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 Mos� 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'.

Koroboneiki, the 19th-century Russian folk song commonly known as the Tetris theme song, arranged for piano.

Here's how to play the famous Russian folk song "Kalinka" (Калинка) on piano!

With these piano sheets, you can play all parts of "Kalinka".
It's a beautiful arrangement of the whole piece which is not too hard to play, and sounds fantastic.

"Kalinka" is arguably the most famous traditional Russian folk song. It was written in 1860 by Ivan Larionov (Ива́н Петро́вич Ларио́нов).

Today, it's known all over the world!


Here are the lyrics to "Kalinka":

Russian:
Калинка, калинка, калинка моя!
В саду ягода малинка, малинка моя!
Ах, под сосною, под зеленою,
Спать положите вы меня!
Ай-люли, люли, ай-люли, люли,
Спать положите вы меня.

Pronounciation:
Kalinka, kalinka, kalinka moya!
V sadu yagoda malinka, malinka moya!
Akh, pod sosnoyu, pod zelenoyu,
Spat' polozhite vy menya!
Ay-lyuli, lyuli, ay-lyuli, lyuli,
Spat' polozhite vy menya.

Translation:
Little red berry, red berry, red berry of mine!
In the garden (there is) a berry - little raspberry, raspberry of mine!
Ah, under the pine, the green one,
Lay me down to sleep,
Oh-swing, sway, Oh-swing, sway,
Lay me down to sleep.

This solemn meditation is based on Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," which he conceived as a peace song. He revised and heavily promoted it in the impending gloom before America entered World War II, and it reflects his gratitude as a Jewish refugee from Russian persecution for a free nation that allowed him to rise from poverty to prominence. This arrangement was conceived as a Memorial Day tribute to fallen and wounded warriors. It is solemn and reflective, rather than boisterous and exuberant. Use it in connection with any national holiday.