The double-manual harpsichord of Vital Julian Frey, after model from Jean-Claude Goujon 1749.

A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by plucking a string when a key is pressed.

"Harpsichord" designates the whole family of similar plucked keyboard instruments, including the smaller virginals, muselar, and spinet.

The harpsichord was widely used in Renaissance and Baroque music. During the late 18th century it gradually disappeared from the musical scene with the rise of the fortepiano. But in the 20th century it made a resurgence, used in historically informed performance of older music, in new (contemporary) compositions, and in popular culture.

Mechanism[link]

Harpsichords vary in size and shape, but all have the same basic functional arrangement. The player depresses a key pivoted in the middle of its length, which causes the far end of the key to rise. This lifts a jack, a long strip of wood, to which is attached a small plectrum (a wedge-shaped piece of quill or, nowadays plastic), which plucks the string. When the key is released by the player, the far end returns to its rest position and the jack falls back. The plectrum, mounted on a tongue that can swivel backwards away from the string, passes the string without plucking it again. As the key reaches its rest position, the string's vibrations are halted by the damper, a piece of felt attached to the top of the jack.

These basic principles are explained in more detail below.

Figure 1. Schematic view of a 2 × 8' single manual harpsichord

• The keylever is a simple pivot, which rocks on a balance pin passing through a hole drilled through it.
• The jack is a thin, rectangular piece of wood which sits upright on the end of the keylever, held in place by the registers (the upper movable, the lower fixed) which are two long strips of wood running in the gap from spine to cheek with rectangular mortises through which the jacks can move up and down.
  
  

  

  Figure 2. Upper part of a jack
• In the jack, a plectrum juts out almost horizontally (normally the plectrum is angled upwards a tiny amount) and passes just under the string. Historically, plectra were made of crow quill or leather. Most modern harpsichords based on historic instruments have plastic (delrin or celcon) plectra.
• When the front of the key is pressed, the back of the key rises, the jack is lifted, and the plectrum plucks the string.
• The vertical motion of the jack is then stopped by the jackrail, which is covered with soft felt to muffle the impact.
  
  

  

  Figure 3. When the key is pressed, the jack is raised, and the plectrum touches the string and begins to bend. Then the plectrum plucks the string and causes it to sound. The jack hits the jack rail. When the player releases the key, the jack falls back down under its own weight, and the plectrum pivots backwards to allow it to pass the string.
• When the key is released, the jack falls back down under its own weight, and the plectrum passes back under the string. This is made possible by having the plectrum held in a tongue which is attached with a pivot and a spring to the body of the jack. The bottom surface of the plectrum is cut at a slant; thus when the descending plectrum touches the string from above, the angled lower surface provides enough force to push the tongue backward.^[1]
• When the jack arrives in fully lowered position, the felt damper touches the string, causing the note to cease.

Strings, tuning, and soundboard[link]

Sound board of a harpsichord with Chladni patterns

Each string is wound around a tuning pin, normally at the end of the string which is closer to the player. When rotated with a wrench or tuning hammer, the tuning pin adjusts the tension so that the string will sound the correct pitch. Tuning pins are held tightly in holes drilled in the pinblock or wrestplank, an oblong hardwood plank.

Proceeding from the tuning pin, a string next passes over the nut, a sharp edge that is made of hardwood and is normally attached to the wrestplank. The section of the string beyond the nut forms its vibrating length, which is plucked and creates sound.

At the other end of its vibrating length, the string passes over the bridge, another sharp edge made of hardwood. As with the nut, the horizontal position of the string along the bridge is determined by a vertical metal pin inserted into the bridge, against which the string rests.

The bridge itself rests on a soundboard, a thin panel of wood usually made of spruce, fir or—in some Italian harpsichords—cypress. The soundboard efficiently transduces the vibrations of the strings into vibrations in the air; without a soundboard, the strings would produce only a very feeble sound.

A string is attached at its far end by a loop to a hitchpin which secures it to the case.

Multiple choirs of strings[link]

Many harpsichords have exactly one string per note. There are several reasons why it is sometimes an advantage to have more. When there are two choirs of strings at the same length, it is possible to arrange for them to give different tonal qualities, and thus to increase the variety of sound produced by the instrument. This is done by having one set of strings plucked closer to the nut, which emphasizes the higher harmonics, and produces a "nasal" sound quality. When two strings tuned to be the same pitch, or to an octave apart, are plucked simultaneously by a single keystroke, the note is louder and richer than one produced by a single string. The qualitative distinction is particularly noticeable when the strings are tuned an octave apart.

When describing a harpsichord it is customary to specify its choirs of strings, often called its disposition. Strings at eight foot pitch sound at the normal expected pitch, strings at four foot pitch sound an octave higher, and sometimes harpsichords have the rare 16-foot pitch (one octave lower than eight-foot) or two-foot pitch (two octaves higher).

When there are multiple choirs of strings, the player is often able to control which choirs sound. This is usually done by having a set of jacks for each choir, and a mechanism for "turning off" each set, often by moving the upper register (through which the jacks slide) sideways a short distance, so that their plectra miss the strings. In simpler instruments this is done by manually moving the registers, but as the harpsichord evolved, builders invented levers, knee levers and pedal mechanisms to make it easier to change registration.

More flexibility in selecting which strings play is available in harpsichords having more than one keyboard or manual, since each manual can control the plucking of a different set of strings. In addition, such harpsichords often have a mechanism to couple manuals together, so that two can be used while actually playing on only one. The most flexible system is the French shove coupler, in which the lower manual can slide forward and backward, so that in the backward position "dogs" attached to the upper surface of the lower manual engage the lower surface of the upper manual's keys. Depending on choice of keyboard and coupler position, the player can select any of the sets of jacks labeled in figure 4 as A, or B and C, or all three.

Figure 4. French shove coupler. To the left: uncoupled keyboards. The depressed upper key lifts the jack A upwards. The depressed lower key lifts jacks B and C. To the right: The upper keyboard is coupled to the lower one by pulling the latter. The depressed upper key lifts the jack A upwards. The depressed lower key lifts jacks A, B and C.

The English dogleg jack system (also practised in Baroque Flanders) does not require a coupler. The jacks labeled A in Figure 5 have a "dogleg" shape that permits A to be played by either keyboard. If the player wishes to play the upper 8' from the upper manual only and not from the lower manual, a stop handle disengages the jacks labeled A and engages instead an alternative row of jacks called "lute stop" (not shown in the Figure). Find full details in Hubbard 1967, p.133 ff., Russell 1973, p.65 ff. and Kottick 2003.

Figure 5. Dogleg jack, English coupler system. When depressed, the upper key lifts the "dogleg" jack (jack A) upwards. The lower key lifts all three jacks A, B, and C.

The use of multiple manuals in a harpsichord was not originally provided for the flexibility in choosing which strings would sound, but rather for transposition; for discussion see History of the harpsichord.

Jan Vermeer's famous painting A Lady Standing at a Virginal shows the characteristic practice of his time, with the instrument mounted on a table and the player standing.

The case[link]

The case holds in position all of the important structural members: pinblock, soundboard, hitchpins, keyboard, and the jack action. It usually includes a solid bottom, and also internal bracing to maintain its form without warping under the tension of the strings. Cases vary greatly in weight and sturdiness: Italian harpsichords are often of light construction; heavier construction is found in the later Flemish instruments and those derived from them (see History of the harpsichord).

The case also gives the harpsichord its external appearance and protects the instrument. A large harpsichord is, in a sense, a piece of furniture, as it stands alone on legs and may be styled in the manner of other furniture of its place and period. Early Italian instruments, on the other hand, were so light in construction that they were treated rather like a violin: kept for storage in a protective outer case, and played after taking it out of its case and placing it on a table.^[2] Such tables were often quite high – until the late 18th century people usually played standing up.^[2] Eventually, harpsichords came to be built with just a single case, though an intermediate stage also existed: the "false inner–outer", which for purely aesthetic reasons was built to look as if the outer case contained an inner one, in the old style.^[3] Even after harpsichords became self-encased objects, they often were supported by separate stands, and some modern harpsichords have separate legs for improved portability.

