Please join us for a look at the history of pianist-composers, beginning with a description of the piano’s evolution--from its harpsichord roots to the modern pianoforte as perfected in the 19th century—and of some of the instrument’s most famous composers. No musical training is required.

The Piano: Its Composers and Players

Week 1: The Evolution of the Modern Pianoforte

In our first class, we will see how the modern grand piano—all nine feet and eighty-eight keys of it—evolved from the humble harpsichord—along with the organ, the most prevalent keyboard instrument in the 16^th, 17^th, and 18^th centuries. We will listen to music by early harpsichord composers such as Frescobaldi and Byrd, as well as by Bach, Scarlatti, and Handel.

Week 2: Mozart

Mozart was the first major composer to write extensively for the fortepiano/pianoforte. We will explore his style, as exemplified in concertos, sonatas, and chamber music that includes a keyboard part.

Week 3: Beethoven

Beethoven first came to public attention as a pianist. He was especially famous as an improvisor. We will look at the ways in which he helped to establish the modern way of writing for the piano in his 32 sonatas, 5 concertos, sets of variations, and other music.

Week 4: Liszt

Franz Liszt was perhaps the greatest pianist who ever lived, and in his hands the piano became the greatest instrument of virtuosity. Much of his music remains at the centre of the repertoire, despite its sometimes inhuman demands on the pianist. We have no recordings of him playing, alas, but we will listen to several amazing performers take on his devilishly difficult scores.

Week 5: Saint-Saens

Saint-Saëns may have been the greatest child prodigy in musical history, more accomplished sooner than even Mozart or Mendelssohn. While not a great deal of his extensive piano music remains in the repertoire, apart from the 5 piano concertos, there is much wonderful piano writing in his chamber music as well as in the concertos. He is the earliest born composer (1835-1921) whom we can watch and listen to playing.

Week 6: Rachmaninoff

Rachmaninoff was a world-class pianist as well as composer, and there are many recordings of his playing. He brought a particularly Russian sensibility to music (and to playing), and we will explore that sensibility through his own playing, as well as through the playing of other pianists, as Rachmaninoff’s music remains central to the modern pianist’s repertoire.

Week 7: Busoni

In Rachmaninoff’s class as a pianist, if rather less well known as a composer, Ferruccio Busoni was a player of staggering gifts. His own music, as well as the music of other composers that he transcribed for the piano, is full of insight and beauty.

Week 8: From WW2 to the Present

Examining various pianists and composers from WW2 to the present.

From a Whisper to a Roar: The Piano, Its Players and Composers