During the latter part of his life, Brahms wrote only sets of relatively short pieces. With their formal and stylistic perfection, they are among the most valuable of the late-Romantic additions to piano repertoire. Included in this edition are 30 pieces by Brahms, preceded by a helpful introduction which contains definitions of the ballade, rhapsody, capriccio and intermezzo.

In Three Volumes. Schirmer's Library Of Musical Classics. In Three Volumes. Volume 1, Sonata In C Major, Op. 1; Sonata In F Minor, Op. 2; Sonata In E Minor, Op. 4; Sonata In F Minor, Op. 5 Variations On A Theme By Robert Schulman, Op. 9; Ballads, Op. 10; Variations, Op. 21; Variations And Fugue On A Theme By Handle; Volume 2, Piano Pieces, Op. 76; Two Rhapsodies, Op. 79; Fantasies, Op. 116; Three Intermezzi, Op. 117; Piano Pieces, Op. 118; Piano Pieces Op. 119; 5 Studies; Volume 3, Piano Concerto No. 1, Op. 15; Waltzes, Op. 39; Paginate Variations, Op. 35; Piano Concerto No. 2, Op. 83.

Includes 38 works such as the "Edward" ballade; 2 capriccios; 7 Hungarian Dances; 6 intermezzos; 3 rhapsodies; 16 waltzes; Sonata No. 3; Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel; more.

Organ and piano duet teams will appreciate Billie Nastelin's skillful arrangement of the beautiful "How Lovely Is Thy Dwelling Place" from the Brahms Requiem. Each player has opportunities with both melody and accompaniment, and congregations and audiences will request this over and over. Two copies of the music are included. Also arranged for organ/piano duet by Nastelin: "And the Glory of the Lord," from Messiah (GOPD9901),

Brahms composed these melodic finger exercises for use in preparation for performing his more challenging piano works. They encompass a great many technical problems found in piano music composed up to and including the Romantic period. Great emphasis is placed on finger independence as well as on the total independence of hands.

Franz Schubert's piano pieces for four hands are among the most varied and significant works in the entire repertoire. Schubert wrote more of these works than any other major composer, and generations of teachers, students, and concert musicians have enjoyed their enduring beauty and vitality. Included in this volume are 15 of Schubert's best and most popular titles, taken from the definitive Breitkopf and Hartel "Schubert-Gesammtausgabe." Composed between 1818 and 1828, they include the tremendously popular Military Marches, Op. 51 (of which the D Major is a striking and familiar melody); the famed "Grand Duo" Sonata in C Major, Op. 140; the Fantasia in F Minor, Op. 103 (written only a few months before Schubert's death, it is one of the most famous and elegantly expressive works in the genre); Variations in A-flat Major on an Original Theme, Op. 35; Andantino Varie in B Minor on French Motifs, Op. 84, No. 1; Fugue in E Minor, Op. 152; and a delightful array of landler, polonaises, and variations. The 23 separate pieces have been selected so that pianists of virtually any level can find works to match their needs. They range in difficulty from beautifully sculpted marches that beginners can play, to works requiring maturity and great technical skill. This volume has been specially designed as a playing edition. The noteheads are large and easily readable at the piano, and wide margins allow plenty of room for written notes, fingerings, analysis, etc. Of special importance is the addition of measure numbers, placed on alternate staves, which allow the pianists to find their place quickly while rehearsing. For playing, study, or simply listening along with records, this volume will be an admirable addition to your music library."

"The song translations by Stanley Appelbaum are excellent. Stark's commentaries are concise, intelligent, highly readable . . . Laymen and specialists alike will find [this book] a useful reference book to have on their shelves." —Fontes Artis Musicae "This book would be a warmly welcomed addition to the library of any lover of art song." —American Music Teacher "It is informative, insightful, illuminating, an invaluable resource for singers, teachers, coach-accompanists, highly recommended for anyone having anything to do with Brahms lieder." —Journal of Singing "Stark's understanding and affectionate discussion of the relationship between music and text draws the reader to examine more of Brahms's songs." —Choice Lucien Stark analyzes in detail more than 200 solo songs by Brahms and gives us translations of the texts. For performers, students, and teachers, this is a treasure-house of information and insight about a rich and varied repertoire.

Book Size: 8 1/2" x 11" * * * * * * From the biographical introductory. SOME composers resemble certain people that we meet and dislike at first sight. For many, musicians as well as amateurs, Brahms is such a composer. At his best in his piano music he often repels. After the poetic tenderness and chivalric fire of Chopin, the overflowing romance of Schumann, the adorable melody of Schubert, and the proud pose of Weber, who prances by on gorgeously caparisoned arpeggios, Brahms may sound chilly and formal; but strip him of his harsh rind, taste the richness of the musical fruit, and your indifference will be transformed into admiration, perhaps love. It would be easy to map out three styles in the Brahms piano literature as De Lenz did with the sonatas of Beethoven, but it would be a futile effort; although Brahms gained in mastery as he grew older, he was more Brahms in his Op. 1 than was Chopin in his La Ci Darem variations. Take, for example, the E-flat minor Scherzo, Op. 4, which Brahms played for Schumann during the historical visit to Düsseldorf. It has in it a nuance of Chopin, rather in the color than the ideas, and it is so free, flowing, plastic, and so happily worked out, that it must have sounded to both Schumann and Liszt as something quite novel. They saluted the composer as a recruit to the ranks of romanticism. This welcome they repented as Brahms went his own way, steering clear of the Wagner, Liszt, Schumann tendencies. And yet they were fundamentally correct in their judgments. The very core of Brahms is romantic. He may have inherited the polyphony of Bach, the symphonic mantle of Beethoven, but he is, nevertheless, a Romantic, and nowhere more so than in his piano music. This E-flat Scherzo is formal when compared to his Op. 1 16, 1 17, 1 18, and 1 19; even the Rhapsodies strike a newer note. Let us, without attempting an arbitrary classification, divide his piano music into two groups. In the first we may include the three sonatas, the E-flat Scherzo, all the Variations, the four Ballades, and the Waltzes, Op. 39. Then we must skip to Op. 76 before we encounter solo music, and might begin the second group with the eight Capriccios and Intermezzi. Follow the two Rhapsodies, and until Op. 1 16 we encounter no piano solos. With Op. 119 the contributions of Brahms to piano music end. There are two books of technical studies, fifty-one in all, the arrangements of the Hungarian dances and some special études on the themes of Bach, Weber, and Chopin, which need not concern us here. But this grouping should not pin down the composer to any definite scheme; for instance, in the second, the F-sharp minor Sonata, we find material that is kin to his last works, and some of his new Fantasies are a reversion to the Brahms of the Ballades. In 1853 Schumann wrote his article "New Paths" and Brahms became famous. The composer-critic recognized the strangeness of the young man; in the first bar of Brahms you are conscious of a new note, much as the opening of the C major Sonata may stem from the Hammerklavier Sonata of Beethoven. It is not alone in the form, this newness, not in the idea, not in the modulation, rhythmic variety, melodic curve, or curve of harmonic line, but in all these there lurks something individual. This individuality caused Schumann to rub his eyes in astonishment when he heard the Op. 1, the Sonata in C, and made Liszt grow enthusiastic when he read the E-flat minor Scherzo.....

Includes 38 works such as the "Edward" ballade; 2 capriccios; 7 Hungarian Dances; 6 intermezzos; 3 rhapsodies; 16 waltzes; Sonata No. 3; Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Handel; more.