Many harpsichords have a lid that can be raised, a cover for the keyboard, and a stand for music.

Harpsichords have been decorated in a great many different ways: with plain buff paint (e.g. some Flemish instruments), with paper printed with patterns, with leather or velvet coverings, with chinoiserie, or occasionally with highly elaborate painted artwork.^[4]

Variants[link]

The terms used to denote the various members of the harpsichord family are now standardized. This was not so in the harpsichord's heyday.

Harpsichord[link]

In modern usage, "harpsichord" can mean any member of the family of instruments. More often, though, it specifically denotes a grand-piano-shaped instrument with a roughly triangular case accommodating long bass strings at the left and short treble strings at the right. The characteristic profile of such a harpsichord is more elongated than a modern piano, with a sharper curve to the bentside.

Virginals[link]

The virginal is a smaller and simpler rectangular form of the harpsichord having only one string per note; the strings run parallel to the keyboard, which is on the long side of the case.

Spinet[link]

A spinet is a harpsichord with the strings set at an angle (usually about 30 degrees) to the keyboard. The strings are too close together for the jacks to fit between them. Instead, the strings are arranged in pairs, and the jacks are in the larger gaps between the pairs. The two jacks in each gap face in opposite directions, and each plucks a string adjacent to a gap.

Clavicytherium[link]

A clavicytherium is a harpsichord with the soundboard and strings mounted vertically facing the player, the same space-saving principle as an upright piano.^[5] In a clavicytherium, the jacks move horizontally without the assistance of gravity, so that clavicytherium actions are more complex than those of other harpsichords.

Some of the earliest harpsichords for which we have evidence are clavicytheria. One surviving example from the late 15th century is kept at the Royal College of Music in London.^[5] For most of the history of the harpsichord, however, the clavicytherium was far less common than the horizontal instrument, probably because of its greater complexity and lesser reliability. In the 18th century fine clavicytheria were made by Albertus Delin, a Flemish builder.^[6]

Ottavino[link]

Ottavini are small spinets or virginals at four foot pitch. It is thought^{[by whom?]} that harpsichords at octave pitch were more common in the late Mediæval times and the early Renaissance, but lessened in popularity later on. However, ottavini remained very popular as domestic instruments in Italy. In England, Samuel Pepys makes many mentions of his "tryangle" in his diary, which references the usual shape of these instruments. In the Low Countries, ottavini were commonly paired with an 8' virginals, encased in a small cubb under the soundboard. The ottavino could be removed and placed on top of the larger virginal, making an effect like unto a double manual instrument. These are sometimes called 'mother-and-child'^[7] or 'double' virginals.^[8]

Other[link]

The archicembalo, built in the 16th century, had an unusual keyboard layout, designed to accommodate variant tuning systems demanded by compositional practice and theoretical experimentation. More common were instruments with split sharps, also designed to accommodate the tuning systems of the time.

The folding harpsichord was an instrument that could be folded up for travel.

Harpsichord by Alastair McAllister, Melbourne, 1999, and a rare pedal harpsichord, by Hubbard & Broekman, Boston, 1990

Occasionally, in late 18th c., harpsichords were built with a pedal keyboard. While these were mostly intended as practice instruments for organists, a few pieces are believed to have been written specifically for the pedal harpsichord.^{[citation needed]}

Compass and pitch range[link]

On the whole, earlier harpsichords have smaller ranges and later ones larger, though there are many exceptions. The largest harpsichords have a range of just over five octaves and the smallest have under four. Usually, the shortest keyboards were given extended range in the bass with a "short octave".

Tuning pitch is often taken to be a=415 Hz, roughly a semitone lower than the modern standard concert pitch of a=440 Hz. An accepted exception is for French baroque repertoire which is often performed with a=392 Hz, approximately a semitone lower again. Tuning an instrument nowadays usually starts with setting an A; historically it would commence from a C or an F.

Some modern instruments are built with keyboards which can be shifted sideways, allowing the player to align the mechanism with strings at either a=415 Hz or a=440 Hz. If a tuning other than equal temperament is used, the instrument requires retuning once the keyboard is shifted.^[9]

History[link]

Ruckers-Taskin (1646/1780) harpsichord, (Paris, Musée de la Musique)

Johann Sebastian Bach – Prelude in C major, BWV 846 Performed by Robert Schröter on a French harpsichord Domenico Scarlatti – Sonata in D minor K. 9, Allegretto Performed by Martha Goldstein on an Italian harpsichord Johann Sebastian Bach – English Suite No. 1 in A major, BWV 806 – prelude Performed by Martha Goldstein on a Flemish harpsichord Adriano Banchieri – The Battle Performed by Sylvia Kind on a harpsichord of the type made in the early 20th century

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The harpsichord was most probably invented in the late Middle Ages. By the 16th century, harpsichord makers in Italy were making lightweight instruments with low string tension. A different approach was taken in Flanders starting in the late 16th century, notably by the Ruckers family. Their harpsichords used a heavier construction and produced a more powerful and distinctive tone. They included the first harpsichords with two keyboards, used for transposition.

The Flemish instruments served as the model for 18th century harpsichord construction in other nations. In France, the double keyboards were adapted to control different choirs of strings, making a more musically flexible instrument. Instruments from the peak of the French tradition, by makers such as the Blanchet family and Pascal Taskin, are among the most widely admired of all harpsichords, and are frequently used as models for the construction of modern instruments. In England, the Kirkman and Shudi firms produced sophisticated harpsichords of great power and sonority. German builders extended the sound repertoire of the instrument by adding sixteen foot and two foot choirs; these instruments have recently served as models for modern builders.

In the late 18th century the harpsichord was supplanted by the piano and almost disappeared from view for most of the 19th century: an exception was its continued use in opera for accompanying recitative, but the piano sometimes displaced it even there. 20th century efforts to revive the harpsichord began with instruments that used piano technology, with heavy strings and metal frames. Starting in the middle of the 20th century, ideas about harpsichord making underwent a major change, when builders such as Frank Hubbard, William Dowd, and Martin Skowroneck sought to re-establish the building traditions of the Baroque period. Harpsichords of this type of historically informed building practice dominate the current scene.

Music for the harpsichord[link]

Historical period[link]

Bach's Little Prelude in C major being played on a harpsichord.

The great bulk of the standard repertoire for the harpsichord was written during its first historical flowering, the Renaissance and Baroque eras.

The first music written specifically for solo harpsichord was published around the early 16th century. Composers who wrote solo harpsichord music were numerous during the whole Baroque era in European countries including Italy, Germany, England and France. Solo harpsichord compositions included dance suites, fantasias, and fugues. Among the most famous composers who wrote for the harpsichord were the members of English virginal school of the late Renaissance, notably William Byrd (ca. 1540 – 1623). In France, a great number of highly characteristic solo works were created and compiled into four books of ordres by François Couperin (1668–1733). Domenico Scarlatti (1685–1757) began his career in Italy but wrote most of his solo harpsichord works in Spain; his most famous work is his series of 555 harpsichord sonatas. Perhaps the most celebrated composer who wrote for the harpsichord was J. S. Bach (1685–1750), whose solo works (for instance, the Well-Tempered Clavier and the Goldberg Variations), continue to be performed very widely, often on the piano. Bach was also a pioneer of the harpsichord concerto, both in works designated as such, and in the harpsichord part of his Fifth Brandenburg Concerto.

Two of the most prominent composers of the Classical period (music), Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), wrote harpsichord music. For both, the instrument featured in the earlier period of their careers and was abandoned once they had shifted their efforts to the piano.

