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Four hundred years of compositions for two pianos Lecture given by Stéphane Villemin during the Reding-Piette International Contest for Two Pianos at Neuchâtel, Switzerland, on June 23, 2001 The following text includes the main excerpts of the lecture that was followed by discography references as well as a list of more than 500 compositions for the medium. Forewords In order to restrain this lecture to pure duo-pianism we shall only consider and respect the following statements:piano duo stands for two pianos with four hands, while piano duet means four hands on one piano; only pieces originally written for the medium by composers will be dealt; transcriptions and arrangements will be included only if they are of composer’s hand; we exclude all two-piano versions of concertos, as well as salon pieces, operatic fantasies,… I The forerunners. The true origin of two keyboard playing is doubtless melted with the early beginnings of keyboard musical practice. It was then a good mean of performing chamber music with potential other instruments or just a way of entertainment. Dougherty and Ruzicka advance that it was common during the 17th Century to hear barber shops’ customers playing virginals in ensemble while waiting for their turn to be shaved. From the dynamic point of view two virginals, two harpsichords or two clavichords offered much greater range of variations from piano to forte. This possibility has always puzzled the composers like Gabrieli (1557-1612) whose composition Pian e Forte clearly bears his intention. This piece of the Venetian composer is assumed to be written for the two organs of St Mark Basilica. The oldest composition for two keyboards which is clearly identified as so is a short piece for two virginals written by Giles Farnaby (c.1563-1640), an English contemporary of William Byrd, famous for his 1598 published book of canzonets. In the original manuscript the two parts were written on separated scores but not gathered on the same sheet as shown on the attached copy. This music had been then published with a large collection of sixteenth and seventeenth century keyboard music, the Fitzwilliam virginal book. It is interesting to notice that the second part is more virtuosal than the first part. This may suggest that Farnaby wrote this second part for himself or for any other teacher with the intention of accompanying a student playing the easy melody of part one. Mainly in G major the harmony however modulates to C major. The second theme can be considered as a variation of the first one. As mentioned in the introduction, a single lecture does not enable to spread with rich and various details on each of the more than one thousand pieces I have listed in the appendix of your proceeding. We shall thus blow out François Couperin and his nephew Armand-Louis as well as Händel or Pergolese whose concerto for two harpsichords was largely performed with various orchestras and championed by duo Reding-Piette. Italian composer, Bernardo Pasquini (1637-1710), is worth of interest for many reasons. After Frescobaldi but before Scarlatti, Pasquini is a genuine modernist of his time who innovated in the manner to compose for harpsichord. In his musical language he leaves the durezzo, the polyphony and modal harmonies defended by his predecessors and tends towards homophony, melody and tonality. His harpsichord compositions sound fresh, clear and obviously announce Scarlatti’s vividness. Although his works were not published during his life, four autographs manuscripts remain in Berlin and London archives, all dated between 1691 and 1705 and dedicated to Pasquini’s nephew. Among them, a set of fourteen pieces for two harpsichords, preceded by a partita, bear the title of Sonata of due cimbali and are dated from May 6, 1703 to December 3, 1704. It is also worth mentioning that parts one and two of each three movement sonata display only a figured bass (or basso continuo) as a commonly shared notation by performers at that time. As we know a figured bass provides enough information to implement the harmony as the foundation of the rest of the music albeit it leaves enough freedom to the performer to choose his practical range, his register or sometimes to improvise with extra ornamentation. In order to facilitate their performance various publishers have proposed versions of some Pasquini’s sonatas with a fully written bass. The D minor Sonata is doubtless the most famous of them arranged by W.Danckert as well as by J.S.Shedlock. On top of his arrangement the latter mentions also the figured bass leaving the choice to the performer. Extrait de la Sonate en ré de Pasquini, III vivace, par le duo Reding-Piette, Olympia London OCD 272. II Bach and his sons. Johann Sebastian Bach was not only a genius of Music with his idiosyncratic manner to touch our hearts and to reflect on our souls, but also was he a great innovator who experimented amongst others forms, new harmonies and new instruments including Silbermann’s pianoforte. He eventually played on two harpsichords with his sons as well as with his students for educational purpose or just for private recitals as it was common practice. Taking into account the numerous never published exercises- we know how noble this mere word "exercise" sounds for Bach- not forgetting the probable improvisations on two harpsichords, the remaining published and authenticated works for two keyboards look poor, should we compare this total of four pieces to the huge production of the Kantor of Leipzig. However they are the most advanced compositions for the medium ever written at this time, Father Bach actually wrote genuinely only one piece that was originally conceived for two keyboards, his Concerto No.2 in C major BWV 1061 written between 1732 and 1735. The Concerto No.1 in C minor BWV 1060 (dated 1738) was arranged and transposed from a violin and oboe d’amore Concerto in D minor. His Concerto No.3 in D minor BWV 1062 (1736) was also arranged and transposed subsequently to the two violin Concerto in E minor. As far as posthumously published Die Kunst der Fuge no instrumental intention is supported on Bach’s music, leaving his thirteen completed Fugues and four Canons open to various media including the keyboard. However in 1931 Donald Francis Tovey pointed out that two invertable Fugues, Contrapunctus XII and Contrapunctus XIII could not be played with only two hands. Actually the former showcases four staves which suggest a possible piece for two keyboards. The later which is also the last being completed by Bach is a three-part fugue evoking a lively gigue. As three staves were not suitable for a proper publication in 1751, it is assumed that Carl Philipp Emanuel arranged it for two keyboards by adding a free non inverting part to both rectus and inversus versions. Hence, out of one Fugue he wrote two. However it is recommended to play these two resulting fugues as a unit, without any stop between rectus and inversus in order to retrieve the spirit of the original mirror fugue. As far as the fragmentary 14th fugue of this unfinished masterpiece it became the source of various completion including Busoni’s Fantasia contrappuntistica whose fourth version (1922) was written for two pianos. Wilhelm Friedmann Bach Sonata or Duetto in F major F.10 interested surely Doktor Brahms since he was the first to publish it in 1864, but with the name of the illustrious father, Johann Sebastian. Brahm’s authority was so respected that this false attribution was reported in the 1894 great Bachgesellschaft edition. It is only in 1899 that a correction in a following edition re-attributed this three movement sonata to Wilhelm Friedmann. Anyhow, one can imagine that this piece was favored and often performed by Brahms and Clara Schumann on two pianos. Presto de la Sonate en fa de W.F. Bach par le Duo Reding-Piette, Olympia London OCD 271 Wilhelm Friedmann wrote also in E flat major F.46 for two harpsichords, strings, horns and timpani, as well as two concertos for two claviers in D and F without accompaniment. Carl Philipp Emanuel and the London based Johann Christian were strong advocate of the new struck strings keyboard instrument, the pianoforte. Among other works for two claviers the former wrote a Concerto Doppio in E flat (H.479) for harpsichord, pianoforte, two horns and strings and the latter composed his Sonata in G major op.15 No.5 for two fortepianos or two harpsichords (1778). |
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Copyright: Stéphane Villemin 2001 |