This book provides the musician with an invaluable guide to the innovative keyboard works of the genius of the romantic era, Robert Schumann. Complete with thematics, this survey reviews all of his published piano music in order of opus numbers. Each piece is graded according to level of difficulty, and a thorough description is provided. Pertinent historical background and acute critical observation make this book an indispensable tool for the student, teacher, and performing artist.
Selected from works originally published by Breitkopf & Härtel, this collection includes 15 pieces: Intermezzi, Op. 4; Impromptus, Op. 5; Supplement to Op. 13; Romances, Op. 28; Four Marches, Op. 76; and more.
Shattering longstanding myths, this new biography reveals the robust and positive life of one of the nineteenth century's greatest composers This candid, intimate, and compellingly written new biography offers a fresh account of Robert Schumann's life. It confronts the traditional perception of the doom-laden Romantic, forced by depression into a life of helpless, poignant sadness. John Worthen's scrupulous attention to the original sources reveals Schumann to have been an astute, witty, articulate, and immensely determined individual, who--with little support from his family and friends in provincial Saxony--painstakingly taught himself his craft as a musician, overcame problem after problem in his professional life, and married the woman he loved after a tremendous battle with her father. Schumann was neither manic depressive nor schizophrenic, although he struggled with mental illness. He worked prodigiously hard to develop his range of musical styles and to earn his living, only to be struck down, at the age of forty-four, by a vile and incurable disease. Worthen's biography effectively de-mystifies a figure frequently regarded as a Romantic enigma. It frees Schumann from 150 years of mythmaking and unjustified psychological speculation. It reveals him, for the first time, as a brilliant, passionate, resolute musician and a thoroughly creative human being, the composer of arguably the best music of his generation.
(Faber Piano Adventures ). Consists of carefully selected repertoire from the Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Modern periods. Contents: KRIEGER: Minuet in A minor * DUNCOMBE: Fanfare in C Major * LULLY: Minuet in D minor * ANNA MAGDALENA BACH NOTEBOOK: Musette in D Major * Minuet in G Major * Minuet in G minor (PETZOLD) * March in D Major (C.P.E. BACH) * J.C. BACH: Solfeggio in D Major * GOSSEC: Tambourin * HASLINGER: Sonatina in C Major * HAYDN: German Dance in D Major * Minuet in G Major * Allegro in F Major * CLEMENTI: Sonatina in C Major, Op. 36, No. 1 * DIABELLI: Sonatina in G Major, 1st Movement, Op. 168, No. 2 * Rondo for Four Hands, Op. 163, No. 6 * BEETHOVEN: Two German Dances * LEOPOLD MOZART: Allegro in A Major * GURLITT: A Little Flower * BURGMULLER: Arabesque, Op. 100, No. 2 * Ballade, Op. 100, No. 15 * Harmony of the Angels, Op. 100, No. 21 * SCHUMANN: Wild Rider, Op. 68, No. 8 * Melody, Op. 68, No. 1 * ELLMENREICH: Spinning Song, Op. 14, No. 4 * HELLER: Avalanche, Op. 45, No. 2 * REINECKE: Gavotte, Op. 183, No. 1 * REBIKOV: Chinese Figurine * Playing Soldiers, OP. 31, No. 4 * FABER: The Moons of Jupiter * MCKAY: Song of the Range Rider * Cowboy Song * JACOBY: Sonatina
Drawing on previously unpublished sources, this groundbreaking biography of Robert Schumann sheds new light on the great composer’s life and work. With the rigorous research of a scholar and the eloquent prose of a novelist, Judith Chernaik takes us into Schumann’s nineteenth-century Romantic milieu, where he wore many “masks” that gave voice to each corner of his soul. The son of a book publisher, he infused his pieces with literary ideas. He was passionately original but worshipped the past: Bach and Beethoven, Shakespeare and Byron. He believed in artistic freedom but struggled with constraints of form. His courtship and marriage to the brilliant pianist Clara Wieck—against her father’s wishes—is one of the great musical love stories of all time. Chernaik freshly explores his troubled relations with fellow composers Mendelssohn and Chopin, and the full medical diary—long withheld—from the Endenich asylum where he spent his final years enables her to look anew at the mystery of his early death. By turns tragic and transcendent, Schumann shows how this extraordinary artist turned his tumultuous life into music that speaks directly—and timelessly—to the heart.
A fascinating history of the piano explored through 100 pieces chosen by one of the UK's most renowned concert pianists "Tomes . . . casts her net widely, taking in chamber music and concertos, knotty avant-garde masterworks and (most welcome) jazz."--Richard Fairman, Financial Times, "Best Books of 2021: Classical Music" "[One of] the most beautiful books I got my hands on this year. . . . About the shaping of this maddening, glorious, unconquerable instrument."--Jenny Colgan, Spectator, "Books of the Year" An astonishingly versatile instrument, the piano allows just two hands to play music of great complexity and subtlety. For more than two hundred years, it has brought solo and collaborative music into homes and concert halls and has inspired composers in every musical genre--from classical to jazz and light music. Charting the development of the piano from the late eighteenth century to the present day, pianist and writer Susan Tomes takes the reader with her on a personal journey through 100 pieces including solo works, chamber music, concertos, and jazz. Her choices include composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Robert Schumann, Tchaikovsky, Debussy, Gershwin, and Philip Glass. Looking at this history from a modern performer's perspective, she acknowledges neglected women composers and players including Fanny Mendelssohn, Maria Szymanowska, Clara Schumann, and Amy Beach.
