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...

By Nicolas Horvath. By Robert Orledge and Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Rediscoverd Debussy. Christmas. Score. Musik Fabrik #MFCD017A. Published by Musik Fabrik

By Claude Debussy (1862-1918). Arranged by Jonathan Robbins. For easy piano. Late Beginner - Early Intermediate. Book and accompaniment CD

Piano - Grade 5

SKU: FA.MFCD017B

By Nicolas Horvath. By Claude Debussy and Robert Orledge. Rediscoverd Debussy. Christmas. Score. Musik Fabrik #MFCD017B. Published by Musik Fabrik (FA.MFCD017B).

8.27 x 11.69 inches.

Contains Le Roi Lear: Prelude,Premiere Fanfare, and La Mort de Cordelia,Toomai des elephants, Rodrigue et Chimene: Prelude a l'acte 1p. Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien: La Passion , and No-ja-li ou Le Palais du Silence

From Robert Orledge's notes:

My interest in the wonderful music of Claude Debussy began in the 1980s when I researched and published a book with Cambridge University Press entitled Debussy and the Theatre. During the course of my studies in Paris, I was amazed to discover that Debussy planned over 50 theatrical works but only finished two of these entirely by himself (the opera Pelleas et Melisande in 1893-1902 and the ballet Jeux for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in 1912-13). Of the rest, many were never started musically (like Siddartha and Orphee-roi with the Oriental scholar Victor Segalen, 1907); some had a few tantalising sketches (like the Edgar Allan Poe opera Le Diable dans le beffroi, 1902-03); some were half-finished (like his other Poe opera La Chute de la Maison Usher, 1908-17); while others were musically complete but had their orchestrations completed by other composers (like Khamma, by Charles Koechlin, 1912-13; or Le Martyre de Saint Sebastien and La Boite a joujoux by his 'angel of corrections' ['l'ange des Corrections'] Andre Caplet in 1911 and 1919 respectively).

For it has to be admitted that what some scholars call Debussy's 'compulsive achievement' could equally well be viewed as laziness, especially as far as the minute detail required for calligraphing his orchestral scores was concerned. It was as if creating the music itself was of greater importance than controlling its final sound, even if Debussy was an imaginative orchestrator when he found the time and energy to do it. It also seems true that Debussy also preferred inventing ideas to turning them into complete pieces. However, despite the lack of detail in many of his sketches (missing clefs, key signatures, dynamics, phrasing, etc.) the notes themselves are surprisingly accurate, whether or not they can be compared with a later draft. Thus, a large number of sketches exist for his Chinese ballet No-ja-li ou Le Palais du Silence and it is not too difficult to see which parts of Georges de Feure's 1913 scenario (see below) inspired which ideas. But Debussy hardly made any attempt to join them together after the first few bars.

It was usually up to his publisher, Jacques Durand, to find solutions when Debussy risked a breach of contract. Debussy was supposed to supervise the orchestrations completed by others, but this supervision was usually very light and restricted to quiet, sensitive moments in which problems were easier to spot. Far from jealously guarding every one of his created notes, as Ravel did, Debussy once even went as far as to ask Koechlin to 'write a ballet for him that he would sign' on 26 March 1914 when he was hard-pressed to fulfil his lucrative contract for No-ja-li with Andre Charlot at the Alhambra Theatre in London. In the end, Debussy (through Durand) sent Charlot the symphonic suite Printemps instead, whose orchestration had been completed by Henri Busser in the Spring of 1912.

So, when I was offered early retirement as Professor of Music at Liverpool University in 2004, I seized the opportunity it would give me to spend time trying to reconstruct some of Debussy's lost potential masterpieces from his existing sketches and drafts--then orchestrating them in Debussy's style when this was appropriate. I had begun this mission in 2001 with the most promising project, the missing parts of Scene 2 of La Chute de la Maison Usher and the sheer joy it gave me at every stage persuaded me to tackle other projects, especially when Debussy experts were unable to identify exactly where I took over from Debussy (and vice versa) in Usher.

Piano

SKU: BO.B.3305

Composed by De Larrocha Granados. Published by Editorial de Musica Boileau (BO.B.3305).

ISBN 9788480206792.

