Keyboard Instruments in Eighteenth-Century Vienna - Hardcover

Maunder, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0198166370 ISBN 13: 9780198166375

Publisher: OUP Oxford, 1998

Synopsis

Although eighteenth-century Viennese keyboard music, especially by such composers as Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, is among the most popular ever written, there has been surprisingly little serious research into the instruments for which it was composed. Consequently myths and guesses abound, while accurate and reliable information is hard to come by.

This book fills that gap. Based on evidence from primary source material, much of it previously undiscovered or neglected, Maunder traces the history and development of the various keyboard instruments available in Vienna throughout the eighteenth century--harpsichords, clavichords, and pianos--and their use by composers and performers. There are detailed descriptions of many surviving Viennese instruments, several of which have only recently come to light; contemporary newspaper advertisements for over 1200 keyboard instruments are reproduced, in the original German as well as in English translation; and an alphabetical list of eighteenth-century Viennese makers includes much newly-discovered biographical information as well as some previously unknown names.

About this title

Review

ending with a fascinating chapter on owners, dealers and prices. The book provides as much information about social history as about music, and this last chapter provides gems of both. (Harpsichord & fortepiano, Vol 9, No 1, Spring 2001)

One of the strengths of the book is that it deals with clavichords and harpsichords as well as pianos, which means that Maunder's conclusions have a greater breadth than less inclusive studies (Harpsichord & fortepiano, Vol 9, No 1, Spring 2001)

invaluable as source-material ... much new information (Harpsichord & fortepiano, Vol 9, No 1, Spring 2001)

Maunder's well-presented book is a concise essay that radically alters our notions about Viennese instruments (Harpsichord & fortepiano, Vol 9, No 1, Spring 2001)

outstanding ... Richard Maunder's thorough account covers harpsichord, piano, and clavicord. Like most books of this type, it delivers both a micro- and a macromessage ... Maunder provides much of his data, with more than one hundred pages of tables and appendixes. This is valuable material and Clarendon Press should be commended for allowing its inclusion. (Edward L Kottick, Notes September 1999)

Packed with the facts about the existing keyboards for which Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven composed, this is a modest exercise in 'micro-history' ... (S. Glickman, Franklin and Marshall College, CHOICE June 99)

Edition details

• Publisher: OUP Oxford
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0198166370
• ISBN 13: 9780198166375
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 278