Area of Study 2_Music for Solo Piano (2)

Specification Guidance

Optional Area of Study 2:Music for Solo Piano,

1825 to 1890

Music for Solo Piano, 1825 to 1890

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The piano in society

The piano played important roles in both domestic and public aspects of nineteenth century European society.

As the most popular instrument in the homes of the middle and upper classes, it dominated the world of amateur music-making. Piano playing was a regular evening entertainment in the home. Solos and duets would have been performed, and the piano would have accompanied singing and played chamber music with other instruments, as well as providing the music for dancing. The ability to play the piano was seen as a desirable social accomplishment, particularly for women. The domestic popularity of the piano is reflected in the large number of pieces for piano published during the set period, including arrangements of many pieces not originally composed for piano.

Improvisation was an important skill used in concert performances by many pianists of this era. A piano recital might begin with a short improvised prelude, or improvised transitions might link two pieces in contrasting keys. Thalberg, a rival to Liszt in the 1830s, was celebrated for his ability to improvise on popular tunes of the day.

Meanwhile, on a public scale, social changes across Europe since the late eighteenth century had resulted in the rise of the new “bourgeoisie”, a middle class who enjoyed hearing music performed in public concert halls. The piano was very frequently played at these concerts. As the piano grew in favour with the public, a new breed of virtuoso musician emerged. The virtuoso pianists travelled a concert circuit of European capitals including London, Paris, Vienna, Berlin and St. Petersburg, astonishing audiences with inventive new techniques and textures, unheard-of speeds and Romantic extremes of drama and excitement. Some of the virtuosi composed or arranged their own music, designed to show off their abilities to best effect.

The development of the piano

In the early nineteenth century the piano was a comparatively new instrument, still undergoing considerable development and refinement. Technical innovations by piano manufacturers enabled composers and performers to achieve increasingly expressive and subtle effects. At the same time, the tastes and demands of composers, performers and their audiences influenced the directions in which these innovations proceeded. Overall, the piano evolved in the direction of greater strength, a bigger sound and wider dynamic range, with a richer variety of textures and timbral effects made possible.

Iron frames, rather than wooden frames, became the norm. This allowed for heavier strings, strung at a higher tension, producing a fuller tone and potentially louder volume. Overstringing increased the sustaining power of

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the instrument. In general, the tone of a piano varied considerably more widely between its registers than does that of a modern piano. Contrasts between the powerful bass and the brilliant upper range are exploited in many pieces of the period.

Refinements were made to the action of the piano, allowing greater control on the part of the performer in techniques such as repeated notes.

The usual range of the instrument increased from about six octaves (in the 1820s) to seven, or seven and a third by the 1860s.

Pianos differed noticeably in sound according to the manufacturer. Chopin, for example, favoured the intimate sound produced by Pleyel pianos. Others appreciated the more powerful and brilliant tone that could be created on an Erard piano. Dozens of other manufacturers also flourished, particularly in Vienna, England and North America, making instruments with a range of distinctive sounds.

After 1860, piano production shifted gradually from a craft basis to a factory system, increasing output and reducing the cost of instruments so that they became available to fairly modest households. While the grand piano remained important, smaller upright pianos were popular for domestic settings.

Piano technique

One of the most important developments in the sound of the Romantic piano was a new emphasis on the sustaining pedal. Chopin, for instance, usually supplied very precise and detailed instructions for pedalling in his piano music.

Also of key importance was the development of virtuoso piano techniques. Chopin and Liszt were viewed by their contemporaries as being the most outstanding virtuosos. The piano studies which they composed include examples of their demanding techniques, such as fast playing in octaves, scales in thirds, wide leaps, rapid reiteration of notes and glissandos.

Piano repertoire

Three main types of piano music can be identified during the set period.

Genres popular in the Classical era, such as the sonata, were still in use, though to a lesser degree. Sonata composers often made use of traditional sonata structures, but treated these with a considerable degree of freedom. Some sonatas were given descriptive Romantic titles.

