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--- FOREWORD
These last years have witnessed a most welcome tendency to return to the use of ancient techniques for Baroque keyboard playing. These techniques are essential to achieve a stylish performance of Baroque music. The well-known Dutch harpsichordist Ton Koopman wrote that he found "foolish to try and play old organ and harpsichord music using modern techniques. If one regards old fingerings as means of articulation, they appear extremely refined and effective." Unfortunately there are still very few teachers and players using early techniques. One reason is because the lack of systematic rules makes it difficult to finger a piece "à la baroque". Ancient treatises like F. Couperin's and modern methods like Maria Boxall's give many examples, but they alone are simply not enough, apart from being often contradictory. The main difficulties for the modern performer arise in scale passages, which however can be easily fingered and played with ancient techniques, provided we are able to keep in mind the manifold possibilities available.
This method attempts to set down a comprehensive set of Baroque fingering rules ... . I am deeply indebted to Maria Boxall and to Mark Lindley: without their pioneering work in the field this work would not have been possible. Though unpublished, the 1st edition of this work circulated in photocopies and was immediately endorsed by Igor Kipnis and other leading harpsichordists. The present edition has been carefully revised, updated and enlarged ... .
... Baroque fingerings ... for J.S. Bach ... [confirmed by] all the extant fingerings from J.S. Bach's circle. If the reader is reluctant about embarking in ancient techniques fearing he/she will have to go on using modern fingerings anyway for the most difficult Bach works, let me reassure with my personal experience: even if it requires years of practice, the Baroque technique—and its use for all the authors of the time including J.S. Bach—is fully within the reach of the average modern harpsichordist and organist .... even the pinnacle of harpsichord technique—the Goldberg Variations—is perfectly playable with strictly Baroque fingerings ....
--- CROSSING THE FINGERS
... One can broadly define two types of long-finger crossing movements, each one with its own advantages and disadvantages.
• Crossing - More common, best for fast and/or legato or almost legato passages: ...
• Shifting - Less common, best for slow and/or non-legato to staccato passages: ...
The author finds that a flexible approach is best, using either way—and also intermediate ones—according to the particular passage and the articulation desired ... .
--- 2. DIATONIC SCALES - RIGHT HAND
...
--- Rule S - CROSSING OVER THE STRONG BEAT (MAINLY FOR INÉGALES)
... In late Renaissance and early Baroque sources, importance was given to try and finger the scales by placing the 3rd finger on metrically strong notes. ... in mid and late Baroque times ... more often than not the opposite became the norm ... Whenever possible the fingers should cross from a "strong"(long in inégales) to a "weak" note (short in inégales), whereby the player can use the long-note's extra duration to prepare for the crossing. This makes the crossing more comfortable and, in the process, the player obtains a most natural rendering of the inégalité... .
Ex. RS-1. F. Couperin - L'Art de Toucher le Clavecin : "progrès d'octaves"
However, the reader should by no means feel that strong-to-weak crossings were an exclusive French custom. They are clearly prevalent in A. Scarlatti, ... showing that this tendency was present even in authors who wrote only in Italian style, with no inégales ...
--- Rule W - CROSSING OVER THE WEAK BEAT
Baroque musicians were not too rigid about rule S above. They followed it more often than not, but did not hesitate in obviating it whenever it was clearly not convenient, as in ... Les Ondes ....
--- 3. DIATONIC SCALES - LEFT HAND
Beginners find it surprising that, unlike modern technique, Baroque fingering is not symmetrical for the two hands. See the remark by Ferguson in Chapter 1, in the section on HOW TO USE THIS METHOD. We will see now how, in order to compensate for the reduced ability of the left hand, especially the ring and little finger, Baroque authors accepted a significant role of the left thumb in scales. ...
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