Four hands good

Long before the 18th century, when composers first began writing music for two players sat at the same piano, fellow students and amateur keyboardists had been helping each other out, filling in challenging passages where two hands were stretched to their physical limits. One might, therefore, have expected early attempts at piano duet composition to have revelled in the enhanced virtuoso opportunities available to four hands working simultaneously at one instrument, or harness the potential for richer sonorities and textures. Yet the initial impulse to compose for piano four hands was not so much the medium’s creative potential, but rather the wonderful opportunity it presented for enjoying a proximity with one’s playing partner at a time when such things were otherwise frowned upon.

The first major composer to show a special interest in the medium was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. His inspiration came from playing duets with his sister Nannerl while on tour, and in London with Johann Christian Bach, withplayer (situated on the left and traditionally male) plays one episode with their right hand over the left of the (female) player. Assuming it was his work, Mozart’s childhood imagination clearly knew no bounds.