What is a Fortepiano?
Did you know that Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven didn’t write their music for modern pianos? They wrote for the Viennese fortepiano, an instrument very different from a modern Steinway or Bösendorfer. So, let’s talk about Viennese fortepianos and how their unique characteristics better serve music from the Classical era.
TRANSCRIPT
This is a modern copy of an Anton Walter fortepiano made by Paul McNulty. Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven would recognize this type of instrument.
It’s made almost entirely of wood and doesn’t have a cast-iron frame like today’s pianos. This makes it much lighter, at about 95 kg or 210 pounds, which is 4 or 5 times lighter than modern concert Steinways. I’m always amused during the scene in Amadeus when men run Mozart’s fortepiano to a concert.
RANGE AND ACTION
The range is much smaller — this instrument has a range of 5.5 octaves — and the action is profoundly different than today’s pianos. The touch is about 10 times lighter than modern pianos and the key dip is much shallower. This helps with all those pesky technical issues that arise when approaching Classical-era music on modern pianos, such as the correct execution of articulations and dynamics.
However, the light action on these pianos also makes them extremely unforgiving and demands greater accuracy from the fingers for dynamic and articulation control.
STRAIGHT- VS CROSS-STRINGING
Viennese fortepianos are straight-strung, meaning that the strings go straight from the front to the back of the instrument. Modern pianos are cross-strung.
Straight-stringing has a significant impact on sound production as every note is allowed to sound on its own instead of mixing together in the middle of the soundboard. This helps to keep textures light, such as Alberti bass passages, and keeps thick chords from becoming too muddy.
HAMMER COMPARISON AND SOUND DECAY
Let’s take a look inside the instrument. It’s a simpler action where each hammer is suspended inside of a capsule. You can also see that the hammers point towards the player, but more importantly how small they are. For comparison, this massive guy comes from a modern Bösendorfer piano. This affects the dynamic capabilities, and the material they’re made out of is important as well.
The modern hammer is covered in felt, creating a softer, almost imperceptible strike on the string. The result is a broad, fat sound, much like a large handbell. The fortepiano hammer is covered in thin leather, causing a perceptible strike, more like a xylophone.
This also plays into sound decay. When I play a note, it immediately starts to decay, and quickly at that. Modern pianos swell, then decay.
Check out my video, Fortepiano Sound vs. Modern Piano for more examples.
Everything we’ve talked about works together to create a responsive and quick action capable of varied articulation and dynamic control.
DIFFERENCES IN SOUND QUALITY BY REGISTER
Each register has a different sound quality. The middle register sounds closest to a modern piano. The upper register has a thinner, brighter sound. And the lower register has a more robust, gravelly sound.
KNEE LEVERS AND APPROACHES TO PEDALING
The pedals aren't operated with the feet; rather, they are knee levers. One to lift the dampers, and another to lift the moderator — a lovely effect that doesn’t exist on modern pianos.
Pedaling was approached differently in the Classical era. It’s a complicated subject but, generally, pedals were used much more sparingly, giving more responsibility to the fingers to communicate different textures. However, when pedals were used, they were used for a specific special effect.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
I go into more detail in my video on fortepiano knee levers. I also talk in depth about historic playing techniques, such as Mozart’s slur markings, Beethoven’s pedal markings, and how historical tuning impacts piano music.
I love Classical-era music, and I think playing Viennese fortepianos helps the music to come alive in a new and exciting way. Fortepianos might not be for everyone — and that’s OK! — but I hope you continue your fortepiano exploration.