Schubert's Piano

Sheds new light on Schubert's close engagement with the piano in composition and performance, and its role in early nineteenth-century Vienna.

Revealing the connections that link Schubert's distinctive sound world to performance practice, social history, aesthetics, organology, analysis and interpretation, this book offers a new understanding of Schubert's piano music for researchers, students, performers and listeners interested in early nineteenth-century Viennese musical culture.The piano features prominently in Schubert's musical output throughout his career, not only as an instrument for solo piano pieces (for two and four hands), but also in Lieder and chamber music as an equal partner to the voice or other instruments. His preference for the instrument is reflected in contemporary reports by his friends and colleagues as well as in iconography, where he is frequently depicted at the piano. In early nineteenth-century Vienna the piano underwent a rapid period of development, allowing composers to experiment with expanded ranges, sonorities and effects that differ substantially from modern concert grands. Schubert's Piano considers the composer's engagement with this instrument in terms of social history, performance and performance practices, aesthetics, sonority and musical imagery, and his approaches to composition across several musical genres, stimulating new insights into the creative interplay among Schubert's piano compositions.