1.
MIDI
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A single MIDI link can carry up to sixteen channels of information, each of which can be routed to a separate device. These messages are sent via a MIDI cable to other devices where they control sound generation, a simple example of a MIDI setup is the use of a MIDI controller such as an electronic musical keyboard to trigger sounds created by a sound module. This MIDI data can also be recorded into a hardware or software device called a sequencer, advantages of MIDI include compactness, ease of modification and manipulation and a wide choice of electronic instruments and synthesizer or digitally-sampled sounds. MIDI technology was standardized in 1983 by a panel of industry representatives. In June 1981, Roland founder Ikutaro Kakehashi proposed the idea of standardization to Oberheim Electronics founder Tom Oberheim, in October 1981, Kakehashi, Oberheim and Smith discussed the idea with representatives from Yamaha, Korg and Kawai. Smith proposed this standard at the Audio Engineering Society show in November 1981, MIDIs development was announced to the public by Robert Moog, in the October 1982 edition of Keyboard magazine. By the time of the January 1983 Winter NAMM Show, Smith was able to demonstrate a MIDI connection between his Prophet 600 analog synthesizer and a Roland JP-6, the MIDI Specification was published in August 1983. The MIDI standard was unveiled by Ikutaro Kakehashi and Dave Smith, MIDIs appeal was originally limited to professional musicians and record producers who wanted to use electronic instruments in the production of popular music. The standard allowed different instruments to speak with other and with computers. This interoperability allowed one device to be controlled from another, which reduced the amount of hardware musicians needed to own, MIDIs introduction coincided with the dawn of the personal computer era and the introductions of samplers and digital synthesizers. The creative possibilities brought about by MIDI technology have been credited as having helped to revive the industry in the 1980s. MIDI introduced many capabilities which transformed the way musicians work, MIDI sequencing made it possible for a user with no notation skills to build complex arrangements. A musical act with as few as one or two members, each operating multiple MIDI-enabled devices, could deliver a performance which sounds similar to that of a larger group of musicians. By performing preproduction in an environment, an artist can reduce recording costs by arriving at a recording studio with a song that is already partially completed and worked out. Educational technology enabled by MIDI has transformed music education and those new to the subject of MIDI might confuse it with digital audio. MIDI symbolically represents a note, whereas digital audio represents the sound produced by the note, MIDI was invented so that musical instruments could communicate with each other and so that one instrument can control another. Analog synthesizers that have no digital component and were built prior to MIDIs development can be retrofit with kits that convert MIDI messages into analog control voltages. When a note is played on a MIDI instrument, it generates a signal that can be used to trigger a note on another instrument
2.
Ludwig van Beethoven
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Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he one of the most famous. His best-known compositions include 9 symphonies,5 piano concertos,1 violin concerto,32 piano sonatas,16 string quartets, his great Mass the Missa solemnis, and one opera, Fidelio. At the age of 21 he moved to Vienna, where he began studying composition with Joseph Haydn and he lived in Vienna until his death. By his late 20s his hearing began to deteriorate, and by the last decade of his life he was almost completely deaf. In 1811 he gave up conducting and performing in public but continued to compose, many of his most admired works come from these last 15 years of his life. Beethoven was the grandson of Ludwig van Beethoven, a musician from the town of Mechelen in the Duchy of Brabant in the Flemish region of what is now Belgium, who at the age of twenty moved to Bonn. Ludwig was employed as a singer at the court of the Elector of Cologne, eventually rising to become, in 1761. The portrait he commissioned of himself towards the end of his life remained proudly displayed in his grandsons rooms as a talisman of his musical heritage. Ludwig had one son, Johann, who worked as a tenor in the musical establishment and gave keyboard. Johann married Maria Magdalena Keverich in 1767, she was the daughter of Johann Heinrich Keverich, Beethoven was born of this marriage in Bonn. There is no record of the date of his birth, however. Of the seven children born to Johann van Beethoven, only Ludwig, the second-born, caspar Anton Carl was born on 8 April 1774, and Nikolaus Johann, the youngest, was born on 2 October 1776. Beethovens first music teacher was his father and he later had other local teachers, the court organist Gilles van den Eeden, Tobias Friedrich Pfeiffer, and Franz Rovantini. Beethovens musical talent was obvious at a young age, some time after 1779, Beethoven began his studies with his most important teacher in Bonn, Christian Gottlob Neefe, who was appointed the Courts Organist in that year. Neefe taught Beethoven composition, and by March 1783 had helped him write his first published composition, Beethoven soon began working with Neefe as assistant organist, at first unpaid, and then as a paid employee of the court chapel conducted by the Kapellmeister Andrea Luchesi. His first three piano sonatas, named Kurfürst for their dedication to the Elector Maximilian Friedrich, were published in 1783, Maximilian Frederick noticed Beethovens talent early, and subsidised and encouraged the young mans musical studies. Maximilian Fredericks successor as the Elector of Bonn was Maximilian Francis, the youngest son of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, echoing changes made in Vienna by his brother Joseph, he introduced reforms based on Enlightenment philosophy, with increased support for education and the arts
3.
