Heralding Spring on the Piano

 While many famous "Spring" works are orchestral (like Vivaldi's Spring concerto or Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring), several classical composers wrote quintessential piano pieces that specifically herald the season through light, fluttering textures and bright melodies. 

Edvard Grieg’s lyric piece "To Spring" (Til Våren) is perhaps the most iconic piano miniature for the season. It features shimmering high-register arpeggios that mimic the sound of melting snow and rushing waterfalls in the Norwegian countryside.

Christian Sinding’s most famous work, "Rustle of Spring" (Frühlingsrauschen), was a staple of early 20th-century piano parlors. It is characterized by fast, sweeping arpeggios in the right hand that create a sense of restless anticipation and the "rustling" of new growth.

Felix Mendelssohn’s "Spring Song" (from Songs Without Words, Op. 62, No. 6) is celebrated for its cheerful, optimistic melody and playful rhythms, embodying the feeling of hope associated with new beginnings.

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s piano cycle The Seasons, the months of March ("Song of the Lark") and April ("Snowdrop") directly herald the transition. While "March" retains a slight winter chill with an introspective birdcall melody, "April" is a delicate waltz evoking the first flowers breaking through the earth.

Nikolai Medtner, who was a friend of Rachmaninoff, wrote a charming piece titled "Primavera" as part of his Forgotten Melodies, Op. 39, which captures the season's vibrancy. 

Robert Schumann’s Scenes from Childhood and other piano works are often associated with the freshness of the season.

Claude Debussy’s piano music frequently employs "impressionist" colors, echoing the spirit of springtime renewal, pianistsmusings.com mentions.

 

Autumn Leaves of Notes

Autumn offers a subtle mix of weather and somberness. Here are some composers and their works related to autumn:

• Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky: 

  His "October, Autumn Song" is a programmatic piano piece from The Seasons, a set of twelve character pieces representing each month of the year. 
• Fanny Mendelssohn: 

  Her piano cycle Das Jahr ("The Year") features pieces for each month; "September," "October," and "November" specifically evoke autumnal moods. 
• Antonio Vivaldi: 

  While primarily for violin and orchestra, his famous "Autumn" from The Four Seasons (1723) is the quintessential programmatic piece capturing the season. 
• Joseph Haydn: 

  His oratorio The Seasons includes a section on "Autumn," reflecting the composer's musical portrayal of the season and its joys. 
• Jules Massenet: 

  He wrote songs, including the piece "Pensée d'automne" ("Thoughts in Autumn"), which conveys the passing of time and fading memories. 
• Edvard Grieg: 

  Composed an overture In Autumn, which features many elements found in his orchestral and piano works. 

Flitting Pianos

 

Several well-known piano pieces capture the essence of butterflies. 

Schumann’s Papillons, Op. 2 was inspired by a masquerade ball and the dancing figures. It evokes the whimsical nature of butterflies with its light and joyful character.

Chopin’s Butterfly Etude” is characterized by its fast, light, and intricate melody, creating a sense of the butterfly's delicate movement. 

Grieg’s “Butterfly” is a short and beautiful piece that captures the essence of a butterfly's flight as it moves from flower to flower. 

Debussy’s” Les Papillons” was written to be sung by a soprano, inspired by Théophile Gautier's poem of the same name. 

Saariaho’s Sept Papillons, a set of seven short pieces, is a more contemporary take on the theme, with each piece representing a different butterfly and its unique characteristics. 

May your fingers and your heart flutter as you play these delightful piano pieces.

Classical Piano June Composers

 Happy June birthday to the following classical composers of piano music who were born in June! Tomoko has played the pieces of several of these famous musicians.

Mikhail Glinka was born June 1, 1804, in Novospasskoye, Russia. He is known as the father of Russian classical music. As a child, the first music he heard were church bells (which he didn’t like) and folk songs, which influenced his compositional style, particularly his art songs.

Robert Schumann was born June 8, 1810, in Zwickau, Germany. He wanted to have a career as a virtuoso pianist, but a hand injury dashed that dream. The musical world benefitted as he became a renown composer for piano; in fact, he wrote exclusively for the piano until 1840.

