Keyboards

Keyboards at the Beethoven Center

The Beethoven Center鈥檚 keyboard collection demonstrates the fundamental differences between the three most common keyboard instruments of the 18th and 19th centuries鈥攖he clavichord, the harpsichord, and the fortepiano鈥攊n comparison with the modern piano.

The Beethoven Center owns four historical keyboard instruments, including three fortepianos and a clavichord. A harpsichord is also currently on loan from David Wendel. All four instruments are currently on exhibit in the Beethoven Center, along with a Steinway L for use in the Schiro Program Room.

Find detailed information about each keyboard in our collection:

Check our Events page for information about concerts featuring the historical keyboards.

Keyboard History

Harpsichord and Clavichord

The two primary keyboard instruments of the Baroque period (1600-1750) were the harpsichord and clavichord. When the keys of a harpsichord were pressed, a corresponding string was plucked, which denied the musician any dynamic control; an entire set of strings could be added if the musician desired more sound.

The clavichord鈥檚 mechanism of touching the string with a hammer allowed for slight dynamic variation, but the instrument remained better suited for softer and more intimate performances.

Fortepiano

Both the harpsichord and clavichord lacked the capacity to play in large rooms or with ensembles, leading Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence to invent the fortepiano in 1700. Although it didn鈥檛 gain popularity until the 1770s, the fortepiano was quickly becoming a standard throughout Western Europe by the 1790s.

Individual builders often took slightly different approaches to the action and use of the pedals, but the build and mechanism remained consistent: the frame was the same as that of the harpsichord, and the strings were struck with leather-covered hammers. These hammers allowed players to strike the strings with varying force to produce both loud ("forte") or soft ("piano") tones, thus the name fortepiano or pianoforte.

Beethoven's Early Keyboard Works

In 1783, twelve-year-old Beethoven became the 鈥渃embalist鈥� (keyboard player) for the theater orchestra in Bonn. As assistant to Christian Gottlob Neefe, the chief organist in Bonn, the young Beethoven was responsible for taking over when Neefe was away and when he could not accompany.

Beethoven biographer Alexander Thayer writes, 鈥淚n those days, every orchestra was provided with a harpsichord or pianoforte, seated at which the director guided the performance, playing from the score. Here, then, was in part the origin of that marvelous power, with which in later years Beethoven astonished his contemporaries, of reading and playing the most difficult and involved scores at first sight.鈥�

Thayer suggests that Beethoven鈥檚 earliest keyboard lessons as a child were on the fortepiano, but one of the few witnesses of these lessons only states that they were at the 鈥淜lavier鈥� (the generic German word for 鈥渒eyboard鈥�). History has not recorded whether the Beethoven family had an early fortepiano, harpsichord, or clavichord at home.

Because the harpsichord was still very much in use during this period, many of the publishers of Beethoven's early music for fortepiano marketed it for either instrument.

The title pages of Beethoven鈥檚 earliest keyboard works read as follows:

1782: 鈥淰ariations pour le Clavecin Sur une Marche de Mr, Dresler鈥� (Variations for the Harpsichord on a March by Mr. Dres[s]ler), WoO 63, published in 1782
1782-83: 鈥淒rei Sonaten f眉rs Klavier鈥� (Three Sonatas for Keyboard鈥�), WoO 47, published in 1783
1783: 鈥淩ondo Allegretto,鈥� WoO 48, published in 1783 and 鈥淩ondo Allegretto,鈥� WoO 49, published in 1783
1783: 鈥渦n Concert pour le Clavecin ou Fortepiano,鈥� WoO 4, published in 1890, title on the solo keyboard part of the manuscript
1785: 鈥渢rios quatuors p[o]ur le clave[c]in violino viola e Basso,鈥� WoO 36, published in 1828, title from the manuscript

Thus, the earliest printings and ms. of his keyboard works state that they are either for harpsichord, 鈥淜lavier鈥� (keyboard), or fortepiano. In fact, Beethoven鈥檚 keyboard works published during his First Period (which ends in 1802) frequently list the harpsichord as the first possible instrument (see the entries in bold below).

This is a list of all of Beethoven鈥檚 works with opus numbers for keyboard alone or with other instruments during the First Period:

Opus 1 trios, published in 1795: 鈥溾€漃our le Piano-Forte Violin, et Violoncelle鈥�
Opus 2 sonatas, published in 1795: 鈥淧our le Clavecin ou Piano-Forte鈥�
Opus 5 sonatas, published in 1797: 鈥減our Le Clavecin ou Piano = Forte avec un Violoncelle鈥�
Opus 6 sonata (four-hands), published in 1797: 鈥淧our le Clavecin ou Forte-Piano鈥�
Opus 7, published in 1797: 鈥減our le Clavecin ou Piano-Forte鈥�
Opus 10, published in 1798: 鈥減our le Clavecin ou Piano Forte鈥�
Opus 11, published in 1798: 鈥減our le Piano-Forte avec un Clarinette ou Violon, et Violoncelle鈥�
Opus 12 (violin and piano), published in 1798-99: 鈥淧er il Clavicembalo o Forte-Piano)
Opus 13 sonata, published in 1799: 鈥淧our le Clavecin ou Piano-Forte鈥�
Opus 14 sonatas, published in 1799: 鈥減our le Piano-Forte鈥�
Opus 15 (1st Concerto), published in 1801: 鈥減our le Forte-Piano鈥�
Opus 16 wind quintet, published in 1801: 鈥減our le Forte-Piano avec 鈥︹€�
Opus 17 horn sonata, published in 1801: 鈥減our le Forte-Piano avec 鈥︹€�
Opus 19 (2nd Concerto), published in 1801: 鈥減our le Pianoforte鈥�
Opus 22 sonata, published in 1802: 鈥減our le Piano Forte鈥�
Opus 23-24 violin sonatas, published in 1801: pour le Piano Forte avec 鈥︹€�
Opus 26 sonata, published in 1802: 鈥減our le Clavecin ou Forte-Piano鈥�
Opus 27 sonatas, published in 1802: 鈥減er il Clavicembalo o Piano-Forte鈥�
Opus 28 sonata, published in 1802: 鈥減our le Pianoforte鈥�

All the remaining title pages for keyboard specify "Pianoforte". It is surprising to read that the 鈥淢oonlight鈥� Sonata was advertised as either for harpsichord or fortepiano since it takes full advantage of the fortepiano, but there is a commercial recording of the work on harpsichord.

Thus, by 1802-03, the fortepiano had replaced the harpsichord as the popular home keyboard instrument to such an extent that publishers no longer felt that listing the harpsichord on the title pages had any value.

Beethoven鈥檚 teacher Neefe, however, wrote in 1787 (when Beethoven was 16) that the Elector of Bonn was spending a great amount of money on music, instruments, and virtuosi. He added, 鈥淭he pianoforte is especially liked; there are here several Hammerclaviere by Stein of Augsburg, and other correspondingly good instruments.鈥� As a teenager, therefore, Beethoven probably had access to some of the finest fortepianos being built in Western Europe.