Check our posts

The second piece for piano from a suite of 10 pieces entitled “Histoires”, by the French composer Jacques Ibert.
The pieces sound as vivid as they did in the days they were written. They were written over a period of ten years, from 1912 to 1922, when Ibert lived in Rome. Some of the pieces were inspired by the sights of Spain, Italy and Tunisia, where Iber traveled.
“The Little White Donkey” (Le petit âne blanc), written in the key of F-sharp major, is suitable for intermediate level performers and is known for its staccato texture, conveying the donkey's trot in the left hand. Test

A work by French composer Jules Massenet, one of the most famous examples of the musical genre of elegy.

This composition was originally written as a piano piece and included in Massenet's 1866 cycle “Genre Pieces” (Op. 10) as number 5. Then, while working on the music for Leconte de Lisle's drama Les Erinyes (staged a year later) in 1872, Massenet arranged the Elegy for cello; in the production of the play, the elegy was performed in the second act and represented Electra's sad song; In 1876, Massenet published the entire cycle of music for de Lille's drama in an arrangement for a large symphony orchestra. Finally, the famous French librettist and Massenet's regular collaborator Louis Gallé wrote lyrics (Ô, doux printemps d'autrefois) to this melody. This is how the vocal version came about (later, Charles Ives also wrote his own romance to the same words by Gallé). Subsequently, many other arrangements appeared, such as Jacques Boche's arrangement for guitar.

A Russian version of the text was written (apparently by A. Santagano-Gorchakova) at the request of Russian singer Fyodor Shalyapin, but it only vaguely resembles Halle's original. In Russia, and indeed throughout the rest of the world, this work is known primarily thanks to Shalyapin's recording. A contemporary critic, in particular, regards Montserrat Caballé's performance of this work as a competition with Chaliapin:

Connoisseurs of serious music are well acquainted with Massenet's “Elegy” performed by the famous Russian bass. Caballé, however, offered her own interpretation of this work. “Gentle sadness, elegant melancholy, shaded by sound ‘veils’, and to all this — a slight hint of salon style,” is how one Russian art critic comments on Massenet's “Elegy” performed by Montserrat Caballé. “With Chaliapin, everything is different, completely different. No sadness, only passion and expression, not the slightest hint of ‘salon-like’ elegance.” Who is right — the late Fyodor Chaliapin, who brilliantly interpreted Massenet's score, or the still-living Montserrat Caballé, who did not wish to imitate the genius by extracting burning dramatic passions from a salon-lyrical piece? It seems that only a complete amateur could answer this question unequivocally.

At the same time, Massenet's Elegy was also recorded by Enrico Caruso (1913), Marian Anderson, Giuseppe di Stefano, Rosa Ponselle, Alfredo Kraus, Nikolai Gedda, Aris Christofellis, Plácido Domingo, and other performers.

The cycle of piano pieces "Poetic Pictures" ("Poetiske Tonebilde" in Norwegian) was composed by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg in 1863. This collection consists of six short pieces, each of which conveys a particular poetic mood or image inspired by nature, poetry and the author's personal experiences.

Each piece is an independent miniature work with a distinct emotional colouring. In them Grieg uses a wealth of harmonies, expressive melody and characteristic rhythms. The music conveys a variety of moods: from tender lyricism to dramatic scenes, from thoughtfulness to playfulness.
"Poetic Pictures" became an important part of Grieg's work, demonstrating his skill in creating imaginative musical scenes and conveying poetic moods through music. This cycle also shows his interest in national themes and nature motifs.

The cycle of piano pieces "Poetic Pictures" ("Poetiske Tonebilde" in Norwegian) was composed by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg in 1863. This collection consists of six short pieces, each of which conveys a particular poetic mood or image inspired by nature, poetry and the author's personal experiences.

Each piece is an independent miniature work with a distinct emotional colouring. In them Grieg uses a wealth of harmonies, expressive melody and characteristic rhythms. The music conveys a variety of moods: from tender lyricism to dramatic scenes, from thoughtfulness to playfulness.
"Poetic Pictures" became an important part of Grieg's work, demonstrating his skill in creating imaginative musical scenes and conveying poetic moods through music. This cycle also shows his interest in national themes and nature motifs.

