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P–ISBN: 978-3-947389-01-8
E–ISBN: 978-3-947389-00-1
Published by THATfirst Publishing 2018 www.that-first.com
Dedicated, in Deepest Gratitude, To My Mother
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
I would like to express gratitude to the many teachers of the Oral Tradition who have been custodians of this knowledge over millennia. Among these, one distinguished name stands apart: Swami Rama. A veritable fountain of wisdom, Swami Rama has been a great source of inspiration for this book.
I would like to thank Joachim for all the time, effort and resourcefulness that has gone into creating the excellent illustrations and tables throughout the book. Many thanks also to Miklos for proofreading the book.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER SUMMARIES
PREFACE
Part 1: The Foundation
1. Pranayama, the Shortcut to Immortality
Meaning of Pranayama
Difference between Breathing Exercises and Pranayama
Difference between Breath and Prana
Breath and Mind
Breath and Life Span
What happens when the breath slows down
Benefits of Breathing Exercises
Dangers of Incorrect Breathing Exercises
Precautionary Measures
2. Are you breathing right?
Why is our breathing incorrect?
How to correct faulty breathing
The 7 Step Program
Criteria for a Natural and Optimal Respiratory Pattern
Are you breathing right?
How to train Diaphragmatic Breathing
Equal Diaphragmatic Breathing
Smooth out Irregularities of the Breath
Limitations
Jalaneti: A Cleansing Technique
Q&A
3. Finding the Best Posture or the Science of Sitting
Postures for Pranayama: Seated and Supine
Five Important Criteria for a Seated Posture
Maitri Asana: The Friendship Pose
How to make a Meditation Seat
Vajrasana: The Thunderbolt Pose
Sukhasana: The Easy Pose
Ardha Padmasana: The Half Lotus Pose
Padmasana: The Lotus Pose
Svastikasana: The Auspicious Pose
Siddhasana: The Accomplished Pose
What is the Best Posture for me?
Q&A
4. Basic Breathing Techniques
Order of Practice
The Most Important Step: Check the Base Count
Equal Breathing
Variation 1: With Counts
Variation 2: Without Counts
Rechaka or 2:1 Breathing
Variation 1: With Counts
Variation 2: Without counts
Kapalabhati
Bhastrika: The Bellows
Ujjayi
Bhramari
Breathing and One-pointedness
Purpose of Breathing Exercises and Pranayama
Q&A
5. Svarodaya, the Mystical Science of Breath
What is Anuloma Viloma?
Nadi Shodhanam: Alternate Breathing
How to practice Vishnu Mudra
Base for Nadi Shodhanam
How to practice Nadi Shodhanam
Understanding the Three Variations of Nadi Shodhanam
The Science of Breath and Prana
Breath and the Pranavadins
Breath, Mind and Nadis
Dangers of Nadi Shodhanam
Part 2: Advanced
6. An Ancient Secret is revealed
The Secret to Mastering Pranayama
How to practice Nadi Shodhanam without Vishnu Mudra
Important Tips
Sushumna Kriya
Variation 1: Simple Sushumna Kriya
Variation 2: Sushumna Kriya with Soham
Variation 3: Sushumna Kriya without Pause
Variation 4: Sushumna Kriya with Aum
The Light of Sushumna
The Chakras
Bhuta Shuddhi and Sushumna Kriya
Q&A
7. The Wedding of the Sun and the Moon
Sandhya: The Meeting of Day and Night
The Natural Cycles of our World
How to practice Sandhya Kriya
With external aids
Without external aids
Sukhamana: Threshold to an Unknown World
Inviting the Hidden to come forward
Sandhya Bhasha: Mystical Language of the Sages
Q&A
8. Holding on to the Thread of Awareness
Principles of Advanced Pranayama
Movement to stillness
External to internal
Multi-pointedness to one-pointedness
The Margas: The Three Paths
Dissolution
Manifestation
The Complete Path
The Transitions
The Fourth Pranayama is Prana itself
Nine Factors influencing your Practice
Q&A
9. The Importance of Lifestyle or How to enjoy Life
Sexuality
Food
Sleep
Self-Preservation
The Four Primitive Urges and Awareness
Q&A
10. Kumbhaka, the Elusive Breathless State
What is Kumbhaka?