Besides solo works, the historical harpsichord was widely used for accompaniment in the basso continuo style (a function it maintained in operatic recitative even into the 19th century).

Music written for the revived harpsichord[link]

Through the 19th century, the harpsichord was almost completely supplanted by the piano. In the 20th century, composers returned to the instrument, as they sought out variation in the sounds available to them. Under the influence of Arnold Dolmetsch, the harpsichordists Violet Gordon-Woodhouse (1872–1951) and in France, Wanda Landowska (1879–1959), were at the forefront of the instrument's renaissance.

Concertos for the instrument were written by Francis Poulenc (the Concert champêtre, 1927–28), Manuel de Falla, Bertold Hummel,^[10] Henryk Mikołaj Górecki, Michael Nyman, Philip Glass, and Roberto Carnevale. Bohuslav Martinů wrote both a concerto and a sonata for the instrument, and Elliott Carter's Double Concerto is scored for harpsichord, piano and two chamber orchestras.

In chamber music, György Ligeti wrote a small number of solo works for the instrument (including Continuum), and Henri Dutilleux's Les Citations (1991) is scored for harpsichord, oboe, double bass and percussions. Elliott Carter's Sonata for Flute, Oboe, Cello and Harpsichord (1952) explores the timbre possibilities of the modern harpsichord. Josef Tal wrote Concerto for harpsichord & electronic music (1964) and Chamber Music (1982) for s-recorder, marimba & harpsichord. Both Dmitri Shostakovich (Hamlet, 1964) and Alfred Schnittke (Symphony No.8, 1998) wrote works that use the harpsichord as part of the orchestral texture. John Cage and Lejaren Hiller wrote HPSCHD (1969) for harpsichord and computer-generated tape.

In the Preface to his piano collection Mikrokosmos, Bela Bartok suggests some ten pieces as being suitable for the harpsichord.

Harpsichordist Hendrik Bouman has composed pieces in the 17th and 18th century style, including works for solo harpsichord, harpsichord concerti, and other works that call for harpsichord continuo. Other contemporary composers writing new harpsichord music in period styles include Grant Colburn, and Fernando De Luca. Notable performers include Oscar Milani and Mario Raskin.

During the second half of the 20th century, the sound of the harpsichord (or perhaps rather more often, its electronically created equivalent) became very familiar in popular culture, appearing frequently in popular music, television, films, computer games, and so on.

See also[link]

• Clavichord

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Boalch, Donald H. (1995) Makers of the Harpsichord and Clavichord, 1440–1840, 3rd ed., with updates by Andreas H. Roth and Charles Mould, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-318429-X. A catalogue, originating with work by Boalch in the 1950s, of all extant historical instruments.
• Dearling, Robert (ed.) (1996) The ultimate encyclopedia of musical instruments, London : Carlton, ISBN 1-85868-185-5
• Hubbard, Frank (1967) Three Centuries of Harpsichord Making, 2nd ed., Harvard University Press, ISBN 0-674-88845-6. An authoritative survey by a leading builder of how early harpsichords were built and how the harpsichord evolved over time in different national traditions.
• Kottick, Edward (1987)The Harpsichord Owner's Guide. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
• Kottick, Edward (2003) A History of the Harpsichord, Indiana University Press, ISBN 0-253-34166-3. An extensive survey by a leading contemporary scholar.
• O'Brien, Grant (1990) Ruckers, a harpsichord and virginal building tradition, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-36565-1. Covers the innovations of the Ruckers family, the founders of the Flemish tradition.
• Russell, Raymond (1973)The Harpsichord and Clavichord: an introductory study, 2nd ed., London : Faber and Faber, ISBN 0-571-04795-5
• Skowroneck, Martin (2003) Cembalobau: Erfahrungen und Erkenntnisse aus der Werkstattpraxis = Harpsichord construction: a craftsman's workshop experience and insight, Fachbuchreihe Das Musikinstrument 83, Bergkirchen : Bochinsky, ISBN 3-932275-58-6. A study (written in English and German) of harpsichord building by a leading figure in the modern revival of historically authentic methods of building.
• Zuckermann, Wolfgang (1969) The Modern Harpsichord: twentieth century instruments and their makers, New York : October House, ISBN 0-8079-0165-2

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Harpsichords

Instruments

• "Queen Elizabeth's Virginal". Furniture. Victoria and Albert Museum. http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/furniture/stories/virginal/index.html. Retrieved 2007-08-12. 
• A few historic harpsichords from the collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
  • Double virginal by Hans Ruckers, Antwerp, 1581
  • Harpsichord by Girolamo Zenti, Rome, 1666
  • Harpsichord by Jan Couchet, Antwerp, 1650
  • Octave virginal, Augsburg, ca. 1600
  • Spinetta or Virginal, Venice, ca. 1540
  • Golden Harpsichord by Michele Todini, Rome, ca. 1675
  • Harpsichord, Italy, late 17th century
  • Harpsichord by Pleyel et Cie, Paris, 1928
• A harpsichord constructed from Lego

History

• Italian Harpsichord-Building in the 16th and 17th Centuries by Shortridge

Listen

• Hear the sound of various harpsichords
• Sala del Cembalo, free harpsichord sound files

Images

• HarpsichordPhoto, photographs of early stringed keyboard instruments

Organisations

• British Harpsichord Society

Craftsman insights

• Interview with harpsichord builder Jack Peters

Music

• Scores featuring the harpsichord: Free scores at the International Music Score Library Project
• Procembalo free catalog of contemporary harpsichord music

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (November 2007)

Domenico Scarlatti
1738 portrait by Domingo Antonio Velasco

Giuseppe Domenico Scarlatti (26 October 1685 – 23 July 1757) was an Italian composer who spent much of his life in the service of the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. He is classified as a Baroque composer chronologically, although his music was influential in the development of the Classical style. Like his renowned father Alessandro Scarlatti he composed in a variety of musical forms, although today he is known mainly for his 555 keyboard sonatas.

Life and career[link]

Domenico Scarlatti was born in Naples, Kingdom of Naples, in 1685, the same year as Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. He was the sixth of ten children and a younger brother to Pietro Filippo Scarlatti, also a musician. He probably first studied under his father, the composer and teacher Alessandro Scarlatti; other composers who may have been his early teachers include Gaetano Greco, Francesco Gasparini, and Bernardo Pasquini, all of whom may have influenced his musical style.

He became a composer and organist at the royal chapel in Naples in 1701. In 1704, he revised Carlo Francesco Pollarolo's opera Irene for performance at Naples. Soon afterwards, his father sent him to Venice. After this, nothing is known of Scarlatti's life until 1709, when he went to Rome in the service of the exiled Polish queen Marie Casimire. He met Thomas Roseingrave there. Scarlatti was already an eminent harpsichordist: there is a story of a trial of skill with George Frideric Handel at the palace of Cardinal Ottoboni in Rome where he was judged possibly superior to Handel on that instrument, although inferior on the organ. Later in life, he was known to cross himself in veneration when speaking of Handel's skill. In Rome, Scarlatti composed several operas for Queen Casimira's private theatre. He was Maestro Di Cappella at St. Peter's from 1715 to 1719. In 1719 he travelled to London to direct his opera Narciso at the King's Theatre.

According to Vicente Bicchi (Papal Nuncio at the time), Domenico Scarlatti arrived in Lisbon on 29 November 1719. There he taught music to the Portuguese princess Maria Magdalena Barbara. He left Lisbon on 28 January 1727 for Rome, where he married Maria Caterina Gentili on 6 May 1728. In 1729 he moved to Sevilla, staying for four years and gaining a knowledge of flamenco. In 1733 he went to Madrid as music master to Princess Maria Barbara, who had married into the Spanish royal house. The Princess later became Queen of Spain. Scarlatti remained in the country for the remaining twenty-five years of his life, and had five children there. After the death of his first wife in 1742, he married a Spaniard, Anastasia Maxarti Ximenes. Among his compositions during his time in Madrid were a number of the 555 keyboard sonatas for which he is best known.

