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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was by far the outstanding organist of his day, and there were few who could rival him on the harpsichord - Scarlatti being a notable exception. Bach has left us little direct comment on technique. What we know regarding his own performances and his thoughts on tech­nique must be gotten largely from his associates and particularly his son, Carl Philipp Emanuel.

Joachim Quantz without a doubt referred to Bach when he wrote the following description of harpsichord technique in his Versuch:

Experience proves that if two musicians of unequal skill perform on the same harpsichord, the tone will be much better with the better player. There can be no other cause for this than the difference in the touch, and on this account it is necessary that all the fingers should act not only with the same strength, but with the right strength; that the strings be allowed sufficient time to vibrate without impediment, and that the keys be not depressed too slowly, but, on the contrary, with a certain snap which sets the strings vibrating for a long time. … It is important to see whether one finger presses more strongly than another, which can come from the habit of curving some fingers more than others. This not only causes unevenness in the tone, but it prevents the passages from being round, distinct, and agreeable; in this manner, should a rapid scale occur, the fingers will do no more than tumble upon the keys. If, on the contrary, the habit has been acquired of curving the fingers equally, we shall not fall so easily into this fault. Moreover, in the performance of such rapid passages, the fingers should not be suddenly raised; their tips should rather be slid up to the forward end of the key, and thus withdrawn, for this will ensure the clearest possible execution of the runs. My opinion in this is based on the example of one of the most highly skilled harpsichord players, who followed this method, and taught it.²⁷

Although they may not have originated the system of fingering they employed, Bach and his son (in his Essay) did more than any other to establish the function of the thumb in its pivotal capacity in our modern scale and arpeggio fingerings. Philipp Emanuel gave his father full credit:

My late father told me about having heard great men in his youth who did not use the thumb except when it was necessary for large stretches. Since he lived at a time in which there gradually took place a quite remarkable change in musical taste, he was obliged to think out a much more complete use the fingers, and especially to use the thumb (which apart from other uses is quite indispensable especially in the difficult keys) in such a manner as Nature, as it were, wishes to see it used. Thus it was raised suddenly from its former idleness to the position of the principal finger.²⁹

Forkel described Bach’s finger technique in the following paragraphs:

According to Sebastian Bach’s manner of placing the hand on the keys, the five fingers are bent so that their points come into a straight line, and so fit the keys, which lie in a plane surface under them, that no single finger has to be drawn nearer when it is wanted, but every one is ready over the key which it may have to press down. What follows from this manner of holding the hand is:

(1) That no finger must fall upon its key, or (as also often happens) be thrown on it, but only needs to be placed upon it with a certain consciousness of the internal power and com­mand over the motion.

2) The impulse thus given to the keys, or the quantity of pressure, must be maintained in equal strength, and that in such a manner that the finger be not raised perpendicularly from the key, but that it glide off the forepart of the key, by gradually drawing back the tip of the finger towards the palm of the hand.

3) In the transition from one key to another, this gliding off causes the quantity of force or pressure with which the first tone has been kept up to be transferred with the greatest rapidity to the next finger, so that the two tones are neither disjoined from each other nor blended together. The touch is, therefore, as Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach says, neither too long nor too short, but just what it ought to be.³⁰

Earlier, Forkel had referred to C.P.E. Bach’s statement in his Essay:

Some persons play too stickily, as if they had glue between their fingers; their touch is too long, because they keep the keys down beyond the time. Others have attempted to avoid this defect and play too short, as if the keys were burning hot. This is also a fault. The middle path is the best.³¹

Continuing his description, Forkel wrote at length:

The advantages of such a position of the hand and of such a touch are very various, not only on the clavichord, but also on the pianoforte and the organ. I will here mention only the most important.

(1) The holding of the fingers bent renders all their motions easy. There can therefore be none of the scrambling, thump­ing, and stumbling which is so common in persons who play with their fingers stretched out, or not sufficiently bent.

(2) The drawing back of the tips of the fingers and the rapid communication, thereby effected, of the force of one finger to that following it produces the highest degree of clearness in the expression of the single tones, so that every passage performed in this manner sounds brilliant, rolling, and round, as if each tone were a pearl. It does not cost the hearer the least exertion of attention to understand a passage so performed.

