The Keyboard Sonatas of Joseph Haydn: Instruments and Performance Practice, Genres and Styles (Phoenix Poets (Hardcover)) - Hardcover

Somfai, László

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226768147 ISBN 13: 9780226768144

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1995

Synopsis

Interest in the authentic performance of early music has grown dramatically in recent years, and scholarly investigation has particularly benefited the study of keyboard music of the classical period. In this landmark publication, the most comprehensive study written on Haydn's keyboard sonatas, a leading Haydn scholar presents novel ideas, corrects misconceptions, and offers new hypotheses on long-debated issues of early music research.

Laszlo Somfai begins with a thorough study of Haydn's keyboard instruments and their development. After recommending instruments appropriate for modern use, he discusses performance practice and style, explains the peculiarities of Haydn's manuscripts in the context of eighteenth-century notation, and provides specific suggestions for playing ornaments, improvising, slurring, and dynamics. He also investigates Haydn's sonata genres within their historical context and discusses the problems of establishing a chronology of their composition. Finally, Somfai analyzes the organization and style of each musical form. The book includes an index listing the sonatas by date of first publication, and an extensive bibliography.

About this title

From the Back Cover

Interest in the authentic performance of early music has grown dramatically in recent years, and scholarly investigation has particularly benefited the study of keyboard music of the classical period. In this landmark publication, the most comprehensive study written on Haydn's keyboard sonatas, Laszlo Somfai offers an unorthodox approach to the interpretation of this repertory. Somfai focuses on the true "acoustic form" that Haydn intended in these works. He begins with a thorough study of Haydn's instruments - the harpsichord, the Viennese fortepiano, and the English piano - and their development. After recommending instruments appropriate for modern use, he discusses performance practice and style, explains the peculiarities of Haydn's manuscripts in the context of eighteenth-century notation, and provides specific suggestions for playing ornaments, improvising, slurring, and dynamics. The second part of the study investigates Haydn's sonata genres within their historical context and discusses the problems of establishing a chronology of their composition. Finally, Somfai analyzes the organization and style of each musical form. The book also includes an index listing the sonatas by date of first publication, and an extensive bibliography.

About the Author

Laszlo Somfai is head of the Bartok Archives in Budapest and professor of musicology at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0226768147
• ISBN 13: 9780226768144
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 416