Tübinger Hammerklavier-Tage I: A Pre-Opening Symposium on the Fortepiano
On 27 and 28 March 2026, I warmly invite audiences to the first Tübinger Hammerklavier-Tage, a pre-opening symposium on the fortepiano conceived as a prelude to the opening of the main exhibition on 24 April 2026. As curator of the exhibition, I wanted to create an event that would open up its themes: through performance, scholarship, and the sounding presence of historical instruments themselves.
This two-day symposium, which takes place in the Pfleghofsaal, Musikwissenschaftliches Institut, Universität Tübingen (Schulberg 2, 72070 Tübingen), brings together performers, scholars, instruments, and repertory in order to explore the rich and varied world of the historical piano in the 18th and 19th centuries. Through lecture-recitals and live performance, it offers a first glimpse into the many pianistic cultures that shaped musical life before the modern piano came to dominate it. The performances will feature original historical instruments, now restored and in playing condition, drawn both from my own collection and from the collections of the University of Tübingen itself.
At the heart of this project is the accompanying exhibition, which traces the long and fascinating history of the piano. The piano emerged in the early eighteenth century, but it took nearly 150 years for the instrument to develop into what we now recognize as the modern piano. That process was only effectively completed with the Steinway grand of 1857. This exhibition explores that long history. It presents the piano not as a fixed invention, but as an instrument shaped over time by changing taste, technology, markets, social conditions, and musical life. Each instrument reflects a particular time and place, and tells its own story about the society that produced it. The exhibition also reminds us that much of the most important piano music was written before the modern piano existed. Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Liszt, and Schumann all composed for these various earlier kinds of pianos. Hence, instead of presenting a simple march toward the modern piano, this exhibition reveals a wide landscape of pianistic cultures.
Programme
27 March 2026
18:00–18:45 – Opening
Anders Muskens
19:30–20:15 – Lecture-recital: Late Romantic Horns
Nicolas Roudier (The Hague), horn
Anders Muskens, square piano
Vocal Quartet of the Collegium Musicum
28 March 2026
12:00–12:45 – Lecture-recital: Schubert Performance Practice
Charlotte Tang (University of Toronto alumna), square piano
13:00–13:45 – Lecture-recital: Haydn across Viennese and English Pianos
Da Hyun Park (HMDK Stuttgart), square piano
14:00–14:45 – Lecture-recital: Dussek, Beethoven, and the English Piano
Charlotte Tang and Anders Muskens, fortepiano
15:00–16:45 – Lecture-recital
Shin Hwang (Cornell University alumnus), square piano
An instrument exhibition will also be on display in the foyer and in the Pfleghofsaal (Schulberg 2).
Admission is free.
This event is generously supported by the Vereinigung der Freunde der Universität Tübingen (Universitätsbund) e. V. and the Friedrich Lurk-Stiftung.
We look forward to welcoming you to Tübingen for this opening exploration of the fortepiano and its many worlds.