(3) By the gliding of the tip of the finger upon the key with an equable pressure, sufficient time is given to the string to vibrate; the tone, therefore, is not only improved, but also prolonged, and we are thus enabled to play in a singing style and with proper connection, even on an instrument so poor in tone as the clavichord is.

All this together has, besides, the very great advantage that we avoid all waste of strength by useless exertion and by constraint in the motions. In fact, Sebastian Bach is said to have played with so easy and small a motion of the fingers that it was hardly perceptible. Only the first joints of the fingers were in motion; the hand retained even in the most difficult passages its rounded form; the fingers rose very little from the keys, hardly more than in a shake [trill], and when one was employed, the other remained quietly in its position. Still less did the other parts of his body take any share in his play, as happens with many whose hand is not light enough.

In the chapter entitled “Bach the Teacher,” Forkel tells us:

The first thing he did was to teach his scholars his peculiar mode of touching the instrument, of which we have spoken before. For this purpose, he made them practice, for months together, nothing but isolated exercises for all the fingers of both hands, with constant regard to this clear and clean touch. Under some months, none could get excused from these exercises; and, according to his firm opinion, they ought to be continued, at least, for from six to twelve months. But if he found that anyone, after some months of practice, began to lose patience, he was so obliging as to write little connected pieces, in which those exercises were combined together. Of this kind are the six little Preludes for Beginners, and still more the fifteen two-part Inventions. He wrote both down during the hours of teaching, and, in doing so, attended only to the momentary want of the scholar. But he afterwards transformed them into beautiful, expressive little works of art. With his exercise of the fingers, either in single passages or in little pieces composed on purpose, was combined the practice of all the ornaments in both hands.³⁵

Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach (1714-1788)

… owed much to his father. In his auto­biography he states: “In composition and keyboard performance, I have never had any teacher but my father.”³⁹ His indebtedness was more apparent in his achievements as a clavier performer than in his style of composing. His works are among the best examples of the “empfindsamer Stil” (sensitive style) of the period that broke away from the polyphony of J.S. Bach. It strived to present a more “true and natural” feeling and foreshadowed the romantic period. C.P.E. Bach’s keyboard sonatas are of major importance - his handling of the early sonata form helped to lay the foundations for the works of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven. Within this form we also see the younger Bach’s creation of a true piano keyboard idiom. Burney said that Emanuel Bach told him

“. . . that of all his works those for the clavichord and pianoforte are the chief in which he has indulged his own feelings and ideas. His principal wish has been to play and compose in the most vocal style possible, notwithstanding the great defect of old keyed-instruments, except the organ, in not sustaining their tone. But to make a harpsichord or piano­forte sing, is not easily accomplished; as the ear must not be tired by too thin a harmony, nor stunned by too full and noisy an accompaniment. In his opinion music ought to touch the heart and he never found that this could be effected by run­ning, rattling, drumming, or arpeggios.”⁴⁰

In the Essay he advised that “The whole approach to per­formance will be greatly aided and simplified by the supplementary study of voice wherever possible and by listening closely to good singers.⁴¹

His treatise Versuch iiber die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen (Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments) is the most important one from the entire harpsichord period, and the first thoroughly organized one-overshadowing other fine method books from the period such as those by Marpurg and Quantz.⁴² C.P.E. Bach wrote it while serving Frederick the Great in Berlin as chamber cembalist, a position he had assumed in 1740. In this post he had contact with the musical notables of his day and thus wrote from wide experience. He himself stated in the foreword to Part Two of the Essay: “The observations are not speculative but rest in experience and wisdom. With no desire to boast, it may be said that this experience can hardly be rivaled, for it has grown out of many years of association with good taste in a musical environment which could not be improved.”⁴³

The Essay, first published in two parts in 1753 and 1762, is the work of a first-rank musician. Its objective throughout is sensitive musical performance. The influence of the work soon was wide­spread; so much so that Haydn called it “the school of all schools”⁴⁴ and Beethoven had his pupil Czerny work from it. Johann Friedrich Rochlitz (1769-1842), probably the first pro­fessional music critic, quoted Mozart as saying: “He is the father, we are the children. Those of us who do anything right learned it from him. Whoever does not own to this is a scoundrel.”⁴⁵ The early pianists like Clementi, Cramer, and Hummel built directly upon it-it is the connecting link between the harpsichord and the early piano.