Engl ish comments:
Given that Granados' creative periods continually overlap, in order to organize the works of Granados' Juvenilia this edition has grouped the works according to their chronological-biographica l order and/or to their style. The majority of the works in this section were composed between his student years in Paris (1887-1889) and the founding of the Academia Granados in 1901. Many of these works are quite similar to one another being sketches and brief compositions characterised by an unfocused formal structure, harmonic ambiguity and a tendency to place the final cadence on the dominant. The fact that many of these works were not highly developed would tend to suggest that they were never revised by the composer. Typical of a young composer focusing on his own personal inspirations, Granados concentrated on themes of nature, oriental motifs, exploration of emotions, frequently making use of the salonnier (salon) genre.

Comentarios del Espanol:
Para organizar la edicion de los apartados correspondientes a las obras juveniles de Granados se ha partido de los criterios cronologico - biograficos y de estilo dado que, aunque los periodos creativos del compositor se mezclan continuamente, la mayor parte de las obras de este apartado fueron escritas entre su etapa de estudiante en Paris y la fundacion de la Academia Granados en 1901 y, a pesar de presentar una gran heterogeneidad entre ellas, se trata de esbozos y breves composiciones caracterizadas por una estructura formal poco destacada, marcada por la ambiguedad armonica y por una tendencia a colocar la cadencia final en la dominante. La poca elaboracion de la mayor parte de estas obras delata que probablemente ni tan siquiera fueran revisadas posteriormente por el compositor. Todas ellas son propias de un compositor joven y responden a los temas propios del momento como son la naturaleza, los motivos orientales o la exaltacion de los sentimientos. El recurso al genero salonnier (obras de salon) y las dedicatorias a senoras y senoritas son tambien recursos propios de la epoca.

Piano - Grade 4

SKU: FA.MFCD007PN

By Nicolas Horvath. By Claude Debussy and Robert Orledge. Rediscoverd Debussy. Classical, Impressionistic. Score. Musik Fabrik #MFCD007PN. Published by Musik Fabrik (FA.MFCD007PN).

8.27 x 11.69 inches.

Debussy's friendship with the versatile poet and playwright Gabriel Mourey began in 1899, and in July 1907 Mourey offered Debussy a libretto based on Le roman de Tristan - Joseph Bedier's adaptation of a twelfth-century Breton romance by the Anglo-Norman poet known as Thomas - which had recently been published in Paris. Debussy enthusiastically outlined the four-act plot to Victor Segalen that October, and the main differences from Wagner's Tristan und Isolde are that none of the action takes place in Cornwall and that Isolde of the White Hands is found guilty of cuckolding King Marc with Tristan, who has to rescue her from the leper colony in which she is abandoned in Act 1. She also betrays him when he goes mad at the end.

The idea of a Tristan that restored its 'legendary character' and had no connections with Wagner, appealed to Debussy, who was extremely moved by the circumstances of Tristan's death. Even if he thought that Mourey's poetry was 'not very lyrical and many passages do not exactly invite music', he did work on the libretto and the music that summer and sent his publisher, Jacques Durand, 'one of the 363 themes for the Roman de Tristan' in a letter sent from Pourville on 23 August, 1907. The present prelude grows from this theme, together with the poignant Breton folksong Le Faucon. After a short atmospheric introduction, Debussy's dance-like theme (which is definitely not a leitmotif) gradually gains momentum and after it reaches its ecstatic climax, representing the transient happiness of the lovers, it dissolves into an expressive coda and an elegiac close (all growing from Debussy's opening, off-stage trumpet calls), leaving us with the ultimate tragedy of their ill-fated affair.

Unfortunat ely, Mourey's actual libretto has been lost and the project eventually foundered because Bedier's cousin, Louis Artus, wanted Debussy to use the scenario he had prepared and copyrighted for the stage, and would not allow him to proceed with Mourey's version. Debussy, it need hardly be said, would never have dreamed of collaborating with the author of the vaudeville hit La culotte (The pants)!

By Various. For Piano/Keyboard. Piano Solo Songbook. Softcover. 400 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

Piano

SKU: HL.48025368

7 Pieces for Piano. Composed by Simon Laks. BH Piano. Classical. Softcover. Bote & Bock #M202538654. Published by Bote & Bock (HL.48025368).

UPC: 196288194293.

