lecture 8 romantic piano music

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 Lecture 8 - Romantic Piano Music [Outlines for expansion] An overview of the preceding generation of composers from Haydn, Mozart and the „classicalapproach mainly melody + accompaniment often featuring an Alberti bass. Clementi, the first composer to write in a true piano style. Large output of sonatas, sonatinas and fantasias. Gradus ad Parnassum includes a series of technical studies. Involved in piano manufacturing in London. Beethoven 32 Sonatas. Piano virtuoso. The left hand played a much more important role in the texture and he expanded the parameters of sonata form considerably. These sonatas are concert pieces for recital work and not for the amateur at home to play! Schubert  was influenced more by Haydn and Mozart in his 11 sonatas. They are quite classical in their layout. His Wanderer Fantasia is a huge four movement sonata-like work with a set of variations based o n his song of the same name for the slow movement. It was later rearranged for piano and orchestra by Franz Liszt. He introduced the idea of Impromptus or rather pieces which sounded as though they were improvised. They are structured in episodical form. Impromptu in Ab Mendelssohn’s Songs Without Words  [48] are in mostly in song form without titles  but some have titles [added by publishers] such as gondola or spinning pieces. They are also quite classically formed in their structure as Mendelssohn always thought of perfect balance in his music Chopin’s influence in his piano music was considerable although not German he was well-known to Schumann and Liszt. He certainly never thought of himself as writing programme music as he felt his absolute music was continuing the classical tradition. He is often referred to as the poet of the piano! He did admit that poetry had been the inspiration behind the occasional composition. His music is quite unique in character as he specialised in many dance forms: Polonaise, Mazurka & Waltz . Many of his polonaises are heroic in character and present a degree of virtuosity. His 24 Preludes were influenced by Bachs 48 and go through all the major and minor keys in a cycle of fifths. He followed in the footsteps of the Irish composer John Field in writing Nocturnes [Night Pieces]. His 27 Etudes [Studies] are masterpieces of musical invention and deal with many technical difficulties. Although called studies they are glorious musical compositions in their own right and deal with various aspects of keyboard technique. He also followed Schubert in writing Impromptus and invented a new form called Ballade of which he wrote 4. They are song-like but extended to through-composed pieces of considerable size and require technical expertise. It is thought that the romantic poem of the same was the impetus behind this new form but they are certainly not p rogrammatic. His harmonic language was very advanced with startling modulations though a variety of distant keys. He had a great flare for sheer musicality, melody and adventurous

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8/13/2019 LECTURE 8 Romantic Piano Music

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harmonic progressions and his virtuosity precedes Liszt who then pushed the

 boundaries of technique even further. It should be remembered that Chopin was

quite specific about the use of rubato in works like the  Nocturnes: He said the LHshould always play in time whilst the RH can be free to play rubato in the melody.

Study in C minor [Revolutionary] . Fantasy – Impromptu in C# minor

Polonaises in A major & C minor Schumann’s solo piano output is considerable and his style was very different to

Chopin‟s pure absolute outlook. His wrote a number of collections under various

titles and each of the pieces has programmatic titles. In Carnaval   he portrays

characters of Eusebius and Floristan, Chopin and Paganini! Most of these piecesare miniature in character. Collections include  Papillons,  Kinderszenen,

 Kreisleriana,  Fantasiestücke,  Novelletten  and  Album for the Young   written for

children.

Franz Liszt  was a legendary virtuoso whose output for solo piano is quiteremarkable in the sheer quantity he produced. It ranges from the Years of  

 Pilgrimage  [Pieces with character titles] to arrangements of BeethovenSymphonies and Operatic paraphrases. His technique was staggering and his musicrequires a virtuoso pianist to execute it! He is remembered for his Hungarian

Rhapsodies but for sheer brilliance of technique his 12 Transcendental  Studies are

outstanding! Number 4  Mazeppa  was later turned into a symphonic poem for

orchestra. His 6  Paganini Caprices  taken from the famous virtuoso violinist arevery demanding including the legendary  La Campanella  [the Bells]. Liszt,

although writing a huge single-movement Sonata in B minor, favoured the

 programmatic approach in his piano writing. He toured Europe giving recitals to packed concert halls and played his programmes from memory! He also was the

first pianist to turn the piano at a right angle to the audience and to have lid raised in

order to project the sound into the hall. Mephisto Waltz  –   “Der Tanz in derDorfschenke”. 

Brahms was brought up in the port of Hamburg and showed great pianistic skills at

an early age. He had to play the piano in some of the low dives in the port and this

experience left a mark on his character. Brahms‟s piano music is virtually entirely

absolute music with a couple of exceptions where he quotes a Scottish poet at thetop of the music. He wrote much piano music following in the classical tradition of

 piano sonatas but he also wrote 4 Ballades as Chopin had done. He was also very

interested in the music of the past and wrote Variations and Fugue on a theme of Handel, Chaconne for Left Hand on a theme by Bach and Variations on a theme of  

 Paganini. He was very fond of the waltzes of Johann Strauss II and wrote

collections of waltzes himself but they are smaller in scale when compared withStrauss‟s concert waltzes. Towards the end of his life he composed some intimate Intermezzi  with  Ballade  and  Rhapsody. These are very personal works from a

composer who had had a highly successful career and reflect a degree of

satisfaction and sadness in the latter years of his life.

Recommended Reading: A History of Western Music  –  Donald J. Grout