Bach and the Pedal Clavichord: An Organist’s Guide

224 Pages·2005·7.997 MB·English

by  Joel Speerstra

BACH AND THE PEDAL
CLAVICHORD
An Organist's Guide

Joel Speerstra

Eastman Studies in Music
Bach and the Pedal Clavichord
Eastman Studies in Music
Ralph P. Locke, Senior Editor
Eastman School of Music
(ISSN 1071–9989)
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in order of publication, may be found at the end of this book.
Bach and the Pedal Clavichord
An Organist’s Guide
Joel Speerstra
Foreword by Hans Davidsson
University of Rochester Press
Copyright © 2004 Joel Speerstra
All Rights Reserved. Except as permitted under current legislation,
no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system,
published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded,
or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission
of the copyright owner.
First published 2004
by the University of Rochester Press
The University of Rochester Press
668 Mt. Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA
Boydell & Brewer, Ltd.
P.O. Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK
www.urpress.com
ISBN 1–58046–135–2
ISSN 1071–9989
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Speerstra, Joel.
Bach and the pedal clavichord : an organist’s guide / Joel Speerstra.
p. cm. — (Eastman studies in music, ISSN 1071-9989 ; [26])
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 1-58046-135-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)
1. Pedal clavichord. 2. Bach, Johann Sebastian, 1685-1750. Organ
music. 3. Organ music—Interpretation (Phrasing, dynamics, etc.)
4. Performance practice (Music)—18th century. I. Title. II. Eastman
studies in music ; v. 26.
ML651.S642 2004
786.3'092–dc21 2003024587
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Designed and typeset by Straight Creek Bookmakers
Printed in the United States of America
This publication is printed on acid-free paper
John Barnes
in memoriam
Frontispiece. Photograph of a copy of the J. D. Gerstenberg pedal clavichord built
by John Barnes and Joel Speerstra in 1995. Photo by Su Dunthorne. Reproduced
with permission.
Contents
Lists of Figures, Tables, and Music Examples viii
Acknowledgments x
Foreword by Hans Davidsson xi
Introduction 1
Part One: Source Studies
Prelude to Part One 13
1. The Historical Pedal Clavichord 17
2. J. S. Bach’s Trio Sonatas: A Reception History of a Rumor 32
3. Reconstructing the Gerstenberg Pedal Clavichord 52
4. J. S. Bach and the Clavichord: A Reception History of a Technique 69
Part Two: Performance Practice Studies
Prelude to Part Two 91
5. Performance Practice at the Pedal Clavichord 95
6. Musica Poetica and Figural Notation 114
7. J. S. Bach’s Passacaglia in C Minor, BWV 582: A Case Study 129
8. The Pedal Clavichord and the Organ in Dialogue 149
Appendix: Friederich Conrad Griepenkerl’s Preface to J. S. Bach’s
Chromatic Fantasy and Fugue (1819) 161
Notes 172
Bibliography 187
Index 199
Figures
Photograph of a copy of the J. D. Gerstenberg pedal
clavichord built by John Barnes and Joel Speerstra in 1995. frontispiece
1.1. Pedal Clavichord from Flores Musicae (after 1467). 21
3.1a.The parts of the Gerstenberg Pedal Clavichord. 55
3.1b.The parts of the manual. 56
3.1c.The parts of the pedal. 57
3.2. The lower manual soundboard well with cross-brace. 58
3.3. A mysterious hole. 58
3.4. 16–foot stop mechanism. 59
3.5. Gerstenberg manual with the golden section and square root
of five construction lines. 60
3.6. String tension’s relationship to technique. 62
3.7. Edinburgh stringing on a string-tension scale. 65
5.1. Contact between string and tangent. 96
5.2. Historical and nonhistorical clavichord keylevers. 98
5.3. Good and bad notes at the clavichord. 104
5.4. J. S. Bach, Applicatio, right hand, first two measures. 104
5.5. Fulcrum points on the manual and pedal keys. 106
5.6. Kittel’s alternating toe pedaling. 107
5.7. Kittel’s alternating heel and toe pedaling. 107
5.8. Original Gerstenberg and modern standard organ sharp heights. 110
5.9. Pedaling in triple time. 111
5.10.Pedaling. 112
6.1. Figura corta at the clavichord. 115
6.2. Figura suspirans at the clavichord. 116
6.3. Traditional brush strokes in Chinese calligraphy. 119
6.4. Inventio 1, C Major, BWV 772a, in J. S. Bach’s hand. 124
6.5. Inventio 1, C Major, BWV 772a, in figural notation. 125
6.6. Inventio 8, F Major, BWV 779, in J. S. Bach’s hand. 126
6.7. Inventio 8, F Major, BWV 779, in figural notation. 127
8.1. Key-position measurement by triangulation. 151
8.2. Force characteristics of Gerstenberg lower manual c1. 152
8.3. Key characteristics for North German Organ Hauptwerk c1. 153
8.4. The new North German organ in Göteborg. 154
8.5. The keyboards of the North German organ in Göteborg. 156
Tables
3.1. Comparison of the plain string gauges of three eighteenth-
century clavichords with the Gerstenberg copy. 66
5.1. Comparison between arm and leg at the clavichord. 107
6.1. Brief dictionary of notational figures. 121–123
6.2. The three steps in the execution of calligraphic characters
and rhetorical figures at the clavichord. 128
7.1. Figural notation for the Passacaglia. 139
8.1. Great Organ at Alkmaar (NL): Initial resistance of key
measured in grams. 150
Music Examples
7.1. Johann Pachelbel, Ciacona in D Minor, mm. 144–45. 132
7.2. Dieterich Buxtehude, Passacaglia BuxWV 161, mm. 84–85. 133
7.3. Johann Sebastian Bach, Passacaglia BWV 582, mm. 120–21. 133