The practical development of the technique of piano playing, i. e., the successful mastery of all difficulties which the execution of the most exacting compositions for the instrument entails, properly begins with the era of Johann Sebastian Bach, and in order to fully realize the gradual growth it is necessary to connect the solution of the problem with the corresponding evolution in the art of piano building, for the executants of successive ages necessarily depended upon the instrument for the medium through which the in-creased possibilities of digital skill could be demonstrated. In 1710 and 1729 Cristofori and Schröter produced pianos which to all intents and purposes represented our modern instruments in form and construction and at the end of the same century the Silbermanns of Freiberg and Strassburg, and Stein of Augsburg built excellent examples of the art. At the beginning of the Nineteenth Century Broadwood of London, Erard at Paris and the Viennese builder, Streicher, made improvements which permitted a more musical and poetic tone quality and brought the mechanism to a high state of perfection. Since then piano building has become universal and has found its highest development in the United States.
Previous to Bach's advent the performer used straight fingers and played at the very edge of the keyboard; the thumb was too short and considered useless ; it was either omitted or utilized very rarely; it remained for Bach to realize the enormous importance of the thumb as a pivotal point of all pianistic possibilities and to give to this most indispensable of fingers adequate employment; by passing the fingers over the thumb and vice versa the thumb under the fingers, Bach thus became the originator of piano playing as we know it, and gradually our present hand position which involves curved fingers and constant use of the thumb was introduced, and by utilizing all major and minor keys in the Well-Tempered Clavichord Bach created a new epoch in the history of piano technique. Of his contemporaries the Couperins, Rameau and Marchand of France did much to cultivate a graceful and rhythmical style of performance, quite in contrast to the severity of the German School. Handel's compositions developed velocity in many of his suites, and Domenico Scarlatti may be termed the first virtuoso, as he invented difficulties for the pleasure of mastering them, instead of using them as a means for higher purposes of artistic achievement; thus we find in Scarlatti's works distant jumps, quickly repeating notes, swift trills, staccato work and double thirds. Neither Haydn nor Mozart extended the scope of technique perceptibly; Beethoven only in the works commencing with the Sonata Op. 53; the lyrical style of the preceding masters had changed to one of dramatic meaning and the different requirements were met by greater contrasts of dynamics and tone production.
Muzio Clementi laid the foundation for our brilliant modern style of piano playing in his collection of studies, the Gradus ad Parnassum, in which every species of technical work is fully elucidated, and his great pupils, Cramer, Berger and Klengel, followed in his footsteps. John Field of the same school cultivated the poetic vein and became the pre-cursor of Chopin's style. Carl Maria Von Weber wrote a series of noble compositions in which the resources of the piano and the performer find much expansion in the way of brilliant scale and arpeggio work, successive and exacting staccato passages, octave glissandi and sonorous melody production. Carl Czerny, Thalberg and Kullak also developed the purely mechanical element to a high degree, the latter especially in his school of octaves, and Alexander Dreyschock of Bohemian origin amazed musical Europe by the remarkable virtuosity of his left hand. In Frankfort Aloys Schmitt published five-finger exercises which have become a necessary adjunct of piano study, and Moscheles forms a connecting link between the purely classical style and the modern roman-tic period.
By originating in the Gradus a five-finger exercise in continuous chromatic modulation Clementi suggested the entire series of modern transposing five-finger études, culminating in the Tausig daily exercises, and this feature of pianistic evolution has revolutionized the entire field of technique.
Mendelssohn's art did much for piano playing. He requires perfect scale and arpeggio technique, a supple wrist, cantabile touch and mastery of the polyphonic style; some new effects in the way of extended chords and the division of melody parts between the two thumbs were added by Henselt ; and his master, Hummel, also illustrated purely digital possibilities most practically in his Concertos, Sonatas and the Fantasie Opus 18.
The romantic style, demanding more individuality in technique and interpretation, finds leading exponents in Chopin and Schumann. The Études of the first master give a clew to his work and abound in novel combinations, opening up undreamt-of resources of the instrument. In Schumann's compositions the art of phrasing, solid passage work and effective chord playing are cultivated.
Franz Liszt is the master who combined the excellencies of all schools and brought them to a dazzling culmination. He introduced an elevated position of the wrist and forearm, made bold innovations in the mode of fingering, used the fifth finger after the thumb and vice versa played trills with three or four fingers, divided trills in double thirds and sixths between the two hands and used the pedals with surprising new effects. He closed the chapter which Clementi commenced. The great virtuosos which followed him developed their own gifts wonderfully, but even Tausig, Rubinstein and Von Bülow added but little to the actual technical material of pianism.
Efforts to improve technique by purely mechanical means have proved abortive. Logier introduced a contrivance in England in 1814; later on Bohrer of Montreal in-vented a hand guide, and Brotherhood's Technicon made its appearance. In our own time the Virgil system finds followers. An attempt to rearrange the present arrangement of the keyboard was made by Paul de Janko, but met with indifferent success.
The technical impossibilities of one period are relegated to the kindergarten of the next, and we find in the piano scores of Brahms combinations of rhythms and difficult positions which even Liszt did not anticipate; the works of the new Russian School, of Balakirew, Liapounow, etc., carry the requirements of execution to transcendent heights and the arrangements of Chopin's Etudes by Leopold Godowsky represent the ne plus ultra of seeming impossibilities. The present state of technique is one which requires the swiftest finger development, perfect facility in double thirds and sixths, a wrist of steel, intuitive mastery of abstruse poly-phonic problems, all softened and brought into one harmonious entity by artistic taste, sincerity of purpose and reverent devotion for the true meaning of the composer.