Richard Strauss was born June 11, 1864, in Munich, Germany. He bridged the late Romantic and early modern styles. He is famous for his lieder tone poems piano compositions.

Edward Grieg was born June 15, 1843, in Bergen, Norway. He was both a concert pianist and composer of the Romantic era. His mother was his first piano teacher.

Igor Stravinsky was born June 17, 1882, in Lomonosov, Russia. He is most known for his Firebird suite, The Rite of Spring, Petrushka, and is 1924 Sonata for piano. After his Russian phase, her transitioned to a more austere neoclassical style.

Charles Gounod was born June 18, 1818, in Paris, France. He is best known for his Ave Maria and his “Funeral March of a Marionette,” which was used as the theme song for the TV show Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

Johann Christoph Friedrich Bach was born June 21, 1732, in Leipzig, Germany. He was Johann Sebastian Bach’s ninth son. He wrote mainly keyboard compositions: for sonatas, choir pieces, oratorios, motels, operas, and songs.

Classical Pop

Tomoko’s heart lies in classical music. It comes alive in her hands on the piano. Classical piano music also comes alive in the hands of contemporary composers, who have inspired enough to adapt their music to their own pieces.

The opening of the final movement of Italian composer 17^th century Clementi’s Sonatina in G minor, Op. 36, No. 5 echoes in Phil Collins' “A Groovy Kind of Love.”

Billy Joel credited Beethoven's Pathétique Sonata in his album An Innocent Man for the chorus of “This Night.” Joel stated that his classical training has impacted his compositions.

When Yoko Ona played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata, John Lennon asked her to play the chords backwards, which resulted in the basis of “Because.”

Barry Manilow thought he had created impressive chords when composing “It Could It Be Magic,” when he realized that he had been playing Chopin's Prelude in C Minor No. 20 earlier that day. Chopin's chords moved from Manilow's subconscious to his writing instrument.

Pop music Ted Mossman based the song “Till the End of Time” (lyrics by Buddy Kaye) on Chopin's Polonaise in A flat major, Op. 53. Singing is as a softer, reflective piece, Perry Como made it a hit tune. The song's introduction is a direct echo of Chopin's composition.

Robbie Williams' “Party like a Russian” duplicates the hard beat of Prokofiev's “Dance of the Knights.”

To the classical year, Eric Carmen's “All by Myself” immediately recalls Rachmaninov's Piano Concerto No.2 in C minor, including the melancholy feeling.

Hiphop rapper Nas sampled Beethoven's Für Elise in his performance of “I Can.”

Electronic music has sampled the classics too, as exemplified by Alan Walker ad Sophie Simmons' s “Lovesick.” The tune's chorus transforms Brahms’s Hungarian Dance No. 5. for the current audience.

AND a Broadway musical example is Rodgers and Hammerstein's tune “March of the Siamese Children,” inspired by Grieg's Wedding Day at Troldhaugen.

So if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then several classical composers are indeed complimented.

Here Comes the Bridal Piano

 

In the US, June has been the traditional month for weddings. Music is also a traditional part of weddings, and piano piece figure largely. Here is a sampling, all written by composers whom Tomoko admires.

The traditional standard wedding piece is Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Opus 61: IX. Wedding March.  It is often performed in the movies (perhaps because it is in the public domain). A less known wedding choice composed by Mendelssohn, but very endearing, is his “On Wings of Song.”

Tomoko’s favorite piano composer, Mozart, wrote “Serenade, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik, K 525: II. Romanza-Andante.“ Its stately, measured pace give the wedding ceremony sweet gravitas. To set a more lively yet majestic tone, the wedding couple might choose Mozart’s overture to The Marriage of Figaro. Or if the couple wants to exult, they can always choose Mozart’s “Alleluja” from Exsultate, Jubilate, K 165.

Planning an elegant and sophisticated wedding? Then Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Arioso” would set the tone. Tomoko appreciates his timeless structure and use of chords.

Beethoven’s love letter in music, “Fur Elise,” resonates even today, and couples can affirm their own requited love. Tomoko knows that this famous piano piece may serve as a rite of passage for aspiring piano players.

“Claire de lune” from Debussy’s Suite Bergamasque is another favorite (as is Debussy for Tomoko). Its dreamy soft theme creates a lovely background for weddings.

