" . . . fluently written and often humorous . . . " —Notes" . . . should be required reading for performers and teachers." —The Eighteenth CenturyKonrad Wolff characterizes in detail the personal musical language of several great masters of the piano, pursuing different lines of investigation to discover each composer's essential traits. He brings the accumulated wisdom of his long career as a pianist and teacher to this delineation of compositional styles. Both intellect and musicality contribute to his cogent observations, and his literary style is as eloquent as the music he describes.

Edited by Konraad WolffTranslated by Paul RosenfeldWith twenty black-and-white illustrationsSchumann’s literary gifts and interests almost equaled his musical ones.  From boyhood on he was drawn to literary expression, and his writings on music belong to the best among the romantic literature of the 19th century.  The same fire, poetry, directness of expression, the same inventiveness we love in his compositions, also animated his prose.This edition for the first time groups his articles and observations according to subject matter and individual composers.  It is complete as far as Schumann’s writings on the great composers are concerned.  All his reviews of the works by the masters, from Beethoven to Brahms, are included, some of them translated for the first time into English.From the Hardcover edition.

" . . . fluently written and often humorous . . . " —Notes" . . . should be required reading for performers and teachers." —The Eighteenth CenturyKonrad Wolff characterizes in detail the personal musical language of several great masters of the piano, pursuing different lines of investigation to discover each composer's essential traits. He brings the accumulated wisdom of his long career as a pianist and teacher to this delineation of compositional styles. Both intellect and musicality contribute to his cogent observations, and his literary style is as eloquent as the music he describes.

Edited by Konraad WolffTranslated by Paul RosenfeldWith twenty black-and-white illustrationsSchumann’s literary gifts and interests almost equaled his musical ones.  From boyhood on he was drawn to literary expression, and his writings on music belong to the best among the romantic literature of the 19th century.  The same fire, poetry, directness of expression, the same inventiveness we love in his compositions, also animated his prose.This edition for the first time groups his articles and observations according to subject matter and individual composers.  It is complete as far as Schumann’s writings on the great composers are concerned.  All his reviews of the works by the masters, from Beethoven to Brahms, are included, some of them translated for the first time into English.From the Hardcover edition.