WELCOME TO VIENNA, the capital of classical music! Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, and many more lived here - this city overflows with classical music history.
I'm Daniel Adam Maltz, a Vienna-based fortepianist specializing in the Viennese fortepianos, music performance practices, and culture during the Classical era.
Together, we'll dig into Classical-era music in a deeper way than you can in any other city.
Michael Haydn is known for his top class pastoral compositions which are worth listening. He lacks the diversity of his more famous elder brother Joseph. His Serenades, Divertimentos and Concertos are worth listening. Titus
According to Wikipedia, no one knows which exact tuning Bach meant by “well-tempered”. But you present your ideas here as if they are non-controversial. Can you provide a source for your claim? And what about all the historians that have made contrary claims?
Alma was a violinist in Vienna, a niece of composer Gustav Mahler, she formed in Vienna all women orchestra with which she performed Viennese music all over the world. Her father was a leader of Vienna Philharmonic. Her husband was a Czech violinist. May her soul rest in peace.
Why are you calling her a victim? There's no evidence that Leopold forced her to remain in Salzburg. Maybe she didn't want to travel around the world like other female musicians of her era. Stop blaming her father and society, it's ridiculous. Life was a lot harder for her brother. In fact, he died very young.
Thanks for the video! I did not know the Kirnberger tuning so well, but it has similarities with the Valotti tuning which usese 6 pure fifths. I think you are so right when you say that the equal temperament takes away a lot of the essence of what the composer meant when he/she wrote the piece. Equal temperament is like democracy: everyone can live with it but nobody is really happy!
Thank you so much for having this woman who’s a genius and such a pleasure to listen too as well. my son brought this video to my attention because he knew how fascinating I would find it! I introduced all of my children to classical music in the womb (via all the Baby Eisenstein videos back in the late 1990’s and take great pleasure in the fact that all three have continued into adulthood to sponsor the arts, as do I of course). I’ve got to find this book she mentions in the beginning…. I hope someone does the DNA testing! I didn’t realize they sell gravesites?? I mean gravesites that have people in them? Is this a common practice? I’ve never heard of this in America.
They may be similar, but serve completely different purposes. The moderator on a fortepiano is used to change the color of the sound for artistic purposes. The muted effect achieved by the middle pedal on some upright pianos is meant to dampen the sound so that one can practice without bothering the neighbors - it wasn’t meant to serve an artistic purpose.
I agree but i think that the middle pedal in an upright piano gives also a quite colorfull character to the sound and I personaly think it should also used more as an effect in newer romantic style composition.
IMO, it's not impossible to create the same effect on the modern piano. Like many pianists, I also use the so-called "harmonic pedaling", which is full pedal combined with half pedal in a sort of flutter- pedal is never permanent, yet strings still resonate; you accelerate the decay. I didn't play the Waldstein, but I did play the Appassionata, it has similar pedaling indications. Well, now from objective reasons I had to switch on a digital, but it's a digital where half pedaling also works (I guess it's simulated, but it's one of the reasons I bought it). Even Liszt's Consolations, much later written, have similar pedal indications, and pianos at that time were pretty modern, so certainly this is what he meant too. I heard a lot of discussion recently on harmonic pedaling; I was not taught about, just using it instinctively after I listened some great pianists (Richter, Berman, Gilels, Horowitz, Rachmaninov) and tried to figure out how do they get certain sounds. Yes, there is something romantic (! 🙂) in playing classical music on a fortepiano, but a modern piano has a better pianissimo when playing it with mastery, some get it to sound at the limits of the perception (like Lipatti or even Yuja Wang), so intimate sound is not a big problem. I think if Mozart or Beethoven would have had a Steinway or a Bosendorfer, they would have just loved it and play on it. Beethoven was absolutely in awe when he received a new Erard, which was almost like a modern piano as sound and possibilities; that was the sound he had in his head when he wrote (almost completely deaf) the last 3 sonatas 🙂
You bring up a good point with the “harmonic pedaling.” This is one of many methods that modern pedagogy has come up with to make sense of the pedal markings/usage from the Classical era. I didn’t claim it was impossible to come up with an alternative that hints at the same effect: I said that it is impossible to use modern piano pedals in the exact same way Classical-era composer intended them to be used. I didn’t mean to insinuate that modern pianos can never produce intimate sounds. My point was that - unlike modern pianos - intimacy is an omnipresent quality of Viennese fortepianos, in part, because they lived in a world where chamber music was experienced in much smaller settings than today’s 2,000-seat concert halls. Beethoven’s relationship with pianos is a fascinating one to contemplate. The Erard that you’re referring to was not almost like a modern piano in sound and possibility. While it had English/French action to facilitate a slightly fatter/louder sound, the general qualities would still have been much closer to a Viennese fortepiano than a modern Steinway. Later in life, Beethoven did like English/French pianos, but it was due to his increasing deafness. He went to great lengths modifying instruments to help him hear them better and requested that a Viennese piano maker (Nannette Streicher) make a louder instrument. Beethoven’s Broadwood (gifted to him by the company without his request and the only Broadwood in Vienna) was louder - this was a necessity due to deafness, not artistic possibilities. The sound world in Beethoven’s head before he was deaf was the Viennese fortepiano.
