The Clavierschule (1765) by Georg Simon Löhlein, musical director in Leipzig, and renowned music teacher, was recognized by many musicians, especially due to its thoughtful pedagogical target. The Clavierschule has served as a model for many instrumental practical educational publications dedicated to keyboard instruments. It becomes logically clear why the anonymous musician wanted to make a handwritten copy of this particular work, which was included as a second attachment in the well-known manuscript D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 803. Namely in this manuscript Löhlein’s table of ornaments with such compound ornaments as Der Pralltriller oder Abzug (The Pralltriller or Abzug) and Der Abzug mit dem Nachschlag (The Abzug with suffix) is duplicated. The present work is devoted to the consideration of these ornaments. The term Abzug in history of music performance is not so well investigated. It attracted the attention of the authors of this paper when it was found to be used in the anonymous manuscript mentioned above pertaining most probably to the year 1779. A systematically based examination of the research literature (E. Dannreuther, 1895; L. Landshoff, 1933; W. Mitchell, 1949; E. Hays, 1976; D. Wilson, 1979; E. Reilly, 1966; R. Donington, 1992; K. Palmer, 2001; I. Ahlgrimm, 2004, and others) was undertaken with special emphasis on the word Abzug. An examination of these sources has shown that they do not contain a historically integral study of the concept Abzug. It became clear that it was necessary to turn to historical materials. Thus, the study of the named topic is based on the research of early treatises and music dictionaries published by J. J. Quantz (1752), C. P. E. Bach (1753), Fr. W. Marpurg (1755), J. Fr. Agricola (1757), G. S. Löhlein (1765), E. L. Gerber (1790), G. Fr. Wolf (1787), D. G. Türk (1789), and others. The research showed that historically the term Abzug was very closely associated with the term Pralltriller, and that, on the other hand, these two terms often were understood interchangeably. Originally the definition of the term Abzug was treated as a special dynamic expression together with an articulation technique (Quantz). In subsequent development, the term became mainly associated with ornamentation (Pralltriller, Schneller, Prallende Doppelschlag, etc.), and in this direction the views of C. P. E. Bach had a great influence. The study of sources pertaining to the second half of the 18th century showed that Bach’s Pralltriller had been realized in the publications of other musicians in all three manners: in some according to his Versuch published in 1753, in others according to the second edition of 1759, and lastly — departing from his initial instructions. In result, it has been the case that a wide variety of definitions of the term Abzug and its performance solutions in the field of ornamentation were present during this period and that when studying the sources concerning this term (as many others too) it is necessary to approach the solution of the problem contextually
One of the most valuable handwritten folio D-B Mus. ms. Bach P 803, stored in the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, contains twenty-six layers, which are bound together. It is often associated with the name of Johann Ludwig Krebs, which for a long time gave the impression that the handwritten texts were also done by Krebs. The manuscript was indeed for a long time in Krebs’ house, and J. L. along with his father J. T. Krebs and J. G. Walther, as well as other lesser-known musicians, was one of the copyists. Of the twenty-six attachments, only the second (p. 9–23; further: P 803-II) contained a verbal text and tables with an interpretation of ornaments. It has not been possible to determine who was the copyist of P 803-II to date, and the concept of “anonymous copyist” has become anchored. In 1933, L. Landshoff turned to the tables with the performance of ornaments in P 803-II in connection with the interpretation of keyboard music by J. S. Bach, and forwarded the concept that the author of the text of P 803-II was the famous student of Bach J. L. Krebs. For the first time this myth was partially refuted by D. Wilson in 1979, who discovered the absolute similarity of the ornament Der Pralltriller oder Abzug in P 803-II and in the Clavierschule of G. S. Löhlein. Later Fr. Neumann wrote in more detail on this topic in his work on ornamentation (1978). The author also claimed that the anonymous copyist used the fourth edition of the Löhlein’s Klavierschule (1782) as a model for P 803-II. Thus, the assumption made by H. Zietz that P 803-II was based on the treatise by D. G. Türk (1789) turned out to be erroneous too. Studying these materials, the authors of this article drew attention to the many inaccuracies and false judgments associated with both the handwritten source P 803-II and the peculiarity of the anonymous scribe’s work with Löhlein’s text, as well as with many statements by the above-mentioned authors. It was shown that the third edition of the Löhlein’s manual on clavichord playing (1779) should have served as the primary basis for the anonymous copyist. Special attention was paid to inaccuracies and incorrect recommendations in connection with the interpretation of ornaments. A detailed consideration of the available realizations of ornaments in P 803-II and their interpretation will be established in the following second part of this paper.
European musical performance practice in the end of the 17th and the first two thirds of the 18th centuries, especially in Germany (the “Berlin School” and the stylistic trend of socalled “Gallant Mannerism” — the middle of the 18th century), is marked by the flourishing of musical ornamentation in performance (Spielmanieren — definition given by Marpurg, 1755). The works of J. J. Quantz and C. P. E. Bach were of great importance in the development of the art of ornamentation in Germany. Particularly Bach in his treatise Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen (1753), introduced the new term Pralltriller for an ornament, which later became widespread, including our time. The Pralltriller represented in Bach’s understanding a trill-sign placed above the second note of a descending two-note stepwise pattern. In the second edition (1759) Bach changed his previous explanation, writing that the second initial note should not be played. In an unexpected turn of events musicians, departing from Bach’s two different interpretations, performed the Pralltriller in a fanciful variety of ways changing its essence and turning its performance lastly into a shortest kind of trill. Thus, the article attempts to conduct a detailed study of not only the available historical materials, beginning from C. P. E. Bach and directly after that from the interpretations by F. W. Marpurg, G. S. Löhlein, J. A. Hiller, etc., but also focuses on the interpretation of these materials by scholars of the 20th and 21st centuries