Chamber Music Piano SKU: CF.PL1056 Composed by Clara Wieck-Schumann, Fran...(+)
Chamber Music Piano
SKU: CF.PL1056
Composed by Clara
Wieck-Schumann, Franz
Schubert, and Robert
Schumann. Edited by
Nicholas Hopkins.
Collection. With Standard
notation. 128 pages. Carl
Fischer Music #PL1056.
Published by Carl Fischer
Music (CF.PL1056).
ISBN 9781491153390.
UPC: 680160910892.
Transcribed by Franz
Liszt.
Introduction
It is true that Schubert
himself is somewhat to
blame for the very
unsatisfactory manner in
which his admirable piano
pieces are treated. He
was too immoderately
productive, wrote
incessantly, mixing
insignificant with
important things, grand
things with mediocre
work, paid no heed to
criticism, and always
soared on his wings. Like
a bird in the air, he
lived in music and sang
in angelic fashion.
--Franz Liszt, letter to
Dr. S. Lebert (1868) Of
those compositions that
greatly interest me,
there are only Chopin's
and yours. --Franz Liszt,
letter to Robert Schumann
(1838) She [Clara
Schumann] was astounded
at hearing me. Her
compositions are really
very remarkable,
especially for a woman.
There is a hundred times
more creativity and real
feeling in them than in
all the past and present
fantasias by Thalberg.
--Franz Liszt, letter to
Marie d'Agoult (1838)
Chretien Urhan
(1790-1845) was a
Belgian-born violinist,
organist and composer who
flourished in the musical
life of Paris in the
early nineteenth century.
According to various
accounts, he was deeply
religious, harshly
ascetic and wildly
eccentric, though revered
by many important and
influential members of
the Parisian musical
community. Regrettably,
history has forgotten
Urhan's many musical
achievements, the most
important of which was
arguably his pioneering
work in promoting the
music of Franz Schubert.
He devoted much of his
energies to championing
Schubert's music, which
at the time was unknown
outside of Vienna.
Undoubtedly, Urhan was
responsible for
stimulating this
enthusiasm in Franz
Liszt; Liszt regularly
heard Urhan's organ
playing in the
St.-Vincent-de-Paul
church in Paris, and the
two became personal
acquaintances. At
eighteen years of age,
Liszt was on the verge of
establishing himself as
the foremost pianist in
Europe, and this
awakening to Schubert's
music would prove to be a
profound experience.
Liszt's first travels
outside of his native
provincial Hungary were
to Vienna in 1821-1823,
where his father enrolled
him in studies with Carl
Czerny (piano) and
Antonio Salieri (music
theory). Both men had
important involvements
with Schubert; Czerny
(like Urhan) as performer
and advocate of
Schubert's music and
Salieri as his theory and
composition teacher from
1813-1817. Curiously,
Liszt and Schubert never
met personally, despite
their geographical
proximity in Vienna
during these years.
Inevitably, legends later
arose that the two had
been personal
acquaintances, although
Liszt would dismiss these
as fallacious: I never
knew Schubert personally,
he was once quoted as
saying. Liszt's initial
exposure to Schubert's
music was the Lieder,
what Urhan prized most of
all. He accompanied the
tenor Benedict
Randhartinger in numerous
performances of
Schubert's Lieder and
then, perhaps realizing
that he could benefit the
composer more on his own
terms, transcribed a
number of the Lieder for
piano solo. Many of these
transcriptions he would
perform himself on
concert tour during the
so-called Glanzzeit, or
time of splendor from
1839-1847. This publicity
did much to promote
reception of Schubert's
music throughout Europe.
Once Liszt retired from
the concert stage and
settled in Weimar as a
conductor in the 1840s,
he continued to perform
Schubert's orchestral
music, his Symphony No. 9
being a particular
favorite, and is credited
with giving the world
premiere performance of
Schubert's opera Alfonso
und Estrella in 1854. At
this time, he
contemplated writing a
biography of the
composer, which
regrettably remained
uncompleted. Liszt's
devotion to Schubert
would never waver.
Liszt's relationship with
Robert and Clara Schumann
was far different and far
more complicated; by
contrast, they were all
personal acquaintances.
What began as a
relationship of mutual
respect and admiration
soon deteriorated into
one of jealousy and
hostility, particularly
on the Schumann's part.
Liszt's initial contact
with Robert's music
happened long before they
had met personally, when
Liszt published an
analysis of Schumann's
piano music for the
Gazette musicale in 1837,
a gesture that earned
Robert's deep
appreciation. In the
following year Clara met
Liszt during a concert
tour in Vienna and
presented him with more
of Schumann's piano
music. Clara and her
father Friedrich Wieck,
who accompanied Clara on
her concert tours, were
quite taken by Liszt: We
have heard Liszt. He can
be compared to no other
player...he arouses
fright and astonishment.
His appearance at the
piano is indescribable.
He is an original...he is
absorbed by the piano.
Liszt, too, was impressed
with Clara--at first the
energy, intelligence and
accuracy of her piano
playing and later her
compositions--to the
extent that he dedicated
to her the 1838 version
of his Etudes d'execution
transcendante d'apres
Paganini. Liszt had a
closer personal
relationship with Clara
than with Robert until
the two men finally met
in 1840. Schumann was
astounded by Liszt's
piano playing. He wrote
to Clara that Liszt had
played like a god and had
inspired indescribable
furor of applause. His
review of Liszt even
included a heroic
personification with
Napoleon. In Leipzig,
Schumann was deeply
impressed with Liszt's
interpretations of his
Noveletten, Op. 21 and
Fantasy in C Major, Op.
17 (dedicated to Liszt),
enthusiastically
observing that, I feel as
if I had known you twenty
years. Yet a variety of
events followed that
diminished Liszt's glory
in the eyes of the
Schumanns. They became
critical of the cult-like
atmosphere that arose
around his recitals, or
Lisztomania as it came to
be called; conceivably,
this could be attributed
to professional jealousy.