The new genre of the character piece emerged. Character pieces were often short and tended to have simple structures, such as ternary form. Their focus

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was on conveying emotion, expressing ideas or communicating a programme, and many were lyrical in style.

A third category focussed on the virtuosity of the performer and/or celebrated the developing capabilities of the piano itself.

Some pieces contained elements of more than one of these categories.

Nationalism, an important general trend in musical Romanticism, influenced some aspects of the piano repertoire. Some composers based their music on the songs or dances of their homeland: both Chopin and Liszt made use of folk dance styles. Others composed programmatic pieces celebrating their countries’ customs, history or landscapes.

Fryderyk Chopin (1810 – 1849)

Chopin, born in Poland, worked in Warsaw, Vienna, Mallorca, and, for most of his adult life, Paris. He left a successful career as a concert pianist in order to concentrate on composing. Most of his large output was for piano.

GenresChopin composed a large number of pieces for piano, only some of which are mentioned here.

Larger-scale pieces

ScherzosChopin’s four scherzos are all based on the traditional scherzo-trio-scherzo structure, with some variation in his use of introductions, codas and repeated sections. The large scale of the scherzos is a result of Chopin’s use of several contrasting themes within each. For example, the B♭ minor Scherzo (Op. 31, 1837) is based on three themes: an upbeat triplet run followed by chords, a brilliant figure accompanied by chords, and a lyrical phrase accompanied by broken chords.

In each case, the trio section contrasts with its scherzo, as was customary. The trios are generally slower, more subdued and more lyrical.

BalladesThe ballade was a form devised by Chopin himself, who saw it as a musical version of the poetic ballad. He composed four ballades, all based on the principle of using one main theme in varied form, corresponding to the idea of the strophic form of the poetic ballad. In the Ballade in A♭ major (Op. 47, 1841) the main theme is presented in contrasting lyrical and heroic styles and is also transformed into a secondary theme and then back to its original form.

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Chopin’s ballades feature compound time signatures, relating again to the typical rhythms of the poetic ballad, and they give the impression of communicating dramatic, but unspecified, narratives. They are large in scale and technically challenging.

SonatasChopin composed three sonatas. He based them on the traditional forms of the sonata cycle, although he treated some aspects of the forms in unorthodox ways. The first movements are in sonata form, with repeated expositions. In the recapitulation sections he reverses the expected order of the themes, with the second theme appearing before the first. His second movements (rather than third) use traditional minuet or scherzo forms. The slow third movements are in ternary form; the Marche funèbre of the Sonata in B♭ minor (Op. 35, 1839) is particularly striking. Two of the sonatas finish with rondo movements, but the last movement of Op. 35, unusually, is a short, fast, étude-style piece. Overall, Chopin’s piano writing in the sonatas draws together elements from many of his earlier, shorter pieces. Smaller-scale pieces

NocturnesChopin’s 21 nocturnes are influenced by those of the Irish composer John Field, which established the nocturne as a piece in which an ornamental, aria-style melody was accompanied by widespread arpeggios, played with the sustaining pedal. Chopin’s own nocturnes are quite varied in style and form. Many begin in the manner of Field’s model but introduce a contrasting central section in a new key, with different thematic material and a different pianistic style.

ImpromptusThe impromptu was an established Romantic form. Chopin, who composed four, used the expected ternary form with a contrasting central section. The impromptus are on a larger scale than the nocturnes, more musically complex, less lyrical and more technically demanding.

EtudesAlthough études are designed primarily to improve a pianist’s technical ability, Chopin’s also resemble virtuoso character pieces. The Op.10 études (1832), for example, each address one principal piano technique, while succeeding artistically as pieces in their own right. They illustrate aspects of Chopin’s own playing technique, such as his use of a flexible wrist and supple hand and his acceptance of the imbalance between different fingers. Most of the études use a ternary form in which the central section is similar to the outer sections in style and mood but modulates into distant keys.