Fugue
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A fugue usually has three sections, an exposition, a development, and a final entry that contains the return of the subject in the fugues tonic key. In the Middle Ages, the term was used to denote any works in canonic style, by the Renaissance. Since the 17th century, the fugue has described what is commonly regarded as the most fully developed procedure of imitative counterpoint. Most fugues open with a main theme, the subject, which then sounds successively in each voice, when each voice has entered. This is often followed by a passage, or episode, developed from previously heard material. In this sense, a fugue is a style of composition, the form evolved during the 18th century from several earlier types of contrapuntal compositions, such as imitative ricercars, capriccios, canzonas, and fantasias. The famous fugue composer Johann Sebastian Bach shaped his own works after those of Johann Jakob Froberger, Johann Pachelbel, Girolamo Frescobaldi, Dieterich Buxtehude and others. With the decline of sophisticated styles at the end of the period, the fugues central role waned, eventually giving way as sonata form. The English term fugue originated in the 16th century and is derived from the French word fugue or the Italian fuga and this in turn comes from Latin, also fuga, which is itself related to both fugere and fugare. A fugue begins with the exposition and is according to certain predefined rules, in later portions the composer has more freedom. Further entries of the subject will occur throughout the fugue, repeating the accompanying material at the same time, the various entries may or may not be separated by episodes. What follows is a chart displaying a fairly typical fugal outline, S = subject, A = answer, CS = countersubject, T = Tonic, D = Dominant A fugue begins with the exposition of its subject in one of the voices alone in the tonic key. After the statement of the subject, a second voice enters and states the subject with the subject transposed to another key, to make the music run smoothly, it may also have to be altered slightly. A tonal answer is called for when the subject begins with a prominent dominant note. To prevent an undermining of the sense of key, this note is transposed up a fourth to the tonic rather than up a fifth to the supertonic. Answers in the subdominant are also employed for the same reason, while the answer is being stated, the voice in which the subject was previously heard continues with new material. If this new material is reused in later statements of the subject, it is called a countersubject, if this material is only heard once. The countersubject is written in invertible counterpoint at the octave or fifteenth, for example, when the note G sounds in one voice above the note C in lower voice, the interval of a fifth is formed, which is considered consonant and entirely acceptable
4.
Fortepiano
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A fortepiano is an early piano. In principle, the fortepiano can designate any piano dating from the invention of the instrument by Bartolomeo Cristofori around 1700 up to the early 19th century. Most typically, however, it is used to refer to the late-18th to early-19th century instruments for which Haydn, Mozart, starting in Beethovens time, the fortepiano began a period of steady evolution, culminating in the late 19th century with the modern grand. The earlier fortepiano became obsolete and was absent from the scene for many decades. In the 20th century the fortepiano was revived, following the rise of interest in historically informed performance, fortepianos are built for this purpose today in specialist workshops. The fortepiano has leather-covered hammers and thin, harpsichord-like strings and it has a much lighter case construction than the modern piano and, except for later examples of the early nineteenth century, it has no metal frame or bracing. The action and hammers are lighter, giving rise to a lighter touch. The range of the fortepiano was about four octaves at the time of its invention, Mozart wrote his piano music for instruments of about five octaves. The piano works of Beethoven reflect an expanding range, his last piano compositions are for an instrument of about six octaves. Fortepianos from the start often had similar to the pedals of modern pianos. Like the modern piano, the fortepiano can vary the volume of each note. The tone of the fortepiano is quite different from that of the piano, however. Sforzando accents tend to stand out more than on the piano, as they differ from softer notes in timbre as well as volume. Fortepianos also tend to have different tone quality in their different registers—slightly buzzing in the bass, tinkling in the high treble. In comparison, modern pianos are rather more uniform in sound through their range, the piano was invented by harpsichord maker Bartolomeo Cristofori in Florence around the turn of the 18th century. The first reliable record of a piano appears in the inventory of the Medici family, Cristofori continued to develop the instrument until the 1720s, the time from which the surviving three Cristofori instruments date. Cristofori is perhaps best admired today for his ingenious piano action, however, other innovations were also needed to make the piano possible. Merely attaching the Cristofori action to a harpsichord would have produced a weak tone
5.
