Three-hand effect

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Excerpt from Thalberg's Moïse fantasy illustrating the "three-hand" effect, and indicating use of piano pedals

The three-hand effect (or three-hand technique) is a means of playing on the piano with only two hands, but producing the impression that one is using three hands. Typically this effect is produced by keeping the melody in the middle register, with accompanying arpeggios in the treble and bass registers.[1]

History

The effect had been prefigured by composers including

sixths played simultaneously between them.[4]

In Paris of the 1830s,

Grove Music Online is more circumspect, explaining that "Thalberg's basic compositional method was relatively simple, consisting of placing the melody in the centre of the keyboard first in one hand, then in the other (the thumbs and the sustaining pedal used in particular to prolong the sound), and ornamenting it with florid counterpoint and chords above and below", and concluding that "Thalberg's compositions are of questionable value".[10] Douglas Bomberger has commented "Thalberg has come to represent the excesses of the romantic period, when bigger was better and two hands could sound like three."[11]

Franz Liszt, initially condemning Thalberg's use of this technique, later adopted it himself, for example in his Grandes études on themes of Paganini.[12][13] By 1840, Felix Mendelssohn, inspired by hearing Thalberg play,[14] was occasionally using this technique in his own compositions.[15] The style became part of the repertoire of many virtuoso pianist-composers of the 19th century.

Ferruccio Busoni composed six studies for three hands, "Book 4: 'For Three Hands'" of the second edition of his Klavierübung (published posthumously in 1925), which exhibit different versions of three-hand effect. The studies include transcriptions of music by Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Offenbach, and Busoni himself.[16]

Kenneth Hamilton comments that "[Thalberg's] inheritance is still with us today, as anyone will testify who has ever heard a cocktail pianist wreath a slow popular tune in elegant arpeggios."[17]

Three-hand effect pieces

This is a partial list of two-hand piano compositions intended or arranged to create the illusion of three hands playing simultaneously.

  • Alexandre Pierre François Boëly: Caprice Op. 2, no. 12 in E-flat major, allegro non troppo (1816)[4]
  • Sigismond Thalberg: Fantasia on Rossini's Moses, Op. 33 (1837)[18]
  • Felix Mendelssohn: Prelude in E minor, from Op. 35, no. 1(1840); Prelude in B-flat minor Op. 104b, no. 1.[15]
  • Concert Étude No. 3
    "Un sospiro" (1845–49)
  • Sergei Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 16

References

Notes

  1. ^ Hamilton (1998), p. 58.
  2. ^ Cvetko (1980), p. 48.
  3. ^ Rowland (2004), p. 122.
  4. ^ a b Kim (2007), pp. 53–54. "This etude in allegro ma non troppo tempo achieves a three-hand effect when performed correctly".
  5. ^ See Loesser (1990), pp. 358–359, and Harding (1978), p. 153.
  6. ^ Loesser (1990), p. 372.
  7. ^ Rosenthal (2005), p. 75.
  8. ^ Cited in Harding (1978), p. 155.
  9. ^ Cited in Hamilton (2008), p. 156.
  10. ISBN 978-1-56159-239-5
    .‎
  11. ^ Bomberger (1991), p. 198.
  12. ^ Hamilton (1998), pp. 58–61.
  13. ^ Arnold (2002), p. 104"The third and most famous Etude of the set in D♭ (Un sospiro) is known for its beautiful melody gracefully plucked out by alternating hands over legatissimo cascading arpeggios that create an adroit, Thalbergian three-hand effect."
  14. ^ Harding (1978), p. 155.
  15. ^ a b Todd (2004), p. 215: "...the Prelude and Fugue in E minor appeared in the album Notre temps from Schott in 1842 (for the occasion Mendelssohn joined a newly composed prelude, a kind of study in the three-hand technique, to a youthful fugue from 1827)"
  16. ^ Busoni (1925), pp. 51–62.
  17. ^ Hamilton (2008), p. 158.
  18. ^ a b "Transcriptions and paraphrases", faszination-klavierwelten.de: "Busoni commented: 'Anyone who has heard or played this section without being moved has not yet found their way to Liszt.' For this section [of the Norma Reminiscences] is a kaleidoscope of pianistic sonorities which is further elevated by a new piano technique of the time, credited to Sigismund Thalberg. He had developed the so-called 'three-hand technique', covering all registers of the keyboard with the aid of continuous pedal use: Thalberg had employed this device as early as 1837 in his Fantasia on Rossini's Moses, Op. 33."

Sources

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