Bahya Kumbhaka: Suspension
Abhyantara Kumbhaka: Retention
Kevala Kumbhaka: Natural Cessation of Breath
Kevala Kumbhaka: The Breathless State
Understanding Kevala Kumbhaka
The Five Koshas: The Yogic Body
Piercing the Five Layers
11. The Mysterious Fourth Pranayama
General Guidelines
Aum Kriya
Variation 1: Equal Breath short
Variation 2: Equal Breath long
Variation 3: Equal Breath elongated
Variation 4: Equal Breath with Aum
Shavyatra
Variation 3: 61 points
Variation 2: 31 points
Variation 1: Shavasana
Shitalikarana
Yoga Nidra
Variation 1: Short version without preparation
Variation 2: Longer version with preparation
Yoga Nidra and Sleep
Yoga Nidra and the Three States of Consciousness
Q&A
12. Reversal of Subtle Energy or Kundalini Awakening
Nadis and Chakras
Manipura Chakra and Agni Sara
How to practice Agni Sara
Mastering Agni Sara: 7 Month Plan
Granthis or Knots
Rudra Granthi
Vishnu Granthi
Brahma Granthi
Understanding the Granthis
Bandhas and the Reversal of Energy
Mula Bandha, the Root Lock
Uddiyana Bandha, the Upward Flying Lock
Jalandhara Bandha, the Chin Lock
How the Bandhas work
Mudras
Anjali Mudra
Jnana Mudra
Other Mudras
Awakening and Leading Kundalini
Q&A
13. Leading Kundalini
Kundalini is also called Adi Prana
The Wish-fulfilling Genie
The Modern Word for Kundalini
Shakti: the Cosmic Breath
Appendix
List of Illustrations
List of Tables
Useful Links About the Author
CHAPTER SUMMARIES
Part 1: The Foundation
1. Pranayama, the Shortcut to Immortality
Pranayama, the ancient Science of Life challenges our preconceived notions of death and life and takes us on an incredible journey, where the impossible becomes possible.
2. Are you breathing right?
No one ever asked you this question before and you never thought about it. Unfortunately it is true: most of us do not know how to breathe right. Lesson one is unlearning wrong breathing habits.
3. Finding the Best Posture or the Science of Sitting
With seven postures to choose from, sitting is not just sitting. Lesson two is finding the right posture and preparing a comfortable seat. It may not look like it, but this is one of the most challenging stages of the journey. Don’t give up before you have really started.
4. Basic Breathing Techniques
Having overcome the initial obstacles, finally you start practicing real breathing techniques only to discover: they are
not so basic after all. These practices will take you from fifteen breaths per minute to one breath per minute. If you achieve this in less than a year, you have every reason to congratulate yourself.
5. Svarodaya, the Mystical Science of Breath
Learning to churn up the subtle energy and integrating it requires one-pointedness. The feminine and masculine energies are harmonized; the divided mind and body are brought into balance. Practice regularly and you are well on your way to become a master of the fine breath and even finer mind.
Part 2: Advanced
6. An Ancient Secret is revealed
You always wanted to be in on a secret? That moment has arrived. A word of caution though: the difficulty lies not in the ability to practice the secret, but in the ability to accept it. Accept that it is possible and you will be soon saying, “Look, no hands!” Then you can tell one and all that you are an advanced practitioner.
7. The Wedding of the Sun and the Moon
Twilight moments have kept mystics and poets busy since a long time, and not without reason. Twilight is that mystical moment when the mind is naturally contemplative. As you stand at the threshold of the inner world, the question you need to ask yourself is: “Do I really want to be an adept?”
8. Holding on to the Thread of Awareness
Life is a wondrous rainbow. As you transition from one color to another, you discover, there are no compartments, no divisions;
just beautiful shades that flow into each other. Awareness is the thread that takes you through the transitions of life as well as death.
9. The Importance of Lifestyle or How to enjoy Life
Life has so much to offer, but there is such a thing as “too much of a good thing.” Do not be afraid of discipline. Discipline is your friend. Enjoy life with complete awareness and you will soon notice that even the coffee tastes much better.
10. Kumbhaka, the Elusive Breathless State
Breathlessness should lead to eternal life? Paradoxes like this will challenge your world view, and hopefully even destroy it. Plunge into this deep and vibrant silence, one you have never known before and you will long to return to it. The longing will lead you.
11. The Mysterious Fourth Pranayama
After uninterrupted practice over a long period of time something odd happens. It seems, all the practices start merging and lead to one and the same place, a place of reasonless joy and profound beauty. The fourth pranayama is the direct experience of prana itself.
12. Reversal of Subtle Energy or Kundalini Awakening
Are you upside down? Or is the world topsy turvy? The death of ignorance is the birth of wisdom. An adept, a mystic, a seer is born. All the same, awakening the kundalini is not the same as leading it consciously.
13. Leading Kundalini
In any other book, this would be the end, but in this book, it is a new beginning. The harnessed kundalini brings with it the unlimited power of the deep unconscious and the knowledge of life, the world and everything.
PREFACE
“Lead me from ignorance to Truth. Lead me from darkness to Light. Lead me from death to Immortality. Om shanti, shanti, shanti.”
Brihadaranyaka
Upanishad I.iii.28
In the last few decades, there has been a tremendous interest in yogic practices. However, the interest has been limited to asanas or physical postures, and there are few authoritative works on the subject of pranayama.
The teachings and practices elaborated in this book draw upon the Oral Tradition, based on empirical observations over thousands of years, handed down and validated by every following generation. This came to be known as the Oral Tradition since most of these teachings and practices were not recorded for many generations. Even though much was subsequently documented, the core teachings and the complementary practices were, and are to this day, only handed down step by step and accompanied by personal instructions. A great deal of effort has been made to maintain the
authenticity and purity of these traditional teachings and practices, which cannot be compared with those taught by modern schools of physical culture.
Since the Oral Tradition predates the modern way of life by many millennia, an effort has been made to draw parallels between the traditional science of pranayama and modern science. While this may help the modern reader to relate to the traditional science, this book is not based on modern science or medicine; its focus remains the teachings and practices of the Oral Tradition.
As you systematically go through these practices, you may make many interesting observations and come across some difficulties. I have used illustrations and tables extensively to avoid misunderstandings. All the same, a book has its limitations and cannot be a substitute for personal guidance. Over the last two decades of teaching in the traditional way, I have grown to appreciate the wisdom of the Oral Tradition with its emphasis on direct dialogue with the student. There seems to be no other way to impart the higher secrets.
Radhika Shah Grouven
MASTERING PRANAYAMA
Part 1: The Foundation
“Still others offer as sacrifice the outgoing breath into the incoming breath, while some offer the incoming breath into the outgoing breath, seizing the movement of the outgoing and incoming breaths, intent upon the mastery of the life force.”
Bhagavad Gita IV.29
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The so-called legato touch on the keyboard is one in which the fingers cling closely to the keys, and by which, therefore, the keys are pressed down rather than struck. In this way the player actually eliminates one of the three sounds of attack, namely, that of the finger hitting the key. To a certain extent he also minimizes the sound of the key hitting its base, a sound which, moreover, the felt cushion of the base does much to lessen. At the risk of throwing all preconceived theories of legato touch into question, it may be said that this unpleasant sound can be wholly eliminated by a sort of light, quick, lifting touch, which, without driving the key down even to its base, will yet cause the hammer to spring up and hit the string above it.
By such means as these the pianist can at least subdue, if he cannot silence, the noises which in some measure must inevitably accompany his playing. The more he can do so, the smoother and pleasanter his playing will become. In so far as the tone of the pianoforte can be sensuous and warm, he can make it so in the measure in which he avoids giving prominence to the blows and thuds which ever threaten it perilously The player who pounds is the player whose ear has not taken into account this harsh and unmusical accompaniment of noises. The player who can make the piano sing is he who, in listening to the mysterious vibrations of its after-sounds, has come to recognize and subdue those noises which too often interrupt and obscure them.
The value of the piano as an instrument of musical expression will always be the subject of discussion. It has undoubtedly two great shortcomings, which place the pianist under serious disadvantages. It cannot sustain tone, and the tones which can be produced on it will ever be more or less marred by unmusical noises which cannot often be avoided. But these very shortcomings make possible some peculiar beauties and a peculiar vitality which characterize pianoforte music alone. And, apart from these, in its great power, its possibilities of dynamic nuances, and its unlimited scope of harmonic effects, it is not excelled, if, indeed, it is equalled, by any other single instrument.
Finally, let it be remembered that there is in a great deal of pianoforte music—in that of Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Chopin, Brahms and Debussy—almost unfailingly an intimacy of mood. It is for this quality of intimacy that pianoforte music will long be cherished as chamber music. It is a quality of which the player who wishes not only to interpret great music, but also to win what there is of genuine musical beauty from his instrument, should ever be mindful.
H B November, 1915.
CHAPTER
CONTENTS OF VOLUME SEVEN
P N vii
I H B ix
P I. T C P P M
I. K I D K T 1
Keyboard instruments and their derivation; the clavichord and its mechanism; the harpsichord and its relatives, virginal, cembalo, etc.; technique and use of the harpsichord—The beginnings of harpsichord music; the Gabrielis and Merulo; early forms; the influence of harmony and the crystallization of form— Frescobaldi and other organist-composers for harpsichord; early English virginal collections; John Bull, etc.—Genesis of the suite; influence of lute-music; Froberger, Denis Gaultier, etc.; Kuhnau— Development of the harpsichord ‘style’; great players: Chambonnières, etc.
II. T G A H M 40
The period and the masters of the ‘Golden Age’— Domenico Scarlatti; his virtuosity; Scarlatti’s ‘sonatas’; Scarlatti’s technical effects; his style and form; æsthetic value of his music; his contemporaries—François Couperin, le Grand; Couperin’s clavecin compositions; the ‘musical portraits’; ‘program music’—The quality and style of his music; his contemporaries, Daquin and Rameau—John Sebastian Bach; Bach as virtuoso; as teacher; his technical reform; his style—Bach’s fugues and their structure—The suites of Bach: the French suites, the English suites, the Partitas—The preludes, toccatas and fantasies; concertos; the ‘Goldberg Variations’— Bach’s importance; his contemporary Handel.
III. T D P S
Vienna as the home of the sonata; definition of ‘sonata’—Origin and history of the standard sonata cycle; relationship of sonata movements—Evolution of the ‘triplex’ form: Pergolesi’s ‘singing allegro’; the union of aria and binary forms; Padre Martini’s sonatas, Scarlatti’s true sonata in C; Domenico Alberti; the Alberti bass; the transitional period of the sonata—Sonata writers before Haydn and Mozart; J. C. Bach; Muzio Clementi—Schubert
and Wagenseil; C. P. E. Bach; F. W. Rust.
IV H , M B
The ‘Viennese period’ and the three great classics—Joseph Haydn; Haydn’s clavier sonatas; the Variations in F minor —W. A. Mozart; Mozart as pianist and improvisator; Mozart’s sonatas; his piano concertos—Ludwig van Beethoven; evolution of the modern pianoforte—Musical qualities of Beethoven’s piano music; Beethoven’s technical demands; his pianoforte sonatas; his piano concertos; conclusion.
V. P M T B
The broadening of technical possibilities and its consequences—Minor disciples of Mozart and Beethoven: J. N. Hummel; J. B. Cramer; John Field; other contemporaries—The pioneers in new forms: Weber and Schubert; technical characteristics of Weber’s style; Weber’s sonatas, etc.; the Konzertstück; qualities of Weber’s pianoforte music—Franz Schubert as pianoforte composer; his sonatas; miscellaneous works; the impromptus; the Moments musicals— The Weber-Schubert era and the dawn of the Romantic spirit.
P II. T R P P M
131
175
VI. M , S B 211
Influence of musical romanticism on pianoforte literature—Mendelssohn’s pianoforte music, its merits and demerits; the ‘Songs without Words’; Prelude and Fugue in D minor; Variations
Sérieuses; Mendelssohn’s influence, Bennett, Henselt—Robert Schumann, ultra-romanticist and pioneer; peculiarities of his style; miscellaneous series of piano pieces; the ‘cycles’: Carnaval, etc.—The Papillons, Davidsbündler, and
Faschingsschwank; the Symphonic Études; Kreisleriana, etc., the Sonatas, Fantasy and Concerto— Johannes Brahms; qualities of his piano music; his style; piano sonatas, ‘Paganini Variations,’ ‘Handel Variations,’ Capriccios, Rhapsodies, Intermezzi; the Concertos; conclusion.
