Romantic Improvisation - The Postclassical Prelude as Model

This is an explanation video on original 19th-century-preludes. It contains an introduction to the genre and some cursory analysis of selected original examples from around 1830 in the order:
Carl Czerny: Op. 300, No. 84 in C Minor "Molto Allegro"
Friedrich Kalkbrenner: Prelude from Harmonielehre Op. 190 in C Major (p. 40)
Carl Czerny: Op. 300, No. 9 in F Major "Molto vivo"
Ignaz Moscheles: Op. 73, No. 50 in C# Minor "Andante - legato e sostenuto"
Carl Czerny: Op. 300, No. 17 in E Major Allegro
All scores attainable at imslp.org
Explanation, video editing and piano playing by Michael Koch.
Backround music to the Chopin Concert at Radziwill: me improvising a prelude in the style of Chopin improvising a prelude at the Radziwill Salon.
0:01 - Introduction
* 1:22 some publications on preluding that viewers can look up
1:48 - Czerny, op. 300, no. 84 in C minor
* 2:13 - performance
* 2:35 - analysis
5:13 - Kalkbrenner, Harmonielehre, op. 190, page 40
* 6:07 - performance
* 6:25 - analysis
8:31 - Czerny, op. 300, no. 9 in F major (performance)
* 8:58 - analysis
12:24 - Moscheles, op. 73, no. 50 in C-sharp minor
* 12:55 - performance
* 13:37 - analysis
15:33 - Czerny, op. 300, no. 17 in E major (figuration prelude)
* 15:43 - performance
* 16:13 - analysis
17:37 - how to build a dramatic arc in a prelude
* 18:17 - demonstration: prelude by Michael Koch

[@AlessandroSistiMusic]

0:01 - Introduction * 1:22 some publications on preluding that viewers can look up 1:48 - Czerny, op. 300, no. 84 in C minor * 2:13 - performance * 2:35 - analysis 5:13 - Kalkbrenner, Harmonielehre, op. 190, page 40 * 6:07 - performance * 6:25 - analysis 8:31 - Czerny, op. 300, no. 9 in F major (performance) * 8:58 - analysis 12:24 - Moscheles, op. 73, no. 50 in C-sharp minor * 12:55 - performance * 13:37 - analysis 15:33 - Czerny, op. 300, no. 17 in E major (figuration prelude) * 15:43 - performance * 16:13 - analysis 17:37 - how to build a dramatic arc in a prelude * 18:17 - demonstration: prelude by Michael Koch

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Thanks Alessandro, thanks so much for doing this! I already googled "how to create time stamp on yt" :DDD It's obviously quite doable!

[@AlessandroSistiMusic]

@@en-blanc-et-noir You're welcome, Michael! Thank you so much for the wonderful videos! I really appreciate that you like these and that you're planning to do this on videos you upload in the future :)

[@AmeeliaK]

@@en-blanc-et-noir Can you please pin his comment? Thanks!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

done! Sorry😅

[@EarlyMusicSources]

Fantastic! 👏👏👏

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

whoa! 😱 what‘s going on? Thanks for passing by and great that you liked it! Thanks so much! I love EMS for years!

[@AlessandroSistiMusic]

This is probably the best and most practical video on 19th-century piano improvisation on KZbin. Thanks for uncovering this neglected genre of music and showing how earlier models informed even 19th century music. One note on English at 0:48 ("it's not unlikely that he is improvising a foreplay") - "foreplay" very much does NOT mean "prelude"! You might want to watch out for that in the future 😄

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Haha, well... thanks!!! I'll watch out!