The cycle of piano pieces "Poetic Pictures" ("Poetiske Tonebilde" in Norwegian) was composed by the Norwegian composer Edvard Grieg in 1863. This collection consists of six short pieces, each of which conveys a particular poetic mood or image inspired by nature, poetry and the author's personal experiences.

Each piece is an independent miniature work with a distinct emotional colouring. In them Grieg uses a wealth of harmonies, expressive melody and characteristic rhythms. The music conveys a variety of moods: from tender lyricism to dramatic scenes, from thoughtfulness to playfulness.
"Poetic Pictures" became an important part of Grieg's work, demonstrating his skill in creating imaginative musical scenes and conveying poetic moods through music. This cycle also shows his interest in national themes and nature motifs.

Stefan Geller (1813-1888) was an outstanding Hungarian Romantic composer of Jewish origin, a talented pianist and teacher.

He wrote his 25 melodic études for piano in 1844. They are intended for intermediate students and serve as an introduction to the revised edition of L'art de phraser, Op. 16. The set of 25 melodic études is listed in the catalog as Op. 45 and was revised in 1888 (with formal revisions).

The career of Johann Christian Bach, the youngest son of Johann Sebastian, followed in a general way the same route as that of Handel: Germany to Italy to England. Arriving in England in 1762, three years after Handel's death, J. C. Bach established himself as a popular composer of operas and instrumental works in an early Classical style. It was early in his London years that he was visited by the eight year old Mozart, who was greatly influenced by his music. Mozart's earliest piano concertos were arrangements of Bach's keyboard sonatas, and he esteemed "the London Bach" throughout his life.

Bach's concertos that make up his Opus 7 were published in 1770 under the title Six Concertos for the Harpsichord or Piano Forte with Accompaniments for Two Violins & a Violoncello. In that transitional time between the harpsichord and the piano, it was not uncommon to advertise works as being for either instrument. On the one hand, it could increase sales to people who did not yet have the new pianos, but it also reflected the fact that the piano had not yet developed an idiomatic style distinct from that of the harpsichord.

The fugue was composed by Russian composer Alexander Arensky as part of the collection "Six Children's Pieces for Piano for Four Hands" in 1894. This composition is a prime example of his interest in Russian folk music and symmetrical fugal technique. Arensky used folk melodies to create a rich and expressive fugue, combining traditional Russian motifs with modern musical devices. The work is characterized by rich harmony and masterful development of the theme, reflecting his deep respect for Russian culture and his mastery of the fugue's compositional technique.

"«In the summer of 1935, at the same time as «Romeo and Juliet», I was composing light pieces for children, in which my old love of sonatinity was awakened, reaching here, as it seemed to me, full childishness. By the fall I had a dozen of them, which then came out in a collection called «Children's Music», Op. 65. The last of the pieces, «The Month Walks over the Meadows», was written on its own, not a folk theme. I lived then in Polenov, in a separate hut with a balcony on the Oka River, and in the evenings I used to admire how the month walked through meadows and meadows. The need for children's music was clearly felt…», - writes the composer in his «Autobiography»."

(V. Delson, “Prokofiev’s Piano Works and Pianism”)

"The piece, with its broad Russian songfulness and soft coloring, reminds us once again of Prokofiev's great lyrical gift and the soil of his melodism. The music of this charming piece is saturated with genuine humanity, purity and nobility of feeling. Subsequently, the author used it as the theme of love between Katerina and Danila in the ballet The Tale of the Stone Flower, making it one of the most important leitmemes of the entire ballet."

(V. Delson, “Prokofiev’s Piano Works and Pianism”)

"Unlike a number of his other marches, Prokofiev in this case did not go down the path of grotesque or stylization. There is no element of puppetry here (as, for example, in Tchaikovsky's "March of the Wooden Soldiers"), the piece quite realistically depicts children marching. The children's “March”, Op. 65 was widely disseminated and became a favorite piece of the Russian piano repertoire for children."

(V. Delson, “Prokofiev's Piano Works and Pianism”)

"The play is close in style to Tarantella. It is written in the character of a quick sketch. One can imagine the children enthusiastically catching up with each other, the atmosphere of a merry, moving children's game".

(V. Delson, “Prokofiev's Piano Works and Pianism”)