HMVB0157BU Musicology: Keyboard Performance in the 17th and 18th centuries

During the 17th and 18th centuries, keyboard instruments were covering a wide range of instruments and were not limited to the standardized piano as we know it today. The instruments underwent major technological changes, as did the musical language, the forms and techniques of composition. In this course, we will study various instruments such as harpsichords, clavichords, spinets, organs, and fortepianos, both from a historical point of view and a practical performance approach, trying to understand how their construction, sound and technology influence the performance. Visits to the Musikmuseet and various churches will be organized, in order to play and listen to the original instruments.

Students will also be introduced to the repertoire of composers such as Frescobaldi, Froberger, Couperin, Bach, Buxtehude, Carl Philip Emanuel Bach, Mozart, Haydn and the first sonatas of Beethoven. The major forms and genres will be explained, as well as the evolution of the musical language, from modality to tonality. Finally, the issues of performing early music today will be addressed in the perspective of historically informed performance: HIP (Historical Performance Practice) or not HIP?