VII. C
Chopin’s music and its relative value in musical value; racial and personal characteristics; influences and preferences; Chopin’s playing—His instinct for form; the form of his sonatas and concertos; the Polonaise-Fantaisie; the Preludes—Chopin as a harmonist;
ornaments—His works in general: salon music; waltzes; nocturnes; mazurkas; polonaises; conclusion.
VIII. H , T , L
The career of Henri Herz, his compositions and his style; virtuosity and sensationalism; means of effect—Sigismund Thalberg: his playing; the ‘Moses’ fantasia, etc.; relation of Herz and Thalberg to the public—Franz Liszt: his personality and its influence; his playing; his expansion of pianoforte technique; difficulties of his music estimated—Liszt’s compositions: transcriptions; fantasia on Don Giovanni—Realistic pieces, Années de pèlerinage—Absolute music: sonata in B minor; Hungarian Rhapsodies; conclusion.
P III. M P M
IX. I N
Inevitable results of Schumann, Chopin and Liszt —Heller, Raff, Jensen, Scharwenka, Mozkowski, and other German composers—The influence of national characteristics: Grieg, his style and his compositions; Christian Sinding—The Russians: Balakireff, Rubinstein, Tschaikowsky, Arensky, Glazounoff, Rachmaninoff, Scriabin and others—Spanish traits;
284
320
I. Albéniz; pianoforte composers in England and the United States.
X. M F P M
Classical traditions: Saint-Saëns, and others; C. V. Alkan—César Franck: his compositions and his style—Vincent d’Indy; Fauré—The new movement: Debussy and Ravel; Debussy’s innovations: new harmonies, scales, overtones, pianoforte technique; his compositions—Ravel differentiated; his compositions; Florent Schmitt and Eric Satie—Conclusion.
P IV. V M
XI. E V M D V T
The origin of stringed instruments; ancestors of the violin—Perfection of the violin and advance in violin technique; use of the violin in the sixteenth century; early violin compositions in the vocal style; Florentino Maschera and Monteverdi— Beginnings of violin music: Biagio Marini; Quagliati; Farina; Fontana and Mont’Albano; Merula; Ucellino and Neri; Legrenzi; Walther and his advance in technique, experiments in tone painting—Giov. Battista Vitali; Tommaso Vitali and Torelli; Bassani; Veracini and others—Biber and other Germans; English and French composers for the violin; early
341
368
publications of text-books and collections.
XII. V C E C 396
Corelli, Vivaldi, Albinoni—Their successors, Locatelli, F. M. Veracini, and others; Tartini and his pupils; pupils of Somis: Giardini and Pugnani—French violinists and composers: Rébel, Francœur, Baptiste Anet, Senaillé and Leclair; French contemporaries of Viotti: Pagin, Lahoussaye, Gaviniès; Viotti—Violinists in Germany and Austria during the eighteenth century: Pisendel, J. G. Graun, Franz Benda; Leopold Mozart—The Mannheim school: J. Stamitz, Cannabich and others; Dittersdorf, Wranitzky and Schuppanzigh—Nonviolinist composers: Handel, Bach, Haydn, Mozart—Conclusion.
XIII. V M N C 430
The perfection of the bow and of the classical technique—The French school: Kreutzer, Rode, and Baillot—Paganini: his predecessors, his life and fame, his playing, and his compositions— Ludwig Spohr: his style and his compositions; his pupils—Viennese violinists: Franz Clement, Mayseder, Boehm, Ernst and others— The Belgian school: De Bériot and Vieuxtemps—Other violinist composers: Wieniawski, Molique, Joachim, Sarasate, Ole Bull; music of the
violinist-composers in general—Violin music of the great masters.
P V. C M
XIV. T B C M
The term ‘chamber music’; fifteenth-century dances; lute music, early suites; vocal ‘chamber music’—Early ‘sonatas’: Gabrieli; Rossi; Marini; etc.—Vitali, Veracini, Bassani and Corelli; Corelli’s pupils; Vivaldi; Bach and Handel.