PreludesChopin was inspired by Bach’s 48 Preludes and Fugues to create a set of preludes (Op. 28, 1839) which form a complete cycle of all the major and minor keys. These pieces were innovatory in that, though very short, they could be performed independently, rather than ‘preluding’ more substantial

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pieces. Most of the preludes are monothematic, although their styles vary considerably, from rapid, agitated figurations (such as the Agitato in C major, Op. 28i) to more lyrical moods (the Cantabile in B♭ major, Op. 28xxi).

Dance-style pieces

MazurkasChopin’s 60-odd mazurkas are an important expression of his Polish identity. In them he used elements of Polish peasant music – such as modal scales (lydian, mixolydian and phrygian), drone basses (to represent the bagpipe-like Polish dudy) and characteristic rhythmic and melodic patterns – alongside contemporary piano techniques to create a new model for stylising folk idioms. The mazurkas are structured in a range of ways, although they are generally based on a number of repeated sections. They are not particularly virtuosic. Chopin’s ideas in developing his mazurkas would become influential for later Eastern European nationalist composers.

PolonaisesChopin composed nine or ten polonaises, based on another Polish dance style. These are larger in scale and more virtuosic than the mazurkas, and they use a range of structures. An interesting example is the Polonaise in F# minor (Op. 44, 1841), which opens and closes with a main theme in typical polonaise rhythm; in between are several episodes, including one in mazurka style.

WaltzesThe waltz was the most popular international dance of Chopin’s time. Most of his own waltzes are elegant and brilliant, structured in several short, contrasting sections.

Piano writing

Chopin was perceived by his contemporaries as having created a unique piano style. In it he drew together aspects of bravura style (influenced by Mozart and Hummel) with elements of lyrical style (influenced by composers such as Clementi and Field). His piano writing takes account of the properties of the piano itself, such as the way in which every note, once sounded, undergoes a diminuendo, and the capacities of the sustaining pedal. It is also idiomatic in its treatment of the player’s two hands and the various ways in which they can relate to each other.

Examples of the piano textures he created include: A straightforward dance-like style (e.g. the mazurkas and waltzes); A legato, aria-like, ornamental right hand part, impulsive in character,

supported by a rhythmically stable left hand based on widespread broken chords (e.g. the nocturnes); and

A texture based on a range of distinctive figurations (e.g. the études).

Musical style

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Chopin’s melodies tend to fall into two types: Balanced eight-bar melodies, similar to those of the early nineteenth-

century operatic aria; and More freely structured, continuously unfolding melodies, more similar to

operatic arioso or recitative.

The expressive characters of his melodies often derive from elements such as copious, unpredictable ornamentation, constant variation, development and transformation, and intensification by the addition of contrapuntal layers.

His harmonies tend to be fundamentally diatonic, but are elaborated on the surface with chromatic chords and progressions and some strong unresolved dissonances. He often avoided using the dominant chord for long passages, saving its strength for the last possible moment. He frequently started pieces with chords or keys other than the tonic. As noted above, he used modal scales in some of the mazurkas.

Two common, contrasting approaches to form can be identified: A continuous, directional form; and Sectionalised ternary form.

Each of these approaches can be found in both short pieces and more extended works.

Although some of Chopin’s music can be described as character pieces, such as the impromptus, scherzos, nocturnes and etudes, these works do not have specific literary or programmatic associations (though the ballades convey some sense of a general, undefined programme). In this respect Chopin’s approach was different from those of Schumann and Liszt.

Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856)

Schumann was a German composer and music critic who worked in Germany and Austria. Piano music formed an important part of his output, which also included songs, symphonies, chamber music and many other genres. His strong interest in literature influenced both his compositional style and his music criticism, in which he argued on behalf of musical Romanticism and through which he influenced many later European composers.

As a writer, Schumann sometimes used the device of dialogue between imaginary characters representing different viewpoints. Such characters also appear in his music. Of particular interest are the imaginary Florestan, Eusebius and Raro, who correspond to aspects of Schumann’s own personality and appear in a number of his compositions.

Genres

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Schumann composed a large number of pieces for piano, only some of which are mentioned here.

