18cUNT

Fortepiano is an early predecessor to the modern grand piano and a successor to the harpsichord.  It is a distinctly 18th-century instrument, as it was invented around 1700 by Bartolomeo Cristofori.  Generally, the fortepiano is physically smaller and aurally less brilliant than the modern grand piano. Rather than the thick felt of a modern grand piano, the fortepiano's hammers are covered with leather.  In addition, the fortepiano has a damper pedal that can be employed by pressing the knee upwards against a lever on the base of the keydesk, rather than with the foot.  The squeaking of this damper pedal can be heard in the recording.  This instrument was built by Paul McNulty, who is a renowned fortepiano builder based in the Czech Republic.

This musical excerpt is from the beginning of the Adagio of Franz Danzi's Sinfonia concertante in E-flat major.  The phrase structure is ABAB' in a call-and-response type of gesture.  The opening "A" phrases are played by oboe, accompanied by the ripieno string section, and the full concertino responds for the "B" phrases.  Recorded with an iPhone SE.

This excerpt is the principal theme of the third and final movement (Rondo allegretto) of Franz Danzi's Sinfonia Concertante in E-flat major.  The Concertante features a woodwind concertino of four soloists on flute, oboe, horn, and bassoon, supplemented by a full ripieno of strings, oboe, and horn.  In this recording, the concertino's part is played on a pianoforte.  A contemporary of Mozart, Franz Danzi was an important composer during the Classical period in Western classical music.  The theme is composed in a clearly galant style, with the melodic material in the flute part, and the accompanying harmonies in the oboe, horn, and bassoon parts.  As is typical for rondo form, the principal theme acts as a refrain to which the piece returns after multiple digressions to other themes.  Recorded on an iPhone SE.

Partimenti was a pedagogical method that was prevalent in 18th-century Neopolitan music conservatories, used to teach students how to improvise melodic and contrapuntal lines over given bass lines at the keyboard (in this case, a harpsichord).  This gave students important insight into harmony, voice-leading, and composition in the galant style.  This particular bass line is excerpted from an exercise by Francesco Durante, who was headmaster at one of these Neopolitan conservatories.  First Durante's bass line is introduced alone, then a melodic line is created above it.  Recorded on an iPhone SE.