467
XV. T F P S Q 486
The four-part habit of writing in instrumental forms —Pioneers of the string quartet proper: Richter, Boccherini and Haydn; Haydn’s early quartets—The Viennese era of the string quartet; Haydn’s Sonnen quartets; his ‘Russian’ quartets; his later quartets —W. A. Mozart; Sammartini’s influence; Mozart’s early (Italian) quartets; Viennese influences; Mozart’s Viennese quartets—His last quartets and their harmonic innovations.
XVI. T S Q : B 509
Beethoven’s approach to the string quartet; incentives; the six quartets opus 18—The Rasumowsky quartets; opera 74 and 95—The great development period; the later quartets, op. 127 et seq.: The E-flat major (op. 127)—The A minor (op.
132); the B-flat major (op. 130); the C-sharp minor (op. 131); the F major (op. 135).
XVII. T S E S B
The general trend of development: Spohr, Cherubini, Schubert—Mendelssohn, Schumann and Brahms, etc.—New developments: César Franck, d’Indy, Chausson—The characteristics of the Russian schools: Tschaikowsky, Borodine, Glazounoff and others— Other national types: Grieg, Smetana, Dvořák—The three great quartets since Schubert and what they represent; modern quartets and the new quartet style: Debussy, Ravel, Schönberg—Conclusion.
XVIII. T P O I C M
The trio—Pianoforte quartets and quintets— Sonatas for violoncello and piano—The piano with wind instruments— Chamber music for wind instruments by the great composers.
534
573
ILLUSTRATIONS IN VOLUME SEVEN
‘Home Concert’ painting by Fritz von Uhde (in colors) Frontispiece
Virginal and the Gravicembalo 8 The Clavichord and the Harpsichord 8
Title page of Kuhnau’s ‘Neue Clavier-Übung’ 32
Fac-simile of Bach’s Manuscript of the Prelude in C major (Well-Tempered Clavichord) 80
Harpsichord Composers (D. Scarlatti, Couperin, C. P. E. Bach, Clementi) 110
Caricature of Johannes Brahms on His Way to the ‘Red Porcupine’ 238
Frédéric Chopin (after painting by Ary Scheffler) 268
Anton Rubinstein’s Hand 332
Famous Pianists (d’Albert, Busoni, Gabrilowitch, Paderewski) 364
Relatives of the Violin 372
Stradivarius at Work 386
Great Violin Composers (Corelli, Vivaldi, Tartini) 398
Caricature Statuette of Paganini 438
Great Violinists (Wieniawski, Joachim, Vieuxtemps, de Bériot) 448
Modern Violinists (Sarasate, Kreisler, Ysaye, Thibaut) 464
‘The Concert’; painting by Terborch (in colors) 476
Pioneers of the String Quartet (Boccherini, Haydn,Richter and Dittersdorf) 488
Ludwig Spohr 536
The Flonzaley Quartet 550
Great 'Cellists (Popper, Gerardi, Casals) 596
Arnold Schönberg 602
PIANOFORTE AND CHAMBER MUSIC
CHAPTER I KEYBOARD INSTRUMENTS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF KEYBOARD TECHNIQUE
Keyboard instruments and their derivation; the clavichord and its mechanism; the harpsichord and its relatives, virginal, cembalo, etc ; technique and use of the harpsichord The beginnings of harpsichord music; the Gabrielis and Merulo; early forms; the influence of harmony and the crystallization of form Frescobaldi and other organist-composers for harpsichord; early English virginal collections; John Bull, etc —Genesis of the suite; influence of lute-music; Froberger, Denis Gaultier, etc ; Kuhnau— Development of the harpsichord ‘style’; great players: Chambonnières, etc.
IThe foundations of pianoforte music were laid during the second half of the sixteenth century and throughout the seventeenth, with the foundations of instrumental music in general. Though there were at this time no pianofortes, there were three keyboard instruments, all of which not only took their part in the development of instrumental music, but more especially prepared the way for the great instrument of their kind which was yet unborn. These were the organ, the harpsichord, and the clavichord.