Character piecesThe character piece is probably the most important genre in Schumann’s piano music. Some of these are grouped in suites or cycles, related in subject matter and/or musical themes. Others are grouped in sets but are unrelated. Still others are larger-scale independent pieces.

Cycles of the first type include the following. Papillons (Op. 2, 1831) is a set of 12 short, dance-like pieces, using simple, sectional forms. Carnaval (Op. 9, 1835) contains 21 pieces, many of them named after friends and colleagues of the composer. The musical cipher (see section on ‘Musical Styles and Influences’) A-S-C-H appears prominently. The short pieces, mainly in binary form, are arranged to provide tonal coherence for the set as a whole. The eight pieces of the Fantasiestücke (Op. 12, 1837) are a little broader in scope and more structurally self-contained. They alternate between the styles of the characters Florestan and Eusebius. Kreisleriana (Op. 16, 1838) represents in music a literary character who alternated, like Schumann himself, between depression and rapture; virtuosity and lyricism in the music are often linked with the tonal areas of G minor and B♭ major respectively. Faschingsschwank aus Wien (Op. 26, 1840) contains elements of sonata form but can also be viewed as a cycle of character pieces.

Groups of pieces of the second type include the Novelletten (Op. 21, 1838), in which Schumann experimented with diverse textures and new approaches to small and large-scale form, with three or five-part structures organised into binary forms. Bunte Blätter (Op. 99, 1836 – 1849) and Albumblätter (Op. 124, 1832 – 1845) are alternative versions of generally unrelated pieces composed during the 1830s and 1840s.

Larger-scale independent pieces include a number of works in which Schumann favoured versions of rondo form. One, the Humoreske (Op. 20, 1839), is a good example of how he interlinked small and large scale structures: its many miniatures can also be understood in terms of four or five larger movements.

SonatasSchumann composed two sonatas, a sonata-like Concert sans orchestre or Grande Sonate, and a sonatina. He used the four-movement plan typical of Beethoven and Schubert, with sonata-form first movements and sonata or rondo finales framing slow movements and scherzos in ternary or variation form.

The first sonata, in F# minor (Op. 11, 1835), includes references to music by Clara Wieck, the pianist and composer who was eventually to become Schumann’s wife. The second, in G minor (Op. 22, 1838), includes many Romantically expressive effects. The Concert sans orchestre, in F# minor (Op.

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14, 1836), has a slow introduction in the first movement, and presents one main theme rather than two.

VariationsThe Abegg Variations (Op. 1, 1830) is the first of Schumann’s works to make use of a musical cipher (A-B♭ -E-G-G) as its basis. In particular, the first two notes of the theme are used as the basis of motivic development. The Blumenstück (Op. 19, 1839) uses a rhapsodic version of variation form, based on two musical ideas.

EtudesSchumann (and later Liszt and Brahms, among others) based his first set of studies (Op. 3, 1832) on the virtuoso Paganini’s Caprices for solo violin. The Etudes Symphoniques (Op. 10, 1833) are structured in a free version of variation form and are technically very challenging. Their characters vary considerably and they cover a range of techniques, such as sforzando chords and wide left hand leaps.

FantasiasThe C major Fantasy (Op. 17, 1838), in three movements, is a good example of how Schumann used his alter egos Florestan and Eusebius in his music. It also quotes from Beethoven’s final song, and is based on a sonata form design, interrupted by smaller-scale structures.

Music for young peopleTowards the end of his composing career, Schumann produced a number of pieces designed for young people learning to play the piano. The Drei Clavier-Sonaten für die Jugend (Op. 118, 1853) were composed for his daughters, Julie, Elise and Marie. Album für die Jugend (Op. 68, 1848) was another important pedagogical project.

Piano writingSchumann stated his own belief that there were three key characteristics of good piano writing: “richness of part-writing and harmonic change (as in Beethoven and Schubert), … use of the pedal (as in Field) … [and] volubility (as in Czerny and Herz)”. These can be observed in his own piano music, which demonstrates features such as: Rapidly changing harmony, often boldly chromatic; Use of the sustaining pedal, often in innovatory ways; Cross-rhythms and syncopation; Very varied accompanimental figures; and (In the early part of his career) use of the brilliant upper register of the

piano.

