Because of the relationship between borrowed music and compositional structure in Beckwith's Keyboard Practice (1979), an analysis of these components may illuminate the composer's intended meaning, as well as provide an analytical model for other referential compositions. Keyboard Practice, a set of variations which involves four performers who play on ten different keyboard instruments, employs quotations from an anonymous Alman, a movement from an Ordre by François Couperin, Liszt's Au bord d'une source, and Charles L. Johnson's Cum Bac' Rag. On the surface, these borrowings reflect Beckwith's view of the history of keyboard literature. The variety of instruments involved may also be read as an examination of a variety of keyboard timbres. Beckwith also comments on each borrowed composition through musical interruptions which disrupt the quotations. The 12-tone row upon which the piece is based may also be considered a reflection on the borrowed material, as it is derived from the first ten notes of the Alman, and sections of the row serve as cadential figures in reference to the other pre-existent music.

Works: Beckwith: Keyboard Practice (94-109).

Sources: Fitzwilliam Virginal Book: anonymous Alman (97-105); François Couperin: [Unidentified] Ordre (97-105); Liszt: Au bord d'une source (97-105); Charles L. Johnson: Cum Bac' Rag (98-105).

Index Classifications: 1900s

Contributed by: Randy Goldberg