[@r0d3r1cvs]

Certainly nowadays 'foreplay' has a sexual connotation, but during the XIX century up to 1921 it was used as a theatrical word, and even now as we can find it out in the Merriam-Webster dictionary: action or behavior that precedes an event. What follows is the etymological definition by the online etymology dictionary: "by 1921 in sexual sense, from fore- + play (n.); Freud's Vorlust was translated earlier as fore-pleasure (Brill, 1910). A more direct translation from the German would be thwarted by the sense drift in English lust (n.). Earlier as a theatrical term: In fact the poem which Mr. Brooks has translated is but the "prologue to the swelling theme," the fore-play to the actual drama of Faust. [The Christian Examiner and Religious Miscellany, Jan.-May 1857]"

[@arthurrobson2002]

Brilliant and quite inspiring. I love your dry humour along with your determinedly florid use of the English language.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

"florid use of english" :DDDD, ok then Thanks anyway! I'm happy when people like it!

[@gabrielakochmusic]

Very interesting as always 🌟

[@prevatican2catholicshow]

Love your channel!

[@WannesVanderhoeven]

Excellent presentation. Thanks a lot!

[@1980subrosa]

Great content! Thanks for posting this great material!!!

[@christianschoell3403]

Thank you so much!!! This will help my compositional style so much!

[@dariuszradej1077]

You are doing great lessons. My favorite YT channel! Thank you very much.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Favourite channel? Common... Nah I can't believe that. But thanks for watching anyway! :D

[@AutumnSonderness]

Richtig gute Präsentationen und schöne, humoreske Elemente :D finde es super, dass klassische Improvisation langsam mehr Anklang im Netz findet. Danke für die ganzen Videos; die geben tolle Inputs für das eigene Impro-Üben. :-)

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

…schön, dass es gefällt und zum Spielen anregt. :))

[@michaelcalder9089]

Terrific, i thought you explain just baroque style but doing this and your brilliant piano playing. At such a young age and mastering English. Surpasses some music teachers at Uni.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

I look younger lol

[@ClaireODonnell]

Thank you for this excellent video. I hope you'll do more on 19th-century improv, especially on how it's related to the partimento tradition, but also what makes it different. There seem to be very few resources on this subject. Looking forward to seeing more.

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Thanks Claire, I'm glad you liked it... actually there's a lot more sources on this kind of topic as you might expect. What I showed here is just a very little cutout, there are other treatises (for example Czerny's "Systematische Anleitung" Op. 200) and of course some more collections of prelude models (Hummel and Ries for example)... You just need to search for a bit...

[@ClaireODonnell]

Thank you for the suggestions. I think half of the challenge is knowing what to search for!

[@niccolomaldera]

Please keep sharing this information on romantic Improvisation. For example, I would like to see your ideas on Introduction and connecting materials for a set of variations on opera's themes or fantasie. Your style is so clear and funny and I've learned a lot with your videos

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Yo, thanks for watching! :D haha ok, I have to say I'm not the biggest fan of variation sets... I'm sorry. BUT there will be something on concert cadences when I find the time, this is definetely a thing where I will do a video on...

[@Jerkyhammerstopwatch]

I've been subject to Master Schiff making less than complementary suggestions about the seemingly fine Czerny you've shared with us here. I imagine his remarks may not have been inclusive of, or coloured by the pedagogical resourcefulness extrapolated upon here. Thanks!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

haha, I can imagine that😂 I‘ve witnessed several of Master Schiff‘s master classes and lecture concerts in my home town. Although he is without any doubt a great, individual musician and musical authority I would say that many of his views on music are somewhat outdated and sometimes - hands down - outrightly reactionary as he‘s seemingly reproducing musicological narratives that stem from a different era and that today‘s academia would frame with great reservation. He is an obvious advertiser of a notion that still sees music history as Bach-Beethoven-Schubert-Brahms and actually most of which doesn‘t go along this line is „2nd rate“ of „minor historical relevance“. He is definitely not aware of the recent academic research on topics of compositional traditions, teaching systems and performance practice…. or if so, he denies it.. Just like many other protagonists of the western concert circus that seem to be encrusted and stuck in a backward romantic ideology of music….this can sometimes be very frustrating e.g. when you see a channel like tone base features artists like Seymour Bernstein and everybody cheers… LOL what is your opinion?