Hopefully, the memorials to Hugo Wolf and Johannes Brahms are not too close to each other. On a serious note though, I’m reading a biography of Schubert which states that the actual remains of both Beethoven and Schubert are as of 1888 in the Musicians Grove of Honor in Vienna. Is this accurate?
That is correct - Beethoven and Schubert’s remains were moved to the Musicians Grove of Honor in Vienna’s Central Cemetery (shown in the video) from their original resting places in a different cemetery. It is still possible to see their previous gravesites/stones in Vienna.
Nice video. I saw somewhere that some Fortepianos had a 3rd Knee Lever. From what I recall, it put a metal sheet with thin felt on one side that could be put down on the strings when actuated. This gave the notes a buzzing "distorted" sound. So even back then, the masters liked distortion as much as today's heavy metal musicians. I can see it now... Mozart in a Guitar Center picking out a distortion pedal for his synthesizer gig with Metallica, with Beethoven in the back room cranking an amp up to max to hear the music, and Chopin in the corner just shaking his head in disgust [smile]. Can you elaborate on that Knee Pedal, what was it called, how did it work, how did it sound?
You certainly paint an interesting picture! I think the effect you’re referring to is the bassoon stop and it imitates the sound of a bassoon in the lower register of the keyboard. It works by placing a paper roll on the strings to achieve a metallic sound.
@@DanielAdamMaltz Thanks, Bassoon Stop, I will research it. Remember the film "Amadeus"? If Mozart was really like that, he would fit in today. I would love to make a fim with many of the greats suddenly plunged into 2024 and how they would react and explore how music has evolved. Like Brian Eno showing Tchaikovsky how to add ambiance to his music. Or Flea showing Bach how a slap bass technique can be added to his string sections. Oh, and Nigel Tufnel from Spinal Tap showing Beethoven how his amps go to 11.
Can an untrained ear hear the difference between the SAME piece played in the different keys? Playing a 'happy' piece in one tuning and a 'sad' piece in another tuning doesn't demonstrate--at least to me--the difference in tunings. I've been aware of this issue for a long time but have never heard an actual demonstration of the difference despite being able to say, truthfully, "Ich war in Wien geboren."
Thanks for your question! While I can’t speak for everyone’s experience, the characteristic differences between the various keys in unequal tuning systems vs. equal tuning is normally quite pronounced. I think that most people would hear the differences in a side-by-side comparison.
Daniel, in university my piano teacher had a wonderful collection of harpsichords and what she called "pianofortes". Is there a different between pianoforte and fortepiano?
Historically, the two terms were used interchangeably. Today, the term “fortepiano” is used to differentiate historic pianos from modern pianos, generally.
While this is undoubtedly true, one has to consider the reasons why. Mozart and Beethoven’s piano music was heard almost entirely in salon settings, so the “concert” spaces were much smaller and more intimate. During the mid- to late 1800s, concert halls grew in scale to host significantly larger audiences and the instruments had to keep up with greater acoustical demands. Pianos were then built solely for the purpose of creating a larger sound in the bigger spaces.
I had to play an organ recital whilst my younger sister was hospitalised. I know how you feel sir, and my thoughts and prayers are with you. God bless you and your family, and whatever the future may bring, both the people around you and all of us in your social media shall be here to support you. I admire your courage.
Welcome back. Nice to see you posting again! Sorry to hear of your sister's condition. I can't imagine what it is like to have to ensure 'the show must go on' !
Nicely explained and good examples. You could go even further forward to Chopin for examples in F♯ minor. The Beethoven excerpt was mostly open octaves and melodic intervals (quite deliberate of course).
Picking which instrumentnto inspire my son for our homeschool musoc this year. I hope to inspire a love of classical. Any advice helpful. The oiano is a classical instrument. I disnt know that hearing all the modern uses
Daniel, I thoroughly enjoyed your video and found it interesting and well presented. I loved learning about this instrument and agree with your comment that it helps classical music be presented in a new and exciting way. Lisa from Turner's Keyboards