Scarlatti befriended the castrato singer Farinelli, a fellow Neapolitan also enjoying royal patronage in Madrid. The musicologist Ralph Kirkpatrick commented that Farinelli's correspondence provides "most of the direct information about Scarlatti that has transmitted itself to our day." Domenico Scarlatti died in Madrid, at the age of 71. His residence on Calle Leganitos is designated with a historical plaque, and his descendants still live in Madrid.

This section includes inline links to audio files. If you have trouble playing the files, see Wikipedia Media help.

Music[link]

	Sonata in D minor K. 9, Allegretto performed on a harpsichord by Martha Goldstein
	Sonata in E major K. 20, Presto performed on a harpsichord by Martha Goldstein
	Sonata in B minor K. 27, Allegro performed on a piano by Raymond Smullyan
	Sonata in F Minor K. 69 performed on a spinet by Ulrich Metzner
	Sonata in C major K. 159, Allegro performed on a piano by Veronica van der Knaap
	Sonata in B minor K. 377 MIDI rendition
	Sonata in E major K. 380, Andante comodo performed on a piano by Raymond Smullyan
	Sonata in E major K. 531, Allegro performed on a piano by Raymond Smullyan

Only a small fraction of Scarlatti's compositions were published during his lifetime; Scarlatti himself seems to have overseen the publication in 1738 of the most famous collection, his 30 Essercizi ("Exercises"). These were rapturously received throughout Europe, and were championed by the foremost English writer on music of the eighteenth century, Charles Burney.

The many sonatas which were unpublished during Scarlatti's lifetime have appeared in print irregularly in the two and a half centuries since. Scarlatti has attracted notable admirers, including Frédéric Chopin, Johannes Brahms, Béla Bartók, Dmitri Shostakovich, Heinrich Schenker, Vladimir Horowitz, Emil Gilels, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli, and Marc-André Hamelin.

Scarlatti's 555 keyboard sonatas are single movements, mostly in binary form, and mostly written for the harpsichord or the earliest pianofortes. (There are four for organ, and a few for small instrumental group). Some of them display harmonic audacity in their use of discords, and also unconventional modulations to remote keys.

Other distinctive attributes of Scarlatti's style are the following:

• The influence of Iberian (Portuguese and Spanish) folk music. An example is Scarlatti's use of the Phrygian mode and other tonal inflections more or less alien to European art music. Many of Scarlatti's figurations and dissonances are suggestive of the guitar.
• A formal device in which each half of a sonata leads to a pivotal point, which the Scarlatti scholar Ralph Kirkpatrick termed "the crux", and which is sometimes underlined by a pause or fermata. Before the crux, Scarlatti sonatas often contain their main thematic variety, and after the crux the music makes more use of repetitive figurations as it modulates away from the home key (in the first half) or back to the home key (in the second half).

Ralph Kirkpatrick produced an edition of the sonatas in 1953, and the numbering from this edition is now nearly always used – the Kk. or K. number. Previously, the numbering commonly used was from the 1906 edition compiled by the Neapolitan pianist Alessandro Longo (L. numbers). Kirkpatrick's numbering is chronological, while Longo's ordering is a result of his grouping the sonatas into "suites". In 1967 the Italian musicologist Giorgio Pestelli published a revised catalogue (using P. numbers), which corrected what he considered to be some anachronisms.^[1]

Aside from his many sonatas, he composed a quantity of operas and cantatas, symphonias, and liturgical pieces. Well known works include the Stabat Mater of 1715 and the Salve Regina of 1757, which is thought to be his last composition.

References[link]

• Kirkpatrick, Ralph (1953). Domenico Scarlatti. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-02708-0. 

Notes[link]

Free scores[link]

• Free scores by Domenico Scarlatti in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Domenico Scarlatti at the International Music Score Library Project
• Sheet music for K.1 to K.176 John Sankey edition
• www.kreusch-sheet-music.net harpsichord sonatas by Scarlatti
• Free scores by Domenico Scarlatti in the Choral Public Domain Library (ChoralWiki)
• Sheet music engraved by Sebastiano Vigna

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Domenico Scarlatti

• The Mutopia Project has compositions by Domenico Scarlatti
• Converter for Scarlatti's Works Number
• Associazione Domenico Scarlatti
• John Sankey: Keyboard Tuning of Domenico Scarlatti
• John Sankey: Complete edition, harpsichord, downloadable recordings in MIDI
• The Life of Domenico Scarlatti
• Scarlatti Domenico – A new look at the keyboard sonatas; complete catalogue including newly discovered works
• "The mercurial maestro of Madrid" by Robert White, 20 July 2007, The Guardian
• 538 Piano Sonatas (mp3 files)
• Piano Society – A short biography and some free recordings in MP3 format, performed by Roberto Carnevale, Chase Coleman, Graziella Concas, Knut Erik Jensen

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (September 2006)

Igor Kipnis (27 September 1930 – 23 January 2002) was a well-known American harpsichordist and pianist.

Biography[link]

Born in Berlin, the son of Russian bass Alexander Kipnis, Igor Kipnis moved to the United States with his family in 1938. He learned the piano with his maternal grandfather, Heniot Levy; attended the Westport School of Music, and received his B.A. from Harvard University. He studied harpsichord with Fernando Valenti, and made his concert debut in New York in 1959. He was an honorary member of Phi Beta Kappa (Harvard, 1977), and in 1993 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by Illinois Wesleyan University.

Kipnis lived in Redding, Connecticut. For five years he was President and Artistic Director of the Friends of Music of Fairfield County, the Connecticut chamber music series, in addition to having served thirteen years as co-artistic director of the Connecticut Early Music Festival.

He married Judith Robison on January 6, 1953. They subsequently divorced, in May 1996, but reconciled shortly before her death on March 1, 2001 of the rare "salt and water" retention metabolic condition, Robison Syndrome.

He died in his home in Redding, Connecticut of renal cancer. His last concert was a solo piano recital in October 2001, in San Francisco. He is survived by his son, film, record producer, and Kipnis Studio Standard creator Jeremy R. Kipnis, and his wife Carolina R. Kipnis.

Musical career[link]

Following his debut in 1959, harpsichordist, fortepianist, duo-pianist, and clavichordist Kipnis performed in recital and as soloist with orchestras throughout the world, including North, Central, and South America, Western and Eastern Europe, Israel, and Australia.

Igor Kipnis performed as harpsichord soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Louisville, Dallas, Denver, Baltimore, Milwaukee, Seattle, Vancouver, Honolulu, and National Symphonies, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Capella Cracoviensis, the Boston Pops, the Munich Philharmonic, the New Amsterdam Sinfonietta, the Los Angeles, St. Paul, Cologne, Israel, New Stockholm, McGill, and Polish Chamber Orchestras, the New York Chamber Symphony, the Smithsonian Chamber Players, the Sinfonia of Sydney, and the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. His appearances at international and domestic festivals included those of Ansbach, the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, and Ludwigsburg in Germany, the Bath Festival in Great Britain, Gulbenkian in Portugal, Lanaudière in Canada, the Israel Festival, the Melbourne International Festival of Organ and Harpsichord, the Madeira Bach Festival, Poland's Music in Old Crakow, the Indianapolis Early Music Festival, and Prague Spring International Music Festival.

Kipnis's enormous harpsichord repertoire encompassed not only the traditional 16th through the 18th Century composers but also includes contemporary music and jazz as well. He is especially noted for his entertaining concert-length presentation, The Light and Lively Harpsichord, which samples the full range of the harpsichord repertoire, from Bach to Brubeck, as well as for his informal mini-concerts whose format he has extensively pioneered at college student centers throughout the United States, and, additionally, for his performances and recordings on related early keyboard instruments, the fortepiano and clavichord, and for directing ensembles from the keyboard.

