Clavier-Übung (with or without the hyphen) is German for "keyboard practice". Two meanings of the word 'practice' in English are appropriate to this translation - first as in technical exercise, and second as in professional practice, as one practices law or medicine - the pieces both provide an opportunity to develop skill, as well as demonstrate the technical and stylistic conventions of keyboard composition and performance. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries this was a common title for keyboard music collections, initially popular after its adoption by Johann Kuhnau in 1689, although today it is usually associated with Johann Sebastian Bach's four Clavier-Übung publications.
The following composers published works under the title Clavier-Übung:
Johann Sebastian Bach:Clavier-Übung I: six partitas, published separately 1726–1730, then grouped in one volume in 1731
Clavier-Übung II: Italian Concerto and French Overture (1735)
Clavier-Übung III: also known as the German Organ Mass (1739)
Clavier-Übung IV: Aria with Diverse Variations, known as the Goldberg Variations (1741)
Ferruccio Busoni
Klavierübung (1918–1925)
Christoph Graupner:
Leichte Clavier-Übungen (c.1730)
Johann Ludwig Krebs
Clavier Ubung Bestehend in verschiedenen vorspielen und veränderungen einiger Kirchen Gesaenge Nürnberg, J.U. Haffner, c. 1744)
Clavier-Ubung bestehet in einer [...] Suite [...] Zweyter Theil (Nürnberg, J.U. Haffner, c. 1744)
Clavier-Ubung bestehend in sechs Sonatinen … IIIter Theil (Nürnberg, J.U. Haffner, c. 1744)
Johann Krieger
Anmuthige Clavier-Übung (1698)
Johann Kuhnau:Neuer Clavier-Übung, erster Theil (1689)
Neuer Clavier-Übung, anderer Theil (1692)
Vincent Lübeck
Clavier Übung (1728)
Georg Andreas Sorge
Clavier Übung in three parts, 18 sonatas for harpsichord (1738–c.1745)
Clavier Übung in two parts, 24 preludes for organ or clavichord (1739–42)
