Piano ballad
In 19th century romantic music, a piano ballad is a piece for solo piano written in a balletic narrative style, often with lyrical elements interspersed. This type of work made its first appearance with Chopin's Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 of 1836, closely followed by the ballad included in Clara Schumann's Soirées musicales Op. 6 published in the same year.
Contents
1 Form
2 Collaborative piano ballads
3 Examples
4 References
Form
Ballads have often been characterized as "narrative" in style, "[musical] parts [that] succeed one another in a determined order... their succession is governed by the relationships of causing and resulting by necessity or probability."[1]
The ballad of this time varied. In Chopin, for example, the common element throughout his ballads was the metre, commonly 6
8 time. Brahms's ballads often relied on a three-part song form.[2]
Ballads sometimes alluded to their literary predecessors. Some had obvious or supposed literary associations. For example, the four ballads of Chopin were supposedly inspired by the poetry of Adam Mickiewicz, a friend. However, no such evidence directly from the composer exists. There was, in fact, no concrete association to literature until Brahms debuted his four ballads (Op. 10), which bear the title "After the Scottish ballad 'Edward' ".[2]
Piano ballads have been written since the 19th century; several have been composed in the 20th century (see below).
Collaborative piano ballads
The piano has also been used in works featuring other instruments, as well as voice. For example, Robert Schumann, a romantic composer and husband of Clara Schumann, wrote a set of two songs, Balladen, Op. 122 (1852–53) which were written for piano and voice. Claude Debussy, a later composer, also wrote for piano and voice with his Trois ballades de François Villon (L. 119, 1910).
Works for piano and orchestra also bearing the title "ballad" have been written. These include Fauré's Ballade, Op. 19, which was written in 1881, and Charles Koechlin's Ballade for piano and orchestra, Op. 50, written between 1911–1919. This work also exists as a solo work for piano.
Examples
Frédéric Chopin
Four Ballads: Ballade No. 1 in G minor, Op. 23 (1831–1835)- Ballade No. 2 in F major, Op. 38 (1836–1839)
- Ballade No. 3 in A-flat major, Op. 47 (1840–1841)
- Ballade No. 4 in F minor, Op. 52 (1842)
Clara Schumann, one of the 6 Soirées musicale, Ballade in D minor, written in 1836
César Franck, Ballade, Op. 9, written in 1844
Franz Liszt, Ballade in D-flat major, written in 1845–48, and Ballade in B minor, written in 1853
Johannes Brahms, Ballades, Op. 10, written in 1854, consists of four ballads
Edvard Grieg, Ballade in the Form of Variations on a Norwegian Folk Song, Op. 24, written in 1875–76
John Ireland, Ballad (aka Ballade) (1929)- John Ireland, Ballade of London Nights (1930)
Humphrey Searle, Ballade for piano, Op. 10, written in 1947
Alan Rawsthorne Ballade, written in 1967
Samuel Barber, Ballade for Piano, Op. 46, written in 1977
Norman Demuth, Ballade triste
George Perle, Ballade, written in 1981 for Richard Goode
William Bolcom, Ballade, written for Ursula Oppens, premiered January 21, 2008
References
^ Berger, Karol, "The Form of Chopin's Ballade, Op. 23". 19th-Century Music, Vol. 20, No. 1 (1996). p. 46
^ ab Brown, Maurice J. E. "Ballade (ii)", The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians. 2nd ed. 2001.
