| Contents |
Orientations. Definitions and elaborations ; The scope and plan of this study ; Some background information on Beethoven's career ; Beethoven's output for piano ; The sources of information for this book ; Some relevant philosophies and perspectives -- Source manuscripts and editions. Sketches and autographs ; Early editions ; Trends in editing ; Beethoven since Beethoven -- Beethoven and the piano: his options, preferences, pianism, and playing. First, some conclusions ; A consensus on differences between pianos then and now ; A prevailing view about Beethoven's preferences ; Beethoven's pianos summarized chronologically ; Actual preferences and ideals ; The range of Beethoven's pianos ; Piano actions - English, French, and Viennese ; The pedals available on Beethoven's pianos ; The pianism of Beethoven compared with that of Haydn, Mozart, and Schubert ; Beethoven as a performing pianist -- Tempo: rate and flexibility. Its elusiveness, even with the metronome ; Some previous studies of Beethoven tempo (Beck) ; Four other studies of Beethoven tempo ; Applying Beck's "rhythmic character" to moderate and slower tempos ; Extending the meaning of "rhythmic character" ; Flexibility in the pulse rate ; Structural and historical aspects of Beethoven tempo -- Articulation: the demarcation and characterization of Beethoven's musical ideas. Means, uses, and ways ; Problems in reading and interpreting Beethoven's slurs ; Seven tentative explanations for Beethoven's slurring ; Pauses as further demarcators and characterizers ; Problems in distinguishing and interpreting Beethoven's staccato signs ; Can editors help to resolve the ambiguity of Beethoven's staccato signs ; Beethoven's signs and uses for accents -- The incise and phrase as guides to rhythmic grouping and dynamic direction. The meaning of incise ; The evolution of the incise in theoretical writings ; Beethoven's supposed annotations in twenty-one Cramer etudes ; Rhythmic grouping and dynamic direction as revealed in Beethoven's incises and phrases -- Realizing Beethoven's ornamentation. Types, evidence, and studies ; About Beethoven's trills ; Beethoven's turns and freer short embellishments ; Short and long appoggiaturas -- Further expressive factors. Legato and tone production ; Beethoven's use of the pedals ; Summary of Beethoven's use of dynamics and agogics -- Some broad, structural considerations. Taking larger views withing a movement ; Interrelationships among movements of a cycle -- Keyboard techniques as both clues and consequences. Beethoven's own technical endowments and attributes ; His use of the basic touches ; His exploitation of idiomatic techniques ; Beethoven's original fingerings -- A few afterthoughts. |