Simon Laks (1901-1983), who moved from Warsaw to Paris in 1926 at the age of 25, belonged to the large group of composers from Central and Eastern European countries who went down in 20th-century music history as the “École de Paris”. Slavic temperament amalgamated in their music with French esprit, the folklore of their native countries combined with the stylistic elements of neoclassicism and jazz typical of the time. As a member of the “Association of Young Polish Musicians”, Laks quickly made his way into French musical life. However, his career was ended with the beginning of World War 2 due to the collaboration of the Vichy government with Nazi Germany. Internment in 1941 was followed by deportation to Auschwitz in 1942. Laks survived the Shoah as a member and later leader of a camp band in Birkenau, which he testified to in his moving book Music in Auschwitz. After the traumatic experiences, Laks did not return to regular compositional activity until the 1960s, producing an opera, songs, and chamber music works, some of which were awarded important composition prizes. At the peak of this optimistic creative phase, he composed incidental music for Peretz Hirschbein's famous Yiddish comedy Dem Schmids Techter (The Blacksmith's Daughters), which premiered in New York in 1918, for a new production of the play at the Théâtre de l’Entrepôt in Paris. Along with Prokofiev's Overture on Hebrew Themes and Shostakovich's cycle From Yiddish (Jewish) Folk Poetry, it is one of the most significant 20th-century explorations of art music with Jewish folklore – homage to a culture irreparably destroyed. From the original score, Holger Groschopp compiled two suites, for violoncello and piano and piano solo, that capture the essence of Lak's enchanting drama music. The premiere recording of the suites with Holger Groschopp and Adele Bitter was awarded the Opus Klassik 2023 in the category Editorial Achievement of the Year.

By Jane Smisor Bastien. Edited by Lisa Bastien, Lori Bastien. Bastien Piano. Level: Book A,1. Music Book. Published by Neil A. Kjos Music Company.

Piano (Piano Solo)

SKU: HL.48025031

Piano. Composed by Simon Laks. BH Piano. Classical. Softcover. 16 pages. Bote & Bock #M202534854. Published by Bote & Bock (HL.48025031).

UPC: 196288019954. 9.0x12.0x0.129 inches.

Simon (Polish: Szymon) Laks, born in Warsaw in 1901, had worked in Paris since 1926, where he stood out as one of the most importantrepresentatives of Polish modernism in the context of the Groupe de Six and the Ecole de Paris. Promoted by Szymanowski and inspiredby Ravel, he amalgamated neoclassicism of French provenance with elements of Polish folk music tradition and influences from jazz. Laks work was dramatically interrupted by internment and deportation. He survived Auschwitz as a member and leader of a camp chapel, to which he gave poignant testimony in his book Music in Auschwitz (978-3-7931-4082-5). The piano pieces, which were createdindependently of one another and are summarized as a cycle in this volume, reflect the stylistic range of Laks oeuvre, his typical juggling with the levels E and U and his own profound sense of humor. Simon Lak's 'oeuvre, which is attracting increasing international attention, is published exclusively by Boosey & Hawkes.

10 Inventive Settings of Timeless Hymns. Composed by William Phemister. Arranged by William Phemister. Piano Collection; Piano Supplemental; Worship Resources. Sacred Performer Collections. Hymn; Sacred. Book. 40 pages. Alfred Music #00-48597. Published by Alfred Music

Piano

SKU: BR.EB-9385

Composed by Nicolaus A. Huber. Solo instruments; stapled. Edition Breitkopf. Music post-1945; New music (post-2000). Score. Composed 1976. 12 pages. Duration 15'. Breitkopf and Haertel #EB 9385. Published by Breitkopf and Haertel (BR.EB-9385).

ISBN 9790004188552. 12 x 9 inches.