Another romantic choice is Saint-Saens’ “The Swan” from his Carnival of the Animals. Its almost melancholy tone that resolves into a major key reflects the transition from singlehood to couplehood.

Another favorite composer of Tomoko, Edvard Grieg, is known for his “Wedding Day at Troldhauen, Opus 65, No. 6.” It bears a surprising resemblance to The King and I’s “March of the Siamese Children.”

For the bride’s entrance, Strauss’s Radetzky March” Opus 228 makes a bold statement. Strauss’s “Blue Danube” evokes the spirit of Vienna. And while waltzes are not the usual fare at wedding receptions, imagine how lovely the bride and groom would look if this were their first dance.

Tomoko also enjoys the dance music of Brahms. His piece “Hungarian Dance No. 5 in G Minor” strikes a special chord for Tomoko as she married a Hungarian.

Romantic June

The month of June is often associated with romance and weddings. Tomoko was born in June, the same month as several of her favorite composers of the Romantic age.

Mikhail Glinka. (born June 1, 1804 in Russia) was the first Russian composer to be well known in his country, creating operas, orchestral works, chamber music, art songs, along with piano pieces. For years his composition "Patrioticheskaya Pesnya" was the country’s national anthem.

Robert Schumann (born June 8, 1810 in Germany) intended to become a virtuoso pianist, but instead he became known as one of the greatest Romantic era composers. For years, he wrote only piano pieces; later he added other orchestral instruments to his compositions and write many lieder.

Richard Strauss (born June 11, 1864 in Germany) wrote his first composition at age six and continued composing music into his eighties. He represents later German Romanticism. He is best known for his operas, but also wrote tone poems, lieder, orchestral works, chamber works, and solo pieces. Straus also made live-recording play piano rolls.

Edvard Grieg (born June 15, 1843 in Norway) made Norwegian music famous and helped develop its national identity, especially when he based his compositions on Norwegian folk music. Grieg was the cournty’s leading Romantic composers.  Professionally, he started as a concert pianist, but was inspired by Norwegian composers he met to write his own music, including piano pieces.

The Music of Rain

 

Tomoko appreciates nature, and can hear its music in the wind and rain. Many composers whom Tomoko enjoys have also been inspired by the rain, as the following classical works demonstrate.

Chopin was supposedly moved by a dream in which he was drowning – or by rain falling on his roof – to write his Prelude Opus 20 No. 15: “Raindrop Prelude.”

Debussy leveraged new advances in the piano in his work Estampes: “Gardens in the Rain” as he employed new types of finger to capture the rapidity and frenetic sound of spring showers.

Schubert’s Winterreise: “Flood” is based on Wilhelm Muller’s poems of loneliness journeying across a stormy landscape. The piece combines piano and voice to set the desolate tone.

Also employing piano and voice, Grieg’s Six Songs: “Spring Rain” shows how falling chords can imitate cascading raindrops.

Britten’s Canticle III: “Still Falls the Rain” uses piano, horn and tenor to express the stormy horrors of London’s Blitz war. More well known is Britten’s opera for children Noye’s Fludde, which includes sound effects for rain.

We all need a little rain to appreciate the sunshine. And we can enjoy the rain more with these piano pieces.

Summery Piano

 

Piano playing knows no season. However, any season has more flavor when savored by playing a seasonal piano piece. Here are ten evocative summery pieces to enjoy.

Benjamin Britten: Holiday Diary. An evocative seaside holiday

Claude Debussy. “Voiles” from Preludes Book 1. A sensory musical expression of breezy sails

Gabriel Fauré. Three Songs, Opus 18 No. 1 “Nell.”: an art song with the sun as a recurring symbol

Edvard Grieg. Lyric Pieces, Book 10 Opus 71, No. 2 “Summer Evening”: A quick sketch of a tranquil Norwegian summer evening

Ernest Moeran. Summer Valley: A pastoral sense of Britain and Ireland

Francis Poulenc. Napoli: A three-movement suite that captures the spirit of an Italian summer evening

Ned Rorem. End of Summer: A chamber piece for piano, clarinet and violin that expresses the sensitivity of summer’s end

William Grant Still. “Summerland”: an almost mesmerizing summer day on the plains

Joseph Suk. A Summer’s Tale, Opus 29: a tone poem of a moody summer day

Pyotr Tchaikovsky. “June,” Barcarolle from The Seasons: sixth of a 12-movement piano piece;it depicts a gondola ride

Animal Music

 

               Tomoko appreciates the sound of animals: birds chirping at dawn in her garden and even donkeys braying in a Rumanian field. “He had a special way of braying,” Tomoko remembers. “I felt sorry for the little fellow because he was separated from his mother.”  

