Baroque Instruments
The fortepiano is the earliest version of the modern piano. It was developed by a Italian harpsichord-maker named Bartolomeo Christofori, who was employed by the Medici family of Florence. Christofori seems to have produced the first of these instruments before 1700, and he continued to develop his great invention over many years.
Without foot pedals as dampers, the Forte Piano was further developed to have first, a hand actuated damper, then a knee actuated damper as Mozart composed upon, only after that innovation the modern foot pedal damper(s) and then with sustain were introduced as we commonly see and hear, being called the shortened, modern : Piano.
Premiered in 1800, Beethoven’s
Sonata in F major, Op. 17 for piano and horn signalled the beginning of an explosion in works for piano and horn duo in the early part of the nineteenth century.
Many composers were to follow in the footsteps of the great master in exploiting the versatility and variety of the natural horn in the years that followed.
Beyond Beethoven explores four works by close contemporaries, chosen partly due to the connections between the composers, Beethoven and his
Op. 17 Sonata, and partly to dispel enduring modern myths about the instrument’s limited options. Performing on original period instruments (an 1810 cor solo by Lucien Joseph Raoux, and an 1815 fortepiano by Johann Peter Fritz), Anneke Scott and Steven Devine, take us on a compelling journey through this enlightening corner of the piano and horn repertoire, with works by Ferdinand Ries, Friedrich Eugen Thürner, Friedrich Starke & Hendrik Coenraad Steup.
I would never play so hard to get as to stand up a spare chick with tickets in my 20's - then again, home cooked thanksgiving dinner, home town friends & family... tough decision for a student away at college, I can imagine.
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