The forms most used are naturally either songs or dances, both of which are essentially lyrical. The many song-patterns have been described by a great variety of names, not always used consistently, such as 'song without words,' 'romance,' 'nocturne,' 'reverie,' 'ballade,' 'fantasie,' 'caprice,' 'étude,' etc. More indefinite terms are 'impromptu,' 'prelude,' 'albumblatt,' 'charakterstück,' etc. Often a picturesque suggestion is given by titles like 'kinderscenen,' 'flower-song,' and the like. The dance-patterns most used are the waltz, the mazurka, the polonaise, the galop and many others of the large class of modern round dances, most of them in triple rhythm.
The two centres from which salon music in its lighter forms
was specially propagated before or near the middle of the century
were Paris and Vienna, and they have continued to be
prominent. But players and publishers carried it everywhere,
calling out production in all countries. Furthermore, at both
these centres and in Germany and northern Europe generally
the making of brief, characteristic piano-pieces of decided artistic
quality soon became a specialty, supplying a charming and
useful element in musical literature.
Reserving for longer mention the most distinguished composers and
players, it may here be noted that the French group, including Belgians,
Spaniards and some others, contains names like these:—Franz Hünten of
Coblentz (d. 1878) ; Pedro Albeniz (d. 1855), from 1830 active at Madrid;
Camille Marie Stamaty (d. 1870), who from 1835 pushed his way into the
front rank of Parisian teachers, producing important études, etc.; Henri Rosellen (d. 1876); Charles Henri Valentin Alkan (d. 1888); the accomplished
Antoine François Marmontel (d. 1898), from 1832 a player of mark
and from 1848 one of the best teachers at the Conservatoire, with numerous
didactic works; Jacques Mathieu Joseph Gregoir (d. 1876), from 1848 teacher
at Brussels; Ignace Leybach (d. 1891), from 1844 organist at Toulouse; Jean Henri Ravina, in 1834-7 a teacher at the Conservatoire and later a virtuoso
and composer; Henry Charles Litolff (d. 1891), from 1851 the well-known
publisher; Wilhelm Krüger (d. 1883), who, driven from Paris by the war of
1870, was then court-pianist at Stuttgart; Charles Samuel Bovy ['Lysberg']
(d. 1873), long a teacher at the Geneva conservatory; Georges Mathias, from
1862 on the Conservatoire staff; Jacob Blumenthal, from 1848 pianist to
Queen Victoria; the Belgian Désiré Magnus (d. 1884); Auguste Dupont
(d. 1890), from 1852 in the Brussels conservatory; the popular American
Louis Moreau Gottschalk (d. 1869); Joseph Ascher (d. 1869), pianist to the
Empress Eugénie; Renaud de Vilbac (d. 1884), from 1856 organist at one of
the Paris churches; Martin Lazare (d. 1897), who, after wide tours, worked
at Brussels; Charles Delioux, prominent from about 1850; Eugène Ketterer
(d. 1870); Damaso Zabalza y Olaso (d. 1894), from 1858 at Madrid, later
professor of theory at the conservatory; and Louis Gobbaerts of Brussels
(d. 1886).
