for the Piano
Anselm Hüttenbrenner, a friend and fellow student of Franz Schubert and a respected pianist himself, left an impressive œuvre of piano music. Picking up initially on the style of Viennese Classicism and of Schubert, he developed an independent musical language of extraordinary quality and of great diversity of style.
These harmonically and melodically nuanced character pieces from every period of Hüttenbrenner’s creative activity grant us deep insights into the soul of the composer. Here, carefree and light-hearted piano pieces have their place alongside musical works of lamentation and consolation. The stations of Hüttenbrenner’s life are palpably revealed, among them the deeply personal, for example in the obituaries for Beethoven and Schubert, or in the two elegies in remembrance of the battles of Solferino and Magenta in which two of his sons were involved, one of them being badly wounded. Musically highly sensitive, yet at the same time, for the most part, technically not too demanding, many of these pieces are also very well suited for tuition, evening recitals or for piano playing in the home.
This present first edition fulfils all the requirements of musicology and musical practice. It provides a clear musical text, along with a comprehensive preface and detailed critical remarks, both in German and English.