Clara, in particular,
came to loathe Liszt,
noting in a letter to
Joseph Joachim, I despise
Liszt from the depths of
my soul. She recorded a
stunning diary entry a
day after Liszt's death,
in which she noted, He
was an eminent keyboard
virtuoso, but a dangerous
example for the
young...As a composer he
was terrible. By
contrast, Liszt did not
share in these negative
sentiments; no evidence
suggests that he had any
ill-regard for the
Schumanns. In Weimar, he
did much to promote
Schumann's music,
conducting performances
of his Scenes from Faust
and Manfred, during a
time in which few
orchestras expressed
interest, and premiered
his opera Genoveva. He
later arranged a benefit
concert for Clara
following Robert's death,
featuring Clara as
soloist in Robert's Piano
Concerto, an event that
must have been
exhilarating to witness.
Regardless, her opinion
of him would never
change, despite his
repeated gestures of
courtesy and respect.
Liszt's relationship with
Schubert was a spiritual
one, with music being the
one and only link between
the two men. That with
the Schumanns was
personal, with music
influenced by a hero
worship that would
aggravate the
relationship over time.
Nonetheless, Liszt would
remain devoted to and
enthusiastic for the
music and achievements of
these composers. He would
be a vital force in
disseminating their music
to a wider audience, as
he would be with many
other composers
throughout his career.
His primary means for
accomplishing this was
the piano transcription.
Liszt and the
Transcription
Transcription versus
Paraphrase Transcription
and paraphrase were
popular terms in
nineteenth-century music,
although certainly not
unique to this period.
Musicians understood that
there were clear
distinctions between
these two terms, but as
is often the case these
distinctions could be
blurred. Transcription,
literally writing over,
entails reworking or
adapting a piece of music
for a performance medium
different from that of
its original; arrangement
is a possible synonym.
Adapting is a key part of
this process, for the
success of a
transcription relies on
the transcriber's ability
to adapt the piece to the
different medium. As a
result, the pre-existing
material is generally
kept intact, recognizable
and intelligible; it is
strict, literal,
objective. Contextual
meaning is maintained in
the process, as are
elements of style and
form. Paraphrase, by
contrast, implies
restating something in a
different manner, as in a
rewording of a document
for reasons of clarity.
In nineteenth-century
music, paraphrasing
indicated elaborating a
piece for purposes of
expressive virtuosity,
often as a vehicle for
showmanship. Variation is
an important element, for
the source material may
be varied as much as the
paraphraser's imagination
will allow; its purpose
is metamorphosis.
Transcription is adapting
and arranging;
paraphrasing is
transforming and
reworking. Transcription
preserves the style of
the original; paraphrase
absorbs the original into
a different style.
Transcription highlights
the original composer;
paraphrase highlights the
paraphraser.
Approximately half of
Liszt's compositional
output falls under the
category of transcription
and paraphrase; it is
noteworthy that he never
used the term
arrangement. Much of his
early compositional
activities were
transcriptions and
paraphrases of works of
other composers, such as
the symphonies of
Beethoven and Berlioz,
vocal music by Schubert,
and operas by Donizetti
and Bellini. It is
conceivable that he
focused so intently on
work of this nature early
in his career as a means
to perfect his
compositional technique,
although transcription
and paraphrase continued
well after the technique
had been mastered; this
might explain why he
drastically revised and
rewrote many of his
original compositions
from the 1830s (such as
the Transcendental Etudes
and Paganini Etudes) in
the 1850s. Charles Rosen,
a sympathetic interpreter
of Liszt's piano works,
observes, The new
revisions of the
Transcendental Etudes are
not revisions but concert
paraphrases of the old,
and their art lies in the
technique of
transformation. The
Paganini etudes are piano
transcriptions of violin
etudes, and the
Transcendental Etudes are
piano transcriptions of
piano etudes. The
principles are the same.
He concludes by noting,
Paraphrase has shaded off
into
composition...Composition
and paraphrase were not
identical for him, but
they were so closely
interwoven that
separation is impossible.
The significance of
transcription and
paraphrase for Liszt the
composer cannot be
overstated, and the
mutual influence of each
needs to be better
understood. Undoubtedly,
Liszt the composer as we
know him today would be
far different had he not
devoted so much of his
career to transcribing
and paraphrasing the
music of others. He was
perhaps one of the first
composers to contend that
transcription and
paraphrase could be
genuine art forms on
equal par with original
pieces; he even claimed
to be the first to use
these two terms to
describe these classes of
arrangements. Despite the
success that Liszt
achieved with this type
of work, others viewed it
with circumspection and
criticism. Robert
Schumann, although deeply
impressed with Liszt's
keyboard virtuosity, was
harsh in his criticisms
of the transcriptions.
Schumann interpreted them
as indicators that
Liszt's virtuosity had
hindered his
compositional development
and suggested that Liszt
transcribed the music of
others to compensate for
his own compositional
deficiencies.
Nonetheless, Liszt's
piano transcriptions,
what he sometimes called
partitions de piano (or
piano scores), were
instrumental in promoting
composers whose music was
unknown at the time or
inaccessible in areas
outside of major European
capitals, areas that
Liszt willingly toured
during his Glanzzeit. To
this end, the
transcriptions had to be
literal arrangements for
the piano; a Beethoven
symphony could not be
introduced to an
unknowing audience if its
music had been subjected
to imaginative
elaborations and
variations. The same
would be true of the 1833
transcription of
Berlioz's Symphonie
fantastique (composed
only three years
earlier), the
astonishingly novel
content of which would
necessitate a literal and
intelligible rendering.
Opera, usually more
popular and accessible
for the general public,
was a different matter,
and in this realm Liszt
could paraphrase the
original and manipulate
it as his imagination
would allow without
jeopardizing its
reception; hence, the
paraphrases on the operas
of Bellini, Donizetti,
Mozart, Meyerbeer and
Verdi. Reminiscence was
another term coined by
Liszt for the opera
paraphrases, as if the
composer were reminiscing
at the keyboard following
a memorable evening at
the opera. Illustration
(reserved on two
occasions for Meyerbeer)
and fantasy were
additional terms. The
operas of Wagner were
exceptions. His music was
less suited to paraphrase
due to its general lack
of familiarity at the
time. Transcription of
Wagner's music was thus
obligatory, as it was of
Beethoven's and Berlioz's
music; perhaps the
composer himself insisted
on this approach. Liszt's
Lieder Transcriptions
Liszt's initial
encounters with
Schubert's music, as
mentioned previously,
were with the Lieder. His
first transcription of a
Schubert Lied was Die
Rose in 1833, followed by
Lob der Tranen in 1837.
