The Western Early Keyboard Association Presents
Haydn and Keyboards of His Time:
Clavichord, Harpsichord and Fortepiano
Featuring Carol lei Breckenridge
A Recorded Audio/Video Program
Premiere March 20, 2021 at 2pm on the WEKA YouTube Channel
Exploring Franz Joseph Haydn’s music on the most prominent solo keyboards during his lifetime — clavichord, harpsichord, and fortepiano — the program includes these works:
I. Sonata in D Major, H.XVI:19 (1767), on a 5-octave, unfretted clavichord by Paul Irvin, based on the 1765 Friederici clavichord in Leipzig
II. Sonata in G Major, H. XVI:6 (before 1766), on a Blanchet/Taskin double-manual Zuckermann harpsichord, extensively voiced by Paul Irvin
III. Sonata in E-Flat Major, H. XVI:49 (1789-90), on a 5-octave Viennese-action fortepiano by Thomas and Barbara Wolf, a copy of the 1789 Dulcken piano in the Smithsonian.
Join us for the YouTube Premiere and a ZOOM reception following!
- 2PM on YouTube – Watch this recital, including performances by Carol lei Breckenridge and comments about the instruments by Paul Irvin, with us on YouTube, Saturday, March 20, 2021 at 2pm. You’ll be able to live chat with others during the performance. Go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxG7Q7l0M9k
- 3:15PM on Zoom – Then spend Zoom time with Carol lei and Paul to answer your questions and discuss the performance with your fellow early keyboard enthusiasts! The Zoom meeting information is in our latest WEKA newsletter. To subscribe and receive a copy with the information, go to http://www.wekaweb.org/membership/
About Carol lei Breckenridge
Carol lei Breckenridge is an active recitalist and lecturer who enjoys introducing audiences and students to 18th-century music on period instruments: clavichord, harpsichord, and fortepiano. Professor Emerita of Music at Central College in Iowa, her studies in Piano Performance at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, and D.M.A. in Piano Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Iowa, have been augmented with additional studies in fortepiano through a Fellowship at Cornell University with Malcolm Bilson, as well as clavichord with Joan Benson, and harpsichord with Edward Parmentier.
Past performances include those at Cornell University (Ithaca NY), the International Clavichord Symposium (Magnano, Italy), the National Music Museum (Vermillion SD), University of Transylvania in Romania, and for the Boston Clavichord and Dutch Clavichord societies. She has also performed fringe concerts at the Boston Early Music Festival, as well as for past meetings of the Historical Keyboard Society of North America and Western Early Keyboard Association.
Now residing in the Vancouver, Washington area, Carol lei is presently focusing on recording solo 18th-century keyboard music on period instruments. Recent recordings of her keyboards can be heard at Soundcloud.com, and many can be streamed through media such as iTunes and Spotify, as well as Amazon.
About Paul Irvin
Paul Irvin has over forty years experience building, repairing, and overhauling harpsichords and clavichords in the Chicago area and has lived since 2012 in Portland, OR. His instruments and services have been used by many major organizations and artists. After building almost seventy instruments, his primary focus has now shifted to researching and restoring the many overlooked details necessary to more accurately produce historical musical qualities.
He served as Board Member, Vice-President, and President of The Midwestern Historical Keyboard Society for ten years and has written a variety of articles and book reviews appearing in various publications in North America and Europe, including Continuo, Early Keyboard Journal, Early Music America, and a continuing series of articles for Harpsichord & Fortepiano Magazine. Paul has worked extensively to maintain and improve the Reed College (Portland, OR) Early Keyboard Collection.
Celebrating the Clavichord, November 2017
Carol lei Breckenridge and Paul Irvin presented an excellent program, Celebrating the Clavichord, for the Western Early Keyboard Association in November, 2017. We are delighted to welcome them back for this performance.