Instrumentation:

harpsichord (clavichord, organ, pianoforte)

The fourth volume of Kirnberger’s ‘Keyboard exercises’ has become known not only for its music, but also for the tuning instructions described in its preface. These tunings have become known in present times as ‘Kirnberger I’ and ‘Kirnberger II’. The first is a just intonation, the second a variant with two tempered fifths. Kirnberger’s preface also deals with an extension of the just intonation by adding intervals with the harmonic sevenths (with pitches are prefixed ‘i’), but it remains unclear what the practical consequences can have been. The present edition provides Krinberger’s preface in a complete English translation. The music of this volume is as worthwile as the preface: nice keyboard pieces of various kinds and characters, in a style midway between baroque and classical. The concluding Sonata is an imitation of a sonata for a melody instrument (flute, violin, etc.) and figured bass, but can, due to the compass of the ‘treble’ voice impossibly performed that way: it is true keyboard music.

1990

ISBN n/a (paper)

1 score (24 pp.)

21 x 30 cm

€16 or US$16