Thirty-nine additional
transcriptions appeared
at a rapid pace over the
following three years,
and in 1846, the Schubert
Lieder transcriptions
would conclude, by which
point he had completed
fifty-eight, the most of
any composer. Critical
response to these
transcriptions was highly
favorable--aside from the
view held by
Schumann--particularly
when Liszt himself played
these pieces in concert.
Some were published
immediately by Anton
Diabelli, famous for the
theme that inspired
Beethoven's variations.
Others were published by
the Viennese publisher
Tobias Haslinger (one of
Beethoven's and
Schubert's publishers in
the 1820s), who sold his
reserves so quickly that
he would repeatedly plead
for more. However,
Liszt's enthusiasm for
work of this nature soon
became exhausted, as he
noted in a letter of 1839
to the publisher
Breitkopf und Hartel:
That good Haslinger
overwhelms me with
Schubert. I have just
sent him twenty-four new
songs (Schwanengesang and
Winterreise), and for the
moment I am rather tired
of this work. Haslinger
was justified in his
demands, for the Schubert
transcriptions were
received with great
enthusiasm. One Gottfried
Wilhelm Fink, then editor
of the Allgemeine
musikalische Zeitung,
observed of these
transcriptions: Nothing
in recent memory has
caused such sensation and
enjoyment in both
pianists and audiences as
these arrangements...The
demand for them has in no
way been satisfied; and
it will not be until
these arrangements are
seen on pianos
everywhere. They have
indeed made quite a
splash. Eduard Hanslick,
never a sympathetic
critic of Liszt's music,
acknowledged thirty years
after the fact that,
Liszt's transcriptions of
Schubert Lieder were
epoch-making. There was
hardly a concert in which
Liszt did not have to
play one or two of
them--even when they were
not listed on the
program. These
transcriptions quickly
became some of his most
sough-after pieces,
despite their extreme
technical demands.
Leading pianists of the
day, such as Clara Wieck
and Sigismond Thalberg,
incorporated them into
their concert programs
immediately upon
publication. Moreover,
the transcriptions would
serve as inspirations for
other composers, such as
Stephen Heller, Cesar
Franck and later Leopold
Godowsky, all of whom
produced their own
transcriptions of
Schubert's Lieder. Liszt
would transcribe the
Lieder of other composers
as well, including those
by Mendelssohn, Chopin,
Anton Rubinstein and even
himself. Robert Schumann,
of course, would not be
ignored. The first
transcription of a
Schumann Lied was the
celebrated Widmung from
Myrten in 1848, the only
Schumann transcription
that Liszt completed
during the composer's
lifetime. (Regrettably,
there is no evidence of
Schumann's regard of this
transcription, or even if
he was aware of it.) From
the years 1848-1881,
Liszt transcribed twelve
of Robert Schumann's
Lieder (including one
orchestral Lied) and
three of Clara (one from
each of her three
published Lieder cycles);
he would transcribe no
other works of these two
composers. The Schumann
Lieder transcriptions,
contrary to those of
Schubert, are literal
arrangements, posing, in
general, far fewer
demands on the pianist's
technique. They are
comparatively less
imaginative in their
treatment of the original
material. Additionally,
they seem to have been
less valued in their day
than the Schubert
transcriptions, and it is
noteworthy that none of
the Schumann
transcriptions bear
dedications, as most of
the Schubert
transcriptions do. The
greatest challenge posed
by Lieder transcriptions,
regardless of the
composer or the nature of
the transcription, was to
combine the vocal and
piano parts of the
original such that the
character of each would
be preserved, a challenge
unique to this form of
transcription. Each part
had to be intact and
aurally recognizable, the
vocal line in particular.
Complications could be
manifold in a Lied that
featured dissimilar
parts, such as Schubert's
Auf dem Wasser zu singen,
whose piano accompaniment
depicts the rocking of
the boat on the
shimmering waves while
the vocal line reflects
on the passing of time.
Similar complications
would be encountered in
Gretchen am Spinnrade, in
which the ubiquitous
sixteenth-note pattern in
the piano's right hand
epitomizes the
ever-turning spinning
wheel over which the
soprano voice expresses
feelings of longing and
heartache. The resulting
transcriptions for solo
piano would place
exceptional demands on
the pianist. The
complications would be
far less imposing in
instances in which voice
and piano were less
differentiated, as in
many of Schumann's Lieder
that Liszt transcribed.
The piano parts in these
Lieder are true
accompaniments for the
voice, providing harmonic
foundation and rhythmic
support by doubling the
vocal line throughout.
The transcriptions, thus,
are strict and literal,
with far fewer demands on
both pianist and
transcriber. In all of
Liszt's Lieder
transcriptions,
regardless of the way in
which the two parts are
combined, the melody
(i.e. the vocal line) is
invariably the focal
point; the melody should
sing on the piano, as if
it were the voice. The
piano part, although
integral to contributing
to the character of the
music, is designed to
function as
accompaniment. A singing
melody was a crucial
objective in
nineteenth-century piano
performance, which in
part might explain the
zeal in transcribing and
paraphrasing vocal music
for the piano. Friedrich
Wieck, father and teacher
of Clara Schumann,
stressed this point
repeatedly in his 1853
treatise Clavier und
Gesang (Piano and Song):
When I speak in general
of singing, I refer to
that species of singing
which is a form of
beauty, and which is a
foundation for the most
refined and most perfect
interpretation of music;
and, above all things, I
consider the culture of
beautiful tones the basis
for the finest possible
touch on the piano. In
many respects, the piano
and singing should
explain and supplement
each other. They should
mutually assist in
expressing the sublime
and the noble, in forms
of unclouded beauty. Much
of Liszt's piano music
should be interpreted
with this concept in
mind, the Lieder
transcriptions and opera
paraphrases, in
particular. To this end,
Liszt provided numerous
written instructions to
the performer to
emphasize the vocal line
in performance, with
Italian directives such
as un poco marcato il
canto, accentuato assai
il canto and ben
pronunziato il canto.