In the introduction to Part One, Bach stated that the true art of playing keyboard instruments is dependent upon three factors: correct fingering, good embellishments, and good performance. He treated each of these in a separate chapter. He immediately objected to keyboardists whose “playing lacks roundness, clarity, forthrightness, and in their stead one hears only hacking, thumping, and stumbling. All other instruments learned how to sing. The keyboard alone has been left behind, its sustained style obliged to make way for countless elaborate figures.”⁴⁶

Toward the end of the introduction, he wrote:

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 difficulties. It sounds well by itself and in small ensembles. Yet, I hold that a good clavichord, except for its weaker tone, shares equally in the attractiveness of the pianoforte and in addition features the vibrato and portato which I produce by means of added pressure after each stroke. It is at the clavichord that a key­boardist may be most exactly evaluated.⁴⁷

Then he spoke of the relationship of harpsichordist and clavi­chordist:

Every keyboardist should own a good harpsichord and a good clavichord to enable him to play all things interchange­ably. A good clavichordist makes an accomplished harpsi­chordist, but not the reverse. The clavichord is needed for the study of good performance, and the harpsichord to develop proper finger strength. Those who play the clavichord ex­clusively encounter many difficulties when they turn to the harpsichord. In an ensemble where a harpsichord must be used rather than the soft-toned clavichord, they will play laboriously; and great exertion never produces the proper key­board effect. The clavichordist grows too much accustomed to caressing the keys; consequently, his wonted touch being in­sufficient to operate the jacks, he fails to bring out details on the harpsichord. In fact, finger strength may be lost even­tually, by playing only the clavichord. On the other hand, those who concentrate on the harpsichord grow accustomed to playing in only one color, and the varied touch which the com­petent clavichordist brings to the harpsichord remains hidden from them. This may sound strange, since one would think that all performers can express only one kind of tone on each harpsichord. To test its truth ask two people, one a good clavi­chordist, the other a harpsichordist, to play on the latter’s instrument the same piece containing varied embellishments, and then decide whether both have produced the same effect.⁴⁸

Here we see that physical sensitivity and the ability to execute extremely fine differentiations in touch are a prerequisite to a developed keyboard technique. Remember, the clavichord had an extremely light touch, so the difference in effort between a forte and piano was as little as a tenth of a gram. The modern pianist who lacks this capacity for fine differentiations is like the harpsichordist who neglected his clavichord - he is all power but no Art.

Philipp Emanuel’s contemporary, Johann Friedrich Reichardt, also commented on his high regard for the clavichord:

Bach’s manner of playing would not have been devised at all without the clavichord, and he devised it only for the clavichord. But he who once masters this instrument plays the harpsichord quite differently from those who never touch a clavichord. For him harpsichord compositions may be written which under the hands of the mere harpsichordist become insipid, often unintelligible, and disconnected. …

Soul, expression, feelings, these things Bach gave first to the clavichord, and the harpsichord could not receive the smallest degree of them save from the hand of him who knew how to animate the clavichord.⁴⁹

In the section on fingering in the Essay, Bach wrote first re­garding good posture: forearm slightly above the keyboard, fingers arched, muscles relaxed. He related good finger and thumb action to good fingering:

In playing, the fingers should be arched, and the muscles relaxed. The less these two conditions are satisfied, the more attention must be given to them. Stiffness hampers all movement, above all the constantly required rapid extension and contraction of the hands. All stretches, the omission of certain fingers, even the indispensable crossing of the fingers and turning of the thumb demand this elastic ability. Those who play with flat, extended fingers suffer from one principal disadvantage in addition to awkwardness; the fingers, because of their length, are too far removed from the thumb, which should always remain as close as possible to the hand. As we shall see later, the principal finger [the thumb] is thereby robbed of all possibility of performing its services, whence it comes about that those who seldom use the thumb play stiffly, something that those who use it correctly cannot do even willfully. For the latter, everything is easy. This can be observed immediately in a performer: If he understands the correct principles of fingering and has not acquired the habit of making unnecessary gestures, he will play the most difficult things in such a manner that the motion of his hands will be barely noticeable; moreover, everything will sound as if it presented no obstacles to him. Conversely, those who do not understand these principles will often play the easiest things with great snorting, grimacing, and uncommon awkward­ness.⁵⁰

