Solfeggietto
Solfeggietto (H 220, Wq. 117: 2) is a short solo keyboard piece in C minor composed in 1766 by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.[1] According to Powers 2002, p. 232, the work is correctly called Solfeggio, although the Solfeggietto title is widely used today. Owens refers to the work as a toccata.[2]
Qualities
The work is unusual for a keyboard piece in that the main theme and some other passages are fully monophonic, i.e. only one note is played at a time. The piece is commonly assigned to piano students and appears in many anthologies; pedagogically it fosters the playing of an even sixteenth note rhythm by alternating hands.
This piece is easily Bach's best-known, to the point that Paul Corneilson's introduction to The Essential C.P.E. Bach is subtitled "Beyond the Solfeggio in C Minor".[3] Owens also describes it as C. P. E. Bach's most famous work.[2]
The work is often performed by left-hand alone.[4]
Performances
The piece appears in Breaking Bad, in the third episode of the fifth season, played by Skinny Pete (Charles Baker)[5]
The Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin has arranged the piece with additional voices as Solfeggietto a cinque for player piano.[6]
Jazz pianist Bud Powell plays the Solfeggietto in full before improvising on it in "Bud on Bach."[7]
Notes
- ^ Negri 2004, p. 2.
- ^ a b Owens 1995, p. 235.
- ^ "Contents of The Essential C.P.E. Bach". Via archive.org.
- ^ "Piano lessons: Left Behind: Putting Your Left to Rights". Archived from the original on 2018-07-26. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
- ^ "Breaking Bad - Reazioni collaterali S5:E3 - StreamingCommunity". streamingcommunity.blog. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Marc-André Hamelin - Solfeggietto a cinque for Player Piano. YouTube.
- ^ Ramsey, Guthrie P. (2013). The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop (1 ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24391-0. JSTOR 10.1525/j.ctt2jcc05.
Sources
- Negri, Paul (2004). Baroque Keyboard Masterpieces: 39 Works by Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Couperin and Others. Courier Dover Publications.
- Owens, Thomas (1995). Bebop: The Music and Its Players. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Powers, Doris Bosworth (2002). Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: A Guide to Research. Psychology Press.
External links
- Solfeggietto: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
- Played on piano on YouTube, Phillip Sear
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- Compositions by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach
- Compositions in C minor
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