In 1995, he formed a duo with New York pianist, Karen Kushner, internationally performing works for (modern) piano, four hands.^[1]

Broadcasting[link]

A frequent guest on both television and radio, such as the syndicated program, First Hearing, Kipnis for three seasons hosted his own The Age of Baroque over WQXR in New York and was host on WGBH-Boston’s syndicated program, "The Classical Organ." In 1978, he was the first harpsichordist to perform on the Grammy Awards telecast.

Editions, reviews and articles[link]

Oxford University Press has published numerous of his keyboard editions, including his anthology, A First Harpsichord Book. He was also noted for his record reviews and articles in such periodicals as The International Classic Record Collector, The International Piano Quarterly, Gramophone Early Music, Goldberg, Early Music America, the internet music magazines Music & Vision and Stereo Times, Stereophile, Audio, FI, Schwann/Opus, Stereo Review, The American Record Guide, Clavier, Opus, Chamber Music Magazine, Early Keyboard Studies Newsletter, and The Yale Review, as well as having written for the Washington Post, the New York Post, and the New York Herald Tribune. He was also involved in compiling a Harpsichord Resource Book for Greenwood Press, editing the harpsichord and clavichord volume of a two-volume Encyclopedia of Keyboard Instruments to be published by Garland, writing a harpsichord tutor for Oxford University Press, and, for Amadeus Press, preparing a biography of his father, the late Metropolitan Opera bass, Alexander Kipnis.

He was also for a time responsible for the covers and background sleeve notes for Westminster Records.^[1]

Recordings[link]

He was a prolific recording artist with 106 albums to his credit, of which 93 were solo. Among the honors he received were 9 Grammy Nominations, 3 "Record of the Year" Awards from Stereo Review, the 1969 Deutsche Schallplatten Prize, and the 1988 Gold Star award from the Italian periodical, Musica. Keyboard, in that magazine's annual readers' poll, named him "Best Harpsichordist" in 1978, 1979, and 1980 and "Best Classical Keyboardist" in 1982 and 1986.

Among his last record releases were The Virtuoso Scarlatti, fifteen sonatas played on five harpsichords after historical prototypes built by Hubbard of Boston and Vivaldi‘s The Four Seasons in which he directed members of the Connecticut Early Music Festival from the keyboard (both on Chesky), Sony CD reissues of The Spanish Harpsichord, the complete Bach Harpsichord Concertos with Neville Marriner conducting, Bach’s Italian Concerto and Second English Suite (together with works for clavichord), Harpsichord - Greatest Hits, as well as the complete Fantasias of J. S. Bach for harpsichord and clavichord (on Arabesque), A Treasury of Harpsichord Favorites and Mozart on the 1793 Fortepiano (two anthologies on Music & Arts), and Igor Kipnis - The First Solo Harpsichord Recordings (on VAI).

He recorded for Epiphany, Chesky, Angel (EMI), Sony Music/CBS, VAI, Arabesque, Music & Arts Programs of America, London (Decca), Musical Heritage Society, Intercord, Teichiku, Nonesuch, MCA, CRI, Grenadilla, Vanguard, Nitepro, King, Start, Golden Crest and Newport Classic.

External links[link]

• Interview with Igor Kipnis by Bruce Duffie, April 5, 2001
• Mind My Harpsichord!, In Affectionate Memory of Igor Kipnis, by Bill Newman, Music & Vision, March 15, 2002, retrieved October 4, 2006
• A Man of Many Talents, by Jennifer Paull, January 25, 2002, retrieved October 4, 2006
• Stereophile Obituary, by Wes Phillips, February 3, 2002, retrieved October 4, 2006
• Biography, by Joseph Stevenson, allmusic, retrieved October 4, 2006

References[link]

Trevor Pinnock in December 2006

Trevor David Pinnock CBE (born 16 December 1946) is an English conductor, harpsichordist, and occasional organist and pianist.

He is best known for his association with the period-performance orchestra The English Concert which he helped found and directed from the keyboard for over 30 years in baroque and early classical music. He is a former artistic director of the National Arts Centre Orchestra and founded The Classical Band in New York.

Since his resignation from The English Concert in 2003, Pinnock has continued his career as a conductor, appearing with major orchestras and opera companies around the world. He has also performed and recorded as a harpsichordist in solo and chamber music and conducted and otherwise trained student groups at conservatoires. Trevor Pinnock won a Gramophone Award for his recording of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos with the European Brandenburg Ensemble, an occasional orchestra formed to mark his 60th birthday.

Biography and career[link]

Early life[link]

Trevor Pinnock was born in Canterbury, where his grandfather had run a Salvation Army band. His father was Kenneth Alfred Thomas Pinnock, a publisher, and his mother, Joyce Edith, née Muggleton, was an amateur singer.^[1][2] In Canterbury, the Pinnock family resided nearby to the pianist Ronald Smith, from whose sister Pinnock had piano lessons. He became a chorister at Canterbury Cathedral when he was seven, attending the choir school from 1956 to 1961 and subsequently Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys.^[1][3] After receiving instruction in piano and organ, he served as a church organist; by the time he was 15, he began to play the harpsichord.^[2] At age 19, he won a Foundation Scholarship to the Royal College of Music to study organ and he also studied harpsichord, winning major prizes for performance on both instruments.^[1][4] His teachers were Ralph Downes and Millicent Silver.^[5] A strong early influence was Gustav Leonhardt, though he did not study with him.^[4]

Instrumentalist[link]

As a harpsichordist, Pinnock toured Europe with the Academy of St. Martin in the Fields.^[6] While a student at the RCM, he was told by the registrar, John Stainer, that it would be impossible to make a living as a harpsichordist.^[4] He made his London debut at the Royal Festival Hall in 1966 with the Galliard Harpsichord Trio, which he co-founded with Stephen Preston, flute, and Anthony Pleeth, cello. At this stage, they were playing baroque music on modern instruments.^[4] His solo harpsichord debut was in 1968 at the Purcell Room in London.^[7]

To maximise his possibilities for work early on in his career, he included in his repertoire not only the regular baroque repertoire, but also modern harpsichord concertos including Roberto Gerhard's concerto for harpsichord, percussion and strings, Manuel de Falla's concerto for harpsichord, Frank Martin's Petite symphonie concertante for harp, harpsichord, piano and double string orchestra and Francis Poulenc's Concert Champêtre.^[5][8] Pinnock and Maxim Vengerov toured together in 2000, with Vengerov taking up the baroque violin for the first time and Pinnock taking up the modern grand piano. These concerts consisted of a first half of harpsichord and baroque violin, followed by a 2nd half of piano and modern violin.^[9][10]

The English Concert[link]

In November 1972 the Galliard Trio expanded to become The English Concert, an orchestra specialising in performances of baroque and early classical music on period instruments.^[4][11] They initially started with seven people but soon grew in size. The decision to move to period performance was taken for a number of reasons:^[12]

What I really had in mind was a journey of discovery into the unknown. Although I felt there were excellent interpretations of baroque music performed on modern instruments, I sensed that we'd come to the end of the road - and yet I knew that there were still discoveries to be made. I was thinking about the interesting experiments made by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt, although I knew we'd have to experiment in our own way. It was a huge challenge; playing period instruments wasn't as easy as it is today, and finding out their secrets was a difficult process. Nowadays an extraordinarily high technical level has been achieved and the upcoming generations don't have any of the problems we pioneers faced. We cleared the way.