Then he made a strong defense for the use of the thumb:

Those who do not use the thumb let it hang to keep it out of the way. Such a position makes even the most moderate span uncomfortable, for the fingers must stretch and stiffen in order to encompass it. Can anything be well executed this way? The thumbs give the hand not only another digit, but the key to all fingering. This principal finger performs another service in that it keeps the others supple, for they must remain arched as it makes its entry after one or another of them. Those passages which, without the thumb, must be pounced upon with stiff, tensed muscles, can be played roundly, clearly, with a natural extension, and a consequent facility when it lends its assistance.⁵¹

After this statement there follows an exhaustive, but orderly presentation of Bach’s principles of good fingering. All of the major and minor scale fingerings are presented, frequently with alternate solutions. Many of our commonly used ones today are found here, but there is still some crossing over of fingers (such as 3 4). The thumb has a true pivotal function, but appears frequently on keys uncommon to us. He felt the thumb is best used imme­diately before black keys. Perhaps his solution for the right hand in the ascending A melodic minor scale was a better one than the fingering generally used today:

1 2 3 4 1 2 3 1

A B C D E F# G# A

Altogether sixty-six illustrations of fingering are given, in­cluding chordal, broken chordal, arpeggiated, polyphonic, and scale-line passages.

The Trill as THE Basic Exercise

In the famous section on embellishments, Bach suggested practical execution and development of the trill, which after all is the basic finger exercise:

In practicing the trill, raise the fingers to an equal but not an excessive height. Trill slowly at first and then more rapidly but always evenly. The muscles must remain relaxed or the trill will bleat or grow ragged. Many try to force it. Never advance the speed of a trill beyond that pace at which it can be played evenly. This precaution must be heeded in practicing rapid as well as difficult passages so that they may be performed with fitting lightness and clarity. Through intelligent practice it is easy to achieve that which can never be attained by excessive straining of the muscles. When the upper tone of a trill is given its final performance it is snapped; after the stroke the upper joint of the finger is sharply doubled and drawn off and away from the key as quickly as possible.

The trill must be practiced diligently with all fingers so that they will become strong and dexterous. However, let no one believe that all of the fingers can be made to trill equally well. For one thing, there are natural differences among them, and for another, compositions usually offer more trills for certain fingers than for others; hence these are unwittingly given more practice . . .

No one can succeed without a minimum of two good trills in each hand: The second and third, and the third and fourth fingers of the right hand; and the thumb and second, and second and third fingers of the left. It is because of this normal fingering of trills that the left thumb grows so agile and along with the second finger becomes about the most active of the left hand.⁵³

The final chapter in Part One is on “Performance.” Bach once again stressed that technique without musicianship is of no value:

Most technicians do nothing more than play the notes. And how the continuity and flow of the melody suffer, even when the harmony remains unmolested! .. .

What comprises good performance? The ability through singing or playing to make the ear conscious of the true content and affect of a composition. Any passage can be so radically changed by modifying its performance that it will be scarcely recognizable.

The subject matter of performance is the loudness and softness of tones, touch, the snap, legato and staccato exe­cution, the vibrato, arpeggiation, the holding of tones, the re­tard and accelerando. Lack of these elements or inept use of them makes a poor performance.

Good performance, then, occurs when one hears all notes and their embellishments played in correct time with fitting volume produced by a touch which is related to the true content of a piece. Herein lies the rounded, pure, flowing manner of playing which makes for clarity and expressive­ness.⁵⁴

Other pertinent words of wisdom are quoted herewith:

In order to become oriented at the keyboard and thus make easier the acquisition of a necessary skill at sight reading, it is a good practice to play memorized pieces in the dark.⁵⁵

A well-rounded manner of performance can be most readily discerned from the playing of rapid pieces which contain alternating light and heavy runs of equal speed. Keyboardists are often found whose ready fingers serve them well in loud runs, but desert them through lack of control in the soft ones, thereby making for indistinctness. They grow nervous, speed onward, and lose control.⁵⁶

Play from the soul, not like a trained bird! A keyboardist of such stamp deserves more praise than other musicians. And these latter should be more censured than keyboardists for bizarre performance.⁵⁷

