The art of expressive harpsichord playing was lost when the instrument was replaced by the piano in the nineteenth century. Despite the great strides in harpsichord performance and building made during the last 100 years, the full expressive potential of the instrument has not yet been realized, or sometimes even acknowledged by professionals or amateurs. This book reveals the depth of expression that is possible on the harpsichord, and teaches the performer how to achieve it. Previous books devoted to playing the instrument have either been written for amateurs and beginners with little or no experience on the harpsichord, or they take a scholarly approach. This resource is written with a different goal in mind: teaching the art of expressive harpsichord playing to those who have had experience on the instrument, and also to pianists and organists who love the repertoire, and want to play it on the keyboard instrument for which it was composed. Presented together with quotes from the most important primary sources on the instrument, the book contains more than 100 musical examples in an easily-accessible format and one of the most comprehensive bibliographies available.

The first full-length study devoted to Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870), pianist, conductor and composer. This book, the first full-length study devoted to Ignaz Moscheles (1794-1870), explores how the son of middle-class Jewish parents in Prague became one of the most important musicians of his era, achieving recognition and world-wide admiration as a virtuoso pianist, conductor and composer, a sought-after piano teacher, and a pioneer in the historical performance of early music. Placing Moscheles' career within the context of the social, political and economic milieu in which he lived, the book offers new insights into the business of music and music making; the lives and works of his contemporaries, such as Schumann, Meyerbeer, Chopin, Hummel, Rossini, Liszt, Berlioz and others; the transformation of piano playing from the classical to romantic periods; and the challenges faced by Jewish artists during a dynamic period in European history. A section devoted to Moscheles' engagement as both a performer and editor with the music of J. S. Bach and Handel enhances our understanding of nineteenth-century approaches to early music, and the separate chapters that detail Moscheles' interactions with Beethoven and his extraordinarily close relationship with Mendelssohn adds considerably to the existing literature on these two masters. MARK KROLL has earned worldwide recognition as a harpsichordist, scholar and educator during a career spanning more than forty years. Professor emeritus at Boston University, Kroll has published scholarly editions of the music of Hummel, Geminiani, Charles Avison and Francesco Scarlatti, and is the author of Johann Nepomuk Hummel: A Musician's Lifeand World; Playing the Harpsichord Expressively; and The Beethoven Violin Sonatas.

The music of Johann Sebastian Bach, George Frederic Handel and Domenico Scarlatti received more performances, publications and appreciation in Britain between 1750-1850 than in any other country during this era. The compositions of these three seminal baroque composers were heard in the numerous public and private concerts that proliferated at this time; edited, arranged and published for professionals and amateurs; written about by scholars and journalists; and used as teaching pieces and in pedagogical treatises. This Element examines the reception of their music during this dynamic period in British musical history, and places the discussion within the context of the artistic, cultural, economic, and political factors that stimulated such passionate interest in 'ancient music.' It also offers a vivid picture of the aesthetic concerns of those musicians and audiences involved with this repertoire, providing insights that help us better understand our own encounters with music of the past.

Written by fourteen leading experts in the field, this Companion covers almost every aspect of the harpsichord - the history of the instrument, tuning systems, the role of the harpsichord in ensemble, its use in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and includes separate chapters devoted to Domenico Scarlatti, J. S. Bach and Handel. Chapters featuring almost every national style are written by authors with close connections to the countries about which they are writing, including England, The Netherlands, Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, as well as the less extensive harpsichord traditions of Russia, the Nordic and Baltic countries, and colonial Spanish and Portuguese America. With musical examples, illustrations, a timeline of the harpsichord, and an appendix of composers, reliable editions and original sources, this book is for all who love the harpsichord, or want to learn more about it.

Written by fourteen leading experts in the field, this Companion covers almost every aspect of the harpsichord - the history of the instrument, tuning systems, the role of the harpsichord in ensemble, its use in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and includes separate chapters devoted to Domenico Scarlatti, J. S. Bach and Handel. Chapters featuring almost every national style are written by authors with close connections to the countries about which they are writing, including England, The Netherlands, Germany, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, France, Italy, Portugal and Spain, as well as the less extensive harpsichord traditions of Russia, the Nordic and Baltic countries, and colonial Spanish and Portuguese America. With musical examples, illustrations, a timeline of the harpsichord, and an appendix of composers, reliable editions and original sources, this book is for all who love the harpsichord, or want to learn more about it.

This collection of letters to and from the eminent harpsichordist, scholar, and early-music pioneer Ralph Kirkpatrick provides a portrait of the musician from the beginning of his career in Paris in the 1930s to its end in the early 1980s. This collection of letters to and from the eminent harpsichordist, scholar, and early-music pioneer Ralph Kirkpatrick provides a portrait of the musician from the beginning of his career in Paris in the 1930s to its end in the early 1980s, offering new insights into his work and scholarship. The volume contains letters from Europe to his family as well as correspondence with harpsichord makers, performers, and composers, including Nadia Boulanger, Alexander Schneider, John Kirkpatrick, Elliott Carter, Henry Cowell, John Challis, Kenneth Gilbert, Serge Koussevitzky, and Vincent Persichetti. In addition, two former students of Kirkpatrick, the guitarist Eliot Fisk and the harpsichordist Mark Kroll, write about their experiences studying with Kirkpatrick in a foreword and an afterword. The volume also includes a bibliography of publications by and about the musician, as well as a discography. MeredithKirkpatrick is a librarian and bibliographer at Boston University and is the niece of Ralph Kirkpatrick.