Trevor Pinnock at the harpsichord

Pinnock was at the forefront of the period performance movement and the revitalisation of the baroque repertoire; the reaction of Leonard Bernstein to his performances is typical: "In my opinion, the work of the conductor Trevor Pinnock in this area is particularly exciting - his performances of Bach and Handel make me jump out of my seat!"^[13]

The English Concert's London debut was at the English Bach Festival in 1973.^[14] In 1975, Pinnock played the harpsichord in the first ever performance of Rameau's last opera, Les Boréades, under John Eliot Gardiner.^[15] He toured North America with The English Concert for the first time in 1983; he had earlier spent two periods as Artist in Residence at Washington University, St. Louis.^[5] His debut at The Proms was in 1980; he later directed Handel's Solomon in 1986 and many other large-scale works with his orchestra.^[6] They toured worldwide and made numerous recordings, Pinnock directing "with a characteristic energy and enthusiasm which are readily communicated to audiences."^[14] The Choir of the English Concert was at first an ad-hoc group of singers assembled as needed, originally in 1983 for the first performance this century of Rameau's Acante et Céphise; it became a standing choir for a period from the mid-1990s at the time they were performing Bach's Mass in B minor. This allowed the ensemble to regularly perform baroque operas, oratorios and other vocal works; a series of Bach's major choral works followed.^[16]

He directed The English Concert, usually from the harpsichord or chamber organ,^[17] for over 30 years, deciding, with the other orchestra members, to hand it over to violinist Andrew Manze in 2003.^[12][18] He explained the decision as follows:^[19]

There are other things I want to develop — or rather come back to. Having done The English Concert for 18–20 weeks per year, and guest conducting the rest of the time, I'd sacrificed playing the harpsichord rather more than I wanted to. I had to make a decision to move forward: there were certain solo projects I wanted to do, and I wanted to make the decision now rather than wait until after I am 60 and it's too late to do half of them. [...] There's a wealth of keyboard repertoire I want to revisit. I especially want to go back to the rich English repertoire such as Tomkins, Byrd, Bull and Gibbons.

Other conducting projects[link]

In 1989 Pinnock founded The Classical Band in New York, signing an 18-disc recording contract with Deutsche Grammophon before the ensemble's first rehearsal.^[20] He led the group in performances of the classical repertoire from Haydn to Mendelssohn on period instruments, including playing as fortepiano soloist.^[21] After a disappointing series of concerts, he resigned in 1990 and was succeeded by Bruno Weil.^[22]

From 1991-1996 he was artistic director and principal conductor of the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, a group he had first directed in 1985.^[23] He subsequently served as its artistic advisor during the 1996-1997 and 1997-1998 seasons, including a tour of the USA with the performance and recording of Beethoven's 1st and 5th piano concertos with Grigory Sokolov as soloist.^[24] He has made occasional return visits to the orchestra since ceasing to hold a formal position with them.^[23]

Guest conducting[link]

He has appeared frequently as a guest conductor with many of the world's leading orchestras, including the Boston, Birmingham, San Francisco and Detroit symphony orchestras, the Saint Paul, Los Angeles and Mito^[25] chamber orchestras, the Freiburger Barockorchester, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra,^[26] Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and London Philharmonic Orchestra and at the Tanglewood, Mostly Mozart and Salzburg festivals.^[14][27] He is a regular guest conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie^[28]

He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 1988 conducting Handel's opera Giulio Cesare, the same year he made his debut at the Salzburg Festival with Handel's Messiah.^[1][6] He conducted Opera Australia and Michael Chance in Handel's Rinaldo at the Sydney Opera House in 2005.^[29] He also played William Babell's virtuoso harpsichord transcriptions with some of the arias (which Babell claimed were of Handel's actual improvisations).^[30]

Recent years[link]

Trevor Pinnock directs the European Brandenburg Ensemble

Since resigning his position with the English Consort, Pinnock has divided his time between performing as a harpsichordist and conducting both modern- and period-instrument orchestras. He has also taken an interest in educational projects.^[27]

In 2004 he commissioned modern harpsichord music by English composer John Webb: Surge (2004), "is built up over an implacable rhythmic repeat-figure. Though neither is explicitly tonal, each skilfully avoids the merely percussive effect that the harpsichord's complex overtones can all too easily impart to more densely dissonant music."^[31] He has also played the same composer's Ebb (2000), which "comprises a spasmodic discourse against a manic background of descending scale patterns like a kind of out-of-kilter change-ringing."^[31]

He toured Europe and the Far East in 2007 with the European Brandenburg Ensemble, a baroque orchestra formed to mark his 60th birthday by recording Bach's Brandenburg Concertos and performing popular baroque music.^[32][33][34] Their recording of the concertos won the Gramophone Award for Baroque Instrumental in 2008.^[35] The band is not a permanent orchestra but they plan to reconvene in 2011 when Bach's St John Passion will be the focus of their work.^[36]

Pinnock's educational work takes place both in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. It includes being principal guest conductor of the Royal Academy of Music's Concert Orchestra^[37] taking masterclasses or workshops at other British universities,^[38] and conducting the orchestras of such establishments as Mozarteum University of Salzburg and The Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.^[27]

Degrees and honours[link]

ARCM Hons (organ) 1965, FRCM 1996; Hon.FRAM 1988.^[7] Honorary doctorates: University of Ottawa (D. University) in 1993,^[39] University of Kent (DMus) in 1995,^[40] University of Sheffield (DMus) in 2005.^[41] He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the Queen's Birthday Honours in 1992 and an Officier of the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998.^[1]

Recordings[link]

Each original release is listed. Years are those of recording.^[42]

Solo harpsichord[link]

By composer[link]

• J. S. Bach: toccatas 910 & 912, prelude and fugue in A minor BWV 894, fantasia in C minor BWV 906, chromatic fantasia and fugue BWV 903 (1978)
• J. S. Bach: toccatas 911, 913-916 (1977)
• J. S. Bach: Partitas for harpsichord BWV 825-830 (1985)
• J. S. Bach: Partitas for harpsichord BWV 825-830, Hänssler Classics (1998–1999)
• J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations BWV 988 (1980)
• J. S. Bach: Italian Concerto BWV 971, concerto after Vivaldi (op.3 no.9) BWV 972 and French Overture BWV 831 (1979)
• J. S. Bach: French suite no.5 BWV 816, English suite no.3 BWV 808, chromatic fantasia and fugue BWV 903 and preludes and fugues BWV 846, 876, 881 from The Well-Tempered Clavier (1992)
• Handel: harpsichord suites and chaconne HWV 434, 441, 436, 438, 435
• Rameau: Complete harpsichord works, CRD records
• Rameau: Les Cyclopes (Suites in A minor and E minor), Avie records (2005)
• Scarlatti: Sonatas Kk. 46, 87, 95, 99, 124, 201, 204a, 490, 491, 492, 513, 520, 521; CRD
• Scarlatti: Sonatas Kk. 460, 461, 478, 479, 502, 516, 517, 518, 519, 529, 544, 545, 546, 547 (1986)
• Gibbons: The Woods so Wild (Vanguard 72021)

Collections[link]

• 16th Century English Keyboard Music, CRD ^[43] (1976)
• A Choice Collection of Lessons and Ayres (17th and 18th Century English Keyboard Music), CRD ^[44]
• at the Victoria and Albert Museum, CRD ^[45] (1974)
• The Harmonious Blacksmith: Favourite Harpsichord Works ^[46] (1983)
• Suites by Purcell and Handel and Sonatas by Haydn, Wigmore Hall Live ^[47] (2009)

Harpsichord concertos[link]

