Practical Hummel: a guide for pianists and piano teachers on how to use Johann Nepomuk Hummel's treatise today

Johann Nepomuk Hummel (1778–1837), was an Austrian virtuoso pianist, composer, and pedagogue who was considered, in all three professions, to be among the leading figures in the early nineteenth-century. He influenced many pianists and composers with his music and his three-volume treatise, A Complete Theoretical and Practical Course of Instructions on the Art of Playing the Piano Forte, Commencing with the Simplest Elementary Principles and Including Every Information Requisite to the Most Finished Style of Performance (1828). However, this once highly sought after keyboard master, and his pedagogical contribution are overlooked today. A possible contributing factor to this decline, is the fact that no teacher or student would necessarily want to study Hummel’s treatise as it presents a strenuous task, because of its monumental size (approximately five-hundred pages). Why then, should Hummel’s work be studied, especially when there are piano method books available today, that are shorter in length?

The purpose of this essay is to answer that question, by explaining the many ways in which Hummel’s treatise should be revisited. He is a link between the end of one musical era, and the beginning of another. What his treatise offers is vital information on nineteenth-century pianism and performance, much of which stays true today. This essay presents two parts: first, a brief background about Hummel; and second, an introduction to his treatise, featuring selected highlights supplied with pedagogical commentary that explains their significance and how they can be used by pianists and piano teachers today.