EVA BADURA-SKODA THE EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FORTEPIANO GRAND AND ITS PATRONS FROM SCARLATTI TO BEETHOVEN Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2017 pp. xiii + 492, isbn 978 0 253 02263 9

Abstract

In recent years we have benefited from the publication of a number of texts that have re-examined the early history of the piano, notably those by Stewart Pollens (Bartolomeo Cristofori and the Invention of the Piano (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, \uf645\uf643\uf644\uf64a)) and Michael Latcham (Towards a New History of the Piano (Munich: Katzbichler, \uf645\uf643\uf644\uf64c)). These sit alongside edited volumes of related source materials, including letters associated with Clementi (David Rowland, ed., The Correspondence of Muzio Clementi (Bologna: Ut Orpheus, \uf645\uf643\uf644\uf643)) and Érard (Robert Adelson, Alain Roudier, Jenny Nex, Laure Barthel and Michel Foussard, eds, The History of the Erard Piano and Harp in Letters and Documents (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, \uf645\uf643\uf644\uf648)). Here, Badura-Skoda addresses the place of the piano in the eighteenth century from the perspective of a scholar and performer with many years of experience working with early pianos, and as such adds a valuable voice to that of other authors. The main text covers some \uf647\uf649\uf64b pages and is complemented by introductory material, an appendix, bibliography and indices. There are musical examples scattered throughout, while a section of twenty-two plates fills pages \uf645\uf644\uf648–\uf645\uf646\uf643. Minor slips in presentation relating to quoted text that is not formatted consistently and odd errors, such as hyphenating ‘Joseph Haydn-Wenzel’ in the contents list instead of using a comma, confuse the reader at first, but such typographical errors are few and far between. More important is the decision, helpful for monoglots, to present most quotations in an English translation as well as in their original language. We begin our journey focusing on activities on the Italian peninsula, centred understandably in Florence and the work of Bartolomeo Cristofori and his pupil Giovanni Ferrini, before following the piano’s move northwards into German lands. Subsequent chapters change from focusing on location to examining specific named makers (including Johann Andreas Stein, Sébastien Érard, John Broadwood and John JosephMerlin) and particular composers (includingMozart, members of the Bach family, Haydn and Beethoven) positioned within the social, political and economic climates in which they worked. These sections and the attention given to each individual differ significantly in length and detail: for example, in the chapter dedicated to the piano makers Stein and Érard, the former is discussed over some thirty-three pages while the latter has two. Overall, the result feels like an interesting conversation that moves and morphs as the thoughts of the participants interact, rather than a single narrative with a carefully constructed and predetermined path. The result is not unpleasant but does feel vaguely unsatisfying, like something has been missed or is just out of reach. At the heart of this volume is the challenge faced by anyone interested in musical instruments: nomenclature. Instrument names can be used generically, specifically, knowledgably and carelessly. For example, many people today say they have a piano in their homewhen in truth they have an electronic keyboard. For some of us, a piano has to have strings and a hammer action, neither of which is found in the rectangular boxes in many homes today. This is the same challenge addressed by Badura-Skoda: which of the terms used in the eighteenth century referred to stringed keyboard instruments with hammers? There is no simple, universal or generally agreed answer. There are German, French and Italian names that refer to the shape of the Eighteenth-Century Music \uf644\uf64b/\uf644, \uf644\uf64b\uf648–\uf645\uf644\uf64a © The Author(s), \uf645\uf643\uf645\uf644. Published by Cambridge University Press