• J. S. Bach: harpsichord concertos BWV 1052-1058, concertos for 2, 3 and 4 harpsichords 1060-1065 (Kenneth Gilbert, Lars Ulrik Mortensen and Nicholas Kraemer, harpsichords 2-4) (1979–1981)
• J. S. Bach: concerto for harpsichord, violin and flute BWV 1044 (on the recording 3 concerti) (1984)
• J. S. Bach: Brandenburg concerto no.5 BWV 1050 (on his two recordings of the Brandenburg concertos) (1982 and 2006)
• Sons of Bach harpsichord concertos: C. P. E. Bach: Wq.14, Wq.43; J. C. Bach/Mozart: concerto in D major; CRD (1974)
• Arne: Harpsichord concerto no.5 in G minor (on A Grand Concert of Musick) (1979)
• Haydn: Concerto for Harpsichord and Orchestra Hob. XVIII:11 (on Haydn: concertos and Pachelbel: Canon and Gigue) (1985)
• Leigh: Concertino for Harpsichord and String Orchestra with Nicholas Braithwaite conducting the London Philharmonic Orchestra; he also plays in Leigh's Midsummer Night's Dream suite; Lyrita records (1980)^[48]
• Poulenc: Concert champêtre with Seiji Ozawa conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra (live recording), Deutsche Grammophon (1991)^[49]

Chamber music[link]

• J. C. Bach: 3 Quintets, Sextet ^[50] (also playing fortepiano and square piano) with members of The English Concert (1988)
• J. S. Bach: sonatas for flute and harpsichord BWV 1030-1032 with Stephen Preston (baroque flute) and sonatas for flute and continuo BWV 1033-1035 with the addition of Jordi Savall (viola da gamba), CRD
• J. S. Bach: sonatas for flute and harpsichord BWV 1020, 1030-1032 with Jean-Pierre Rampal (modern flute) and sonatas for flute and continuo BWV 1033-1035 with the addition of Roland Pidoux (cello), CBS Records (1985)
• J. S. Bach: sonatas for flute BWV 1020, 1030, 1032 and sonata for flute and harpsichord BWV 1031 with Emmanuel Pahud, sonatas for flute BWV 1033-1035 with the addition of Jonathan Manson (cello); sonata for two flutes BWV 1039 with the further addition of Silvia Careddu (flute), EMI Classics (2008)
• J. S. Bach: sonatas for violin and harpsichord BWV 1014-1019 with Rachel Podger (violin) and BWV 1019a and the sonatas for violin and continuo BWV 1021, 1023 with the addition of Jonathan Manson (viola da gamba), Channel Classics (2000)
• J. S. Bach: sonatas for viola da gamba and harpsichord BWV 1027-1029, 1030b (an early version of the flute sonata) with Jonathan Manson, Avie (2006)
• Corelli: Trio Sonatas ^[51] with members of The English Concert (1987)
• Handel: Trio Sonatas ^[52] with members of The English Concert (1985)
• Rameau: Pièces de Clavecin en Concerts with Rachel Podger and Jonathan Manson, Channel Classics (2002)
• Soler: Six Concertos for Two Keyboard Instruments (playing harpsichord and fortepiano) with Kenneth Gilbert (1979)
• Wesley: Duet for Organ in C major with Simon Preston on his recording Early English Keyboard Music (1986)
• The Punckes Delight and other seventeenth century English music for viol and keyboard (virginal and chamber organ)^[53] with Jordi Savall, Argo Records (1978)^[54][55]
• The Flute King: Music from the court of Frederick the Great.^[56] Featuring Emmanuel Pahud on flute. One disc of flute concertos and one of flute sonatas; Trevor Pinnock directs the Kammerakademie Potsdam orchestra and plays harpsichord continuo. Jonathan Manson plays cello continuo. EMI Classics (2011).^[57]

Orchestral works with The English Concert[link]

Trevor Pinnock generally directs while playing harpsichord continuo . Recordings on Archiv Produktion unless otherwise indicated.^[58]

By composer[link]

• C. P. E. Bach: 6 symphonies for strings, Wq.182 (1979)
• C. P. E. Bach: flute concertos Wq.166 and Wq.167 (Stephen Preston, flute) (1980)
• J. S. Bach: Brandenburg concertos (1982)
• J. S. Bach: Orchestral Suites nos. 1 & 3 (1978)
• J. S. Bach: Orchestral Suite no. 2 and concerto for harpsichord, violin and flute BWV 1044 (Simon Standage, violin; Stephen Preston, flute) (1978)
• J. S. Bach: Orchestral Suite no. 4 and Brandenburg concerto no. 5 (1979)
• J. S. Bach: Orchestral Suites (Lisa Beznosiuk, flute) and cantata sinfonias BWV 110, 174, 249, 42, 52 (1993)
• J. S. Bach: single and double violin concertos (Simon Standage, Elizabeth Wilcock, violins) (1983)
• J. S. Bach: 3 concerti: concerto for oboe d'amore BWV 1055, concerto for oboe and violin BWV 1060 and concerto for harpsichord, violin and flute BWV 1044 (1984)
• Boyce: 8 Symphonies, op.2 (1986)
• Corelli: 12 concerti grossi op.6 (1988)
• Fasch: Concertos and Orchestral Suite ^[59] (1995)
• Handel: 6 concerti grossi op.3 (1984) ^[60]
• Handel: 12 concerti grossi op.6 (1985)
• Handel: Water Music (1983)
• Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks and concerti a due cori nos.2 and 3 (no.1 is on Christmas Concertos) (1985)
• Handel: Music for the Royal Fireworks (original version of 1749), concertos, occasional suite (1995)
• Handel: Concerto grosso Alexander's Feast HWV 318, sonata à cinque HWV 288, concertos for oboe HWV 287, 301, 302a (Simon Standage, violin; David Reichenberg, oboe) (1984)
• Handel: Overtures from Samson, il pastor fido, Agrippina, Alceste, Saul^[61] and Teseo (1986)
• Handel: Organ concertos op.4, op.7 and HWV 295, 296, 304 (Simon Preston, organ)^[62] (1984)
• Handel: Coronation Anthems (with Simon Preston conducting the choir of Westminster Abbey) (1982)
• Handel: Dettingen Te Deum, Dettingen Anthem (with Simon Preston conducting the choir of Westminster Abbey) (1984)
• Handel: Ode for St. Cecilia's Day (Felicity Lott, soprano; Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor) (1985)
• Handel: Italian cantatas: Silete venti HWV 242; Cecilia, vogli un sguardo HWV 89 (Jennifer Smith, soprano; John Elwes, tenor)
• Handel: Messiah (Arleen Auger, soprano; Anne Sofie von Otter, contralto; Michael Chance, countertenor; Howard Crook, tenor; John Tomlinson, bass) (1988) ^[63]
• Handel: Belshazzar (1990)
• Handel: Acis and Galatea in Mozart's arrangement K.566 (1991)
• Handel: Tamerlano (2001); CD: Avie records (live recording, London), DVD: Arthaus Musik (live recording, Halle)^[64]
• Haydn: concertos for oboe, trumpet and harpsichord (Hob.XVIII:11) (Paul Goodwin, oboe; Mark Bennett, trumpet; Trevor Pinnock, harpsichord) (1985)
• Haydn: violin concertos; Salomon: Romance for violin (Simon Standage, violin) (1989)
• Haydn: Stabat mater (1990)
• Haydn: missa in angustiis (Nelson mass), te deum (1987)
• Haydn: missa sancti Nicolai, Theresienmesse (1993)
• Haydn: symphonies le matin, le midi, le soir, (nos. 6, 7, 8) (1987)
• Haydn: Sturm und Drang symphonies (nos. 26, 35, 38, 39, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 58, 59, 65) (1989–1991)
• Mozart: complete symphonies (1992–1995)
• Mozart: Krönungsmesse "Coronation Mass", Exsultate jubilate and Vesperae solennes de confessore (1994)
• Purcell: Dido and Aeneas (1991)
• Purcell: Timon of Athens and Dioclesian (1995)
• Purcell: King Arthur (1991)
• Purcell: Odes: Come, ye sons of art, away; Ode for St. Cecilia's Day; Of old, when heroes thought it base (the Yorkshire feast song) (1989)
• Purcell: choral works with the choir of Christ Church, Oxford, conducted by Simon Preston ^[65]
• Telemann: 3 Orchestral Suites for 3 oboes and bassoon TWV 55: C6 and B10, for 2 hunting horns TWV 55: D19 (1993)
• Telemann: Suites, Concerto in D Major for 3 oboes & bassoon TWV 55: g4 and D1, for 3 trumpets TWV 54: D4 (1994)
• Vivaldi: 12 concertos il cimento dell'armonia e dell'inventione op.8 (Simon Standage, violin); flute concerto RV 429, cello concerto RV 424; CRD records (1978)
• Vivaldi: le quattro stagioni (Simon Standage, violin) (1982)
• Vivaldi: 12 concertos for 1,2 and 4 violins l'estro Armonico op.3 (Simon Standage, Micaela Comberti, Elizabeth Wilcock, Miles Golding, violins) (1987)
• Vivaldi: 12 concertos for violin la stravaganza op.4 (Simon Standage, violin) (1990)
• Vivaldi: 7 concerti for woodwind and strings ^[66] (1995)
• Vivaldi: concerti alla rustica ^[67] (1986)
• Vivaldi: concerti l'amoroso ^[68] (1987)
• Vivaldi: 6 concerti for flute op.10 (Lisa Beznosiuk, flute) (1988)
• Vivaldi: Gloria; A. Scarlatti: dixit dominus (1988)
• Vivaldi: stabat mater, salve regina, nisi dominus (Michael Chance, countertenor); sinfonia for strings RV 169 (1995)

