Schubert's Piano

Sheds new light on Schubert's close engagement with the piano in composition and performance, and its role in early nineteenth-century Vienna.

Matthew Gardner (Edited by), Christine Martin (Edited by)

9781316515365, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 17 October 2024

378 pages
25 x 17.6 x 2.6 cm, 0.8 kg

'a consistently fine collection…' Geoffrey Block, The Quarterly Journal of the Music Library Association

The piano features prominently in Schubert's musical output throughout his career, not only as an instrument for solo piano pieces (for two and four hands), but also in Lieder and chamber music as an equal partner to the voice or other instruments. His preference for the instrument is reflected in contemporary reports by his friends and colleagues as well as in iconography, where he is frequently depicted at the piano. In early nineteenth-century Vienna the piano underwent a rapid period of development, allowing composers to experiment with expanded ranges, sonorities and effects that differ substantially from modern concert grands. Schubert's Piano considers the composer's engagement with this instrument in terms of social history, performance and performance practices, aesthetics, sonority and musical imagery, and his approaches to composition across several musical genres, stimulating new insights into the creative interplay among Schubert's piano compositions.

List of figures
List of tables
List of music examples
Notes on contributors
Acknowledgements
Abbreviations and conventions
Introduction Matthew Gardner and Christine Martin
Part I. The Piano In Schubert's World: 1. Franz Schubert as a pianist Andrea Lindmayr-Brandl
2. Between society and solitude: Schubert's improvisations Lorraine Byrne Bodley
3. The piano in Schubert's lied texts Andreas Dorschel
4. Schubert's four-hand piano music Thomas Christensen
Part II. Instruments and Performance: 5. Schubert and the Viennese piano Matthew Gardner
6. Performing simultaneous triplets and dotted rhythms in Schubert's piano music David Rowland
7. Viennese pianoforte treatises as reflection of Schubert's pianistic audience Mario Aschauer
Part III. Sound and Musical Imagery: 8. Schubert as balladeer Laura Tunbridge
9. The piano and musical imagery in Schubert's lieder Marjorie Hirsch
10. Franz Schubert, death, and the gothic Joe Davies
11. Una corda: Beethoven's and Schubert's exploration of the piano's sonority as a structural resource Hans-Joachim Hinrichsen
Part IV. Understanding Schubert's Writing for the Piano: 12. Schubert and the style brillant: variation and figuration in Schubert's concertante chamber music with piano Christine Martin
13. Rethinking development and variation in Schubert՚s last piano sonatas: what do the drafts and final versions reveal? Anne M. Hyland
14. Reflections and echoes in Schubert's waltzes James William Sobaskie
15. 'Schubert would have no objection if he knew about it': Franz Liszt's reception of Schubert's music Andrea Wiesli
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Classical music [c 1750 to c 1830 AVGC4]