Repeated indications of
cantando,singend and
espressivo il canto
stress the significance
of the singing tone. As
an additional means of
achieving this and
providing the performer
with access to the
poetry, Liszt insisted,
at what must have been a
publishing novelty at the
time, on printing the
words of the Lied in the
music itself. Haslinger,
seemingly oblivious to
Liszt's intent, initially
printed the poems of the
early Schubert
transcriptions separately
inside the front covers.
Liszt argued that the
transcriptions must be
reprinted with the words
underlying the notes,
exactly as Schubert had
done, a request that was
honored by printing the
words above the
right-hand staff. Liszt
also incorporated a
visual scheme for
distinguishing voice and
accompaniment, influenced
perhaps by Chopin, by
notating the
accompaniment in cue
size. His transcription
of Robert Schumann's
Fruhlings Ankunft
features the vocal line
in normal size, the piano
accompaniment in reduced
size, an unmistakable
guide in a busy texture
as to which part should
be emphasized: Example 1.
Schumann-Liszt Fruhlings
Ankunft, mm. 1-2. The
same practice may be
found in the
transcription of
Schumann's An die Turen
will ich schleichen. In
this piece, the performer
must read three staves,
in which the baritone
line in the central staff
is to be shared between
the two hands based on
the stem direction of the
notes: Example 2.
Schumann-Liszt An die
Turen will ich
schleichen, mm. 1-5. This
notational practice is
extremely beneficial in
this instance, given the
challenge of reading
three staves and the
manner in which the vocal
line is performed by the
two hands. Curiously,
Liszt did not use this
practice in other
transcriptions.
Approaches in Lieder
Transcription Liszt
adopted a variety of
approaches in his Lieder
transcriptions, based on
the nature of the source
material, the ways in
which the vocal and piano
parts could be combined
and the ways in which the
vocal part could sing.
One approach, common with
strophic Lieder, in which
the vocal line would be
identical in each verse,
was to vary the register
of the vocal part. The
transcription of Lob der
Tranen, for example,
incorporates three of the
four verses of the
original Lied, with the
register of the vocal
line ascending one octave
with each verse (from low
to high), as if three
different voices were
participating. By the
conclusion, the music
encompasses the entire
range of Liszt's keyboard
to produce a stunning
climactic effect, and the
variety of register of
the vocal line provides a
welcome textural variety
in the absence of the
words. The three verses
of the transcription of
Auf dem Wasser zu singen
follow the same approach,
in which the vocal line
ascends from the tenor,
to the alto and to the
soprano registers with
each verse.
Fruhlingsglaube adopts
the opposite approach, in
which the vocal line
descends from soprano in
verse 1 to tenor in verse
2, with the second part
of verse 2 again resuming
the soprano register;
this is also the case in
Das Wandern from
Mullerlieder. Gretchen am
Spinnrade posed a unique
problem. Since the poem's
narrator is female, and
the poem represents an
expression of her longing
for her lover Faust,
variation of the vocal
line's register, strictly
speaking, would have been
impractical. For this
reason, the vocal line
remains in its original
register throughout,
relentlessly colliding
with the sixteenth-note
pattern of the
accompaniment. One
exception may be found in
the fifth and final verse
in mm. 93-112, at which
point the vocal line is
notated in a higher
register and doubled in
octaves. This sudden
textural change, one that
is readily audible, was a
strategic means to
underscore Gretchen's
mounting anxiety (My
bosom urges itself toward
him. Ah, might I grasp
and hold him! And kiss
him as I would wish, at
his kisses I should
die!). The transcription,
thus, becomes a vehicle
for maximizing the
emotional content of the
poem, an exceptional
undertaking with the
general intent of a
transcription. Registral
variation of the vocal
part also plays a crucial
role in the transcription
of Erlkonig. Goethe's
poem depicts the death of
a child who is
apprehended by a
supernatural Erlking, and
Schubert, recognizing the
dramatic nature of the
poem, carefully depicted
the characters (father,
son and Erlking) through
unique vocal writing and
accompaniment patterns:
the Lied is a dramatic
entity. Liszt, in turn,
followed Schubert's
characterization in this
literal transcription,
yet took it an additional
step by placing the
register of the father's
vocal line in the
baritone range, that of
the son in the soprano
range and that of the
Erlking in the highest
register, options that
would not have been
available in the version
for voice and piano.
Additionally, Liszt
labeled each appearance
of each character in the
score, a means for
guiding the performer in
interpreting the dramatic
qualities of the Lied. As
a result, the drama and
energy of the poem are
enhanced in this
transcription; as with
Gretchen am Spinnrade,
the transcriber has
maximized the content of
the original. Elaboration
may be found in certain
Lieder transcriptions
that expand the
performance to a level of
virtuosity not found in
the original; in such
cases, the transcription
approximates the
paraphrase. Schubert's Du
bist die Ruh, a paradigm
of musical simplicity,
features an uncomplicated
piano accompaniment that
is virtually identical in
each verse. In Liszt's
transcription, the
material is subjected to
a highly virtuosic
treatment that far
exceeds the original,
including a demanding
passage for the left hand
alone in the opening
measures and unique
textural writing in each
verse. The piece is a
transcription in
virtuosity; its art, as
Rosen noted, lies in the
technique of
transformation.
Elaboration may entail an
expansion of the musical
form, as in the extensive
introduction to Die
Forelle and a virtuosic
middle section (mm.
63-85), both of which are
not in the original. Also
unique to this
transcription are two
cadenzas that Liszt
composed in response to
the poetic content. The
first, in m. 93 on the
words und eh ich es
gedacht (and before I
could guess it), features
a twisted chromatic
passage that prolongs and
thereby heightens the
listener's suspense as to
the fate of the trout
(which is ultimately
caught). The second, in
m. 108 on the words
Betrogne an (and my blood
boiled as I saw the
betrayed one), features a
rush of
diminished-seventh
arpeggios in both hands,
epitomizing the poet's
rage at the fisherman for
catching the trout. Less
frequent are instances in
which the length of the
original Lied was
shortened in the
transcription, a tendency
that may be found with
certain strophic Lieder
(e.g., Der Leiermann,
Wasserflut and Das
Wandern). Another
transcription that
demonstrates Liszt's
readiness to modify the
original in the interests
of the poetic content is
Standchen, the seventh
transcription from
Schubert's
Schwanengesang. Adapted
from Act II of
Shakespeare's Cymbeline,
the poem represents the
repeated beckoning of a
man to his lover. Liszt
transformed the Lied into
a miniature drama by
transcribing the vocal
line of the first verse
in the soprano register,
that of the second verse
in the baritone register,
in effect, creating a
dialogue between the two
lovers. In mm. 71-102,
the dialogue becomes a
canon, with one voice
trailing the other like
an echo (as labeled in
the score) at the
distance of a beat. As in
other instances, the
transcription resembles
the paraphrase, and it is
perhaps for this reason
that Liszt provided an
ossia version that is
more in the nature of a
literal transcription.
