You are welcome to read the new 30 MYTHS ON BAROQUE HARPSICHORD PLAYING

New eBook: PLAYING THE BAROQUE HARPSICHORD

This is an integrated collection of updated and expanded essays, some of them endorsed by leading harpsichordists. Only a few chapters are specific for the harpsichord. Most of the book applies to all the Baroque keyboard instruments, and some chapters are devoted to general Baroque music interpretation topics. Several colour figures are included, as well as musical examples from well-known Baroque works.

The reader who plays Baroque keyboard music will find here the answer to long-standing problems. Thorough guidance is provided on difficult matters such as ornamentation, articulation, tempi, registration, sesquialter rhythms, notes inégales and further topics. These have been found to be useful to the modern performer of Baroque keyboard music, whether amateur, advanced student or professional player. See below a published Review and a Preview. See also a separate webpage with 30 Myths on the Baroque Harpsichord. Please click on the button below for price details and to buy the book.

[If you already bought the book and wish to re-download it, click here for directions.]

The unique opportunity to sponsor this major work is available. Like the other eBooks by the same author, this one is expected to reach a wide distribution and readership by students and performers of early keyboard instruments,  as  well  as  researchers in the performance of early music.  If you are interested in sponsorship,  please contact  Dr. Di Veroli at .

Contents of PLAYING THE BAROQUE HARPSICHORD

• THE HARPSICHORD REVIVAL
• THE HARPSICHORD FAMILY: INSTRUMENTS AND ACTIONS
• BAROQUE FINGER MECHANICS
• BAROQUE ARTICULATION
• BASICS ON ESSENTIAL ORNAMENTS
• PERFORMING THE NOTES INÉGALES
• INÉGALES AND TRIPLETS IN BACH AND RAMEAU
• TEMPI: AUTHENTICITY, RUBATO, TEMPI IN DIFFERENT COMPOSERS
• HARPSICHORD STOP VOICING
• REGISTRATION: USING THE STOPS IN DIFFERENT HARPSICHORD MODELS
• REGISTRATION IN IMPORTANT BAROQUE HARPSICHORD WORKS
• REPERTOIRE ISSUES: HARPSICHORD VS CLAVICHORD, ORGAN AND FORTEPIANO
• A COMPLETE HARPSICHORD MULTILINGUAL DICTIONARY
• LITERATURE CITED

Some important features of the book

—> A presentation on the main ancient harpsichord models and keyboard ranges (13 pages)
—> A concise explanation of articulation in early keyboards, with a list of sources and their implications (7 pages)
—> A presentation on ornaments, with a comprehensive Table and a full discussion of on-the-beat vs pre-beat (18 pages)
—> A detailed presentation covering all the different aspects of the performance of French notes inégales (19 pages)
—> An analysis of the relationship between inégales, triplets and overdotting in the works of Rameau and J.S. Bach (14 pages)
—> A new approach for the performance of préludes non mesurés. A general analysis of rubato in performance
—> Finding the authentic tempo for Baroque pieces, exemplified in works by J.S. Bach, D. Scarlatti and Daquin (18 pages)
—> Harpsichord voicing: finding the proper and authentic loudness balance between the different harpsichord stops (11 pages)
—> A full treatment of harpsichord registration, backed by historical evidence, applied to works of different composers (25 pages)
—> Finding the ideal type of instrument for the complete works of Frescobaldi, J.S. Bach, Haydn and other composers (19 pages)
—> The most complete ever Multilingual Harpsichord Dictionary in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish (160 entries)

Why an eBook?

This book can be read on the screen of a PC, Mac and any device capable of showing documents in Adobe Acrobat v.6.0 format or later. It is also formatted for impeccable printing on Letter paper, A4 or A5 (two pages in an A4 sheet). Benefits of buying an eBook vs a ready-printed volume:
      • PRICE: less than 1/4th of the estimated price of a printed volume.
      • AVAILABILITY: an eBook is never out of print.
      • SECURITY: the reader can make a backup copy, so that the eBook cannot be lost or stolen.
      • PRINTING: if a printed volume is really needed, the reader can print it from any home computer.
      • MANY FIGURES: more than 77 figures, many of them photos and/or in full-colour.
      • PORTABILITY: the reader can carry the book around in a laptop computer or other portable device.
      • INTERNAL LINKS: internal hyperlinks, allowing the reader to "jump" to other parts of the eBook and "jump back" as well..
      • WEB ADDRESSES: they allow the reader to access on the spot web pages referred to.
      • REFERENCE: the reader interested in a particular topic can quickly search and find all the references to it in the eBook.
      • TIMELINESS: you buy the eBook and receive it on the spot.
This new book is a 9Mbyte document file. It downloads in less than 3 minutes using an Internet broadband service.

Comments from readers

"Bravo! This is a major undertaking!"

"... You have done everything in such a logical manner and with such excellent method ... "

"... I enjoyed your book a great deal. ... I have just had all my questions about inégalité and more answered. It is a relief to find a work based on scientific thinking, and very clearly written. A surprisingly easy read, despite the wealth of information!"

