Monday, February 24, 2020

Musical Musings Volume 11 - Works For Keyboard Part Two

The history of keyboard musical instruments is a long one. The first known keyboard instrument was created in the 3rd century BC in Greece by an inventor named Ctesibius of Alexandria. This instrument was known as the hydraulis and used water to build up air pressure that went through pipes to make sound.

The wind pipe organ replaced the hydraulis in about the 4th century and uses wind pressure created by bellows, or with the modern instruments, blowers. Next came the clavichord and harpsichord, both roughly from the 14th century, which were both replaced by the piano-forte in the late 18th century. Each instrument (besides the hydraulis) has left a large legacy of music written for it specifically or that can be played by any of them.

This book is a companion to the first part of Works For Keyboard which contains 45 works. With this second part of 50 works, the span of composers spans from the Baroque era with J.S. Bach (ca.1700) and the complete two books of The Well Tempered Clavier to contemporary composer Stephen Scott and his composition for Bowed Piano Entrada. The piano is the dominant instrument in this volume, and remains the most popular keyboard instrument to date. But there continues to be interst in older (and some newer) and different keyboard instruments. With the acoustic piano starting to give way to electronic pianos, electric organs, and synthesizers, who knows what the future holds? At the end of each article I have included a link to the original Musical Musings blog post which will have a video of the discussed work, as well as musical examples. Happy listening!

 

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