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. Thomas Owens refers to the work as a toccata.^[2]

Solfeggietto

Played on piano (1:04)

Solfeggietto

Played by synthesizer (1:07)

Problems playing these files? See media help.

$\relative c'{\new PianoStaff <<\new Staff{\key c \minor \hideNotes r4 \unHideNotes c16 ees d c b \hideNotes r8. \unHideNotes g'16 f ees d ees\noBeam c ees g c ees d c d c b a g f ees d} \new Staff{\key c \minor \clef "bass" ees,16\noBeam c ees g \hideNotes r4 r16 \unHideNotes g b d \hideNotes r4 r1}>>}$

Qualities

The work is unusual for a keyboard piece in that the main theme and some other passages are fully monophonic, i.e. only one note is played at a time. The piece is commonly assigned to piano students and appears in many anthologies; pedagogically it fosters the playing of an even sixteenth note rhythm by alternating hands.

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]

Performances

The piece appears in Breaking Bad, in the third episode of the fifth season, played by Skinny Pete (Charles Baker).^[4]

Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin has arranged the piece with additional voices as Solfeggietto a cinque for player piano.^[5]

Jazz pianist Bud Powell plays the Solfeggietto in full before improvising on it in his 1957 "Bud on Bach."^[6]

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]}

German power metal band At Vance performed an arrangement for guitar in their 2002 album Only Human, incorrectly attributed to Johann Sebastian Bach.^[7]^[8]

Notes

^ Negri 2004, p. 2.
^ ^a ^b Owens 1995, p. 235.
^ "Contents of The Essential C.P.E. Bach". Via archive.org.
^ "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.
^ Ramsey, Guthrie P. (2013). The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop (1 ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24391-0. JSTOR 10.1525/j.ctt2jcc05.
^ "At Vance - Only Human". Discogs. Retrieved 2024-09-28.
^ "Solfeggietto". Muso. Retrieved 2024-09-28.

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

[FOOTNOTENegri20042-1] Negri 2004, p. 2.

[FOOTNOTEOwens1995235-2] Owens 1995, p. 235.

[3] "Contents of The Essential C.P.E. Bach". Via archive.org.

[4] "Breaking Bad - Reazioni collaterali S5:E3 - StreamingCommunity". streamingcommunity.blog. Retrieved 2022-09-08.

[5] Archived at Ghostarchive and the Wayback Machine: Marc-André Hamelin - Solfeggietto a cinque for Player Piano. YouTube.

[6] Ramsey, Guthrie P. (2013). The Amazing Bud Powell: Black Genius, Jazz History, and the Challenge of Bebop (1 ed.). University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24391-0. JSTOR 10.1525/j.ctt2jcc05.

[7] "At Vance - Only Human". Discogs. Retrieved 2024-09-28.

[8] "Solfeggietto". Muso. Retrieved 2024-09-28.

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