Page:A Dictionary of Music and Musicians vol 2.djvu/745

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PIANOFORTE MUSIC.
733

composed four sonatas; a collective work, 'Jours sereins, jours d'orage'; tarentelles, valses, études, fantasias, etc.; 'Chansons d'amour,' a collection of love-songs, in which the different national characters are imitated. Brinley Richards (1819- [App. p.748 "date of death 1885"]) the popular Welsh musician, has published a book of octave studies, caprices, a tarentelle, 'Recollections of Wales,' and a very large number of fantasias and other amusing and pleasing pieces, which have a wide circulation. Several of his later original works contain much interesting matter. Henry Litolff (1820– [App. p.748 "1818"]) has written 3 concerto symphoniques, caprices, nocturnes, 6 studies (op. 18), fantasias on operatic airs, and a considerable number of characteristic pieces, among which the 'Spinner-lied' became very celebrated. Louis Köhler (1820– [App. p.748 "date of death 1886"]), is one of the most distinguished of living educational composers: the number of his easy, moderately difficult, and very difficult studies, technical exercises, sonatinas, rondos, arrangements of dances and melodies of all nations, is unusually great, and some of his studies (particularly those op. 112 and 128) are of lasting value. Wilhelm Kruger (1820-) has composed a great number of elegant and pleasing pieces; 'La Harpe éolienne' and 'Chanson du Gondolier' are very popular. Cornelius Gurlitt (1820–), an excellent musician, has written most valuable pieces for instruction; his sonatas, sonatinas, studies, and collections of amusing pieces for young students are exceptionally good. Alexander Ernst Fesca (1820–1849) composed a morceau de concert, 3 rondos, 4 fantasias, 2 books of variations, 4 nocturnes, and several characteristic pieces, among which 'Scene de Bal,' and 'La Danse des Sylphides' are very effective and well written. Charles Edward Horsley (1821–1876 [App. p.748 "1822"]), once well known in London, has left a sonata, and many graceful and effective melodies. Dietrich Krug (1821–1880), a very industrious composer of educational pieces (like those of Czerny, Hünten, Oesten, etc.), wrote about 400 books of amusing and instructive pieces. His collections, 'Echoes of the Opera' and 'Fashionable library' (Mode Bibliothek), are well known and very much used. Charles Bovy de Lysberg (1821–1873), a highly respected professor of Geneva, has composed about 70 drawing-room pieces with fancy titles, which have become more or less popular. Rudolph Willmers (1821–1878) composed about 130 pieces, among which are 2 concert solos with orchestral accompaniments ('Un jour d'été en Norvège,' op. 37, is very good), sonatas, 6 études, many fantasias on operatic pieces, a great number of highly effective concert studies ('Sehnsucht am Meere,' 'La Pompa di Festa,' 'La Sylphide,' 'Trillerketten,' etc.). Willmers's pieces are very valuable for instruction. Charles Edward Stephens (1821–) has published a sonata, a duo brillant (4 hands), an allegro-rhapsodie, impromptus, fantasias, and characteristic pieces, full of fancy and feeling. Joachim Raff (1822– [App. p.748 "date of death 1882"]) has produced an unusually large number of pieces of every description, concertos, sonatas, suites, fantasias, nocturnes, impromptus, a collective work 'Die Oper im Salon,' dances in the old and modern style; his pieces are of different grades of difficulty. Theodor Gouvy (1822–) has composed a sonata and 4 serenades. Wilhelm Kuhe (1823–) has written a great number of light and pleasing opera fantasias and transcriptions; among his original pieces 3 Songs without words (op. 12), 'Das Glockenspiel' (op. 13), and 'Andante and étude' (op. 14), have found much favour. Alexandre Edouard Goria (1823–1860) composed about 130 drawing-room pieces; they are elegant and effective, and some of them, such as the Olga-mazurka, Caprice-Nocturne, Barcarole, Berceuse, have become universally known. Among his 31 grand studies, those in op. 63 are very good; his fantasias and transcriptions are very cleverly written and highly effective. Dr. Julius Schaeffer (1823–), a musician of sterling merit, but unknown in England, has composed, among other pieces, 'Fantasie-Variationen,' a highly remarkable work, full of originality and boldness; his Fantasie Stücke, Songs without words, and Polonaise are also very interesting. Jean Vogt (1823–) composed preludes and fugues, about 20 books of drawing-room pieces, an andante and allegro de concert with orchestral accompaniments (op. 33), and 12 excellent studies (op. 26). Theodor Kirchner (1824–), a richly gifted composer, has written a good number of highly fascinating pieces; among them the collective works, 'Album leaves,' 'Preludes,' 'Legends,' 'Grüsse an meine Freunde,' 'Kleine Lust-und-Trauerspiele,' are full of original matter; his transcriptions of Mendelssohn's songs are the work of a refined musician. Carl Reinecke (1824–) has composed many and good works; among others 2 concertos, sonatas, many sonatinas, fantasias, 'Alte und neue Tänze,' ballades, variations on a theme of Handel, many educational pieces ('Haus Musik'), 17 cadenzas for concertos by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Weber, excellent duets for 2 pianos, many good pieces for 4 hands, and very useful and well-written studies. Friedrich Smetana of Prague (1824– [App. p.748 "date of death 1884"]) has published 6 Morceaux caractèristiques, Album leaves, Bohemian dances, etc. Albert Jungmann (1824–) has written more than 400 easy and agreeable pieces for beginners and not very advanced players. Edouard Franck (1824–), a highly talented composer, has published a good many pieces; among them, a sonata (op. 6), scherzo (op. 7). and 25 variations (op. 14), have become known to a wide circle. Emanuel Aguilar (1824–) published nocturnes, melodies, several morceaux de salon, also 5 canons and a two-part fugue, intended as a preparation for the study of the works of Sebastian Bach. Anton Herzberg (1825–) composed a great number of drawing-room pieces (about 120 are published); among them the mazurkas are very good. Julius Carl Eschmann (1825– [App. p.748 "date of death 1882"]) has made himself a name by his excellent selections of classical works for beginners. His guide-book ('Wegweiser') to the literature of the pianoforte is very valuable. Charles Wehli (1825–) has written many nocturnes, ballades,