Musical style and influences

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Throughout Schumann’s career, his music seems to have been influenced by the rhythms of dance and of lyrical verse, and by keyboard-based improvisation.

Many of Schumann’s pieces allude to literary ideas. Literary or pictorial titles were sometimes added to works originally composed in other contexts, such as Papillons. He frequently quoted or alluded to music – his own, Clara’s, popular or traditional music or that of other composers.

An autobiographical element is often present. He loved to use ciphers (translations of names or words into musical themes). He also enjoyed using themes or ideas whose significance sprang more from the circumstances in which they were conceived than from their intrinsic musical content.

Schumann’s forms are often fairly simple. He frequently worked with short structures, grouping together a number of small units by means of contrast or relationship, as in the Blumenstück. In larger-scale works, he tended to develop ideas by means of quasi-improvisatory variation, rather than a more Classical motivic development.

However, other aspects of his style tend to result in a sense of ambiguity rather than of clarity: Tied notes and syncopations may obscure the beat; Beats are subdivided in changing ways – into two, three or more; Chromaticism, suspensions and unresolved dissonances are common; The tonic chord is often placed on weak beats; The melody is often fragmentary; and The melody may wander from part to part within the texture.

Franz Liszt (1811 – 1886)

Liszt was a Hungarian composer and pianist – perhaps the greatest virtuoso of his time. He developed influential new methods in composing and performing and was one of the leaders of musical Romanticism. During his spectacular performing career he gave concerts throughout Europe, and he associated with all the leading musicians and writers of his time. Like Schumann, he wrote about music and musical life as well as composing.

GenresLiszt composed a large number of pieces for piano, only some of which are mentioned here.

Etudes The six ‘Paganini’ études (S. 140, 1838, 1851) and the 12 ‘Transcendental’ études (S. 139, 1852), along with other sets, are evidence of Liszt’s astonishing virtuoso technique. He revised these pieces over the course of his performing career, demonstrating through his revisions the progress he made

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in his own technique. For instance, Mazeppa began as a study in thirds but eventually evolved into a piece where a slow octave melody is accompanied by fast chordal figuration across the whole range of the keyboard.

The études focus on particular technical or musical devices. These include echo effects and glissandi in the fifth ‘Paganini’ study, and the sensational ‘Liszt octaves’ in the second ‘Paganini’ study. Some require a lyrical style rather than virtuosic bravura. Many have passages which combine slow cantabile melodies with fast virtuosic figuration.

Most of the études are in sectional form, often ternary, and often including some variations. Thematic transformation is frequently in evidence; central sections are often based on the same material as the outer sections.

RhapsodiesLiszt composed 19 Hungarian Rhapsodies. He based these on what he believed to be Hungarian gypsy melodies. Although the music he used was in fact composed for salon entertainment, it does include many features of Hungarian folk music. These include the gypsy scale, certain melodic and rhythmic elements, melodies in parallel thirds, and passages where the piano imitates the sound of the cimbalom. The rhapsodies are also highly virtuosic and are loosely structured as series of contrasting sections. A typical opening section is slow and melancholy; the final section is generally dramatic and brilliant.

Character piecesCharacter pieces are a very important part of Liszt’s piano output, and he composed a large number of them. In them he demonstrated his typically Romantic belief that music could express ideas, emotions and impressions of all sorts. He often based his subject matter in these pieces on the work of writers and artists, such as Victor Hugo, Schiller, Raphael and Michelangelo.

The Années de pélerinage (S. 160, 161 and 163, 1835 – 1877) are three collections of pieces evoking natural scenes or works of art. The effects Liszt recreates include thunderstorms, the singing of birds, running water, pastoral scenes, mourning and lamentation, heroic moments and tolling bells. Virtuosity, while present, is less important in the character pieces than in the études and rhapsodies. Each of the first two collections includes one much longer piece. In the second set, Après une lecture de Dante is a dramatic, virtuosic, sectional piece. The slow introduction features the augmented fourth of the “diabolus in musica”; the succeeding sections are related by their use of four main themes and their transformations.

