The piano is perhaps more suited to dynamic graduations and nuances than terrace
dynamics. Mozart customarily marked terrace dynamics of piano (soft) and forte (loud)
but these very often have a dual character as indicating structure. The piano and forte
contrast in Beethoven is usually strongly marked and is often very dramatic and effective.
Schumann’s piano music often fails to convey effectively to the listener a distinction
between dynamic levels.
EAR
Playing music on the piano without the score, after having listened to it without the score,
is called playing by ear. It is a useful skill to develop.
EARLIEST PIECES
The earliest pianos and their tone, technique and compositions were designed in the
tradition of harpsichords and clavichords. In 1732 Lodovico Giustini published ‘Sonate
da Cimbalo di Piano e Forte’. This collection included twelve sonatas with dynamic
markings implying crescendos and diminuendos and was the first published work
specifically written for the piano.
No other pieces written specifically for the piano are known until 1770 when Muzio
Clementi wrote his three Sonatinas opus 2. From that time the piano was sufficiently
distinct to inspire a new type of playing and a new kind of literature. Keyboard players
had to learn new techniques. C.P.E. Bach said that ‘the more recent pianoforte, when it is
sturdy and well built, has many fine qualities, although its touch must be carefully
worked out, a task which is not without its difficulties.’
By the end of the eighteenth century the piano was reliable and powerful enough to
inspire composers like Mozart and Beethoven to compose works especially for the piano.
They could even feature the piano as a solo instrument with an orchestra.
ELBOW FLEXIBILITY
Flexibility, movement and position of the elbow are very important in piano playing,
especially in such works as Chopin’s Etude in C major opus 10 no. 1 where the right
hand broken chords have to cover the broad expanse of the keyboard.
According to Chopin, the evenness of scales (and also arpeggios) was founded not only
on the greatest possible equality in finger strength and a thumb completely unimpeded in
crossing under and over – to be achieved by five finger exercises – but far more on a
sideways movement of the hand, not jerky but always evenly gliding, with the elbow
hanging down completely and freely; this he sought to illustrate on the keyboard by a
glissando.
ENGLISH PIANOS