The Short

612 PARALIPOMENA
Ex. 16.24. P. A. Corri, L'anima di musica, 15
The ubiquity of arpeggiation in piano playing in England during the early decades of the nineteenth century is
suggested by a letter written by Samuel Wesley in 1829, in which he discussed the difference between playing the piano
and playing the organ. He observed that pianists ‘do not put down the Keys simultaneously which on the Organ should
always be done, but one after another, beginning at the lowest note of the Base.’ 1172
Thalberg in his L'Art du chant appliqué au piano considered the arpeggiation of chords, when accompanying a melody, to
be a matter of course, observing: ‘The chords that support a melody on the highest note should always be arpeggiated,
but very tight, almost together [presque plaqué], and the melody note should be given more weight than the other notes
of the chord.’ He regarded this treatment as so natural that he introduced a sign ([) to indicate those chords that should
not be arpeggiated; but this appears very infrequently in the volume. 1173
In 1839 Carl Czerny complained that ‘Most players accustom themselves so much to Arpeggio chords, that they at last
become quite unable to strike full chords or even double notes firmly and at once; though this latter way is the general
rule, while the former constitutes the exception.’ 1174 He returned to the subject in 1846, expressing concern that ‘those
who exclusively devote themselves to the modern style of playing, are unable to perform a fugue properly’. Andhe
attributed this largely to the fact that ‘In the modern style, all passages in many parts are now invariably played in
arpeggio; and so greatly is this the case, that many pianists have almost forgotten how to strike chords firmly’ Referring
to a music example showing a succession of minim four- and fivepart chords, he continued: ‘Many otherwise really
good players would not be able to perform the following passage quite firm; that is, to strike all the notes of each chord
exactly together’. In fugue playing this was, for Czerny, selfevidently entirely inappropriate, though he conceded that ‘in
the free style of playing this may be often very well’. 1175
It is possible that many later nineteenth-century composers were more particular about indicating arpeggiation where it
was required and would have
1172 British Library Add 31764, f.28.I am indebted to Dr Philip Olleson for kindly drawing my attention to this letter.
1173 Unpaginated [p. 2 ].
1174 Piano Forte School, iii. 55.
1175 The Art of Playingthe Ancient and Modern Piano Forte Works (London, [1846]), 157.