The ossia version, six
measures shorter than
Schubert's original, is
less demanding
technically than the
original transcription,
thus representing an
ossia of transcription
and an ossia of piano
technique. The Schumann
Lieder transcriptions, in
general, display a less
imaginative treatment of
the source material.
Elaborations are less
frequently encountered,
and virtuosity is more
restricted, as if the
passage of time had
somewhat tamed the
composer's approach to
transcriptions;
alternatively, Liszt was
eager to distance himself
from the fierce
virtuosity of his early
years. In most instances,
these transcriptions are
literal arrangements of
the source material, with
the vocal line in its
original form combined
with the accompaniment,
which often doubles the
vocal line in the
original Lied. Widmung,
the first of the Schumann
transcriptions, is one
exception in the way it
recalls the virtuosity of
the Schubert
transcriptions of the
1830s. Particularly
striking is the closing
section (mm. 58-73), in
which material of the
opening verse (right
hand) is combined with
the triplet quarter notes
(left hand) from the
second section of the
Lied (mm. 32-43), as if
the transcriber were
attempting to reconcile
the different material of
these two sections.
Fruhlingsnacht resembles
a paraphrase by
presenting each of the
two verses in differing
registers (alto for verse
1, mm. 3-19, and soprano
for verse 2, mm. 20-31)
and by concluding with a
virtuosic section that
considerably extends the
length of the original
Lied. The original
tonalities of the Lieder
were generally retained
in the transcriptions,
showing that the tonality
was an important part of
the transcription
process. The infrequent
instances of
transposition were done
for specific reasons. In
1861, Liszt transcribed
two of Schumann's Lieder,
one from Op. 36 (An den
Sonnenschein), another
from Op. 27 (Dem roten
Roslein), and merged
these two pieces in the
collection 2 Lieder; they
share only the common
tonality of A major. His
choice for combining
these two Lieder remains
unknown, but he clearly
recognized that some
tonal variety would be
needed, for which reason
Dem roten Roslein was
transposed to C>= major.
The collection features
An den Sonnenschein in A
major (with a transition
to the new tonality),
followed by Dem roten
Roslein in C>= major
(without a change of key
signature), and
concluding with a reprise
of An den Sonnenschein in
A major. A three-part
form was thus established
with tonal variety
provided by keys in third
relations (A-C>=-A); in
effect, two of Schumann's
Lieder were transcribed
into an archetypal song
without words. In other
instances, Liszt treated
tonality and tonal
organization as important
structural ingredients,
particularly in the
transcriptions of
Schubert's Lieder cycles,
i.e. Schwanengesang,
Winterreise a...
Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750), edited by Riemenschneider. For pi...(+)
Composed by Johann
Sebastian Bach
(1685-1750), edited by
Riemenschneider. For
piano. Format: piano solo
book. With piano
reduction, introductory
text, instructional text,
lyrics and performance
notes. Baroque. 184
pages. 9x12 inches.
Published by Schirmer
20 iconic pieces of British classical music specially arranged for intermediat...(+)
20 iconic pieces of
British
classical music specially
arranged for intermediate
piano solo, plus a
pull-out
print of the striking
cover
artwork. Graded Standard
Repertoire; Piano
Collection.
The Piano Player Series.
Classical; Masterwork
Arrangement; Traditional.
Book. Faber Music #12-
0571541690. Published by
Faber
Music
Composed by Various. For Piano/Keyboard. Hal Leonard Fake Books. Classical. Diff...(+)
Composed by Various. For
Piano/Keyboard. Hal
Leonard Fake Books.
Classical. Difficulty:
medium to
medium-difficult.
Fakebook. Melody line,
chord names and lyrics
(on some songs). 413
pages. Published by Hal
Leonard
Chamber Music Piano SKU: PR.140401330 Composed by R. Nathaniel Dett. Edit...(+)
Chamber Music Piano
SKU: PR.140401330
Composed by R. Nathaniel
Dett. Edited by Lara
Downes. 32 pages.
Duration 18 minutes.
Theodore Presser Company
#140-40133. Published by
Theodore Presser Company
(PR.140401330).
ISBN
9781491134412. UPC:
680160684939.
Natha
niel Dett was among
America’s leading
composers in the early
20th century, and
MAGNOLIA SUITE is a
beautiful example of his
rich, hybrid style.
Deeply inspired by the
music and mission of
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor,
Dett’s piano music
springs from the late
Romantic traditions of
florid texture and
embellishment, along with
programmatic titles and
raw emotion. It is
notable for melody
writing inspired by and
paraphrasing
African-American song.
The 18-minute MAGNOLIA
SUITE contains five
movements, any of which
may also be performed
separately. This edition
by Lara Downes provides a
clean, new engraving that
corrects the many errors
and unclear indications
appearing in the
historical
printing. Robert
Nathaniel Dett was born
in a place that was built
on freedom. The little
village of Drummondville,
Ontario was founded by
enslaved Africans
– Dett’s
ancestors among them
– who traveled the
Underground Railroad out
of the American South
into Canada. Their
journey brought them to a
safe haven, a place where
fortunes and futures
could be transformed in
the span of one
generation, to lives full
of new possibilities. You
could call it “the
place where the rainbow
ends,†which is the
title of the last
movement of Dett’s
Magnolia Suite.When Dett
wrote these pieces, he
was a young teacher at
Lane College in
Tennessee, a historically
Black college that had
been founded in 1882, the
year of his birth. A
place built on freedom,
with the purpose of
educating
newly-emancipated slaves
– a place designed
to nurture the blossoming
of ideas, the vibrant
flowering of minds set
free. This music is
inspired by the gorgeous
splendor of the magnolia
blooms on that college
campus, and also by the
shared histories,
experiences, and
aspirations of the
community that Dett found
there.These five pieces
pay affectionate tribute
to lineage and legacy.
