This collection of intermediate piano solos includes 20 arrangements of some of the most romantic songs from ages past. These beautiful, lyrical songs are perfect for weddings, easy listening repertoire, personal enjoyment, and even a few for church worship services.

These arrangements were created to make challenging classical music more accessible for the intermediate player or easier to sight-read by more advanced players (comes in handy when asked to perform on short notice). Another feature of these arrangements is they are consistent at the intermediate to advanced-intermediate skill level throughout each piece. Many have been simplified and only include excerpts from the longer original movements. Other simplified characteristics include easier key signatures, timings, and fingerings. Complimentary interludes and introductions were added when appropriate and melodies modified to create a more contemporary sound.

Each of the 20 arrangements is also available separately with accompanying preview pages and audio samples. The audio sample plays ?Starlight Serenade? by Alexander Ilyinsky.

Titles in this collection include:
Aura Lea ~ by George Poulton
Butterfly Serenade ~ Impromptu (Op. 90, No. 3) by Franz Schubert
Cherish the Moments ~ Rondo from Pathétique by Ludwig van Beethoven
Dance with Me ~ Valse Lente from ?Coppelia? by Leo Delibes
Dream with Me ~ Andante from Piano Concerto No. 21 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Evening Breezes ~ Intermezzo from Carmen Suite No. 1 by Georges Bizet
A Journey of Love ~ Sicilienne by Gabriel Fauré
The Joys of Love ~ Plaisir d?Amour by Jean-Paul Martini
Jupiter from ?The Planets? ~ by GustavHolst
Love?s Greeting ~ Salut d?Amour by Edward Elgar
Melody of Love ~ by Hans Engelmann
Moonlight Sonata ~ Adagio from Sonata Op. 27, No. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Nightingale Serenade ~ Serenata by Enrico Toselli
O Lord Most Holy ~ Panis Angelicus by Cesar Auguste Franck
Orange Blossoms in Spring ~ Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro Mascagni
A Romanian Love Song ~ Rumänisches Liebesleben by Iosif Ivanovici
Spring ~ Allegretto from Songs without Words by Felix Mendelssohn

Starlight Serenade ~ Berceuse Op. 13, No. 7 by Alexander Ilyinsky
Waves of the Danube ~ Donauwellen by Iosif Ivanovici
Yearning for Love ~ Adagio from Pathétique by Ludwig van Beethoven

This collection features five charming, nostalgic songs from the late 1800?s and early 1900?s. These classic songs are still popular today and often used in weddings, receptions, and other romantic celebrations. Their tender and heart-warming lyrics paired with the dreamy and flowing or upbeat and dancing tunes remind listeners of days gone by and the many fond memories of love.

These arrangements are the perfect addition to the performing pianist?s repertoire whether used in a recital or as part of a Valentine?s Day, wedding, or anniversary celebration. Senior and retirement center residents especially enjoy hearing these beloved songs from the "good old days."

Each song is also available separately with accompanying preview pages and audio samples.

Titles included in this collection:
Daisy Bell (Bicycle Built for Two)
I Love You Truly
In the Good Old Summer Time
Let Me Call You Sweetheart
Oh, Promise Me

Need more piano songs for the intermediate student? Here are sixteen original songs written by Kathi Kerr at Melody Music Publishers. Each song gives a rundown of what is taught and to look out for.

Thalberg (1812-1871) was a renowned piano virtuoso and composer. His technical specialty, since widely imitated, was to play a central melody with the thumb of either hand and surrounding it with brilliant arpeggios and arabesques.

Sigismond Thalberg was one of the most famous and most successful piano composers of the 19th century. During the 1830s and the 1840s his style was a major force in European piano-playing. He was greatly in fashion and was imitated by others. In 1852, Wilhelm von Lenz wrote:

'The piano playing of the present day, to tell the truth, consists only of Thalberg simple, Thalberg amended, and Thalberg exaggerated; scratch what is written for the piano, and you will find Thalberg.'

Ten years later, in 1862, a London correspondent of the Revue et gazette musicale wrote:

'Nobody in fact has been so much imitated; his manner has been parodied, exaggerated, twisted, tortured, and it may have happened more than once to all of us to curse this Thalbergian school'.
Expressions like "exaggerated", "twisted" and "tortured" indicate that some contemporaries were starting to feel jaded of his style. It was at this time when Thalberg's career as composer and as virtuoso came to an end.

In the late 19th century, Thalberg's fame had come to depend on his association with a single piano technique, the 'three-hand effect'. Carl Friedrich Weitzmann, in his Geschichte des Klavierspiels (1879), wrote about this.

'His bravura pieces, fantasies on melodies from Rossini's Mosè and La donna del lago, on motifs from Bellini's Norma and on Russian folk-songs, became extraordinarily popular through his own, brilliant execution; however, they treat their subjects always in one and the same way, [namely] ... to let the tones of a melody be played in the medium octave of the keyboard now by the thumb of the right, now of the left hand, while the rest of the fingers are executing arpeggios filling the whole range of the keyboard'.

Composed by Natalie Rebecca Lovejoy. 21st Century, Post-Romantic. Score, Sheet Music Single. 9 pages. Published by 193rd Street Music Publishing.

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