Clementi, Muzio : Gradus ad Parnassum, The art of playing on the piano forte, exemplified in a series of exercises, in the strict and in the free style Vol. 1
Work Overview
Publication Year：1817
First Publisher：Clementi, Banger, Collard, Davis＆Collard/ Breitkopf＆Ｈärtel/ Erard
Dedicated to：Her Excellency the Princess Sphia Wolkonsky
Instrumentation：Piano Solo
Genre：etude
Total Playing Time：1 hr 05 min 00 sec
Copyright：Public Domain
Commentary (1)
Author : PTNA Piano Encyclopedia Editorial Department
Last Updated: January 1, 2010
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Author : PTNA Piano Encyclopedia Editorial Department
Comprising three volumes and 100 pieces, Gradus ad Parnassum is, so to speak, the cornerstone of Clementi's entire life's work. It is the fruit of approximately 55 years of composition, revision, and arrangement, and thus its content became extremely diverse. In addition to "études" specific to the piano, it is a culmination of his own keyboard music techniques, including sonata movements, scherzos, Bach-style preludes and fugues (which Clementi was fascinated by throughout his life), and character pieces with titles that seem to anticipate the Romantic era. Furthermore, when examining the accompaniments, it seems as if he exhausted the limits of technique, employing methods such as:
- Scales
- Arpeggios
- Turns and trills
- Repeated patterns
- Consecutive thirds, sixths, and octaves
- Melodies emerging from harmonic progressions
Around 1865, the so-called "Carl Tausig edition" was published. While it is true that a large portion of Gradus ad Parnassum is indeed worthy of being called "études," Tausig selected and re-arranged only 29 pieces from it that could be interpreted as purely mechanical finger exercises. Unfortunately, even today, this edition, which does not accurately capture the original meaning of the collection, remains widely disseminated. What Clementi entrusted to Gradus ad Parnassum was not merely the training of finger movements specific to keyboard music, but rather the comprehensive improvement of musicality for mastering expressive performance and contrapuntal style performance, thus perfectly integrating musical and educational objectives.
Movements (27)
Andante, quasi Allegretto, con espressione
Total Performance Time: 2 min 40 sec
Allegretto moderato con grazia
Total Performance Time: 1 min 50 sec
Suite de trois pièces. Preludio
Total Performance Time: 1 min 20 sec
Suite de quatre pièces. Preludio.
Total Performance Time: 1 min 20 sec
Suite de trois pièces. Introduzione
Total Performance Time: 4 min 20 sec
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Sheet Music
Scores List (2)
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