Franz Schubert
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Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer. Schubert died before his 32nd birthday, but was prolific during his lifetime. His output consists of six hundred secular vocal works, seven complete symphonies, sacred music, operas, incidental music. Appreciation of his music while he was alive was limited to a small circle of admirers in Vienna. Felix Mendelssohn, Robert Schumann, Franz Liszt, Johannes Brahms, today, Schubert is ranked among the greatest composers of the late Classical and early Romantic eras and is one of the most frequently performed composers of the early nineteenth century. Schubert was born in Himmelpfortgrund, Vienna, Archduchy of Austria on 31 January 1797, of Franz Theodors fourteen children, nine died in infancy. Their father was a teacher, and his school in Lichtental had numerous students in attendance. Though he was not recognised or even trained as a musician. At age six, Franz began to receive instruction from his father. His formal musical education started around the same time and his father taught him basic violin technique, and his brother Ignaz gave him piano lessons. The boy seemed to more from an acquaintance with a friendly joiners apprentice who took him to a neighbouring pianoforte warehouse where Franz could practice on better instruments. He also played viola in the string quartet, with brothers Ferdinand and Ignaz on first and second violin. Franz wrote his earliest string quartets for this ensemble, young Schubert first came to the attention of Antonio Salieri, then Viennas leading musical authority, in 1804, when his vocal talent was recognized. In October 1808, he became a pupil at the Stadtkonvikt through a choir scholarship, at the Stadtkonvikt, he was introduced to the overtures and symphonies of Mozart, and the symphonies of Joseph Haydn and his younger brother Michael. His exposure to these and lesser works, combined with occasional visits to the opera, one important musical influence came from the songs by Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg, an important Lieder composer of the time. The precocious young student wanted to modernize them, as reported by Joseph von Spaun, Schuberts friendship with Spaun began at the Stadtkonvikt and lasted throughout his short life. In those early days, the financially well-off Spaun furnished the impoverished Schubert with much of his manuscript paper, in the meantime, his genius began to show in his compositions. Schubert was occasionally permitted to lead the Stadtkonvikts orchestra, and Salieri decided to start training him privately in music theory, for male voices and orchestra, and his first symphony
6.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptised as Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. Born in Salzburg, he showed prodigious ability from his earliest childhood, already competent on keyboard and violin, he composed from the age of five and performed before European royalty. At 17, Mozart was engaged as a musician at the Salzburg court, while visiting Vienna in 1781, he was dismissed from his Salzburg position. He chose to stay in the capital, where he achieved fame, during his final years in Vienna, he composed many of his best-known symphonies, concertos, and operas, and portions of the Requiem, which was largely unfinished at the time of his death. The circumstances of his death have been much mythologized. He was survived by his wife Constanze and two sons and he composed more than 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, operatic, and choral music. He is among the most enduringly popular of classical composers, Ludwig van Beethoven composed his own early works in the shadow of Mozart, and Joseph Haydn wrote, posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born on 27 January 1756 to Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria, née Pertl and this was the capital of the Archbishopric of Salzburg, an ecclesiastic principality in what is now Austria, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. He was the youngest of seven children, five of whom died in infancy and his elder sister was Maria Anna Mozart, nicknamed Nannerl. Mozart was baptized the day after his birth, at St. Ruperts Cathedral in Salzburg, the baptismal record gives his name in Latinized form, as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart. He generally called himself Wolfgang Amadè Mozart as an adult, Leopold Mozart, a native of Augsburg, Germany, was a minor composer and an experienced teacher. In 1743, he was appointed as fourth violinist in the establishment of Count Leopold Anton von Firmian. Four years later, he married Anna Maria in Salzburg, Leopold became the orchestras deputy Kapellmeister in 1763. During the year of his sons birth, Leopold published a textbook, Versuch einer gründlichen Violinschule. When Nannerl was 7, she began lessons with her father. Years later, after her brothers death, she reminisced, He often spent much time at the clavier, picking out thirds, which he was ever striking, and his pleasure showed that it sounded good. In the fourth year of his age his father, for a game as it were, began to teach him a few minuets and he could play it faultlessly and with the greatest delicacy, and keeping exactly in time. At the age of five, he was composing little pieces