They express gratitude
for the bittersweet
beauties of the present;
nostalgia for the past (a
bit romanticized, as the
past always is); and an
effervescent optimism for
the future that awaits us
in the place where the
rainbow ends.
Piano SKU: BT.EMBZ3868 Composed by Franz Liszt. EMB Liszt Works. Book Onl...(+)
Piano
SKU:
BT.EMBZ3868
Composed
by Franz Liszt. EMB Liszt
Works. Book Only.
Composed 2014. 36 pages.
Editio Musica Budapest
#EMBZ3868. Published by
Editio Musica Budapest
(BT.EMBZ3868).
English-German.
The earliest surviving
version of the popular
Valse-Impromptu was
written by Liszt into the
diary of Tsaritsa
Aleksandra Feodorovna on
his visit to St
Petersburg in 1842. This
version appeared in print
the following year as
Petit valse favorite. On
his next visit to Russia,
in 1843, Liszt wrote a
musically and technically
more demanding version
for Countess Marie
Kalergis, a pupil of
Chopin, but this was
never published in the
composer's lifetime. A
final version, similar in
shaping to the second,
appeared in 1853 with the
title Valse-Impromptu.
The present edition
contains the score of all
three versions as
published in the New
Liszt Edition, with the
critical notes to them
andprefaces in English
and German covering all
the main issues of the
work's origin and
interpretation.
Jazz Piano Cocktails * Volume 2 with CD composed by Various. Arranged by Bob Kai...(+)
Jazz Piano Cocktails *
Volume 2 with CD composed
by Various. Arranged by
Bob Kail and Craig
Stevens. For jazz piano.
This edition: Paperback.
Collection. Jazz
Standards. Book and CD.
Text Language: English.
48 pages. Published by
Santorella Publications
Piano SKU: BT.EMBZ14504 EMB Liszt Works. Book Only. Composed 2009. 252 pa...(+)
Piano
SKU:
BT.EMBZ14504
EMB
Liszt Works. Book Only.
Composed 2009. 252 pages.
Editio Musica Budapest
#EMBZ14504. Published by
Editio Musica Budapest
(BT.EMBZ14504).
English-German-Hungari
an.
Volume 9 in the
series of Supplements is
mainly devoted to
hitherto unpublished or
inaccessible works. Apart
from the piano score of
the Berlioz symphony it
contains smaller-scale
late masterpieces
(Excelsior!,
Resignazione), the Album
leaves written in
Woronince in 1847, the
large-scale but
unfinished and not fully
worked out Figaro and Don
Juan fantasia,
incorporating several
Mozart themes, the piano
piece No.1 in A flat
major, two unpublished
works incorrectly
identified up till now by
the special literature,
the Maometto fantasia and
the Siege de Corinthe
(both transcriptions of
Rossini works), and the
volume also includes
three other unpublished
works (the Piano piece in
Fmajor, the Cavatina from
Robert le Diable by
Meyerbeer, and Freudvoll
und leidvoll, written
down for Pauline von
Iwanowska. The Prefaces
preceding the scores,
which give very accurate,
detailed information
about the genesis of the
works, make interesting
reading in themselves,
but their true
significance consists in
the new scholarly
discoveries made by the
editors. Similarly to the
other NLE volumes, both
the cloth-bound (Z.
14504a) version and the
one bound in hard-paper
(Z. 14504) contain in
three languages the
series preface, the
preface to this volume,
and the captions below
the facsimiles, but the
critical notes in English
are to be found only in
the linen-bound edition.
Der Band
enthält neben der
Klavierpartitur der
Symphonie von Berlioz,
kleinere, spätere
Meisterwerke (Excelsior!,
Resignazione), die 1874
in Woronince entstandenen
Albumblätter, die
umfangreichen, mehrere
Mozart-Themen
aufgreifenden, aber
unbeendeten und
unausgearbeiteten Figaro-
und Don
Giovanni-Phantasien, das
schon seit langem
unzugängliche
Klavierstück No. 1 in
As-Dur, zwei von der
Fachliteratur verkannte,
unveröffentlichte
Werke, die
Maometto-Phantasie und
die ‚Siege de
Corinthe' (beide sind
Transkriptionen von
Rossini-Werken) und drei,
ebenfalls bisher nicht
erschienene Stücke,
das Klavierstück in
F-Dur, die Cavatina aus
Meyerbeers ‚Robert
der Teufel' und dasfür
Pauline von Iwanowska
komponierte
‚Freudvoll und
leidvoll'. Das Vorwort,
welches die
Entstehungsgeschichte der
Werke sehr genau und auf
jedes Detail eingehend
vorstellt, ist auch
selbst eine interessante
Lektüre. Seine wahre
Bedeutung machen aber die
neuen wissenschaftlichen
Entdeckungen aus.
Jazz Piano Cocktails * Volume 1 with CD composed by Various. Arranged by Bob Kai...(+)
Jazz Piano Cocktails *
Volume 1 with CD composed
by Various. Arranged by
Bob Kail and Craig
Stevens. For jazz piano.
This edition: Paperback.
Collection. Jazz
Standards. Book and CD.
Text Language: English.
48 pages. Published by
Santorella Publications
Piano SKU: BT.MUSAM39645 The Complete Piano Player. Tuition. Book Only. C...(+)
Piano
SKU:
BT.MUSAM39645
The
Complete Piano Player.
Tuition. Book Only.
Composed 1992. 232 pages.
Music Sales #MUSAM39645.
Published by Music Sales
(BT.MUSAM39645).
ISBN
9780711906723.
English.
All five
books of The Complete
Piano Player series are
published in this single
volume at a substantial
savings over the price of
the five individual
books. Complete with
keyboard chart.
40 Piano Arrangements of Contemporary Christian Favorites. Arranged by Carol ...(+)
40 Piano Arrangements of
Contemporary Christian
Favorites. Arranged by
Carol
Tornquist. Book; Piano
Collection; Piano
Supplemental; Worship
Resources. Contemporary
Christian; Sacred. 136
pages.