[@Jerkyhammerstopwatch]

@@en-blanc-et-noir Monsieur...you mention Seymour Bernstein, of whom I know nothing of (intelligently) other than that the youtube video's for such character's are frequently accompanied by scandal seeking headings, such things are hard to appreciate...for example I frequently enjoy Glenn Gould's music making, his choice of piano however was his own business, I embrace this...whereas others...well! Regarding the "circus", to this I would add "Living Museum". I remain humbly yours, thank you for the channel!

[@ant_adlibs]

diminished chord on the b6 is the V7 disguised. it has the same elements that function as the tension but the root is raised a semitone. in jazz theory, we see it as a V7b9 harmony and the root is commonly left unvoiced.

[@erickramirez5483]

Dude! I can't tell you how useful your videos are, keep the good job, congratulations! And you know what? would be nice if you do some videos about romantic chamber music ! 😊 Greetings ❤

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

THX Mr.!

[@luisdiaz05]

Excellent video!! Could you talk about the improvisation skills of Beethoven? That will be great!!.

[@tejasnair3399]

I wonder if there was any continuation of CPE Bach’s highly gestural style of fantasia in the early 19th century

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Hey there... I'd say no, but Czerny refers to CPE Bach's Fantasia style in his Op. 200 on page 20 (§ 6) and even gives a self-made example! Obviously the structures, diminutions, progressions etc. seem "outdated" and don't fit the brilliant style idiom anymore...

[@svenrohark4003]

❤👍❤️

[@murraywilloughby7116]

Sorry to have to ask, but could you offer some help with fingering? I realize it's considered a "right of passage" and all, but it's one I've never been able to conquer. I have all of these books downloaded from IMSLP. Truthfully, by the time I get a fingering worked out I become bored with the music and I just never come back to it to cement what I've learned. Really love what you are doing here. I think it is of the utmost importance for both Classical and jazz pianists. Cheers!

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Many thanks for ya praising... Phew, this is an intricate topic as fingerings can be a very personal thing. What do you mean exactly? You mean the way fingerings can change when transposing? - Especially when it comes to more complex patterns I always try to minimize finger-variants so that I can do as many keys as I can with similar fingerings. When you become bored with a pattern: write it down and keep it in a document where you can find it later on to resume. I'm doing this with patterns that I fancy but that are still to hard to transpose to all keys for me, when I find them later and give them a second chance in most cases they find their way into the repertoire.

[@murraywilloughby7116]

@@en-blanc-et-noir Nothing really that elaborate. I've just learned about the blocking technique, and its use in similar keys, but you mentioned in another video about how your hands should be familiar with this pattern (the French). What I don't know are these patterns or "Grips?" Thats what I call them. I know them in Jazz, they're called "Rootless Voicings." But I don't know the Baroque equivalent. It's what Bach started his students on for 6 months and wrote some difficult finger twisting preludes to convince them of the importance. I discovered a few in Hummel, but by that time the Thumb was fully incorporated. I believe Bach's exercises were for four fingers. I appreciate the advice. I do need to start keeping a journal. I slow the video down and try to copy your fingering, but I always had the feeling that there was a system. I've looked through Liszt's Method and Arcady and Pischna, and even done Microcosmos in all 12 keys. Still, I never get a feeling of being able to play naturally or effortlessly the way you do. thanks!

[@skellez83]

May I ask what is the music heard when we see the painting of Chopin playing? Cheers

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

It's an improvisation I recorded already a bunch of years ago. I think I still got the footage. If you want it might be able to provide the file. Cheers

[@skellez83]

@@en-blanc-et-noir hello colleague! Thanks for your message. Well, sure I’d be happy to listen to it, thank you.

[@Mymusicaldream]

Where did you study music theory?

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

In Germany in Hochschule für Musik Detmold and in the Folkwang University of Arts.

[@Xanadu2025]

I thought czerny was taught by Beethoven

[@en-blanc-et-noir]

Well, ever thought about the possibility of having multiple teachers? :DD He was as well with Clementi and Hummel though...