Aesthetic expression an das Clavier: performing character in the keyboard music of C. P. E. Bach

Abstract

The expression and interpretation of music in the North German Enlightenment was a primary concern of amateur musicians. Around the mid 18th century, influenced by the nascent discipline of aesthetics, literature on the arts and music exhibited a shift towards a psychological approach to expression rather than a rhetorical one. This article examines the notion of ‘character’ as used in aesthetics, music theory and compositions of the period, showing how it was closely linked to the moral function of art. Moving away from a rhetorical or semiotic approach that identifies a fixed character in specific genres or musical features, I argue that musical performance involved an interaction between the music’s implied character and the moral character of the musician. Case studies of two representative keyboard works by C. P. E. Bach, the Rondo I in C major (Wq.56.1/h.260) and the Fantasia in F♯ minor (Wq.67/h.300), explore ways to recover the psychological experience of character as delineated in these compositions, and discuss how an approach to expressing character could be employed by present-day performers.