Darabukka ist eine arabische Vasentrommel - heute vorzugsweise vom fahrenden Volk gebraucht - die zwei Klange erzeugt: einen hohen und einen tiefen (+ hohen). Durch Abdecken der unteren Offnung verschwindet der tiefere Klang, und der hohere bleibt allein ubrig. Diese Eigenschaften sind auf das Klavier ubertragen: 1. Die Taste wird wie eine Trommel behandelt, und alle moglichen Finger- und Handkombinationen werden zur Rhythmus-Instrumentation herangezogen. 2. Durch subharmonische Teilschwingungen wird der Tastenton zusatzlich klanglich aufgebrochen. Ihre Klangfarben unterliegen den Rhythmusmodellen. 3. Ich habe dieses Stuck von verschiedenen Volks-Musiken gelernt, und am Ende erklingt eine Solidaritats-Klangaktion fur das Volk von Chile: ,,El pueblo unido jamas sera vencido! - ,,Das Volk wird niemals besiegt werden, wenn es einig ist. In Darabukka wird mit drei verschiedenen Struktur- und Klang-Charakteren gearbeitet. Unter den vielen Techniken der Rhythmuskomposition ist vielleicht die der rhythmischen Modulation am interessantesten: Durch Umdeutung einer Dauer kann von einem Modell x zu einem Modell y ubergeleitet werden. (Nicolaus A. Huber, 1976) CDs: Kristine Scholz CD Alice musicproduction ALCD 011 Catherine Vickers CD Koch Aulos 3-1817-2 Bibliografie: Dudda , Friedrich: Nicolaus A. Hubers ,,Darabukka, in: Feedback Papers 15, Koln 1978, S. 19-21. Schick , Tobias Eduard: Weltbezuge in der Musik Mathias Spahlingers (Beihefte zum Archiv fur Musikwissenschaft, Band 80), Stuttgart; Franz Steiner 2018, dort S. 97-99

World premiere: Paris, March 14, 1977.

Piano

SKU: HL.49045458

Book/CD. Composed by Elisabeth Volkers. This edition: Hardback/Hard Cover. Book with CD. Piano. A wonderful Mozart book for children to read to others, to read to oneself and to look at.For children aged 6+. Classical. Softcover with CD. 48 pages. Schott Music #ED22661. Published by Schott Music (HL.49045458).

ISBN 9783795710941. German. Christine Kleicke.

Thekla, the portable piano of the Mozart family, now gathering dust in a dark loft and remembering past - and better - times, has a lot to tell: when Wolfgang made his first composition attempts on the piano and father Leopold made the first great concert tours with Wolfgang and his sister Nannerl in a coach, about the concert performance of the children before Empress Maria Theresia in Vienna (1762), about the trip to Paris and the rough crossing to England, and, finally, about the return to Salzburg in 1766. Mozart is described as a boy who has quite ordinary problems, who gets homesick on his trips and who longs for friendship. In addition, the book gives a short preview of his further musical oeuvre.Numerous - sometimes full-page - pictures as well as an illustrated history of his life paint a colourful portrait of Mozart. With the help of a map, the reader can even follow Mozart's travel route.

Piano - easy

SKU: HL.49019113

Piano. Composed by Jean-Baptiste Duvernoy. Edited by Hans-Gü and nter Heumann. This edition: Saddle stitching. Sheet music. Edition Schott. Classical, Educational. Softcover. Op. 176. 40 pages. Schott Music #ED21315. Published by Schott Music (HL.49019113).

ISBN 9790001181778. UPC: 884088699321. 9.0x12.0x0.171 inches.

'san-Baptis te Duvernoy (1800-1880) was a French pianist, composer, and professor of piano at the Conservatoire de Paris. A composer of more than 300 works, he is primarily known for his studies, including the opus 176 Elementary Studies, which were written for beginner's lessons on the piano. Duvernoy's studies intentionally lack technical sophistication making them a suitable complement to Czerny etudes. The lack of technical rigor allows students the latitude to focus on expression, lyricism and tone production...With clearly notated articulation and dynamic markings, the student has the opportunity to experience music making on a number of levels...Looking at the music itself the quality and mindfulness of Schott's typography is self-evident. Through careful spacing, most of the studies fit well on a single page.--American Music Teacher.

Edited by Dan Fox. Collection for solo piano. 52 Best-Loved Compositions by the Finest Composers. 128 pages. Published by Alfred Publishing.

Piano - Grade 4

SKU: FA.MFHM004

By Nicolas Horvath. By Helene de Montgeroult. Edited by Paul Wehage. Historical Music by Women Composers. Classical, Classical. Score. Musik Fabrik #MFHM004. Published by Musik Fabrik (FA.MFHM004).

210 x 297 inches.

An important bridge between the Classical and Romantic periods, Helene de Montgeroult was the first female professor at the Paris Conservatory. As recorded by Nicolas Horvath for Grand Piano.

