Rational Principles of Pianoforte Technique. In the beginning of this work, we stated that we thought it possible to group all the problems of pianistic execution ins tive essential categories. We conceive this classifi cation in the following manner : 1, Equality, independence and mobility of fingers. 2. Passing under of the thumb (scales-arpeggios). 4. Duuble notes and polyphonic playing. 4. Extensions, Wrist technique, execution of chords. We consider that in the whole literature of the piano- fe. no difficulty exists which cannot be placed under one of the preceding headings. We are also convinced that an attentive study of the following pages will determine an appropriate method of work for every diffieulty. ‘The interpretation of music by means of a docile and supple mechanism, the conscientious servant of the thought to be conveyed, will thus become possible. CHAP But this, we repeat with emphasis, can be attained on cone condition only : that of conforming exactly to the plan of work which we prescribe; without abusing the economy of its system by unseemly haste; without imagining that the alternative anticipation of a preceding chapter by another would give quicker and more conclusive results: without prematurely abandoning any exercise with the idea that its particular difficulty has been easily over- come; and lastly, without exaggerating through laudable but misplaced excess of zeal, the duration of the daily task set by us. As to the reward to be expected from the patient effort we demand, we would willingly define it by quoting the words of Garcia to the youthful Malibran, liberating her from the lengthy ana severe vocal exercises to which he had subjected her : “And now go—and sing according to your heart—you know your trade”. TER I Equality, Independence and Mobi ty of the Fingers (Without Passing under of the Thumb) ‘The object of the exercises contained in this chapter is, the slevelopment of the virtuosity on which key-board technique vis founded up to the advent of Beethovenian that is to say the light and airy virtuosity of the Harpsichord players, all trembling with a winged hfe of trills, mordants, roulades, and grupetti, such as that of Couperin, Scarlatti and Rameau. The style of a Bach, a Haydn, a Mozart, although more fumanticism : meditative, more ardently eloquent, is nevertheless also a iributary of the sonorous rhetorie resulting from the par- ticular resources of the instruments of the period. It is the epoch of even and running execution: when the "s ambition was to imitate the amiable manner of virus the singer, the elegant vivacity of his art, with its wealth of embellishments and flowery grace-notes. In the XIXth. century, the writing of a Clementi, a Mendelssohn or a Chopin still often bears witness of such tradition of pleasant volubility, and in the present day, although the taste for precise percussion and clear-cut rhythms seems to be in opposition to the development of 4 melodie curve revived from ancient formulae, the anti- harmonic tendencies of contemporary young composers nevertheless re-invest with an unexpected reality those vir tues of pianistic technique, to which nearly a century of vertical music seemed to have dealt a decisive blow. This shows the importance of the study whose elements,will be found in the following exercises. Legato or staccato playing, portando or brilliant and distinct execution, evenness of finger touch or variety of tone created by diversity of attack, such are the many modes of expression which here come into being, and whose immediate application is to be found in the inter pretation of the works of the principal composers men- tioned above. The execution of yrace-note, arabesque and fioritura, ‘on heavier key-boards than those for which they were conceived does not fail to offer distinct difficulties even to most skilful fingers, and it is hardly necessary to add that all these melodie artifices which animate the music of the XVIlIth. century receive the greatest benefits from the work which we preseribe, as do also the repetition or substitution of the fingers. Since the essential principle of technique studied in this first chapter is evenness of touch, care must be taken, according to the different conformations of the hand. to curve the fingers in such a way that they each steike the This is « equality in the propulsion of the hammers on the strin note on the same level sine qua nen” for and consequently for perfection in the relation uf ton between notes played in melodic succession. It will be well not to count on the apparent facility of the formulae contained in this chapter. their study will soon dissipate this illusion. In any case, SERIES A Tenuto Finger Exercises. ‘As the position of the fingers is the same for all the formulae in this series, as well as for the formation of any chords taken from the examples in the transferable EXERCISE No 10.(Mobility of fingers taken separately.) reference table, we think it useless to repeat the fingering for each exercise. The right hand will always be placed thus : 1,2,3,4,5, the left 5,4,3,2.1. @® a TE Spr tr arto EXERCISE No te(idem)