Sigma Alpha Iota

sai-national.org • Spring 2022 23 piano studies by Johann Baptist Cramer, Stephen Heller, Carl Czerny, eodor Kullak, and Muzio Clementi. e volume contains a wealth of information besides the lists of piano repertoire—though Zielinski's chronology for studying them is very specific — composer by composer, beginning with Johann Sebastian Bach, "that celebrated and most original Composer." roughout, Zielinski also gives general information about music history, shares biographical details of composers, and provides insight about their compositions. For example, he assesses Mozart: "His Pianoforte works possess a freshness and geniality never attained by any Master before." Aer the catalog of works by these early composers, Zielinski's keyboard curriculum progresses to Handel (whose apparent weakness was his passionate temper), Haydn (the illustrious composer whom he reminds his teenage pupil was the first to write classical quartets and symphonies), and Beethoven (whose works he believes pupils study one or two hours each day). e manuscript is by no means perfect. On a few pages, Zielinski uses an arrow to insert a particular passage. When discussing Haydn's numerous Pianoforte works, he crossed out a couple of lines and rewrote instead: "[of ] all masterpieces of pure and clear ideas, I will mention only the following ones" and included Capriccio in C-Dur and the Pianoforte Sonatas. e author does not equivocate, specifically naming certain composers (Henri Herz, Sigismond alberg, and Edward Wolff ) whose piano compositions should not be studied, claiming that although they might astonish the less proficient with ostentatious finger display and startle the audience, they do not improve the mind! Zielinski reminds Miss Rann that Johann Nepomuk Hummel stands in a prominent place because his Septet in D minor, Op. 74 was arranged for solo piano by none other than Franz Liszt. Not being a pianist, the names of some composers — Johann Carl Gottfried Löwe, Ferdinand Ries, Ignaz Moscheles, William Sterndale Bennett, J. J. H. Verhulst, Carol Reinecke, and Woldemar Bargiel — are less familiar to me than well- known composers like Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and Robert Schumann whom Zielinski specifically praises: "One ought to study very carefully that wonderfull [sic] composer." en he proposes the composer's Les Papillons and Kinderscenen. Zielinski continues: "e grand characteristic of Chopin's work is a profoundly poetic feeling; a portraying of the boldness and pride of his nation, grace, elegance and deep sorrow." e author specifically suggests the "real pianist" and "diligent scholar" study Chopin's complete nocturnes, two of his impromptus (Impromptu in A-flat Major, Op. 29 and Impromptu No. 2 in F-sharp major, Op. 36), his four ballades (Op. 23, 38, 47, and 52), Polonaise-Fantaisie in A-flat Major, Op. 61, and Andante spianato et grande polonaise brillante in E-flat major, Op. 22. Zielinski feels that the scholar, an archaic term for student, should have some knowledge of current, eminent musicians as well as the great masters of the past, thus briefly speaks of the most noted ones — Ferdinand Hiller, Carl Tausig, and Joachim Raff. Concluding the main text are four pages of Notes (with a page about Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck) and a three-page alphabetical List of Persons (all musicians, beginning with Albrechtsberger with whom Beethoven studied in Vienna) and numbering about 100—yes 100!. e author refrains from commenting on operatic and orchestral works because he wrote his guide for Pianoforte students. Edith V. Rann (1854-1946) did not marry. No doubt she used her teacher's advice in this priceless birthday present in her own piano studio during her long A Wld of Music For more information, visit: https://musichouse.org

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