Classical Music | Piano Music

Recorded on 04/12/2005, uploaded on 01/17/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

Operas were only a portion of Richard Wagner’s entire output as a composer and among the over one hundred pieces he wrote are works for piano, chamber ensembles and orchestra. With only a few exceptions, such as the popular Siegfried Idyll or perhaps also the Wesendonck Lieder, most of these works are not well known or often performed. One such piece is a Romanze bearing the subtitle “Nach dem Albumblatt von Richard Wagner” (“After an Albumblatt by Richard Wagner”). Interestingly, the work exists in two versions: the first, in A major for violin and piano edited by August Wilhelmy and the second, in E major for cello and piano edited by David Popper.

The term Albumblatt, or “Album leaf,” fell in with the Romantic tradition of short, expressive compositions, often for the piano, but which was usually written with a specific dedication to a friend or admirer, who could then insert the piece, or “leaf,” into their album or autograph book.  In the case of Wagner’s Romanze, it is evident that the melody is of Wagner’s own invention while the piano parts have largely been supplied by the editor. In all probability, the melody was given to a friend by Wagner and turned into a bona fide composition for performance by Wilhelmy and Popper.

Intense and passionate, Wagner’s Romanze sounds as if it would fit in perfectly with one of the many emotional scenes of his operas. A short piano introduction presages the entrances of the violin. Once the violin begins, however, its melody continues unhindered to the end—an example of Wagner’s “endless melody” so often found in his operas. Structured as a small ternary form, the middle section becomes ever more passionate with the lyrical line of the violin interrupted, first by triplets and then by a fervently ascending line of sixteenth notes. Release finally comes when the violin unleashes into a series of sweeping arpeggios, ultimately climbing to a high C-sharp. The opening melody returns though the prior intensity remains present just in the background. The final bars of the piece take on a somewhat solemn air as the melody slows in rhythm and the piano sounds sustained chords. Finally, the music seems to evaporate away in the tones of a soft tonic chord.     Joseph DuBose

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Ein Albumblatt für das Klavier     Richard Wagner

Although Richard Wagner is known for his monumental operas, he also wrote a number of compositions for the piano.  The Albumblatt was written in 1875 for Frau Betty Schott.  It is simple, almost innocent, in its writing for the piano, yet one can hear the chromatic contrapuntal lines, typical of his operas, and perhaps one can discover traces of his Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.   Carlos César Rodríguez

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.