Journal Entry #2

For my second journal entry I listened to Padre Anotonio Soler’s Works for Harpsichord. This disc is composed of nine harpsichord works. Most of the works are sonatas with the exception of one concerto and a fandango. Each piece is anywhere between three to nine minutes in length. Before listening to Soler’s harpsichord works I kind of expected to hear the regular old baroque style of harpsichord playing. To my surprise, I was quite wrong.

As I played “Fandango en re menor” I was blown away. I could not believe that harpsichord music could be so beautiful. The thing I like the most about the fandango is the process it goes through as if it is racing to the end. I had to listen to it a couple of times to try and catch everything. It starts simply, with clear triadic chords, ornamented with trills, that alternate between the tonic and the dominant. All of the sudden, this complex rush of polyphonic notes and chords comes breaking through to deliver the first theme of this piece. The piece later proves to have many variations between slow and fast rhythms. Because of my previous perception of the harpsichord, I feel as though I am not even listening to the same instrument anymore

Each piece after the fandango greatly differs from one another. It sounds like Soler took traits from the Baroque style of music, such as ornamentation, and applied it to a new style of music. He was still able to make each piece have its own unique stylistic features and feeling. His style of music is very pleasing to the ear, especially with his execution of Spanish characteristics and qualities. In some sections of specific pieces the harpsichord almost sounds like a vibrant Spanish guitar-or a couple for that matter.

In “Sonata en fa sotenido mayor” he begins with a clear chromatic ascension of notes. When he gets to the top he plays around a bit and then comes back down to a middle range and hangs out for awhile. He then proceeds down to low and heavy “thumping”sounding chords in the bass. Soler then moves his back to the top and basically does this back and forth for a while. He soon repeats the beginning all over again and the song ends on one low “thumping” chord. I think it is amazing to be able to put all of this into a one-instrument piece, especially when that piece is the harpsichord-which I used to think was limited to the Baroque style. My favorite thing about his works is listening to one song that makes you feel a certain way and immediately being tugged to feel another way by the next piece. In “Sonata en do sost menor” he begins with a light Spanish-sounding harmony and rhythm accompanied by a varied “alberti bass.” He then moves to an abrupt polyphonic style, quickly returning to his light Spanish-sounding characteristics. In this piece he becomes so quiet that it sounds like a million tiny, little men plucking at strings in the harpsichord and follows it immediately with loud, heavy chords.

The last two pieces in this compilation are a part of a concerto called, “Concerto en sol mayor para 2 claves.” In this piece I was mainly trying to listen for significant differences from his sonatas. I found that in his concerto he has a much more developed form. I could pick out themes better in this piece than in the other pieces. One thing that kept my attention was when he switched to minor key in the middle of it and then back to major. I could not exactly tell you where he switched back into major because it was gracefully written. In this concerto, I am somewhat reminded of Mozart. He often repeats in the left hand what he played in the right hand and vice versa. His chords are also much more clear.

I cannot understand why this collection of musical works is not included in the Canon. I feel as though his works represent a shift in music. The characteristics of pieces show where music was going. I do not know a whole lot of information about the harpsichord but I assume that since composers were beginning to have access to more keyboard instruments than just the harpsichord they were beginning to move away from that Baroque style of keyboard music. As keyboard music evolved, the harpsichord was still used and the result was an interesting, new sound on the harpsichord. With Soler, it could have been that nobody knew what kind of keyboard he intended his works to be played on. So, for his harpsichord music to all of the sudden possess something different than its usual or typical style really shows what was going on in the world of music. Soler’s era was in the late 18^th century preceding the Romantic period. For these reasons I feel as though Soler should have received more recognition and praise. Really, I think his music should have been a part of the Canon.

Overall, I feel like I really learned something from these harpsichord pieces. Mainly, I realized how much the harpsichord has to offer. For an instrument to be manipulated in a way that one would think of it as not just a harpsichord but a musical machine is pretty incredible.