Category: Music
CHAPTER PAGE I The Pianoforte 29 II Bach's Service to Music 48 III From Fugue to Sonata 78 IV Dawn of the Romantic Period 100 V Chopin, the Poet of the Pianoforte 116 VI Schumann, the "Intimate" 134 VII Liszt, the Giant among Virtuosos 142 VIII With Paderewski--A Modern Pianis...
CHAPTER PAGE I The Pianoforte 29 II Bach's Service to Music 48 III From Fugue to Sonata 78 IV Dawn of the Romantic Period 100 V Chopin, the Poet of the Pianoforte 116 VI Schuman...
2. Part 2"In households where there is no pianoforte we seem to breathe a foreign atmosphere," says Oscar Bie, in his history of the instrument and its players; and he adds with perfect...
3. Part 3When the fingers strike the keys the hammers strike the strings, the force of the stroke depending upon the force exerted by the player, this being the distinguishing merit of t...
4. Part 4But, to return to Bach and the other contrapuntists, music owes them an immense debt on the technical side. And right here, so universal are the deductions that can be drawn fro...
5. Part 5The king had purchased several of the pianofortes recently constructed by Gottfried Silbermann and had them distributed throughout the palace. Bach and the assemblage went from...
6. Part 6I already have pointed out that while pianoforte and orchestra have developed side by side, the general belief that the pianoforte merely has been the handmaiden of the orchestr...
7. Part 7Because, however, Beethoven wrote thirty-two pianoforte sonatas and because he was for many years the all-dominating figure in the musical world, every great composer who came a...
8. Part 8A pianist hardly can go amiss in making his selection from the twenty-seven Etudes, for the contrasts which he can effect are obvious, and there is among these compositions not...
9. Part 9and the whole ends in a merry uproar. He wrote another carnival suite, Opus 26, the "Faschingschwank aus Wien," in which he introduced a suggestion of the "Marseillaise," which...
10. Part 10Liszt never was in this country, but we can gain some idea of the success that would have been his from the triumphs of Ignace Paderewski. Other famous pianists have come to thi...
11. Part 11Berlioz composed on a colossal scale, so colossal that his music has been called architectural. The "Dies Irae" in his "Requiem" calls for four brass bands, in four different co...
12. Part 12People usually associate the brass instruments with noise. But as a matter of fact, wonderfully rich and soft tone effects can be produced on the brass by a composer who knows h...
13. Part 13Richard Strauss--a new name to conjure with in music! His banner is borne by a band of enthusiasts like those who, many years ago, carried the flag of Wagner to the front. "Did...
14. Part 14During his advanced school years, his piano lessons continued, he received lessons in the violin, and went through a severe course in composition with the Royal Kapellmeister, M...
15. Part 15His physical disabilities were pitiable. When he was about thirty-three years old and shortly after his marriage, he was standing in the Halle railway station when a locomotive...
16. Part 16Next to "The Messiah," "Elijah" probably is the most popular of oratorios, and I think this is due to its dramatic value, and to the fact that its descriptive music, instead of...
17. Part 17Wagner was a great dramatist, but he was a far greater musician. There are many splendid scenes and climaxes in the dramas which he wrote for his music, and if he had not been a...