Solfeggietto
Solfeggietto (H 220, Wq. 117: 2) is a short solo keyboard piece in C minor composed in 1766 by Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach.[1] Although the Solfeggietto title is widely used today, according to Powers 2002, p. 232, the work is correctly called Solfeggio, but the author provides no evidence for this. Owens refers to the work as a toccata.[2]
Qualities
The work is unusual for a keyboard piece in that the main theme and some other passages are fully
This piece is easily Bach's best-known, to the point that Paul Corneilson's introduction to The Essential C.P.E. Bach is subtitled "Beyond the Solfeggio in C Minor".[3] Owens also describes it as C. P. E. Bach's most famous work.[2]
The work is often performed by left-hand alone.[4]
Performances
The piece appears in Breaking Bad, in the third episode of the fifth season, played by Skinny Pete (Charles Baker).[5]
The Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin has arranged the piece with additional voices as Solfeggietto a cinque for player piano.[6]
Jazz pianist Bud Powell plays the Solfeggietto in full before improvising on it in his 1957 "Bud on Bach."[7]
Peter Tork plays it on an electric piano in "33&1/3 Revolutions Per Monkee", a television special, starring the Monkees, which aired on NBC on April 14, 1969.[citation needed]
Notes
- ^ Negri 2004, p. 2.
- ^ a b Owens 1995, p. 235.
- ^ "Contents of The Essential C.P.E. Bach". Via archive.org.
- ^ "Piano lessons: Left Behind: Putting Your Left to Rights". Archived from the original on 2018-07-26. Retrieved 2018-07-26.
- ^ "Breaking Bad - Reazioni collaterali S5:E3 - StreamingCommunity". streamingcommunity.blog. Retrieved 2022-09-08.
- ^ Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Marc-André Hamelin - Solfeggietto a cinque for Player Piano. YouTube.
- JSTOR 10.1525/j.ctt2jcc05.
Sources
- Negri, Paul (2004). Baroque Keyboard Masterpieces: 39 Works by Bach, Handel, Scarlatti, Couperin and Others. Courier Dover Publications.
- Owens, Thomas (1995). Bebop: The Music and Its Players. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
- Powers, Doris Bosworth (2002). Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach: A Guide to Research. Psychology Press.
External links
- Solfeggietto: Scores at the International Music Score Library Project