Consecutive two-note slurrings, with the first note of each subsequent slur repeating the
previous note, do not involve any detachment of the previous note, at least not in slow or
medium paced melodic lines. There is a piano passage in the variations movement of
Schubert’s ‘Trout’ Quintet where the second note of each such slur is reduced in length
and a rest is inserted. This is said to lend support to the proposition that in classical piano
music this would have to be specifically notated to achieve a detachment of the second
note of the particular slur in question.
Mozart never marked ‘diminuendo’ in his piano music. It is said that this is because
contempory practice required that the notes under a slur should be played diminuendo.
As an absolute rule in all cases this may perhaps be doubted, but it would probably apply,
unless specifically contra-indicated, to all two-note slurs in the piano music of Mozart
and other composers. An example of such contra-indication is in the Brahms piano
concerto no. 2 in B flat major opus 83 shortly before the pedal point towards the end of
the opening piano cadenza.
Chopin used long slurs in countless places in his piano music and they often continued to
the first note of a bar. In some cases, as in his Nocturne in B major opus 62 no. 1, it
seems that ‘sub-phrasings’ by way of rubato may be inserted within some of the long
slurs. Kleczynski said that Chopin himself used to lift his hand off the last note of a long
slur when playing his own music. It has also been said that Chopin used to lift his wrist
in this situation. Many pianists do either, or both, of these things, thus assisting
physiologically in the muscular relaxation of the pianist, which in turn assists in the
production of tonal nuance and rubato. These procedures are very often ‘contradicted’ by
Chopin’s pedal markings so this means that they are primarily physiological in nature.
Liszt and Brahms mostly used short slurs in their piano music along the lines of the
classical composers. Their piano music should be played in long phrases although with
due regard to the inner tensions indicated by the slurring.
SOCIAL HISTORY
The social history of the piano is about the piano’s rôle in society. The piano was
invented at the end of the seventeenth century, had become widespread in Western
society by the end of the eighteenth century, and is still widely played today.
At the time of its invention about 1700 the piano was a speculative invention produced by
the well-paid inventor and craftsman Bartolomeo Cristofori for his wealthy patron
Ferdinando de Medici, Grand Prince of Florence. The piano was very expensive and for
some time after its invention it was owned mainly by royalty such as the Kings of
Portugal and Prussia.
During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries pianos were financially beyond the
reach of most families and the pianos of those times were usually owned by the gentry
and the aristocracy whose children were taught by visiting music masters. Piano study