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Joseph Haydn
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Joseph Haydn was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. Haydn spent much of his career as a musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their remote estate. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, yet his music circulated widely and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe. He was a friend and mentor of Mozart, a teacher of Beethoven, Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria, a village that at that time stood on the border with Hungary. His father was Mathias Haydn, a wheelwright who served as Marktrichter. Haydns mother Maria, née Koller, had worked as a cook in the palace of Count Harrach. Neither parent could read music, however, Mathias was a folk musician. According to Haydns later reminiscences, his family was extremely musical. Haydns parents had noticed that their son was musically gifted and knew that in Rohrau he would have no chance to obtain serious musical training, Haydn therefore went off with Frankh to Hainburg 12 kilometres away, he never again lived with his parents. Life in the Frankh household was not easy for Haydn, who later remembered being frequently hungry and he began his musical training there, and could soon play both harpsichord and violin. The people of Hainburg heard him sing treble parts in the church choir, Haydn passed his audition with Reutter, and after several months of further training moved to Vienna, where he worked for the next nine years as a chorister. Haydn lived in the Kapellhaus next to the cathedral, along with Reutter, Reutters family, and the other four choirboys, the choirboys were instructed in Latin and other school subjects as well as voice, violin, and keyboard. Reutter was of help to Haydn in the areas of music theory and composition. However, since St. Stephens was one of the musical centres in Europe. Like Frankh before him, Reutter did not always bother to make sure Haydn was properly fed, by 1749, Haydn had matured physically to the point that he was no longer able to sing high choral parts. Empress Maria Theresa herself complained to Reutter about his singing, calling it crowing, one day, Haydn carried out a prank, snipping off the pigtail of a fellow chorister. This was enough for Reutter, Haydn was first caned, then summarily dismissed and he had the good fortune to be taken in by a friend, Johann Michael Spangler, who shared his familys crowded garret room with Haydn for a few months. Haydn immediately began his pursuit of a career as a freelance musician and he was also briefly in Count Friedrich Wilhelm von Haugwitzs employ, playing the organ in the Bohemian Chancellery chapel at the Judenplatz
8.
Classical period (music)
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The dates of the Classical period in Western music are generally accepted as being between about the year 1730 and the year 1820. This article is about the period in most of the 18th century to the early 19th century, though overlapping with the Baroque. The Classical period falls between the Baroque and the Romantic periods, Classical music has a lighter, clearer texture than Baroque music and is less complex. It is mainly homophonic, using a melody line over a subordinate chordal accompaniment. It also makes use of style galant which emphasized light elegance in place of the Baroques dignified seriousness, variety and contrast within a piece became more pronounced than before and the orchestra increased in size, range, and power. The harpsichord was replaced as the keyboard instrument by the piano. Instrumental music was considered important by Classical period composers, vocal music, such as songs for a singer and piano, choral works, and opera were also important during this period. Ludwig van Beethoven is regarded either as a Romantic composer or a Classical period composer who was part of the transition to the Romantic era, Franz Schubert is also a transitional figure, as were Johann Nepomuk Hummel, Luigi Cherubini, and Carl Maria von Weber. The period is referred to as the era of Viennese Classic or Classicism, since Gluck, Mozart, Haydn, Salieri. In the middle of the 18th century, Europe began to move toward a new style in architecture, literature, and this style sought to emulate the ideals of Classical antiquity, especially those of Classical Greece. Classical music was still linked to aristocratic Court culture and supported by absolute monarchies. Classical music used formality and emphasis on order and hierarchy, in contrast with the richly layered music of the Baroque era, Classical music moved towards simplicity rather than complexity. In addition, the size of orchestras began to increase. The remarkable development of ideas in natural philosophy had already established itself in the public consciousness, in particular, Newtons physics was taken as a paradigm, structures should be well-founded in axioms and be both well-articulated and orderly. This move meant that chords became a more prevalent feature of music. As a result, the structure of a piece of music became more audible. The new style was encouraged by changes in the economic order. As the 18th century progressed, the nobility became the patrons of instrumental music, while public taste increasingly preferred lighter
9.
