Piano Forum

Preluding used to be standard practice in classical piano performance. There even is a manuscript which gives an example of preluding by Franz Liszt to precede his B Minor Sonata - you can hear it recorded here:

Two things to look into are Carl Czerny's Systematische Anleitung zum Fantasieren auf dem Pianoforte and The Art of Preluding.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Systematische_Anle..._(Czerny,_Carl)

https://imslp.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Preluding,_Op.300_(Czerny,_Carl)

Here is Czerny's Systematische Anleitung zum Fantasieren auf dem Pianoforte in English as A Systematic Introduction to Improvisation on the Pianoforte at Scribd:

https://www.scribd.com/doc/116973218/4463...erny-Op-200-pdf

Here is Robert Levin's Improvising Mozart demonstration lecture:

Getting back to Liszt, here is a Kenneth Hamilton lecture on the variants of Franz Liszt's music:

The resources and literature connected with the subject of improvisation in classical piano performance are significant and go very deep.

Anton Schindler wrote detailed narratives of Beethoven using diverse tempi when performing individual movements of the sonatas. The Siloti editions of Liszt's music as Liszt performed it are different than the urtext versions. There is much of interest in The Piano Master Classes of Franz Liszt, 1884-1886: Diary Notes of August Göllerich.

Here is Stavenhagen's piano roll of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody No. 12 based on recollections of Liszt performing it:

Here is a Carl Reinecke piano roll of Robert Schumann's Kreisleriana Op. 16 No. 6:

And this is a piano roll of Carl Reinecke playing fragments of Mozart's Piano Concertos 23 and 26:

I think one can reasonably conclude that the 18th and 19th centuries section of the classical piano repertoire no longer is being performed in the style through which it was conceived!

Thank you Michael Sayers for broaching this very important subject.  However, I think it is important to also relate to those who care about performance practice as to exactly what that is (especially the original performance practice).

Parenthetically, most so-called expert conservatory keyboard faculty members, when given this subject, utter the words:  well, performance "styles" have evolved over time.  Accordingly, my opinioned response is to use the following metaphor:

Arthur Rubenstein, Wilhelm Backhaus, Walter Gieseking, and even Claudio Arrrau, all performed in very different styles.  However, they all played in the same ("German Tradition") performance practice of meticulous attention to the score.  This of course included block chords and strict tempos.

Conversely, those pianists, who matriculated and performed in the early 19th and early 20th century, also had very different performance "styles."  However, just like those pianists mentioned before, they performed in the exact same original performance practice.

Specifically, Fannie Davies, Adelina de Lara, Ilona Einbenschutz, and Carl Friedberg, all studied under or coached with Clara Schumann or Johannes Brahms.  Accordingly, they rolled their chords (when appropriate!), played the bass slightly ahead of the soprano (in order to accentuate the melodic line), altered rhythms, and modified tempos.

In terms of the OP, two important things need to be revealed, and that is:  first, the musicology community with the notable exception of HRH R.H., universally agrees that the post-war Urtext movement promoted by every music conservatory in the world, was and is a fraud.

Secondly, the hottest topic presented today in scholarly lectures/seminars (in regards original keyboard performance) is Preluding.  In his book "After The Golden Age," (Chapter Four, "A Suitable Prelude"), it was considered very bad mannesr for any performer to walk out on stage and just start playing.

The point is that it was never to be assumed that the audience, even absent schooled musicians, would be familiar with the piece that was to be performed.  Therefore, a musical summary of what was to come was expected.

Hey, in rock and roll, and in jazz, it is called an "Intro."