Composer Profile - Activefolio

88 Chapter 8
The Character Piece
Father: “Son, what makes you afraid to look?”
Son: “Don’t you see, father, the Elfking there?
The King of the elves with his crown and train?”
Father: “Son, it’s only a streak of mist.”
Elfking: “Darling child, come away with me!
I will play the best games with you;
Many bright flowers grow by the shore;
My mother has many golden robes.”
Son: “Father, Father, do you not hear
What the Elfking is softly promising me?”
Father: “Calm yourself, be calm, my son:
The dry leaves are rustling in the wind.”
Elfking: “Well, you fine boy, won’t you come with me?
My daughters will wait upon you.
My daughters lead the nightly round,
They will rock you, dance for you, and sing you to sleep!”
Son: “Father, Father, do you not see
The Elfking’s daughters there in the dark?”
Father: “Son, my son, I see only too well:
It is the gray gleam in the old willow trees.”
Elfking: “I love you, your beauty allures me,
And if you are not willing, then I shall use force.”
Son: “Father, father, now he is seizing me!
The Elfking is hurting me!”
Narrator: Fear grips the father, he rides like the wind,
He holds in his arms the moaning child;
With effort and toil he reaches the house;
In his arms the child was dead.
The piano was perhaps the perfect instrument for Romantic music. Possessing a far
greater dynamic range than the harpsichord that preceded it, the piano was capable of
communicating the subtlest nuances of shading. This made the instrument perfect for
Romantic music. Sonatas were still popular, with many composers, including Schubert,
Schumann, Liszt, and Chopin, contributing monumental sonatas to the literature. Even
more popular however, was a shorter, simpler type of piano music known as the character
piece. Character pieces were short, single-movement works for solo piano that conveyed
a single mood or emotion. These works generally were not programmatic, but
might display a simple Romantic idea that was often indicated in the title. As shown in
the list below, character pieces were usually “pure” music, titles which were generally
descriptive of the meter, tempo, form, or mood. Most Romantic composers tried their
hands at character pieces; several, including Schumann, Chopin, Liszt, and Mendelssohn
established the character piece as the most popular instrumental genre in the Romantic
period.