Which Instrument for Scarlatti's Music?

[Josquin des Prez]

(Bach's favourite instrument according to some sources)

I'd really love to see those sources. I was really interested about this series because i wanted to get an idea of Bach's significance as a post-baroque keyboard composer but it's impossible to make a genuine assessment with those conditions. Somehow i doubt the composer really intended ALL of his music to be played on a clavichord, particularly with the early pianos coming to the fore. You'd think somebody so bend in stressing the "expressive" qualities of music would have found the more dynamic instrument congenial.

[lukeottevanger]

I'd really love to see those sources.

Well, the source is Forkel, JSB's first biographer; he drew his material from Bach's sons, and as many who can't believe that anyone could possibly like an instrument which places subtlety over volume like to point out, neither Forkel nor Bach's sons were unbiased towards the clavichord. So one has to take the statement with a pinch of salt. Derek Adlam outlines the situation:

We have no definite proof of Bach's opinion of the clavichord beyond a statement by his first biographer, Johann Nikolaus Forkel, 1749-1818, whose information supposedly came from Bach's sons:

            ".... he considered the clavichord the best instrument for study and for any music performed in an intimate setting. He found it the most able to express his most refined thoughts .... [and] capable of so many subtleties within its small scale...."

Forkel was one of a group of enthusiastic "Bachists" who continued to revere the works of Johann Sebastian and to promote the clavichord as an ideal instrument even in the face of the increasing popularity of the fortepiano. Even if Forkel's report is not completely impartial, clavichords would without question have been used frequently in Bach's household. It is appropriate to perform Bach's keyboard music on the clavichord, even when the scale of a work seems to suggest a more powerful and extravert instrument. The scale of the instrument may be small, but its dynamic and expressive range can meet the requirements of music conceived on the largest scale. When heard with a receptive and unprejudiced ear, the clavichord's limitations become insignificant.

I had this discussion once with someone before, and I remember doing some research into Bach's own instruments - it seems, from the way Bach wished to distribute his own instruments after his death, that he particularly prized his clavichord. Though I can't remember the details of why this might be so!!!

I was really interested about this series because i wanted to get an idea of Bach's significance as a post-baroque keyboard composer but it's impossible to make a genuine assessment with those conditions.

Just as with harpsichords, so not all clavichords sound the same....
The clavichord, of course, has inspired the most extreme eulogies from musicians over the years. Schubart is the most famous:

solitary, melancholic, unspeakably delightful instrument... He who has an aversion to revelry, fury and tumult and whose heart delights in sweet sensations, will pass by the harpsichord and fortepiano, and choose the clavichord

when you improvise by the light of the moon, or refresh your soul on summer nights, or celebrate the evenings of spring; ah, then pine not for the strident harpsichord. See, your clavichord breathes as gently  as your heart

etc. etc. Poetic license perhaps, but surely this is something worth exploring, not to be discarded after one dud disc....

Somehow i doubt the composer really intended ALL of his music to be played on a clavichord, particularly with the early pianos coming to the fore. You'd think somebody so bend in stressing the "expressive" qualities of music would have found the more dynamic instrument congenial.

Some of CPE's music is better suited to the fortepiano. But some of it is better done on clavichord - and some of it can only be done on a clavichord if the composer's intentions are to be met, as he uses clavichord-specific techniques.

My love of the clavichord - I have one and compose music for it - is based on its incredible intimacy, but also its great tonal and expressive flexibilty. It may be a quiet instrument, but within its limited dynamic range exists a whole world of dramatic potential, and a terrific amount of light and shade.

[karlhenning]

Some of CPE's music is better suited to the fortepiano. But some of it is better done on clavichord - and some of it can only be done on a clavichord if the composer's intentions are to be met, as he uses clavichord-specific techniques.

It would seem an injustice, then (at the least), to dismiss CPE Bach's worth as a composer for piano, if he did not composer for such an instrument . . . .