               Piano composers have also been inspired by animals as evidenced in the pieces they have written. Such allusions date back to the 18^th century with Luis-Claude Daquin’s 1735 harpsichord suite, which includes “The Cuckoo.”

               Several of Tomoko’s favorite composers captured the essence of animals in their compositions. For instance, Chopin’s famous “Minute Waltz” was originally titled “Waltz of the Little Dog,” a piece that aimed to musically describe George Sand’s dog.  

               Another Tomoko favorite, Edvard Grieg, musically painted an assortment of animals. Lyric Pieces, Book 3, Op. 43, No. 4 is “Little Bird.” In his collection 25 Norwegian Folksongs and Dances, Op. 17, Grieg features a cow, a pig, a snake, a fly, and a horsefly.

               Continuing in the 20^th century, Tomoko favorite Oliver Messiaen was not only a composer but also an ornithologist. Messiaen transformed 13 bird songs into his piano collection Catalog of the Birds, each piece reflecting each unique bird and the French region in which it lived.

               Francis Poulenc, another 20^th century composer favorite of Tomoko, wrote The History of Babar, the Little Elephant for piano and narrator.

               At the other end of the animal spectrum, at least in size, is Aaron Copland’s piano composition The Cat and the Mouse. Even though the piece is atonal, the overall sound reminds the listener of animated cartoons. Another 20^th century composer who featured cats in his piano works is Bohuslay Martinu’s composition “Procession of the Cats on Solstice Night.”

               All of these animal piano works enables the pianist to perform more eloquently than kittens on the keyboard.

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For Freedom and Independence

 

In July several countries celebrate the spirit of freedom and independence: National Canada Day on July 1, the U.S. Independence Day on July 4, France’s Bastille Day on July 14, to name a few. Such patriotic fervor has long time roots. And it reverberates today as much as ever in our hearts.

 Tomoko places a high value on freedom and independence. She was a very brave young woman seeking opportunity when she left Japan for the United States, and she was worked hard as an independent woman, breaking ground as the first Asian woman teacher at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, for instance.

Composers have also revered freedom and independence through their piano music.

One of Tomoko’s favorite composers, Frederic Chopin, was one of the first composers to incorporate nationalistic elements into his compositions: mainly through the folk idiom of his mazurkas and polonaises.

Another Polish composer, Ignacy Jan Paderewski, was also inspirited by Polish folk music such as his Polish Fantasy for piano and orchestra. Paderewski became a diplomat and spokesman for Polish independence.

The founder of the Russian national school of composition, Mikhail Glinka highlighted Russian culture in his subjects and melodies, as exemplified in his Capriccio on Russian themes for piano duet.

Czech composer Antonin Dvorak also drew on his native Slavic folk dance forms in his piano duet piece Slavonic Dances. Moravian and other Eastern European traditional music forms also inspired him.

Another one of Tomoko’s favorite composers, Franz Liszt, was known as a Hungarian nationalist. In that vein, he based his Hungarian Rhapsodies for piano  on traditional  art songs performed by Romani band.

Following Liszt’s model, Hungarian Bela Bartok, was inspired by Magyar folk melodies, which were well times with his society’s interested in traditional nature culture. An interesting example are 80 folk tunes collected in the two-volume set For Children.

Edvard Grieg helped create a national identity through his compositions, which were inspired by Norwegian folk music. Grieg recorded many of his own piano works.  

Finlandia is the ultimate patriotic song, composed by Jean Sibelius.

Tomoko enjoys the freedom and independence that are expressed in these European piano composers. In that respect, their value of traditional musical form expresses a sense of communal  culture and independence that transcends any nationalism.

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