Published by Alfred Music
Scott Joplin Reconsidered. Composed by Scott Joplin (1868-1917). Edited by L...(+)
Scott Joplin
Reconsidered.
Composed by Scott Joplin
(1868-1917). Edited by
Lara
Downes. Collection.
Theodore
Presser Company
#440-40028.
Published by Theodore
Presser
Company
(Volumes 1-5, Complete) Written by Kenneth Baker. For piano. Format: instruction...(+)
(Volumes 1-5, Complete)
Written by Kenneth Baker.
For piano. Format:
instructional book. With
standard notation, chord
names, lyrics,
instructional text,
illustrations, fingerings
and pull-out keyboard
chart. Learn to play. 240
pages. 9x12 inches.
Published by Music Sales.
By Dennis Alexander, Gayle Kowalchyk, E. L. Lancaster. Edited by Morton Manus. F...(+)
By Dennis Alexander,
Gayle Kowalchyk, E. L.
Lancaster. Edited by
Morton Manus. For Piano.
Piano Method. Premier
Piano Course. Kit.
Published by Alfred
Publishing.
Piano / keyboard - easy to intermediate SKU: M7.MF-2063-01 6 Chart-Hit...(+)
Piano / keyboard - easy
to intermediate
SKU:
M7.MF-2063-01
6
Chart-Hits: Standing
Still - Jar Of Hearts -
Do You Like What You See
- Ai Se Eu Te Pego (Nossa
Nossa) - Anti Hero (Brave
New World) - Born To Die.
Noten für Klavier und
Keyboard. Mit Play-.
Arranged by Uwe Bye. This
edition: Saddle-wire
stitching. Sheet music
with CD. Music Factory.
CD with MIDI-Files and
Play-Along-Tracks. 32
pages. Music Factory #MF
2063-01. Published by
Music Factory
(M7.MF-2063-01).
ISBN
9783795790394.
Hier
sind die aktuellen Hits
aus dem Frühjahr 2012:
Roman Lob wird
Deutschland mit 'Standing
Still' beim Grand Prix
d'Eurovision in Baku
vertreten, Christina
Perri ist mit ihrer
Ballade 'Jar Of Hearts'
jetzt auch bei uns ein
Star, Ivy Quainoo hat mit
'Do You Like What You
See' den
Castingwettbewerb 'The
Voice of Germany'
gewonnen und Lana Del Ray
ist mit ihrem zweiten Hit
'Born To Die' wieder in
allen Radios präsent.
Seit Wochen die Nr. 1 -
'Ai Se Eu Te Pego (Nossa
Nossa)' von Michel
Teló ist d-e-r Hit des
Frühjahrs und 'Anti
Hero (Brave New World)',
der Nachfolgehit von 'New
Age' beschert Marion
Roudette wieder Heavy
Rotation auf allen
Kanälen. 2 Hefte in
einem: Klavierarrangement
sowie Melodieausgabe
für Klavier, Keyboard,
Gitarre, Gesang, Flöte
oder Violine zum
Herausnehmen. Keyboarder,
Pianisten, Gitarristen
und Sänger werden ihre
Freude daran haben. Alle
MIDI-Files der CD gibt es
auf der Website von
Schott Music auch als
kostenpflichtige
Downloads. Die MIDI-Files
sind in Tonart /
Geschwindigkeit passend
zu den
Top100-Arrangements
optimiert!
Piano SKU: M7.GRG-106126102 Die Klavierschule mit der ABC-Methode....(+)
Piano
SKU:
M7.GRG-106126102
Die Klavierschule mit
der ABC-Methode.
Edited by Margret Feils.
Arranged by Peter Wondra.
This edition:
Klebebindung. Sheet music
with 2 CDs and Online
material. 196 pages.
Edition Melodia #GRG
106126102. Published by
Edition Melodia
(M7.GRG-106126102).
ISBN 9783872523556.
German. Susanne
Thienel.
Die
Klavierschule mit der
ABC-Methode Fu?r
Jugendliche und
Erwachsene, die das
Klavierspiel erst lernen
möchten oder wieder
einsteigen wollen. Durch
ihre aus der Praxis
entwickelte ABC-Methode
kommt man auch ohne
Vorkenntnisse schnell zum
Klavierspiel und zu
ersten Erfolgen. Mit
langsam im
Schwierigkeitsgrad
ansteigenden
Originalkompositionen
sowie Titeln aus Rock,
Blues und Klassik. Alle
107 Titel auf 2 CDs
eingespielt und als
Slow-Down-Vorlage zum
langsamen Mitspielen. Mit
QR-Codes, um schnell und
gezielt zu der passenden
Slow-Version und den
Tutorials zu
gelangen.
Jazz Piano Cocktails * Christmas Edition with CD arranged by Craig Stevens. For ...(+)
Jazz Piano Cocktails *
Christmas Edition with CD
arranged by Craig
Stevens. For jazz piano.
This edition: Paperback.
Collection. Christmas.
Book and CD. Text
Language: English. 48
pages. Published by
Santorella Publications
Edition Without Fingering. Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Ed...(+)
Edition Without
Fingering.
Composed by Johann
Sebastian
Bach (1685-1750). Edited
by
Ullrich Scheideler. Henle
Music Folios. Softcover.
98
pages. G. Henle #HN1593.
Published by G. Henle
Piano (Piano) SKU: HL.50511990 Composed by Ferenc Liszt. Romantic. EMB. (...(+)
Piano (Piano)
SKU:
HL.50511990
Composed
by Ferenc Liszt.
Romantic. EMB. (Suppl.
9). Critical Complete
Edition. Book Only.
Composed 2009. Editio
Musica Budapest #Z14504.
Published by Editio
Musica Budapest
(HL.50511990).
ISBN
9790080145043. 23 x 30 cm
inches. Hungarian,
English, German. Ferenc
Liszt; Adrienne
Kaczmarczyk; Eszter
Mikusi.
Volume 9 in
the series of Supplements
is mainly devoted to
hitherto unpublished or
inaccessible works. Apart
from the piano score of
the Berlioz symphony it
contains smaller-scale
late masterpieces
(Excelsior!,
Resignazione), the Album
leaves written in
Woronince in 1847, the
large-scale but
unfinished and not fully
worked out Figaro and Don
Juan fantasia,
incorporating several
Mozart themes, the piano
piece No.1 in A flat
major, two unpublished
works incorrectly
identified up till now by
the special literature,
the Maometto fantasia and
the Siege de Corinthe
(both transcriptions of
Rossini works), and the
volume also includes
three other unpublished
works (the Piano piece in
F major, the Cavatina
from Robert le Diable by
Meyerbeer, and Freudvoll
und leidvoll, written
down for Pauline von
Iwanowska. The Prefaces
preceding the scores,
which give very accurate,
detailed information
about the genesis of the
works, make interesting
reading in themselves,
but their true
significance consists in
the new scholarly
discoveries made by the
editors. Similarly to the
other NLE volumes, both
the cloth-bound (Z.
14504a) version and the
one bound in hard-paper
(Z. 14504) contain in
three languages the
series preface, the
preface to this volume,
and the captions below
the facsimiles, but the
critical notes in English
are to be found only in
the linen-bound
edition.Territorial
restrictions may apply.
Please ask before
ordering.
Piano SKU: BT.EMBZ20083 Urtext (1932-1939). Composed by Bela Barto...(+)
Piano
SKU:
BT.EMBZ20083
Urtext
(1932-1939). Composed
by Bela Bartok. Arranged
by Yusuke Nakahara. EMB
Music of Bela Bartok.
Educational Tool. Book
Only. Composed 2021. 72
pages. Editio Musica
Budapest #EMBZ20083.
Published by Editio
Musica Budapest
(BT.EMBZ20083).
English-Hungarian.
Bartók's
Mikrokosmos has been one
of the milestones in
pedagogical piano
repertoire for 80 years -
and yet it is also far
more than a classical
piano primer. These 153
piano pieces, organized
in ascending order of
difficulty, engage not
only with technical
aspects of piano playing
but also with the
fundamentals of
composition - from
Imitation and Inversion,
Ostinato, and Free
Variations, concerning
compositional technique,
to mood pieces and pieces
with programmatic ideas
such as Notturno,
Boating, From the Diary
of a Fly, or the famous
Six Dances in Bulgarian
Rhythm. Mikrokosmos first
appeared in 1940 in six
volumes. Based on volume
40 of the Bartók
CompleteEdition published
in 2020(Z. 15040), the
present Urtext edition
offers the series
gathered in three
volumes. This edition
includes Bartók's
preface, exercises, and
notes written for the
first edition.
Furthermore, it also
features a preface and
comments by the editor,
which not only discuss
the genesis and the
compositional sources but
also provide performers,
teachers and pupils
alike, with authentic and
detailed information
about Bartók's
notation and the specific
performing problems of
Mikrokosmos.
Piano - late intermediate SKU: BT.EMBZ7783 Composed by Charles-Louis Hano...(+)
Piano - late intermediate
SKU: BT.EMBZ7783
Composed by Charles-Louis
Hanon. Studies &
Exercises. Book Only.
Composed 1977. 136 pages.
Editio Musica Budapest
#EMBZ7783. Published by
Editio Musica Budapest
(BT.EMBZ7783).
International.
'
'Learning the piano is so
widespread these days and
good pianists so numerous
that mediocrity on the
instrument can no longer
be accepted. In effect,
the piano must be studied
for eight or ten years
before performance of a
harder piece is
attempted. Few can spare
the years for this. It
takes one hour to play
the volume in full. Once
it has been mastered, it
is enough to set aside
for it a little time each
day and the difficulties
will disappear almost
like magic. Playing will
become as attractive,
accurate, fluent and
pearly as that of the
best performers.'' This
piano method by the
French music teacher
Charles-Louis Hanon
(1819-1900) appeared in
1874, with these
introductory
wordsaddressed to the
realm of pianists. Almost
a century and a half
later, it remains among
the most popular systems
of piano tuition all
around the world, and
Hanon's name has become
generic for systematic
instrumental methods,
even in types of popular
music. The Virtuoso
Pianist appears as a
publication in six
languages: English,
German, French, Italian,
Spanish and Hungarian.
The volume in a
new, decorative cover is
useful to every pianist.
Students with a years
study behind them will
succeed in mastering the
exercises. Advanced
pianists after working
through the exercises
will be able to tackle
even serious
technicaldifficulties. In
the volume different
forms of technical
difficulty are
encountered. The
exercises may be
performed on more than
one piano simultaneously,
so that students become
accustomed to ensemble
playing.
Das
Erlernen des
Klavierspiels ist
gegenwärtig so sehr
verbreitet, und es gibt
so viele gute Pianisten,
dass wir uns auf diesem
Instrument mit
Mittelmäßigkeit
nicht mehr zufriedengeben
können. Das führt
dazu, dass acht bis zehn
JahreKlavierunterricht
erforderlich sind, bevor
wir riskieren können,
ein schwieriges Stück
zu spielen. Es gibt
jedoch nur Wenige, die
dem Erlernen dieses
Instruments so viele
Jahre widmen! Man
benötigt etwa eine
Stunde, um diesen Band
voll und
ganzdurchzuspielen. Wenn
wir uns die Ãœbungen
bereits perfekt
angeeignet haben,
genügt es, sich
täglich nur kurze Zeit
mit ihm zu
beschäftigen, und
unsere Schwierigkeiten
werden wie von
Zauberhandverschwinden:
Unser Spiel wird so
schön, so akkurat,
soleicht und perlend wie
das der hervorragendsten
Künstler.
Jazz Piano Cocktails * Volume 4 with CD composed by Various. Arranged by Craig S...(+)
Jazz Piano Cocktails *
Volume 4 with CD composed
by Various. Arranged by
Craig Stevens. For jazz
piano. This edition:
Paperback. Collection.
Jazz Standards. Book and
CD. Text Language:
English. 48 pages.
Published by Santorella
Publications
Piano SKU: HU.HN593 Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. Edited by Ullrich Scheid...(+)
Piano
SKU: HU.HN593
Composed by Johann
Sebastian Bach. Edited by
Ullrich Scheideler. Piano
and Keyboard, Repertoire,
Solos. French Suites BWV
812-817. Softcover Book.
107 pages. G. Henle
#HN593. Published by G.
Henle (HU.HN593).