On Using J. S.

Bach's Keyboard Fingerings

Author(s): Sol Babitz
Source: Music & Letters, Vol. 43, No. 2 (Apr., 1962), pp. 123-128
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/732010
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 ON USING J. S. BACH'S KEYBOARD
FINGERINGS1

BY SOL BABITZ

WE DO NOT have many examples ofJ. S. Bach's fingerings-perhaps

Ioo bars in all. However, this is sufficient to provide important clues
to the physical foundation of his phrasing and style.2 In spite of the
historical importance of these fingerings they remain largely neglec-
ted, and the reasons given are identical with those which Turk gave
almost 200 years ago: they are uncomfortable.3 Turk may be forgiven
for his contemptuous attitude toward the past, but the present-day
scholar cannot be excused for ignoring Bach's fingerings on the
grounds that they are "a matter of choice" (Harich-Schneider) or
"old-fashioned" (Bodky), or that it would be "ridiculous" to use
them (Dart).4
It is undeniable that when a harpsichordist is preparing for a
concert it is ridiculous for him to give up suddenly his entire technical
equipment and start to practise Bach's fingerings. After a few weeks of
such practice he would come to the concert prepared to play neither
with the early nor the modern technique. Obviously the requirements
of historical research and a concert performance are not the same.
An adequate study of early fingering will be achieved only when a
performer gives up his modern technique for a number of years in
order to master that of the eighteenth century. Militating against
serious research in this field is the state of harpsichord building.
Most harpsichords today are not built after early models but with
certain 'improvements' which will make them stay in tune, need little
adjustment and play loud. These multi-coupled machines with hard
1 An excerpt from Chap. V of a book in preparation: 'Technique as a Key to Style in
x8th-Century Performance', illustrated with gramophone recordings-a project of the
Ford Foundation. Tape recordings of the musical illustrations in this article may be
obtained from B. & L. Music, 1970 Cheremoya, Hollywood 28, California.
2 The fingerings are found in an 'Applicatio' and 'Preambulum' in the 'Klavier-
biichlein fur W. Fr. Bach', and in a 'Praeludium and Fughetta' in C, a shortened version
of one in 'Das Wohltemperirte Klavier', pt. 2, Bach-Gesellschaft, xxxvi, pp. 237, 224.
Arnold Dolmetsch discussed the importance of these examples in his 'The Interpretation
of the Music of the i7th and I8th Centuries' (London, 1916), pp. 412-8. Excerpts of his
recording of the longer version may be heard on the tape, along with a recording by
Wesley Kuhnle (196 ) given for comparison.
3 D. G. Turk, 'Klavierschule' (Leipzig, 1789), p. I53. (Turk was speaking of
Ammerbach, 157 ).
4 It must be said in Thurston Dart's defence that he nevertheless recommends serious
study of early fingerings, but not their use.

123
2

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I24 MUSIC AND LETTERS

leather quills require much more finger action than the modern
piano, whereas a clavichord or soft-quilled solo harpsichord with
short keys could be played with the gentler action needed for the
early technique based on the principle of finger-over-finger.
In my article on unequal rhythm5 I pointed out that finger-over-
finger technique produced involuntarily slight unevenness of
phrasing-a manner of performance coinciding with the uneven
flute-tonguing and violin-bowing described by many writers. In the
following excerpt from the 'Applicatio' which Bach wrote for
Friedemann we find a fingering in which the uneven phrasing is
short-long (henceforth SL and LS will be used to designate short-long
and long-short respectively). The first line gives the original text
and the second the indications of the resultant SL ratios:

Written

tr -f ? 3 4 3 4 3 3 4 3 4 5
Performed

S S L S L SL

The ratio of the S to the L co

but most often it was appr
example:
Ratios
S L S L

E 5s I 1 5'"' /

Because of the unexpected intrusion

crotchet and the long trill in the secon
to sharpen the SL ratio at these p
answering entry of the scale in the lef
LS fingering to contrast with the open
this contrast he puts a mordent on the
time:
Ratios
L S L S L S L S

L.H. 3 1 2 1 2 M 2

5 'A Problem of Rhythm in Baroque Music', Musical Quarterly Oc

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ON USING J. S. BACH'S KEYBOARD FINGERINGS 125