Piano - Grade 3

SKU: FA.MFHM008

Composed by Helene de Montgeroult. Edited by Paul Wehage. Historical Music by Women Composers. Classical, Classical. Score. Musik Fabrik #MFHM008. Published by Musik Fabrik (FA.MFHM008).

210 x 297 inches.

An important bridge between the Classical and Romantic periods, Helene de Montgeroult was the first female professor at the Paris Conservatory. As recorded by Nicolas Horvath for Grand Piano.

Composed by Georges Auric, Louis Durey, Arthur Honegger, Darius Milhaud, Francis Poulenc, and Germaine Tailleferre. Edited by Carl Simpson. For Piano. Book; Masterworks; Piano Collection. Dover Edition. 20th Century; Masterwork. Advanced; Early Advanced; Intermediate; Late Intermediate. Published by Dover Publications

Piano

SKU: BR.BG-962

Easy Compositions for Piano. Composed by Bohuslav Martinu. Solo instruments; stapled. Edition Gerig. Romantic; Early modern. Score. 20 pages. Breitkopf and Haertel #BG 962. Published by Breitkopf and Haertel (BR.BG-962).

ISBN 9790004131916. 9 x 12 inches.

The present collection consists of a number of petty compositions most of which are within easy reach by young pianists of an intermediate technical level. In a lot of compositions for pianoforte, Mr Martinu has had himself inspired by children's world; he has been very close to children's imagination in a few cycles of miniatures for piano, especially in his three books of Puppets, as well as in Fables, Compositions for Children etc. Even his compositions of simple instrumental stylization possess a musical invention and an interesting musical description, such as the merry onomatopoeic trifle A Procession of Cats at Solstice Night. Little Eve's Composition and Contemplation, both of which were published in 1935 and 1936 in the music supplement to the magazine Eva, are educationally and musically priceless for young pianists with whom they arouse a sense for a modern expression. A touching meditation for piano are the Recollections, a small recital composition of 1957, commemorating the 10th anniversary of the death of the Brno composer Vaclav Kapral. lt is dedicated both to his and his gifted daughter Vitezslava Kapralova's memory. Prelude and another composition without name are two remarkable achievements of young Mr Martinu. Even without looking at the date of origin, 1924, it may be easily recognized from the character of music that they are congenial to the recent stimulations of the Paris avantgarde of the twenties-both rhythmically and harmonically.

The Complete Resource for All Pianists. Composed by Various. Piano Solo Songbook. Softcover. 208 pages. Published by Hal Leonard

Piano

SKU: HL.48025503

Piano. Composed by Jacques Offenbach. Edited by Jean-Christophe Keck. BH Piano. Classical. Softcover. 28 pages. Bote & Bock #M202538807. Published by Bote & Bock (HL.48025503).

ISBN 9783793145776. UPC: 196288300458.

Offen bach, who came to Paris at the age of 14, gave concerts as a cello virtuoso and composed for salons and dance halls before achieving world fame as the inventor of the “Offenbachiade”. However, writing waltzes, mazurkas and polkas not only provided him with a good technical basis, it was also a perfect vehicle for making a name for himself in the Parisian music world. La Jeunesse de Berlin is one of the first waltz suites that Offenbach composed for one of the legendary Parisian entertainment establishments, the “Turkish Garden”. It was only published in a very small edition. Neither biographers nor catalogs mention the charming work. Until the French researcher and collector Jérôme Collomb found a copy of the first edition for piano and thus made this new publication possible.

Piano - Late Intermediate

SKU: FJ.H1022

Composed by Erik Satie. Edited by Edwin Mclean. Masterworks; Piano Collection. FJH Classic Editions. Masterworks. Book. The FJH Music Company Inc #98-H1022. Published by The FJH Music Company Inc (FJ.H1022).

ISBN 9781619282520. UPC: 241444396940. English.

Largely self-taught, Satie was considered an eccentric genius by his colleagues in Paris in the late 1890s. Beautifully engraved, this is an elegant, new edition of Satie's most serenely beautiful piano pieces. Photographs, short biography, notes about this edition and a translation of French terms are included.

(Jazz Piano Solos Series Volume 30). Composed by Cole Porter. For Piano/Keyboard. Piano Solo Songbook. Softcover. 98 pages. Published by Hal Leonard