Symphony No. 3 (Beethoven)
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Symphony No.3 in E♭ major, Opus 55 is a large-scale, structurally rigorous composition which marked the beginning of the creative middle-period of the composer Ludwig van Beethoven. It is among Beethovens most celebrated works. Symphony No.3 is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in B♭, two bassoons, three horns, two trumpets in E♭ and C, timpani in E♭ and B♭ and in C and G, and strings. The first movement, in 34 time, is in sonata form, the movement opens with two large E♭ major chords, played by the whole orchestra, thus firmly establishing the tonality of the movement. The first theme is introduced by the cellos, and, by the bar of the melody. The melody is finished by the first violins, with a series of Gs. After the first theme is played, by the various instruments, like the rest of the movement, the development is characterized by remarkable harmonic and rhythmic tension, from dissonant chords and long passages of syncopated rhythm. The second movement is a march in C minor with a trio in C major. Musically, the solemnity of the second movement lends it use as a funeral march proper. The third movement is a scherzo in rapid 34 time during which various members of the orchestra play the theme. It contains numerous heavily and unusually syncopated passages and its trio features hunting calls from the three horns, the entire movement is between 5 and 6 minutes long. The theme of the movement, and its bass line The subtitle Eroica Variations of Opus 35 derives from its thematic overlap with the fourth movement of this symphony. After a fugal treatment of the theme the orchestra pauses on the dominant of the home key. The symphony ends with a Presto coda which recalls the opening of the fourth movement, the fourth movement is between 10 and 14 minutes long. Beethoven originally dedicated the symphony to Napoleon Bonaparte, who he believed embodied the democratic. At that time Beethoven had the highest esteem for him, I was the first to tell him the news that Buonaparte had declared himself Emperor, whereupon he broke into a rage and exclaimed, So he is no more than a common mortal. Now, too, he will tread under foot all the rights of Man, indulge only his ambition, now he will think himself superior to all men, become a tyrant. Beethoven went to the table, seized the top of the title-page, tore it in half, the page had to be recopied, and it was only now that the symphony received the title Sinfonia eroica
10.
Piano Sonata No. 28 (Beethoven)
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Ludwig van Beethovens Piano Sonata No.28 in A major, Op.101, was written in 1816 and was dedicated to the pianist Baroness Dorothea Ertmann, née Graumen. Op.101 well exemplified this new style, and Beethoven exploits the newly expanded keyboard compass of the day and this piano sonata consists of four movements, As with the previous sonata, it is unclear why Beethoven wrote Op.101. The earliest known sketches are on leaves that once formed the parts of the Scheide Sketchbook of 1815–16 and it shows the first movement already well developed and notated as an extended draft in score, and there are also a few preliminary ideas for the final Allegro. Beethoven himself described this sonata, composed in the town of Baden, just south of Vienna, during the summer of 1816, as a series of impressions and reveries. Beethoven offered the sonata for publication in a letter to Breitkopf and Härtel on July 19,1816, eventually it was sold to the local Viennese publisher Sigmond Anton Steiner, after its completion. It was published in January 1817, and would appear in public the following month after delays, in this period he had achieved a complete mastery of form, texture and tonality and was subverting the very conventions he had mastered to create works of remarkable profundity and beauty. It is also characteristic of late works to incorporate contrapuntal techniques into the sonata form. For the first time Beethoven used the German term Hammerklavier to refer to the piano and this was the only one of his 32 sonatas that Beethoven ever saw played publicly, this was in 1816, and the performer was a bank official and musical dilettante. This movement is in A major,68 time, in sonata form, the tempo marking for the opening movement, Etwas Lebhaft und mit innigsten Empfindung is roughly translated as rather lively and with the warmest feeling. Four-part harmony and contrapuntal texture is used throughout the movement, though the sonata is marked as being in A major, Beethoven does not write any cadences on the tonic key, the exposition and development do not include a single root position A major chord. The first tonic chord in root position appears towards the end of the recapitulation and it appears once more at the end of the recapitulation, but even then is blunted by the omission of the fifth scale degree. The second movement is in F major,44 time and it takes the form of a march in ternary form, and is characterized by dotted rhythms, harmonic dislocation and alternation between static and accelerando. The slow movement is in A minor,24 time, the opening melody of the first movement is recalled just as the third movement nears its conclusion in original tempo and meter. A group of trills leads directly to the fourth movement and this movement is a grand contrapuntal movement in which Beethoven explored the newest keyboard set in his command, using the lowest E on the piano near the end. More than 330 measures in length, the movement is the longest. This piano sonata takes 20–22 minutes to perform, Piano history and musical performance – Beethovens unusual pedal direction in the third movement A lecture by András Schiff on Beethovens piano sonata op.101 Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 28, Op.101, Creation history and discussion of musical content at Raptus Association Piano Sonata No,28, Scores at the International Music Score Library Project
11.
