Robert Schumann was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber groups, orchestra, choir and the opera. His works typify the spirit of the Romantic era in German music.
Clara Josephine Schumann was a German pianist, composer, and piano teacher. Regarded as one of the most distinguished pianists of the Romantic era, she exerted her influence over the course of a 61-year concert career, changing the format and repertoire of the piano recital by lessening the importance of purely virtuosic works. She also composed solo piano pieces, a piano concerto, chamber music, choral pieces, and songs.
The Piano Concerto in A minor, Op. 54, by the German Romantic composer Robert Schumann was completed in 1845 and is the composer's only piano concerto. The complete work was premiered in Dresden on 4 December 1845. It is one of the most widely performed and recorded piano concertos from the Romantic period.
Joseph Joachim was a Hungarian violinist, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely regarded as one of the most significant violinists of the 19th century.
The Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44, by Robert Schumann was composed in 1842 and received its first public performance the following year. Noted for its "extroverted, exuberant" character, Schumann's piano quintet is considered one of his finest compositions and a major work of nineteenth-century chamber music. Composed for piano and string quartet, the work revolutionized the instrumentation and musical character of the piano quintet and established it as a quintessentially Romantic genre.
Sigismond Thalberg was an Austrian composer and one of the most distinguished virtuoso pianists of the 19th century.
Cyclic form is a technique of musical construction, involving multiple sections or movements, in which a theme, melody, or thematic material occurs in more than one movement as a unifying device. Sometimes a theme may occur at the beginning and end ; other times a theme occurs in a different guise in every part.
The Piano Sonata in B minor, S.178, is a single movement piano sonata by Franz Liszt. Liszt completed the work during his time in Weimar, Germany in 1853, a year before it was published in 1854 and performed in 1857. He dedicated the piece to Robert Schumann, in return for Schumann's dedication to Liszt in his Fantasie in C major, Op. 17. A typical performance of this piece lasts around 30 minutes.
Carnaval, Op. 9, is a work by Robert Schumann for piano solo, written in 1834–1835 and subtitled Scènes mignonnes sur quatre notes. It consists of 21 short pieces representing masked revelers at Carnival, a festival before Lent. Schumann gives musical expression to himself, his friends and colleagues, and characters from improvised Italian comedy. He dedicated the work to the violinist Karol Lipiński.
The Piano Sonata No. 2 in B♭ minor, Op. 35, is a piano sonata in four movements by Polish composer Frédéric Chopin. Chopin completed the work while living in George Sand's manor in Nohant, some 250 km (160 mi) south of Paris, a year before it was published in 1840. The first of the composer's three mature sonatas, the work is considered to be one of the greatest piano sonatas of the literature.
Song of Love is a 1947 American biopic film about the relationship between renowned 19th-century musicians Clara Wieck Schumann and Robert Schumann. The film, which also stars Robert Walker and Leo G. Carroll, was directed by Clarence Brown and released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Ivan Tors, Irma von Cube, Allen Vincent, and Robert Ardrey co-authored the screenplay, which was based on a play by Bernard Schubert and Mario Silva.
While a concerto is generally a piece for an instrument or instruments with orchestral accompaniment, some works for piano alone have been written with the seemingly contradictory designation concerto for solo piano.
Blumenstück in D-flat, Op. 19, is a piano work by Robert Schumann, written in 1839. Blumenstück is a series of short, connected and thematically related episodes, of which the second forms a recurring refrain while undergoing changes in both key and mood. It is considered to reflect the amorous human activities with which flowers are associated, rather than as depictions of flowers themselves. The piece takes between six and seven minutes to play.
Conrad Graf was an Austrian-German piano maker. His pianos were used by Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, and Robert and Clara Schumann, among others.
The Beethoven Monument is a large bronze statue of Ludwig van Beethoven that stands on the Münsterplatz in Bonn, Beethoven's birthplace. It was unveiled on 12 August 1845, in honour of the 75th anniversary of the composer's birth.
Christian Ludwig Schuncke was a German pianist and composer, and close friend of Robert Schumann. His early promise was eclipsed by his death from tuberculosis at the age of 23.
Bunte Blätter, Op. 99, is a collection of piano pieces by Robert Schumann assembled from earlier unpublished pieces after the success of the Album for the Young , Op. 68. Upon publication the pieces were issued both as a complete set and individual pieces, the latter in differently colored covers.
The Piano Sonata No. 3 in F minor, Op. 14, called "Concerto for piano without orchestra" by Tobias Haslinger, was composed by Robert Schumann in 1836 and dedicated to Ignaz Moscheles, to whom in a letter he comments "what crazy inspirations one can have". Liszt believed that the work was rich and powerful. In 1853 Schumann revised the work and added a Scherzo as a second movement, which the performer could choose to play, or not play. In 1861 it was released into the hands of Johannes Brahms.
Bernhard Ruchti is a Swiss pianist, organist, composer and music researcher.
