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Piano Literature Music 330.52  College of Fine Arts  Illinois State University  Instructor: Dr. Carlyn Morenus Cook Hall 204 438-3470 Faculty mailbox in Centennial East 225 email Carlyn Morenus here This course is offered in alternate Spring semesters. It will next be offered in Spring 2010.

Required Materials

Course Overview

This course acquaints students with a range of literature written for the piano, and keyboard literature commonly performed on the piano. Attention will be given to elements of style and form, historical background, and issues of performance, pedagogy, and technique.

Student Objectives

• Ability to identify keyboard literature of various styles and periods
• Knowledge of various genres of piano literature
• Familiarity with characteristics of specific piano composers
• Ability to identify specific piano works aurally
• Ability to identify specific piano works from the printed score
• Knowledge of technical, pedagogical, and performance issues in specific piano works
• Experience presenting piano works in lecture style

For selected works, students will receive a more in-depth understanding of the composition, including form and genre, elements of historic importance or interest, technical problems and solutions, pedagogical considerations and performance suggestions, through preparation of in-class presentations and/or written papers.

Content Outline

Exact sequence subject to change depending on student presentation topics

Unit 1: Predecessors of the Piano

Week 1 MLK Holiday

Week 2

Introduction and Overview
16th-17th century background
Reading: Gordon pp. 1-32
Bach: Well-Tempered Clavier
Reading: Gordon pp. 54-68

Week 3

Repertoire Lists due
Bach: Toccatas
Suites/Partitas
Other works (Italian concerto, Chromatic Fantasy & Fugue, etc.)
Handel
Reading: Gordon, pp. 51-54

Week 4

France: Rameau/Couperin
Italy: Scarlatti
Spain: Soler
Selection of Unit 2 topics
Listening Quiz
Reading: Gordon pp. 33-50

Unit 2: The 18th Century Galant and Classical Styles

Week 5

Sons of Bach
Haydn: Sonatas
Variations, other works
Reading: Gordon pp. 69-122

Week 6

Mozart: Sonatas
Mozart: Variations, Fantasies, other works
Reading: Gordon pp. 123-142, 196-212

Week 7

Beethoven: Sonatas
Reading: Gordon pp. 142-195

Week 8

Beethoven: Bagatelles, Variations, other works
Classical papers due
Listening Portion of Midterm Exam
Selection of Unit 3 topics
Take-Home Midterm Exam (Due Week 9)

Unit 3: The 19th Century

Week 9

Schubert: Sonatas
Character pieces
Reading: Gordon pp. 213-236

Week 10

Mendelssohn
Schumann: Sonatas/Large-scale works
Sets of miniatures
Reading: Gordon pp. 237-276

Week 11

Chopin: Large-scale works
Etudes/Preludes
Polish-influenced genres
Liszt
Reading: Gordon pp. 277-328

Week 12

Brahms
other late nineteenth-century composers
Listening Quiz
Romantic papers due
Selection of Unit 4 topics
Reading: Gordon pp. 329-356

Unit 4: The 20th Century

Week 13

France: Debussy/Ravel/Les Six
Germany: Schoenberg/Hindemith
Reading: Gordon pp. 357-403, 469-471, 487-491

Week 14

Hungary: Bartok
Russia: Rachmaninov, Scriabin, Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Kabalevsky
Reading: Gordon, pp. 450-455, pp. 424-446

Week 15

United States
Latin America
20th-Century papers due
Reading: Gordon, 404-423, 500-530

Finals Week: Final Exam

Required Student Tasks/Assignments

Students are expected to attend each class session. Students are expected to come to class prepared to discuss assigned composers/compositions. Students should make every effort to have scores in class, and to listen to or play through pieces in advance of class.

Students will be asked to prepare and submit lists of piano repertoire they have studied. This will aid the instructor in choosing pieces on which to focus, and may suggest topic ideas. Every pianist should have a repertoire list; if this is your first, be sure to keep a copy for yourself!