The Schumann Marriage diaries provide a vivid portrait of the unique artistic and personal union between two renowned musicians. For the first four years of their marriage, Robert and Clara Schumann kept a joint diary, recording their entries, at least initially, on alternate weeks. Begun on September 13, 1840, the day after their marriage, the diary opens with guidance from Robert: "This little book . . . has a very intimate meaning; it shall be a diary about everything that touches us mutually in our household and marriage." The diaries reflect the harmony as well as the discord in their marriage. Robert and Clara describe in intimate detail their honeymoon period, the births of their children, their busy social lives, travels throughout Europe, financial problems, separations, and reunions. The book also evokes the artistic milieu of nineteenth-century Germany. The Schumanns came in contact with many musicians, including their close friends Felix Mendelssohn and Franz Liszt, and recorded their insightful reactions to the artists and their music. The marriage diaries cover a fertile period in Robert Schumann's life, during which he wrote the Spring Symphony, the Piano Concerto, most of his chamber music, his first oratorio, "Paradise and the Peri, " and numerous songs. They reflect the frenetic pace at which he worked, as well as his growing bouts of depression, his ambivalent response to Clara's decision to return to the concert stage after a prolonged hiatus, and her anxiety in the face of Robert's changing moods. This edition includes the couple's travel book, written during their stressful concert tour of Russia in 1844, which marked the end of the marriage diaries; RobertSchumann's descriptions of Russian customs; and the poems he wrote in Moscow - all of which provide a fascinating and uniquely detailed glimpse at what it was like to travel in Russia at the time.
Robert Schumann, one of the most beloved composers of the Romantic movement, embodied the passion and imaginative spirit of his age. Known for his musical and literary genius and his legendary romance with his wife Clara, Schumann was also plagued with debilitative bouts of depression that led him to live his last days in a German mental asylum. This important new biography recreates the dynamics of this man and his music with unprecedented range, offering new insight into his final years and his lasting musical achievements. Drawing on Schumann's recently published journals, letters, and new research, author Eric Jensen renders a balanced portrait of the composer with both scholarly authority and engaging clarity. Biographical chapters alternate with commentary on Schumann's piano, choral, symphonic, and operatic works, demonstrating how the circumstances of his life helped shape the music he wrote at various periods. Chronicling the forbidden romance of Robert and Clara, Jensen offers a nuanced look at the evolution of their relationship. He also follows Schuman's creative musical criticism, which championed the burgeoning careers of Chopin, Liszt, and Brahms and challenged the musical tastes of nineteenth-century Europe. Most importantly, he presents new evidence that Schumann--locked away in the asylum at Endenich--had returned sufficiently to health to justify his removal from confinement a year before his death. Like the innovations of his final compositions from 1845-1854, his sanity was overlooked and misunderstood by his contemporaries. Jensen corrects the historical record, illuminating the tragedy of Schumann's final days and refuting the common dismissal of his final works as the result of an unstable mind. A significant addition to music literature, Schumann is the first authoritative biography of the composer written for general readers as well as music students and historians.
(Faber Piano Adventures ). Includes a CD of Accompaniments. Contents include: Allegretto (Kohler) * Ancient Dance (Praetorious) * Circle Dance (Beyer) * Country Ride (Kohler) * Echoes (Kohler) * Five-Note Sonatina (Bolck) * The Hero's March (Vogel) * In an Old Castle (Beyer) * Little March (Turk) * Melody (Beyer) * Ponies (Low) * Sonatina (Wilton).
Haydn, Tchaikovsky, and Brahms, oh, my! The beginner's guide to classical music Classical Music For Dummies is a friendly, funny, easy-to-understand guide to composers, instruments, orchestras, concerts, recordings, and more. Classical music is widely considered one of the pinnacles of human achievement, and this informative guide will shows you just how beautiful and rewarding it can be. You'll learn how Bach is different from Beethoven, how Mozart is different still, and why not all "classical" music is actually Classical if it's really Baroque or Romantic. You'll be introduced to the composers and their work, and discover the groundbreaking pieces that shake the world every time they're played. Begin building your classical music library with the essential recordings that define orchestral, choral, and operatic beauty as you get acquainted with the orchestras and musicians that bring the composers to life. Whether you want to play classical music or just learn more about it, Classical Music For Dummies will teach you everything you need to know to get the most out of this increasingly popular genre. Distinguish flute from piccolo, violin from viola, and trumpet from trombone Learn the difference between overtures, requiems, arias, and masses Explore the composers that shaped music as we know it Discover the recordings your music library cannot be without Classical music has begun sneaking into the mainstream — if your interest has been piqued, there's never been a better time to develop an appreciation for this incredibly rich, complex, and varied body of work. Classical Music For Dummies lays the groundwork, and demonstrates just how amazing classical music can be.