The organ was then, as now, primarily an instrument of the church, though there were small, portable organs called regals, which were often used for chamber music and even as a part of accompaniment, together with other instruments, in the early operas. With the history of its construction we shall not concern ourselves here (see Vol. VI, Chap. XIV). From the middle of the fourteenth century Venice had been famous for her organists, because the organs in St. Mark’s cathedral were probably the best in Europe. Up to the end of the seventeenth century they were very imperfect. Improvements were slow. Great as was the rôle taken by the organ all over Europe, from the basilica of St. Peter’s in Rome to the northern town of Lübeck in Germany, the action was hard and uneven, the tuning beset with difficulties. But the organ was the prototype of all keyboard instruments. Upon the imperfect organs of those days composers built up the keyboard style of music.
The harpsichords and the clavichords were what one might call the domestic substitutes for the organ. Of these the clavichord was perhaps slightly the older instrument. Its origin is somewhat obscure, though it is easy to see in it the union of the organ keyboard with strings, on the principle of that ancient darling of the theorists, the monochord, the great and undisputed ruler over intervals of musical pitch, from the days of Pythagoras down throughout the Middle Ages. This monochord was hardly an instrument. It was a single string stretched over a movable bridge. By shifting the bridge the string could be stopped off into different lengths, which gave out, when plucked, different pitches of sound. The relative lengths of the stopped string offered a simple mathematical basis for the classification of musical intervals.
The clavichord worked on the same principle. At the back end of each key lever was an upright tangent, at first of wood, later of metal, which, when the key was depressed, sprang up against the wire string stretched above it. The blow of this tangent caused the wire to vibrate and produce sound; and at the same time the tangent determined the length of the string which was to vibrate, just as the finger determines the length of a violin string by stopping it at some
point on the fingerboard. The strings of the clavichord were so stretched that of the two lengths into which the tangent might divide them, the longer lay to the left. It was this longer length which was allowed to vibrate, giving the desired pitch; the shorter length to the right being muffled or silenced by strips of felt laid or woven across the strings. Thus the little tangents at the back end of the keys performed the double function of sounding the string by hitting it and determining its pitch by stopping it. Thus, too, one string served several keys. By the middle of the sixteenth century the normal range was four full octaves, from C to c3. There were many more keys than strings, which was a serious restriction upon music for the instrument; for notes which lay as closely together as, let us say, Csharp and E could not be sounded at once, since both must be played upon the same string. Not until practically the beginning of the eighteenth century were clavichords made with a string for each key. They were then called bundfrei, in distinction from the older clavichords, which had been called gebunden.
The clavichord always remained square or oblong in shape, and for many years had no legs of its own, but was set upon a table like a box—hence one of its old names, Schachbrett, chess-board. The case was often of beautiful wood, sometimes inlaid and adorned with scrolls, and the under side of the cover was often painted with allegorical pictures and pious or sententious mottoes. The keys were small, the touch extremely light. The tone, though faint, had a genuine sweetness and an unusual warmth; and, by a trembling up and down movement of the wrist while the finger still pressed the key, the skilled player could give to it a palpitating quality, allied to the vibrato of the human voice or the violin, which went by the name of Bebung. This lifelike pulsing of tone was its most precious peculiarity, one which unhappily is lacking to the pianoforte, in most ways immeasurably superior. Hardly less prized by players who esteemed fineness of expression above clearness and brilliance, was the responsiveness of its tone to delicate gradations of touch. This made possible fine shading and intimate nuances. On this account it was highly valued, especially in Germany, as a practice instrument, upon which the student could cultivate a discriminating
sensitive touch, and by which his ear could be trained to refinement of perception.
The tone of the clavichord was extremely delicate. Its subtle carrying quality could not secure it a place in the rising orchestras, nor in the concert hall. It belonged in the study, or by the fireside, and in such intimate places was enshrined and beloved by those who had ears for the finer whisperings of music. But not at once was it so beloved in the course of the early development of our instrumental music. Frail and restricted, it was but a makeshift to bring within the circle of the family the growing music of its powerful overshadowing prototype —the organ.
The harpsichord was quite different and shared with its weaker sister only the keyboard and the wire strings. It was in essence a harp or a psalter played by means of a keyboard. The strings were tuned as in a harp and were plucked by means of quills attached to the keylevers. The tone was sharp and dry and could not be influenced by the player’s touch. Instruments of this nature seem first to have been made in England. At any rate it was in England that a considerable literature was first written for them. The English virginals are small harpsichords. The origin of the quaint name is no longer carried back to the love of the Virgin Queen Elizabeth for such music as the instrument could produce. Nor is it likely that it was so named on account of its size (it could be held on the lap), whereby it recommended itself to the convenience of young ladies with a musical turn. Most likely its name is due to its range, which was the high range of a young woman’s voice, an octave higher than the centre octave of the organ.
