Was any one of the composers writing piano music during the twentieth century immune from the influence of the Romantics? There was no shortage of revolutionaries, but the temptation to speak in the language of tonal poetry was more powerful. Although the Catalonian Federico Mompou (1893–1987) is sometimes referred to as the successor to Debussy, there is much that links him to… the Schumann tradition: a fondness for miniatures, their arrangement in cycles and poetic titles to works. He studied in Paris, where he spent much of his adult life.

The Scènes d’enfants [Children’s scenes] were written in the years 1915–1918. The dearth of bar lines (almost entirely lacking in the left-hand part) invites the pianist to treat the rhythm and metre freely. The harmony, meanwhile, induces one to tease out captivating colours. The jaunty ‘Cris dans la rue’ [Shouts in the street] is followed by three ‘Jeux sur la plage’ [Beach games] and then the charming ‘Jeunes filles au jardin’ [Young girls in the garden].

Isaac Manuel Francisco Albéniz (1860–1909), a generation older than Mompou, also divided his life between Spain and France. He made his debut in Barcelona at the age of four, taught piano in Paris at the Schola Cantorum, and gave concerts in Europe, South America and the USA. Although his music is not devoid of lyrical moods, he clearly delights in dense, at times highly complex, harmonies and rhythms. In this, he was closer – in creating national art – to that which was later developed by Szymanowski than to the conservative music of Paderewski, his peer.

‘La Vega’, the first part of the unfinished suite Alhambra, dates from 1897. The title means ‘fertile plain’, and the form of the work is a paraphrase of a serenade: the guitar’s dance-like accompaniment supports a narration that is at times intimate, led almost at a whisper, but elsewhere hot, ardent, culminating in a shriek.

It is not impossible that, just as Mompou listened intently to the music of Schumann, Albéniz referred to the pianistic tradition derived from Liszt. The three Années de pèlerinage by Ferenc Liszt (1811–1886) are suites of works depicting the composer’s travel experiences. Book Two, devoted to Italy, is crowned by the expansive, narrational and dramatic reflection Après une lecture de Dante. Fantasia quasi Sonata, the seventh part of the cycle. Out of the avalanche of notes there emerges a cohesive, logically closed tale. The works comprising Book Two were written in the years 1837–1849, although they were not published until 1858.

Robert Schumann (1810–1856), the other important bicentennial figure of 2010, adored his Polish contemporary. Chopin responded politely, but was not overwhelmed by his works. And yet Chopin’s felicitous submission to the most important Classical canons left Schumann – a capricious composer who wallows in darkness and mystery, surprising us with contrasts and changes of mood – as the most Romantic of the Romantics.

The Humoreska, Op. 20 and Faschingsschwank aus Wien (Viennese Carnival Pranks), Op. 26 were written in 1839, when Schumann was in love (mutually) with Clara Wieck and was fighting for the right to wed her (they married the following year). Although different in sound, they are both splendid examples of Schumann’s style and language. Humoreska, despite the singular form of the title, is a cycle of miniatures different in tempo, texture and character, not given separate numbers in the score and always performed integrally from beginning to end. Four of the five parts of the Viennese Carnival Pranks were written in Vienna, with the last part composed following Schumann’s return to Leipzig. In the first part, one can hear echoes of the ‘Marseillaise’, banned in Austria, the Romance is a song that enchants one with the simplicity of its tune, possibly a tribute to Schubert, the Scherzino displays charming wit, the melodies of the Intermezzo – despite the very quick notes of the accompaniment – incline one to reflection, and the extended Finale returns to memories of the carnival, although some have perceived here a subtle reference to the music of… Beethoven.

Why Chopin was not taken by this work, we do not know.

Kacper Miklaszewski

Carl Maria von Weber composed the Polacca brillante in E major, Op. 72, also known as the Grande Polonaise brillante, in 1819, during the same period as the famous Invitation to the Dance (Aufforderung zum Tanz – Rondeau brillant in D flat major, Op. 65). The Polacca brillante is a typical example of the polonaise output of European composers from the beginning of the nineteenth century. The polonaise, as a national dance of Poland, was readily cultivated by European composers for its energetic, vigorous rhythm.

Written by Weber for solo piano, it was arranged for piano and orchestra by Ferenc Liszt c.1851 and published in 1875 by J. G. Cotta’sche of Stuttgart, in a two-volume edition of Liszt arrangements of Weber works, which also included the Momento capriccioso, Op. 12, Grande Polonaise, Op. 21 and Rondeau brillant, Op. 62.

The Konzertstück für das Pianoforte mit Begleitung des Orchesters in G major, Op. 92, with the subtitle Introduction and Allegro appassionato, was written in September 1849.

The idea for this work arose at a time when Schumann’s compositional imagination was powerfully influenced by the poetry of Byron, as already evidenced by the overture Manfred, Op. 115.

The Introduction and Allegro appassionato failed to gain popularity, eclipsed by Schumann’s masterpiece, the Piano Concerto in A minor, composed four years earlier. The Konzertstück was first performed in Leipzig on 14 February 1850, and published there two years later.

The critics disagree in their assessment of this work. For some, the Introduction and Allegro appassionato is a work devoid of invention; others, however, consider that it is an important example of Schumann’s mature compositional style.

Magdalena Chylińska