All difficulties in passage work should be mastered through repeated practice. Far more troublesome, in fact, is a good performance of simple notes. These bring fretful moments to many who believe that keyboard instruments are easy to play. Regardless of finger dexterity, never undertake more than can be kept under control in public performance, where it is seldom possible to relax properly or even to maintain a fitting disposition. Ability and disposition should be gauged by the most rapid and difficult parts in order to avoid overexertion, which will surely result in a breakdown of the performance. Those passages which are troublesome in private and come off well only occasionally should be omitted from public perfor­mance unless the performer finds himself in a particularly favorable frame of mind . . .

Listen to Singers

As a means of learning the essentials of good performance it is advisable to listen to accomplished musicians. Above all, lose no opportunity to hear artistic singing. In so doing, the keyboardist will learn to think in terms of song. Indeed, it is a good practice to sing instrumental melodies in order to reach an understanding of their correct performance. This way of learning is of far greater value than the reading of voluminous tomes or listening to learned discourses…

It is principally in improvisations or fantasias that the key­boardist can best master the feelings of his audience. Those who maintain that all of this can be accomplished without gesture will retract their words when, owing to their own in­sensibility, they find themselves obliged to sit like a statue before their instrument. Ugly grimaces, of course, are inap­propriate and harmful; but fitting expressions help the listen­er to understand our meaning. Those opposed to this stand are often incapable of doing justice, despite their technique, to their own otherwise worthy compositions.⁵⁸

Part Two of Bach’s Essay does not deal with physical technique, but is of great practical value in the study of thorough bass, accompaniment and improvisation. We do find him referring to the piano as one of the most common of accompaniment instru­ments.⁵⁹ He felt that the piano and the clavichord are best for per­formances that call for “the most elegant taste,” yet he hastened to add that “some singers prefer the support of the clavichord or harpsichord to the pianoforte.”⁶⁰

Essentials of the Early Klavier Touch

After surveying these early clavier method books, we may well re-emphasize the true nature of the clavier touch that shortly was to be transferred to the early piano. Physically, it was achieved through a very close finger action with minimal arm activity. Rameau cautioned, “Never weigh down the touch of your fingers by an effort of the hand. . . . On the contrary, let your hand sustain your fingers and thus make the touch lighter; this is of great conse­quence.”⁶¹ This does not mean that the arm is relegated entirely to a passive role in the harpsichord and clavichord technique. Its graceful, flowing movement will control horizontal placement of the fingers upon the keys and assist in the shaping of the phrase line. The arm is also inevitably involved in a chordal technique.

The articulation of the clavier technique is a combination of both staccato and legato. Too often the harpsichord touch is en­visioned as essentially a staccato one. Mme. Landowska tried to correct this impression in her own case:

It has been said that my touch is a perpetual staccato. This is a fundamental misunderstanding. The great precision re­quired to strike the keys at the harpsichord is sometimes mis­construed for staccato touch. This error also stems from the elasticity of my bouncy touch, with its precise and neat out­lines. I use perfect legato, however, as harpsichord touch requires. This is a condition sine qua non. Even when staccato is required for certain effects, the basis of harpsichord touch remains the legato.

Erwin Bodky, after making an intensive study of articulation as revealed in the writings and editorial indications of Quantz, Marpurg, Couperin, and both J.S. and C.P.E. Bach, came to the following conclusions:

From the results of our study we can formulate the follow­ing guide to articulation: In an allegro piece non-legato to staccato playing is more probable; in an adagio piece a legato atmosphere generally prevails; in moderato the close intervals (the second and third, but the latter not without exceptions) are slurred, and the large intervals are detached. That the distinction between small and large intervals is very often valid in allegro and even presto situations as well is proved by the slurs in the first and last movements of the Italian Concer­to. In addition to these suggestions, there is a supplementary principle that takes into account the characteristic qualities of the harpsichord and the clavichord. In the allegro and moderato categories, designation of a piece for the harpsi­chord increases the tendency toward non-legato or staccato playing, and designation for the clavichord increases the chances of quasi legato to legato playing. Adagio implies basically a quasi legato performance on the harpsichord, molto legato on the clavichord.

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Article posted by Alan Fraser for PianoTechnique.net