Having traced the gradual development of the technique of piano playing it will be interesting and instructive to discuss the pianists and artists who were its practical exponents.
The instruments .which preceded the modern piano precluded the possibility of great feats of execution or the " tours de force " of later ages, hence, the old English masters, Dunstable, Tallis, Bird, Dr. Bull, Orlando Gibbons and Henry Purcell, contented themselves with light scales and a few chords and arpeggios; the same limitations apply to Couperin, Marchand and Daquin of France and Pachelbel, Mattheson and Buxtehude of Germany. The Handel and Bach school cultivated a severe and solid style of performance and foreshadowed the characteristics of the subsequent German period.
Clementi and Mozart delighted their audiences by their brilliant execution and rapid running work, and Hummel, Moscheles and Field followed in their vein, combining sound musicianship with dazzling effects. My old master, Heinrich Dorn, placed Mendelssohn at the head of the pianists of his day and preferred him even to Liszt. By a singular irony of fate some of the greatest performers have been denied the ability to play in public, among them Kullak, Henselt, Chopin and Nicholas Rubinstein.
Thalberg's daring virtuosity seemed so fabulous to his audiences that the incredulous Parisians climbed on chairs and benches in order to convince themselves that only one performer was playing and suspected him of employing a confederate to assist behind the stage.
Chopin's performance, though wonderfully smooth and poetic, lacked the virility which is imperatively essential to public success. Some pianists have specialized to such an extent that we identify them instantly with certain composers ; thus we look upon Carl Reinecke as the Mozart player par excellence and consider De Pachmann the ideal Chopin interpreter.
Formerly the great pianists confined their repertory almost entirely to their own compositions, but with the advent of Liszt's marvelous art the possibilities of the piano concert became unlimited and the modern artist is supposed to produce the entire literature from Bach to Debussy with consummate mastery. He must present the analytical Bach, lyric Mozart, dramatic Beethoven, romantic Schumann, poetic Field, profound Brahms, sentimental Chopin and brilliant Liszt with equal authority.
England has produced but few pianists of note. Arabella Goddard enjoyed renown, and only of late years some of the younger artists like Katherine Goodson, Gertrude Peppercorn and Frederick Lamond have come to the fore, the last named especially as a Beethoven player. Spain has remained terra incognita pianistically ; Portugal boasts of de la Motta ; France has always excelled in the niceties and finish of piano playing; that most versatile of musicians, Saint-Saëns, plays a scale of such rapidity and smoothness that his listeners despair; Raoul Pugno and Diemer are masters of the jeu perle, Edward Risler gives authoritative readings of the Beethoven Sonatas in their entirety, and Francis Plante and Theodore Ritter presented the most ravishing technique imaginable. Norway, the land of fjords and mountains, was reflected in the art of Madam Backer-Grondahl and Erika Lie Nissen, both distinguished concert pianists. Italy is ably represented by Sgambati and Martucci, but still depends upon her vocal masters for musical pre-eminence. It is interesting to note that at the Imperial Conservatory at Tokio the works of European masters are finding ready recognition and figure largely in the curriculum.
Piano playing in America received a powerful impetus by Rubinstein's visit in 1872. He was a colossal but uneven player, the victim of moods, unapproachable when at his best. His musical antithesis, Hans Von Bülow, followed him to our shores and his deliberate and analytical performances proved high educational. His subjectivity counterbalanced the great Russian's objectiveness. Joseffy's impeccable art then came as a great revelation to us and restored piano playing to true and sane proportions. Essipoff was a charming artist, Carreño has dominated the concert stage for many decades, Fanny Bloomfield-Zeisler occupies a unique eminence both here and abroad, and Adéle Aus der Ohe is an artist of sterling qualities.
Hungary gave us Franz Liszt, whom I frequently heard while at Weimar in 1876. As he originated the entire structure of modern technics every detail was, of course, at his fingers' ends; a simple Beethoven Sonata, a Chopin Prelude was given the same finished performance as the huge Don Juan Fantasie. The fire of youth never became quenched in his veins and to his last days he remained the absolute master.
Carl Tausig, born in Poland, died at the very threshold of his art. His technical outfit was unlimited. His pupil, Max Prinner of New York, also promised well, but was taken away by relentless fate at an early age. Paderewski, another great Pole, is still with us ; a man of striking personality, strong magnetism and tremendous technical capabilities. Rosenthal is the giant of the keyboard and has long since reached the climax. At the age of thirteen Hanslick, the great Viennese critic, said of him, that " he had nothing more to learn." This early precocity is the happy lot of many great pianists and we all remember the furore which Joseph Hofmann, also of Polish parentage, created at the age of eight. He has nobly kept the promise of his youth.
The superlative in pianistic art has been attained by Russian artists, and one is tempted to consider the achievements of Lhevinne and Godowsky as the closing chapter, the last word. The cool bravura of the former and the incredible counterpuntal combinations of the latter approach wizardry.
A noble art is that of Busoni's, puissant and convincing; magnificent in execution, musicianship, proportion and perspective. Among the notable pianists who deserve mention are Rudolf Ganz, Hambourg, Gabrilowitsch and Bauer, all of them gifted and thoroughly modern in their attainments. Equally great as musician and pianist is D'Albert, a master who has always stood for dignity in art, and whose profound interpretations are fully supported by a great technique.
The possibilities and limitations of the instrument seem to have been fathomed; it has yielded its most intimate secrets ; all problems have been solved and it remains for future ages to create new boundaries of the art.
