Piano History

1. Piano History • Classical Music Appreciation and the Concerto

2. TED TALKS • Benjamin Zander: The transformative power of classical music. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r9LCwI5iErE

3. The Concerto • From the Italian, meaning to play together. Where we get the word Concert. • A Concerto is a piece of music composed for any solo instrument, accompanied by an orchestra (w/ strings) or wind band (w/o strings). • Concerti (pl) are usually composed in three movements.

4. Cadenza • Cadence comes from the Italian word cadence (or end of a section, like a period) • A cadence is a naturally falling progression of chords which usually ends at the I or V chord. • Each Movement of a concerto ends ends in a cadence.

5. Often the solo performer would go off on a flight of fancy, improvising a long stream of notes and rhythms settling in the final progression. • These cadenzas were not usually written in the music by the composer/ performer but were only put to paper later.

6. Cadenza example • Mozart Piano Concerto No. 17 in G Major https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LREkrrO6Sto

7. Baroque/ Classical Erac. 1600 - c. 1730 • The keyboard instrument was usually played by the conductor (often the composer) who had his back to the audience. • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFfUcQQbwsE = orchestra Keyboard Audience

8. Romantic Erac. 1830 - 1900 • Franz Liszt changes the arrangement of solo and concerto performances for piano. • He turns the piano in profile so the audience may see his profile. • Liszt was classical musics Elvis

9. Ludwig von Beethoven • No. 5 in E-flat Major • Premiered in November 1811, in Leipzig, Germany. • A few months later, it was premiered in Vienna by Carl Czerny, one of Beethoven’s students and future teacher of Franz Liszt, at the age of 12. • Known as the “Emperor” Concerto. One story of the name is that a french officer at the Vienna premier stood up and exclaimed “C’est l’empereur de concerti!” or “This is the Emperor of all Concerti!” • This piece is unique in the fact that it opens with the solo piano, where most concerti open with the orchestra. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lj9bXn4jr6M

10. Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky • No. 1 in B-flat minor, Mvt 1 • Tchaikovsky was a piano player but was a much better composer (nutcracker, sleeping beauty). He wrote this piece with his friend Nikolai Rubinstein in mind to perform it. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=RG83EmwJpo8

11. Sergei Rachmaninoff • Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor • Completed in 1909 • Dedicated to pianist Josef Hoffman, who never performed the piece himself stating that it was “not for him” • Premiered on November 28, 1909, in NYC by Rachmaninoff himself. • Performed as the final piece in the 2001 Van Cliburn Competition by Russian Pianist Olga Kern. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AapjpeqmviM

12. 20th Century Jazz Concerto • Commissioned in 1925 by conductor Walter Damrosch • Damrosch had been in the audience at the premier of Rhapsody in Blue • Work premiered at Carnegie Hall in December 1925 • Reviews were mixed, Russian composers Igor Stravinsky and Sergei Prokofiev disagreed on the work. Stravinsky thought it was genius and Prokofiev is said to have disliked it intensely. • George Gershwin Piano Concerto in F Mvt 3 • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxUHcXUJZgY