Beethoven’s Pianos Symposium

THE CENTER FOR BEETHOVEN RESEARCH AT BOSTON UNIVERSITY’S SCHOOL OF MUSIC, COLLEGE OF FINE ARTS

Co-directed by Professor Lewis Lockwood, Distinguished Senior Scholar, Boston University, and Emeritus Professor, Harvard University; and Professor Jeremy Yudkin, Department of Musicology and Ethnomusicology, Boston University

presents

BEETHOVEN’S PIANOS

A symposium on Beethoven’s instruments, his influences, his performances, his music

Monday, November 8, 3:30-6:30 and 8-10 pm

School of Music Concert Hall, 855 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston MA, 02215

The Participants (in alphabetical order)

Tom Beghin, Associate Professor, McGill University, Senior Researcher, the Orpheus Institute, Ghent, Belgium

Sylvia Berry, Independent Scholar, Boston, Clavichord, Harpsichord, Fortepiano

David Breitman, Associate Professor of Historical Performance, Oberlin College, Fortepiano, Piano

Kenneth Drake, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois, Historical Keyboard Instrument Collector, Fortepiano, Piano

Bobby Giglio, Assistant Curator, Musical Instruments, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Richard Kramer, Professor Emeritus of Musicology, Graduate Center, City University of New York

Robert Levin, Professor Emeritus of Musicology, Harvard University, Piano, Fortepiano, Conductor

Ann Schaefer, Piano Instructor, The University of Alaska at Fairbanks

Peter Sykes, Associate Professor of Music, Boston University, Clavichord, Harpsichord, Organ, and Fortepiano

Yiheng Yang, Juilliard School of Music, Clavichord, Harpsichord, Fortepiano, and Piano

The Instruments

Clavichord, Silbermann, 1775 (Maple, 2004)

Clavichord, Christoph Gottlob Hofmann, 1794 (Chickering, 1908)

Fortepiano, Johann Koennicke, Vienna, 1790 (Smith, 1976)

Fortepiano, Anton Walter, 1795 (Maene, 1995)

Fortepiano, Broadwood, 1796 (“Manuel de Godoy”)

Fortepiano, Peter Fritz, 1815

The Program

SESSION I: 3:30-6:30 pm

Jeremy Yudkin, Introduction

Lewis Lockwood, Greeting

Richard Kramer, “Beethoven’s Inner Clavichord”

Peter Sykes, clavichord, lecture/demonstration, Beethoven’s Op. 10, No. 3, second movement (“Largo e mesto”)

Sylvia Berry and Bobby Giglio, instruments from the Museum of Fine Arts, talk and video

David Breitman, “A Well-Tempered Beethoven”

Tom Beghin, documentary film extracts, “Beethoven’s French Piano,” followed by virtual appearance

Kenneth Drake, Broadwood action, video and talk

SESSION II: 8-10 pm

Yiheng Yang, clavichord, Haydn, Keyboard Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI: 48, L. 58

Sylvia Berry, fortepiano (Walter), lecture/demonstration

Ann Schaefer, “Pedaling in Beethoven’s Music”

Robert Levin, Lecture/Demonstration, “Improvisation in Beethoven’s Piano Music”