Baroque music is largely formed from contrapuntal textures (having two or more independent but harmonically related melodic parts sounding together). Written for the harpsichord, these textures are not as well suited to the thicker tone of the modern piano or the rich, low harmonies. Therefore, special care must be taken when performing music from the Baroque period on the piano.
In contrapuntal music, the individual parts are of equal importance, even though their interrelationship is continually changing. To reproduce this type of texture well, you need to train your mind, ears, and fingers to follow the course of the individual contrapuntal lines, as well as their combined texture, so that the pianist presents an image of an ever-changing whole.
Pianist H. Ferguson gives this analogy: You can think of music as a kind of conversation, in which the voice continually changes from person to person, as each person makes a contribution without unduly raising their pitch. The dynamic range should not be too great (a true fortissimo is rare, since several people shouting different things at the same time will never make themselves understood); and the touch and tone must be lighter than in typical homophonic music of the late 19th century.
A semi-legato is more common than a legatissimo, especially if the notes are moving quickly, as it promotes clarity. It also allows freer play for the subtle kaleidoscopic changes of thought and mood particularly characteristic of Bach. The sustain pedal should be used sparingly; it must never be allowed to obscure the line, or produce the kind of impressionistic haze only heard in modern music like Debussy.
Therefore, when playing baroque music during piano instruction, try to avoid the density of sound that is characteristic of the piano, but was foreign to the harpsichord. This is especially important with closed position chords on the bass. These sound clear and transparent on the early instrument, but on today’s thicker-pitched piano they must be played carefully to avoid a muddy sound. One solution is to lighten the middle notes of the chord, so that they are less prominent than the octave played by the fifth finger and thumb. Sometimes it helps to break up the chord slightly and play it as a quick arpeggio.
Occasionally in baroque music there are passages that would have been comparatively easy with the light, shallow playing of earlier instruments, but are now extremely difficult, or impossible, with today’s deeper, heavier key action. For example, the repeated triple octaves in the right-hand part of Schubert’s song ‘Der Erlkonig’ were originally not terribly difficult to play, but for the modern pianist they have become a virtuoso athletic feat.
So when playing fugue music, you may find the following points helpful:
- Characterize all parts of the fugue with a carefully defined joint.
- Make sure that the articulation of the main part is contrasted with that required by the tailstock, and by parts 2 and 3 if the fugue is double or triple. This ensures that each part remains distinct when several occur together.
- Characterize the fugue episodes in the same way.
- Keep the texture as light as possible, especially on the top and bottom lines.
- Don’t feel like the part should always stand out like it’s being played in a solo at full volume. The other parts are equally important.
- If you want to highlight a particular part, emphasize it very little. Its characterization, together with the generally light texture, will do the rest.
- A moving part will always stand out more clearly than a static one; if an even balance is required, the part that moves the most needs the least tension.
- Always aim for clarity.