"I have read your e-Books and benefitted greatly from each one."

"I strongly recommend Claudio's beautiful book."

Book Review in The British Clavichord Society Newsletter

Find below excerpts from the review written by the distinguised British harpsichordist Penelope Cave, published in The British Clavichord Society Newsletter, No.49, February 2011. This is a very thorough and positive review. It also contains some observations that I have addressed in a letter published in The British Clavichord Society Newsletter, No.50, June 2011. In the text below a few clarifications—not in the original review—have been inserted between curly brackets { }.

"Playing the Baroque Harpsichord is a mighty title, encompassing (if it were merely confined to the historical Baroque,
c.1600—1750, which it is not) one hundred and fifty years of instrument making and a panoply of composers and theorists.
It is a brave man who takes on these revered, controversial and puzzling historic figures, who have been interpreted and translated through the lens of each age including our own, and probably as often misunderstood. ... Dr Claudio Di Veroli ... , a statistician, ... also found time to give concerts on both harpsichord and organ and to publish two well-received books on unequal temperaments and early fingering, so he confidently embarks on this project with the same logical, scientific approach, in order to extract proof and results. He generously shares his ideas on speed, use of manuals, choice of stops and ... inégalité ... with illustrations, tables and coloured text boxes. His main interest is, indeed, in the ‘High Baroque’ of Bach, Couperin and Rameau, and he refers to both contemporary theorists and twentieth-century writers on Baroque practice. ...
     There are eight chapters, each sub-divided into sections; thus the first chapter, ‘Instruments and Actions’, consists of sections on the harpsichord family, how to choose between historical models, keyboard ranges, the jack, a section entitled ‘inexpressive keyboard’, and one on tuning and maintenance. His discussion of keyboard ranges, split keys and jacks is useful, and he demonstrates his theory of eleven stages of jack-action in a clear, coloured diagram, along with two more to explain string and jack alignment.
     Chapter 2, on finger mechanics and articulation ... Di Veroli has the gift of making you think ... His decided opinions on joining and detaching of notes, and his interpretations of what he calls the ‘ancients’ doings and documentation will certainly promote thought about the proportions of sound to silence within note-lengths, and possibly some healthy discussion.
     In Chapter 3, on ornamentation, Di Veroli offers, in his own words, a ‘comprehensive but succinct’ guide. ... useful comments that follow his ‘Table of Baroque Essential Ornaments’. ... There is a good section on Italianate embellishment and {in Chapter 4} a long one on French inégalité ... Di Veroli is aware that ‘only experience—under a good guide—will show what to do, and ’ ... he rightly says ‘the modern musician often needs years of study to incorporate inégales in a musically-satisfying way.’
     The section on Bach’s use of triplets and sesquialter notation offers us more food for thought. I would say that Bach’s use of inégalité is well-covered elsewhere ..., but Di Veroli gives suggestions as to where and when it should be used in Bach’s keyboard works. ...
     {In Chapter 5 on tempi} Di Veroli’s theory that slower tempi are desirable because ‘it is well documented that Baroque musicians rehearsed pretty little, if at all’, is one to enjoy. He gives some metronome speeds for Bach’s concertos and the Goldberg Variations, Scarlatti sonatas, and Daquin’s four suites.
     {Chapter 6 on harpsichord Voicing, like} Chapter 7, on harpsichord registration, is not for clavichord players {readers of the British Clavichord Society Newsletter}.
     Chapter 8 ... deals with repertoire issues. Di Veroli ... airs the arguments against the clavichord being of particular interest to
J. S. Bach. He admits that, for many players, all Bach’s keyboard works that are not specifically harpsichord pieces were conceived for the clavichord, and discusses why the kleine Präludien für Anfanger might have been intended for that instrument. He maintains, however, that most of the pieces in Book I of The Well Tempered Clavier are harpsichord music only, since most would be impossible on the common triple-fretted clavichords of the time. Of Book II, he says ‘unfretted clavichords were now fast becoming fashionable in German-speaking countries. The author finds that most pieces in the WTC II are compatible for any stringed keyboard ... [and his exceptions follow].’ His statistical argument against the well-known Organ Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565) being by Bach is a tour de force ... To finish the last chapter, he makes a list of Haydn’s sonatas and suggests suitable keyboards: this is not a new idea, but it is usefully constructed ...
     There are six appendices, all thoroughly practical. Among them is a multilingual dictionary, giving equivalent terms for wood types in six languages and parts of instruments and maintenance terms in five; a glossary giving definitions of each of these terms in English; an essay on logical methods; and finally a ‘musical-history puzzle’ or quiz question."

PLAYING THE BAROQUE HARPSICHORD - The Errata

Playing the Baroque Harpsichord is a self-contained work. No additional files are needed to read it, understand it, enjoy it and/or put the advice into practice. Once you have bought the book, however, you can read and/or download its updated Errata sheet.

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Page last updated: 12-Aug-2011