Had Bach intended to retain the SL phrasing he could have

employed the 23SL fingering then in use.
In order to learn to control the subtleties of the 2 to 3 and 3 to 2
ratios the modern performer must practice diligently as a beginner in
order to learn how to make gradations of ratios. Using the fingerings
of Bach or Couperin he should begin by playing with perfect
evenness and gradually change to slightly uneven notes through the
2 to I ratio and end with them extremely dotted. The process should
then be reversed. In the course of practice he will discover a curious
acoustical phenomenon. When the SL ratio shown in the second
example is played at a moderate speed it sounds lively but not clearly
SL. On the recording this will be demonstrated by playing back the
performance at double-slow speed, at which speed the SL will
become audible. However when the 2 to 3 ratio is reversed to LS
the audible effect is clearly LS. The reason for this is probably that
the ear tends to give emphasis to the first note in any case. Some
modern keyboardists in resisting the use of unequal notes have tried
to perform obvious SL pairs as though they were even with the
second note shortened:

:1 Jl d ^ played: _ instead of
a. b. c. L

There is no hi
which it creates
Bach was not a
piece (the finge
tice the result is
non-simultaneou
Bach's phrasing
LS in left hand
and LS on the final crotchet:

Written Ratios

J s _rS L s5

LS
----or
.L S

6 Dannreuther and Beyschlag in their books on ornamentation have given widespr

publicity to version (b), which they mistakenly ascribe to Couperin. Mistranslat
Couperin's appuye to mean 'snapped', in relation to the second note of a slurred pair, th
arrived at version (b), whereas Couperin was using that word in its usual sense of durat

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126 MUSIC AND LETTERS

The result of this procedure is to give more time for the cadential
trill on the final B and to give a subtle rubato effect through the
delay of the final D in the left hand. Playing these final notes
simultaneously-even with notes inigales-does not sound as expres-
sive nor as improvisatory as the non-simultaneous attack.
In the following example from the C major fugue we see how a
simultaneous SL and LS help the ear to distinguish clearly between
the entrance of the fugal theme and the running passage:

S La ,
SL SLLS LSLSLS LS 3 S
C 7 .- m

L.H. 2 [2 1] 2 [1],] LL SLL $SL SSL S L S

2 2

C: e

Bach has
example
course w
jump grac
the silenc

a. 5
' 5 1 L S L S

1 2
b. 5 3 1 4 1

Bach's built-in rubato

Maria, whose fingerings

2 3 2 1 2 3 2 4 3 2 3 2

4 7 -E T^ p
[SB]

Caccini's written-out rubatos show awareness of the expressive

-sustaining the first note of a trill so that it is an appoggiatura. Both Dolmetsch and
Kinkeldey ('Orgel und Klavier' [Leipzig, I91o], p. I24) translate appuy6 to mean SL
version (c).
7 Sancta Maria, 'Arte de taiier Fantasia' (I565), quoted in 0. Kinkeldey, op. cit., p. 39.

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ON USING J. S. BACH'S KEYBOARD FINGERINGS 127

possibilities of SL and LS8:

L -. - t 11II
X- /1 _. 11
In teaching our hands the 'limitations' of
shall find that they can in turn teach us th
technique. From the vantage point of twentiet
seems silly that even as advanced a person as C
use the thumb or little finger on a raised key
course was possible. If we look upon this avoidan
raised keys as a meaningless ritual we learn noth
conscientiously and with humility apply our
technique in which this fingering is natural w
lost style which is not beyond recall.
The following historical chart shows the gen
fingering in phrasing and indicates Bach's hist

HISTORICAL CHART OF STEPWISE FINGERING IN PAIRS

(all fingerings LS except those marked SL)
LEFT HAND RIGHT HAND

Ascending Descending Ascen

1551 Buchner 23,23SL 23,23SL 23, 23SL 23
1571 Ammerbach 23SL, I2SL 23SL 23
1565 Sancta Maria 34, 23SL 34,34SL 34 23SL
1578 Cabezon 34 34SL 23 23SL
1597 Diruta 23 23SL 34 23SL
1600 Virginalists 12 34SL, I2SL 34SL 23SL, 34SL
1624 Scheidt 34SL
1606 Erbach 23 23 34 23
1657 Prencourt I2SL 34SL 34 23
1600 Sweelinck 23SL 34SL 23SL
1692 Speer 23 34SL 34SL 23SL
1696 Purcell 23SL 23SL 34SL 23SL
1701 Nivers 12 34 34 23SL
1717 Couperin 12 34, 34SL 34, 34SL 23, 23SL
1720 J. S. Bach 12 34 34SL 23
1725 Mattheson 12 23SL 34SL 23SL
1753 C. P. E. Bach I2SL 34SL I2SL, 34SL I2SL23 SL
1754 Marpurg 12 34 12 12
1763 Lohlein 12 12, I2SL, 23SL
8 G. Caccini, 'Le nuove musiche' (I6oI; facsimile r

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 I28 MUSIC AND LETTERS

The accuracy of all

they are frequently
Hifner's 'Die Entwi
Lehrwerke fur Klav
fingering is from Jo
it is given as that of
Bach's fingering on t
than that of his pred
is greater than that
century.

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