J. S. Bach’s Keyboard Fingering: New Evidence

Authors

Quentin Faulkner, University of Nebraska-LincolnFollow

Date of this Version

4-10-1980

Citation

The Diapason (April 1980) 71(4): 14–15

#845

Comments

Copyright © 1980, Quentin Faulkner. Used by permission

Abstract

There is presently considerable interest among scholars and performers of early music in early keyboard fingering practices and their effect on the music’s articulation and phrasing. This is nowhere more evident than in the current reconsideration of Johann S. Bach’s keyboard music in the light of primary source material on his keyboard fingering. The primary sources available to us up to now are three in number:

1. Applicatio (BWV 994)
2. Praeambulum (BWV 928)
3. Praeludium und Fughetta in C-dur (BWV 870a)

During recent research into Bach’s keyboard fingering practices, I had occasion to examine Johann Philipp Kirnberger’s Clavierübungen mit der Bachischen Applicatur. This publication has yielded yet another piece which throws considerable light on Bach’s keyboard fingering, and which corroborates the value of source 3 above as a highly accurate indication of this fingering.