser, des morceaux destinés à être joués en guise d'introduction à d'autres morceaux, ce sont des préludes poétiques, analogues à ceux d'un grand poëte contemporain, qui bercent l'âme en des songes dorés, et l'élevent jusqu'aux régions idéales. Admirables par leur diversité, le travail et le savoir qui s'y trouvent ne sont appréciables qu'a un scrupuleux examen. Tout y semble de premier jet, d'élan, de soudaine venue. Ils ont la libre et grande allure qui caractérise le oeuvres du génie.
140. English translation from The Musical World, June 10, 1841
141. quoted in Frédéric Chopin, Preludes, Op. 28, ed. Thomas Higgins (New York, 1973), 91-92.
142. Eigeldinger, "Twenty-four Preludes." The connection with preluding is treated more briefly in Nicholas Temperley, "Chopin," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, ed. Stanley Sadie, 20 vols. (London: Macmillan, 1980), IV, 305;
143. in Wanger-mée, "L'improvisation pianistique," 242;
144. and in Herbert Westerby, The History of Pianoforte Music (London, 1924), 233.
145. The collections - by Clementi, Hummel, Cramer, Szymanowska, Würfel, Kalk-brenner, and Moscheles - are listed on p. 172. Eigeldinger does not cite evidence in instruction books or eyewitness accounts of preludes performed, apart from Liszt's review quoted above.
146. Remarks concerning his improvisations may be found, for example, in a review by [Léon or Marie] Escudier in La France musicale IV (May 2, 1841), 156;
147. and in Bernard Gavoty, Frederic Chopin, trans. Martin Sokolinsky (New York, 1977), 271-72.
148. J. C. Kessler, Vingt Quatre Préludes, Op. 31 (Breslau: Charles Cranz).
149. Eigeldinger treats this subject and cites some of the pertinent literature ("Twenty-four Preludes," 172-77).
150. See, for example, Liszt's review in the Revue et gazette musicale VIII (May 2, 1841), 246;
151. and Gavoty, Chopin, 260, 309, 310, and 332.
152. Gavoty, Chopin, 271-72. This performance, before a group of close friends, concluded with an extended improvisation. Following this Chopin did imitations of fashionable pianists.
153. May 10, 1850, soiree of Mr. Percival at Mr. Robinson's house. The Musical World XXV (1850), 308 (report from the Courier).
154. Unpublished letter to her sister, Zina Fay Peirce, December 18, 1872. I am grateful to S. Margaret W. McCarthy for supplying me with this information in a letter, June 24, 1991.
155. Peirce, Music-Study in Germany, 45-46 and 325;
156. Margaret William McCarthy, Amy Fay: America's Notable Woman of Music (Warren, MI, 1995), 161.
157. (1899. Rpt. New York: Capricorn Books, 1964), 166. I wish to thank Neely Bruce for bringing this passage to my attention.
158. Wangermée, "L'Improvisation pianistique," 238. Sauer (1862-1942) concertized from 1882 to 1936, living in Vienna from 1901.
159. Columbia KL 4929, recorded at the Metropolitan Opera House, November 28, 1937.
160. Review by C[arl] G[ollmick] in AmZ XLIV (September 21, 1842), 747: Sein Vortrag erinnert an die goldene Zeit, in der noch die Clementi, Mozart, Field, Klengel, Ries, Cramer oder Hummel en vogue waren; aber er würde noch weit mehr daran erinnert haben, wenn er auch, wie jene Könige des Piano, frei fantasirt hätte. Leider ist dieser edelste Zweig des Klavierspiels, an welchem man damals den ächten Pianisten erkannte, grösstentheils verloren gegangen, denn jeder Donnergott oder Equilibrist heisst jetzt Meister.
161. Kalkbrenner, Trailé, p. [1]: Combien parmi nos meilleurs Pianistes en est-il, qui puissent faire un prélude tant soit peu satisfaisant? Et quant aux élèves on n'en voit pas un sur mille qui, dans ses improvisations, essaie de dépasser la cadence parfaite. A similar criticism was made by Bourges in his review of Cramer's Trente-six Préludes melodiques (see p. 327).
162. Mendelssohn, Letters, trans. Wallace, 303. Other letters of Mendelssohn express similar sentiments.
163. AmZ XLI (February 27, 1839), 175, and XLV (October 11, 1843), 741-42. According to the 1839 review, Mendelssohn had played a free fantasy in a concert two years earlier and agreed to do so again in response to public demand.
164. Weber, "Mass Culture," 5.
165. Quoted in Dennis Libby, "Improvisation, Western, after 1800," in The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, IX, 49.
166. A review of his performance of Beethoven's E-flat Concerto in a Leipzig concert in December 1841, for example, commented on Liszt's enhancement of the piano part. The reviewer disapproved in principle of the alterations, but conceded that they displayed good taste and true creative genius (AmZ XLIV [January 5, 1842], 18-19).
167. A reviewer of Liszt's performance of Weber's Konzertstuck in 1840 admitted that Liszt's alterations were impressive, but advised in general against such tampering, warning of the potentially dangerous effect of Liszt's example on younger and less accomplished pianists (AmZ XLII [April 1, 1840], 297).
168. Fink, "Systematische (?) Anleitung," 578.
169. These observations are based on the listings in Carl Friedrich Whistling and Friedrich Hofmeister, Handbuch der musikalischen Litteratur (1817, and 10 supplements 1818-27; rpt. with an introduction by Neil Ratliff [New York and London, 1970])
170. and in Hofmeister's musikalisch-literarischer Monatsbericht (Leipzig: Friedrich Hofmeister, 1829-1942).
171. The collections of Clementi and Herz are cited in Hofmeister's musikalisch-literarischer Monatsbericht for April 1860 and November 1880, respectively. Clementi's collection was originally published as an appendix to the fifth edition of his Introduction to the Art of Playing on the Piano Forte (London: Clementi, Banger, Collard, Davis and Collard, 1811);
172. see Tyson, Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Muzio Clementi, 84-86. The Schirmer edition of Moscheles's Preludes is dated 1882.