Looking for examples of specifically-notated finger substitutions from one hand to the other hand.
These appear to be very rare.
Famously F. Couperin was proud of having invented the finger substitution, shown in his L’Art de Toucher of 1716.
[However, as shown in my Baroque Fingering Method p. 82, substitution is sometimes unavoidable in order to play what is written in the score: one example is in Bach’s English Suite, Prélude, bar 16, left hand f#. This work is dated c.1715 thus predating L’Art de Toucher.]
After 1715-1716, as we all know, passages that can only be played with the substitution crop up here and there with increasing frequency in the keyboard literature. What is very rare is a specifically-notated substitution from one hand to the other hand, prescribed by the composer with a vertical tie joining a note from one stave to the same note on the other stave.
I only know one example . . . Perhaps there are more! ?
[At about 3-4 ordres per week I am now playing ALL F.Couperin’s pieces and will try to spot any other one! I seem to recall a few passages in J.S. Bach and Handel that need substitution between hands. Anyway they would be dated after 1716].
Couperin’s notation in bar 4 is clear, but it does not force you to perform a substitution between hands, because here it comes perfectly natural to play the d" with the right hand, including the initial crotchet: actually this is the fingering I recommend in my edition. In bar 22 you can also do a similar thing, playing the f’ crotchet with the left hand, but this is unnatural here because of the trill.
Le 24/04/2024 12:28, Claudio Di Veroli via The Jackrail écrit :
Couperin’s notation in bar 4 is clear, but it does not force you to
perform a substitution between hands, because here it comes perfectly
natural to play the d" with the right hand, including the initial
crotchet: actually his is the fingering I recommend in my edition. In
bar 22 you can also do a similar thing, playing the f’ crotchet with
the left hand, but this is unnatural here because of the trill.
It’s not a problem to play the trill with the left hand, and I find that
easier and more “natural” than changing hands on the same note. So, the
same notation in both places, and no substitution of hand “required” in
either case (though possible). As usual, one man’s meat…
