At the Keyboard: Touch and Tone in the Early Piano
Michael Cole · 1998
Abstract A Musician Whohas been trained exclusively at the modern piano may find many things unfamiliar when seated for the first time at a Viennese fortepiano from the classical period. Untutored in the special requirements of an antique keyboard, the modern pianist is likely to find the first touch of the keys either an alarming or a delightful experience-probably both. The keys are so small and so unresisting that, almost before one is aware of having pressed a note, a fortissimo has been sounded.