The harpsichord, or, more exactly, instruments which were plucked by quills attached to key-levers, went by many names besides virginals. In Italy it was called the clavicembalo, later the gravicembalo, or merely cembalo; in France the clavecin; in Germany the Kielflügel The more or less general name of spinet seems to be derived from the name of a famous Italian maker
working at the beginning of the sixteenth century, Giovanni Spineta, of Venice.
These instruments developed side by side with the clavichord but to much greater proportions. In the course of time several strings were strung for one note, one or all of which might be used, at the discretion of the player, by means of stops similar in appearance and use to organ stops. Sometimes the extra strings of a note would be tuned at the octave or upper fifth, permitting the player to produce the mixture effects common to the organ. Many instruments were fitted with two and even three banks of keys, which operated upon distinct sets of strings, or might bring some special sort of quill into play; and these keyboards could be used independently for contrast, or coupled for volume, or the music might be divided upon them. There were also pedals for special effects.
There was great need of these numerous sets of strings, these various sorts of quills, these keyboards and devices for coupling them, because the mechanism of the harpsichord action was unsusceptible to the fine gradations of touch. It was essentially a mechanical instrument; its range of what we may call tone-shading was defined by the number of purely mechanical adjuncts with which it happened to be furnished. Variety depended upon the ingenuity of the player in bringing these means into play. This does not, of course, imply that there was no skill in ‘touching’ the harpsichord. The player had to practice hours then as now, to make his touch light and, above all, regular and even. The slightest clumsiness was perhaps even more evident to the ear of the listener in the frosty tones of the harpsichord than it would be today in the warmer and less distinct tone of the pianoforte. But once this evenness and lightness attained, the science of ‘touch’ was mastered and the player proceeded to search out musical effects in other directions.
In the course of these years from 1500 to 1750 it was made more and more to impress the ear by means of added strings and stops and sets of quills, till it became the musical keystone of chamber music, of growing orchestra and flowering opera. At the same time it
was made ever more beautiful to the eye. It grew fine in line and graceful in shape; its wood was exquisitely finished and varnished; it was inlaid with mother-of-pearl, and was beautifully decorated and enscrolled. The keys were small and usually of box-wood, the diatonic keys often black, the chromatic keys white with mother-ofpearl or ivory. Artisan and artist lavished their skill upon it. What a centre it became! How did it sound under the fingers of Count Corsi, behind the scenes of his private theatre in the Palazzo Corsi at Florence, while noble men and gentle ladies sang out the story of Orpheus and Eurydice to a great king of France and Maria de Medici his bride, when the first Italian opera was sung in public?
The great Monteverdi’s antique orchestra clustered about two harpsichords, only a few years later in Mantua, when ‘Ariadne’ brought tears to the eyes of princes. How was it in Venice when Cavalli was of all musicians the most famous, in the public theatre of San Cassiano? It supported the oratorios of Carissimi in Rome, and his cantatas as well. And in 1679 the great Bernardo Pasquini, organist of the people and the senate of Rome, presided at the harpsichord when the new theatre of Capranica was opened, and the amiable Corelli led the violins. And so they all presided at the harpsichord, these brilliant writers of operas now of all music the most discarded, down to the days of the great Scarlatti in Naples, of Handel in London, of Keiser and Graun in Hamburg, and Hasse, the beloved Saxon, in Dresden. Lully the iron-willed, he who watched alertly the eyebrow of great King Louis XIV of France, sat at his harpsichord in his lair and spilled snuff on the keys while he wrought his operas out of them. Then there was Mattheson, who would sing Antony, and die in the part, yet would come back and play the harpsichord in the Hamburg opera house orchestra after all the house had seen him die. He was determined to sit at the harpsichord, in the centre of the orchestra, and accompany his Egyptian queen to death, when all knew he should rightfully be waiting for her in Heaven with a lyre!
The harpsichord was indeed the centre of public music of orchestra and opera. Even after a race of virtuosi had pulled it to the fore as a
