The Pianoforte in the Classical Era

This book charts the progress of the piano and related instruments during the lifetimes of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. Wherever possible the author returns to the original sources--a wide variety of previously unreported documents, as well as surviving instruments--to reconstruct the history of the pianoforte that radically departs from earlier theories of many of the most fundamental issues. A wide range of instruments, each carefully described, is placed in a precise chronological and cultural setting. New insights are offered into the parameters that governed the performance of keyboard music in the Classical Era.