Collections[link]

• Christmas Concertos ^[69] (1988)
• Pachelbel: Canon and Gigue ^[70] (1990)
• A Grand Concert of Musick: English Baroque Concertos ^[71] (1979)
• Christmas in Rome: Vivaldi: Gloria; Corelli: Christmas Concerto; A. Scarlatti: O di Betlemme altera povertà (on video and CD) (1992)
• Opera Arias by Mozart, Haydn and Gluck (Anne-Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano) (1995)
• Oboe Concertos: C. P. E. Bach, Wq.165; Lebrun, no.1; Mozart, K.314. (Paul Goodwin, oboe) (1990)

Conducting[link]

• Exquisite Fires: Music of Linda Bouchard with the National Arts Centre Orchestra; Marquis Classics^[72] (1998)
• Renée Fleming: Sacred Songs in Concert from Mainz Cathedral with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen and the Mainzer Domchor; Decca records (2005) (on DVD only)^[73]
• J. S. Bach: The Brandenburg Concertos with the European Brandenburg Ensemble, (2007), Avie

Notes and references[link]

External links[link]

• www.trevorpinnock.com Trevor Pinnock's Official website
• Buying a harpsichord - by Trevor Pinnock
• Bach-cantatas.com: Trevor Pinnock - good selection of photos
• Youtube audio - Pinnock playing the virginal

Johann Christian Bach, painted in London by Thomas Gainsborough, 1776 (Museo Civico, Bologna)

Johann Christian Bach (September 5, 1735 – January 1, 1782) was a composer of the Classical era, the eleventh and youngest son of Johann Sebastian Bach. He is sometimes referred to as 'the London Bach' or 'the English Bach', due to his time spent living in the British capital, where he came to be known as John Bach.^{[citation needed]} He is noted for influencing the concerto style of Mozart.

Life[link]

Johann Christian Bach was born to Johann Sebastian and Anna Magdalena Bach in Leipzig, Germany. His distinguished father was already 50 at the time of his birth, which would perhaps contribute to the sharp differences between his music and that of his father. Even so, his father first instructed him in music and that instruction continued until his death. After his father's death, when Johann Christian was 15, he worked with his second-oldest half brother Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, who was twenty-one years his senior and considered at the time to be the most musically gifted of Bach's sons.

He enjoyed a promising career, first as a composer then as a performer playing alongside Carl Friedrich Abel, the notable player of the viola da gamba. He composed cantatas, chamber music, keyboard and orchestral works, operas and symphonies.

Bach lived in Italy for many years starting in 1756, studying with Padre Martini in Bologna. He became organist at the Milan cathedral in 1760. During his time in Italy, he converted from Lutheranism to Catholicism. In 1762, Bach travelled to London to première three operas at the King's Theatre, including Orione on 19 February 1763. That established his reputation in England, and he became music master to Queen Charlotte. He met soprano Cecilia Grassi in 1766 and married her shortly thereafter. She was his junior by eleven years. They had no children.

Johann Christian Bach died in London on New Year's Day, 1782. He was buried in the graveyard of St. Pancras Old Church, London.[1]

Contrasting styles of J. S. Bach and J. C. Bach[link]

Johann Christian Bach's father died when Johann Christian was only fifteen. This is perhaps one reason why it is difficult to find points of similarity between the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and that of Johann Christian. By contrast, the piano sonatas of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Johann Christian's much older half brother, tend to invoke certain elements of his father at times, especially with regard to the use of counterpoint. (C.P.E. was 36 by the time J.S. died).

Johann Christian's highly melodic style differentiates his works from those of his family. He composed in the Galante style incorporating balanced phrases, emphasis on melody and accompaniment, without too much contrapuntal complexity. The Galante movement opposed the intricate lines of Baroque music, and instead placed importance on fluid melodies in periodic phrases. It preceded the classical style, which fused the Galante aesthetics with a renewed interest in counterpoint.

The symphonies in the Work List for J. C. Bach in the New Grove Bach Family listed ninety-one works. A little more than half of these, 48 works, are considered authentic, while the remaining 43 are doubtful. 

Legacy[link]

A full account of J. C. Bach’s career is given in the fourth volume of Charles Burney's History of Music.

There are two others named Johann Christian Bach in the Bach family tree, but neither was a composer.

Mozart esteemed J.C. Bach's music highly and arranged three sonatas from the latter's Op. 5 into keyboard concertos.

Works[link]

• See list of compositions by Johann Christian Bach.

Media[link]

	Sinfonia in G minor, Op. 6, No. 6 – I. Allegro Performed by Camerata Budapest Hanspeter Gmur(Conductor) Courtesy of NAXOS
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

References[link]

Notes

•  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Sources

• Christoph Wolff et al. The New Grove Bach Family. (NY: Norton, 1983) pp. 315ff. ISBN 0-393-30088-9.
• Philipp Spitta (trans. by Clara Bell & J. A. Fuller-Maitland). Johann Sebastian Bach, his work and influence on the music of Germany, 1685-1750 - 3 vols. (London: Novello & Co., 1899):

Vol I

Vol II

Vol III

• Hans T. David, A. Mendel, C. Wolff. The New Bach Reader: A Life of Johann Sebastian Bach in Letters and Documents (NY: Norton, 1998).
• Heinz Gärtner (trans. by Reinhard Pauly). John Christian Bach: Mozart's Friend and Mentor. (Portland, Ore.: Amadeus Press, 1994).
• Charles Sanford Terry. John Christian Bach (London: Oxford University Press, 1967).
• Percy M. Young. The Bachs: 1500-1850 (London: J.M. Dent & Sons, Ltd., 1970).

External links[link]

Information

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Johann Christian Bach

• J C Bach (classical.net)
• J C Bach (classicalarchives.com)
• J C Bach (pianosociety.com)
• Article: "Gainsborough and Music" by Brian Robins

Music

• J.C. Bach's Concerto in D Major Op.13, No.2, 1st movement (YouTube)
• J C Bach's Quartet in B Flat Major (YouTube)
• Free scores by Johann Christian Bach in the Werner Icking Music Archive (WIMA)
• Free scores by Johann Christian Bach at the International Music Score Library Project
• Flute sonatas, W. B 10-15, 1780 edition (From the Sibley Music Library Digital Scores Collection)