In countless studies on keyboard playing and performance practice in the 18th and 19th centuries, pedagogical treatises – together with studies of manuscripts and original instruments – lay the main premises for the research. These sources remain our fundamental informants to musical practices of the past. But is this the information sufficient to reconstruct an instrumental technique which is now extinct?
The Viennese technique, developed for the Viennese fortepiano, slowly died out as the making of Viennese pianos (with the Viennese action) was discontinued. Sadly, there are no ‘living witnesses’ to consult for a demonstration of the Viennese piano technique or any sounding sources available beyond the original instruments. In the keyboard treatises, however – and particularly in those of the 1820s Vienna – the basic posture and motions of the arms, hands and fingers are described in detail. The remarkable consensus made it possible to identify these basic instructions and attempt a reconstruction of the Viennese piano technique by imitating the motions as ‘a complete set of interdependent actions’. The question of how this reconstruction can be confirmed in the absence of living witnesses, is discussed by means of the suggested Context Congruency Model. This model assesses ‘context congruence’ with well-established knowledge from various ‘orbits’, or levels, of the practice. Connections to aesthetics, musical and pedagogical ideals, efforts in piano construction and contemporary science are made throughout the study.
The motivation for this study, however, was not the reconstruction of the Viennese piano technique itself, but how such reconstruction might change the performance of the music as well as our understanding of the rules for execution (Vortrag) in the primary sources. A number of practical examples of common pianistic events (like playing a scale, arpeggios, leaps, legato, textures) are discussed thoroughly, and idiomatic phrasings resulting from the reconstructed Viennese technique are demonstrated. Integrated videos explain both the physical motions as well as a selection of period piano music to aid the understanding of the principles in practice. This makes the reconstruction of the Viennese piano technique a thought-provoking contribution to the discussion of piano playing in Beethoven’s Vienna.