Other character pieces include a number from the 1860s based on religious themes. These include the Miserere (d’après Palestrina) (from Harmonies poétiques et religieuses, S. 173, 1852), in which Liszt presents his version of a sixteenth century style by means of simple, diatonic chords and the absence of time signatures.

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SonataLiszt composed one sonata, in B minor (S. 178, 1853). It is a very substantial and original work, both powerful and lyrical, with frequent changes of mood. Its structure can be seen as one long, continuous movement, or as four linked movements, forming the sections of a large-scale sonata form. Within each of the four broader sections are many shorter, contrasting sections, some recurring. Such ambiguity of form is typical of many large-scale Romantic pieces.

The sonata includes striking examples of Liszt’s development technique of thematic transformation, with the two motifs of its one principal theme developed separately and together.

ArrangementsLiszt was a prolific keyboard arranger, producing around 200 works. He classed his own arrangements as either paraphrases (in which he varied the originals and wove fantasies around them) or transcriptions (more accurate re-creations of the originals). His operatic paraphrases (of works by Mozart and a range of Romantic composers) were particularly inventive and successful.

Other worksLiszt also composed many short piano pieces of various kinds. These include a number from the late 1840s in forms favoured by Chopin, such as ballades, polonaises, a mazurka and waltzes.Piano writingThe chief characteristic of Liszt’s piano music is its virtuosity. The physical structure of his hands influenced his playing, and therefore his composing techniques. His hands were long and narrow, with little webbing between the fingers. His fingertips were blunt rather than tapered, and his fourth fingers were very flexible. Reflecting this, his piano music often involves wide stretches and very fast speeds. (As a performer, he produced a very wide dynamic range, sometimes breaking strings or hammers on lighter pianos.)

Characteristics of Liszt’s piano music include: Scales in thirds, sixths, octaves or full chords; Dense chordal or octave passages; Wide-ranging arpeggios; Wide leaps; Fast, colourful changes of register; Cadenza and recitative-style passages; Vibrato/tremolando figurations; and Glissando passages.

His textures are very inventive, and he tended to avoid stock patterns and devices. He sometimes used what was called his ‘transcendental’ technique to make the piano sound like a full orchestra, with complex, original layers making use of the entire range of the keyboard.

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Musical style and influences

Many of Liszt’s pieces are monothematic and feature development by means of thematic transformation.

His harmonic style was influenced by that of Chopin and earlier Romantic composers, but gradually became more boldly chromatic. He used many augmented and diminished chords, chromatic and whole-tone scales and a ‘gypsy’ scale including augmented seconds.

One of Liszt’s most important achievements was the establishment of the piano recital. He introduced the idea of a whole evening of serious piano music; previously, pianists would have formed part of a varied entertainment along with other artists. He also greatly increased the scale of such concerts, sometimes performing for several thousand people.

Acknowledgements and suggested reading

Kirby, F. E. (1995), Music for Piano: A Short History. Portland, Oregon: Amadeus. Excellent sections for the teacher in Chapters 4 and 5 on the set composers, with some musical examples. Chapter introductions give useful background information about the development of piano music.

Machlis, J. & Forney, K. (1999), The Enjoyment of Music. New York: Norton. An excellent general textbook on the history of music, which provides good background information on Romanticism. Appropriate as a textbook for pupils. Associated scores and recordings are available for use alongside the musical examples.

Sadie, S. and Tyrrell, J. (Eds.) (2001), The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. London: Macmillan.Articles on: Pianoforte; Keyboard music; Chopin; Robert Schumann; Liszt. Authoritative information for the teacher, with useful musical examples.

Todd, R. L. (Ed.) (1990), Nineteenth Century Piano Music. New York: Schirmer.Includes useful chapters for the teacher on the piano’s position in nineteenth century society. Certain aspects of the piano music of the set composers are discussed in considerable detail.

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