Presentations:
Each student will present mini-lectures for the class. For graduate students, a total of 3 presentations will be given, including one each from Units Two, Three and Four. For undergraduate students, a total of 2 presentations will be given, including one chosen from topics in Units Two and Three, and one from Unit Four. Each lecture will last 15-20 minutes, and will concentrate on a specific piece or genre of pieces (for major composers), or provide an overview of the composer’s work with focus on one or two pieces (lesser-known composers). Students will be expected to perform excerpts from the works for the class; recordings may be used in addition to live performance if merited. Lecture topics will be chosen with approval of the instructor; presentations will occur where appropriate in the class calendar (some adjustments may be made to the calendar if necessary).

You may choose to present a lecture on a piece you have played or are currently studying. It is suggested, however, that at least one of your topics be a composer or work that is unfamiliar to you, since an important aspect of the class is expanding your knowledge of piano repertoire. Topics not presented by students will be covered by the instructor.

Papers:
Graduate students are required to write two papers, one based on a presentation from Units Two and Three, and one based on the Unit Four presentation. Undergraduate students are required to write one paper, based on the presentation from Unit Four.

Papers should be approximately 8-12 pages in length, and should include a synthesis of information useful to a potential performer or teacher. Included should be technical advice, performance suggestions, historical background, general music analysis if useful, and any other information that seems to be of use or interest. The Unit Four papers will be copied and given to all members of the class as a mini-handbook of contemporary literature. Papers are to be typed or word-processed, and must include footnotes/endnotes and reference list.

Tests:
Two listening quizzes will be given, at the conclusion of Units 1 and 3.

Written midterm and final exams will be given. Students may expect to find score identification, listening, short answer, and essay questions on composers, genres and compositions.

Students will be expected to be familiar with works presented in class. Only those works presented in class may be included on the listening quizzes. Listening lists will be provided for each Unit to facilitate study.

Attendance

Attendance at all class meetings is expected.

Grading

Graduate Students: (420 pts total)
In-class Presentations (3) 40 pts each
Papers (2) 60 pts each
Exams (2) 60 pts each
Listening quizzes (4) 15 pts each

 Undergraduates (320 pts total)
In-class Presentations (2) 40 pts each
Paper 60 pts
Exams (2) 60 pts each
Listening quizzes (4) 15 pts each

Grading Scale

92-100% = A
83-91% = B
74-82% = C
65-73% = D
0-64% = F

Bibliography

Badura-Skoda, P. Interpreting Bach at the Keyboard. New York, 1993.

Baker, J. Music of Alexander Scriabin. New Haven, 1986.

Brown, A. P. Joseph Haydn’s Keyboard Music. Bloomington, Ind., 1986.

Burge, David. Twentieth-Century Piano Music. New York, 1990.

Friskin, James and Freundlich, Irwin. Music for the Piano. 1954/New York, 1973.

Gillespie, John. Five Centuries of Keyboard Music. Belmont, Calif, 1965/New York, 1972.

Joseph, C. Stravinsky and the Piano. Ann Arbor, 1983.

Kirby, F.E. Music for Piano: A Short History. New York, 1995.

Kirkpatrick, R. Interpreting Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier: A Performer’s Discourse of Method. New Haven, 1984.

Marshall, R. Eighteenth-century Keyboard Music. New York, 1981.

Newman, W. The Sonata in the Classic Era. New York, 1983.

Porter, E. Schubert's Piano Works. London, 1980.

Powell, L. A History of Spanish Piano Music. Bloomington, Ind., 1980.

Roberts, P. Aspects of Modernism in Russian Piano Music: Skriabin, Prokofiev, and Their Russian Contemporaries. Bloomington, Ind., 1993.

Rosen, C. The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. London, 1976.

Samson, J. Chopin. New York, 1997.

Schmitz, E. The Piano Works of Debussy. Westport, Conn., [1970/1950]

Schulenberg, D. The Keyboard Music of J. S. Bach. New York, 1992.

Todd, Larry, ed. Nineteenth Century Piano Music. New York, 1990.

Vitercik, G. The Early Works of Felix Mendelssohn: A Study in the Early Romantic Sonata. Philadelphia, 1992.

Watson, D. Liszt. New York, 1989.

Wolff, K. Masters of the Keyboard: Individual Style Elements in the Piano Music of Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. Bloomington Ind., 1983.

Yeomans, D. Bartok for Piano. Bloomington, Ind., 1988.

Last Updated 1/2006. Questions? Send email to cgmoren@ilstu.edu