Art of Piano Transcription
Piano transcription, from harpsichord to piano, has long been considered one of the most challenging and artistic forms of musical composition. It entails translation of complex orchestral scores into a form playable on the modern piano. It also involves more subtle aspects of transformation such as dynamic gradations and the transference of various articulation and accentual patterns from one instrument to another. These aspects are all dependent on the understanding of a variety of different issues, including music structure and the keyboard characteristics of instruments available during Bach’s time, historical performance practices, and the pianist’s piano technique.
The goal of this study is to investigate the various features of the Chromatic Fantasia and Fugue BWV 903 from a critical commentary perspective. This study is intended to assist pianists in understanding the work and developing a practical approach to it on the contemporary piano. The study also discusses the use of a specific method of analysis based on hierarchical analysis to develop a more accurate and reliable system for piano transcription.
In a musical score the scribe’s intentions for performance are conveyed through music text, ornamentation, and fingering indications. The aim of this study is to investigate the earliest surviving manuscript source of the Chromatic Fantasia and fugue and its associated music text variants and performance indications. The scholarly process is guided by the need for reliably authentic piano transcription, and by the needs of teachers and students of both harpsichord and piano.
The Art of Piano Transcription As Critical Commentary
A significant variant in the music text is the inclusion of dynamic symbols in Mus. Ms. P577, the sole manuscript among the twenty-three studied in this study to include such interpretive markings. The copyist may have included these dynamics as instructions for performance whether as a teacher, performer, or composer; as an indication of the dynamic range of his or her instruments; or perhaps as a guide to the use of particular pedals.
An additional important feature of the manuscript is its sparse fingering entries. The fingerings reflect the scribe’s familiarity with harpsichord manuals. They do not, however, conform to the generally accepted fingering system of Bach’s era. This is especially apparent in the sparse use of the fifth finger, which is taboo on many nineteenth-century harpsichords.
Throughout the years, piano transcription has been the basis of virtuoso piano showpieces which have made it possible for music to be played in private home sitting rooms rather than concert halls, and has enabled great composers and musicians to fashion their own interpretations of works from other genres such as symphonies, overtures, opera arias, and flute sonatas. It was Franz Liszt who first popularized the term “translation” to denote these improvisations of symphonic or operatic works on the piano, and he ushered in an era of virtuoso piano transcriptions which have become a staple of the classical repertoire. Piano transcriptions have also been used by the composer to create his own compositions on themes, such as his free fantasies and paraphrases.