Soft pedal
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The soft pedal is one of the standard pedals on a piano, generally placed leftmost among the pedals. On a grand piano this pedal shifts the action including the keyboard slightly to the right. This softens the note and also modifies its tone quality, the essential function of the soft pedal was invented by Bartolomeo Cristofori, the inventor of the piano. On some of his pianos, it was possible to move the mechanism so that the hammers struck just one of the two strings per note. Cristoforis mechanism was a stop, necessitating a free hand for its use. By Mozarts time, mechanisms had been invented that permitted the same function to be carried out by a knee lever, in the 18th and early 19th centuries, the piano had evolved to have three strings on most of the notes. See Piano history and musical performance, on upright pianos, the soft pedal operates a mechanism which moves the hammers resting position closer to the strings. Digital pianos often additionally use this pedal to modify non-piano sounds such as the organ, guitar, pitch bends, Leslie speaker speed, vibrato, and so forth can thus be controlled in real-time. The pedal is sometimes called the soft pedal because of its position. The use of the pedal is generally notated with the words una corda or due corde to show when the pedal should begin being used. There is discretion for the performer in its use, however, when used as a verb, soft-pedal refers to the toning down, damping, muting or obscuring of a thing, it means to proceed in a less forceful, circumspect or subdued manner. The term Una Corda applies to modern pianos constructed with one string per key. This construction refers to the times of modern pianos when they evolved from harpsichords
12.
Wilhelm Kempff
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Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertoire included Bach, Mozart, Chopin, Schumann, Liszt and Brahms, Kempff was particularly known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven. He recorded the collection of their piano sonatas. He is considered to have one of the chief exponents of the Germanic tradition during the 20th century. Kempff was born in Jüterbog, Brandenburg, in 1895 and he grew up in nearby Potsdam where his father was a royal music director and organist at St. Nicolai Church. His grandfather was also an organist and his brother Georg became director of music at the University of Erlangen. Kempff studied music at first at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik at the age of nine after receiving lessons from his father at a younger age, whilst there he studied composition with Robert Kahn and piano with Karl Heinrich Barth. In 1914 Kempff moved on to study at the Viktoria gymnasium in Potsdam before returning to Berlin to finish his training, in 1917, Kempff gave his first major recital, consisting of predominantly major works, including Beethovens Hammerklavier Sonata and Brahms Variations on a theme of Paganini. Kempff toured widely in Europe and much of the rest of the world, between 1936 and 1979 he performed ten times in Japan. Kempff made his first London appearance in 1951 and his first in New York in 1964 and he gave his last public performance in Paris in 1981, and then retired for health reasons. He died in Positano, Italy, in 1991 at the age of 95, five years after his wife and they were survived by seven children. Wilhelm Kempff recorded over a period of sixty years. His recorded legacy includes works of Schumann, Brahms, Schubert, Mozart, Bach, Liszt, Chopin and particularly and he was among the first to record the complete sonatas of Franz Schubert, long before these works became popular. He also recorded two sets of the complete Beethoven sonatas (and one early, almost complete set on shellac, one in mono, Kempff also recorded chamber music with Yehudi Menuhin, Pierre Fournier, Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Paul Grummer, and Henryk Szeryng, among others. He left recordings of most of his repertory, including the complete sonatas of Beethoven and he performed to an advanced age, continuing to give concerts past his eightieth birthday. His association with the Berlin Philharmonic spanned over sixty years, as a performer Kempff stressed lyricism and spontaneity in music, particularly effective in intimate pieces or passages. He always strove for a singing, lyrical quality and he avoided extreme tempos and display for its own sake. The pianist Alfred Brendel has written that Kempff played on impulse and it depended on whether the right breeze, as with an aeolian harp, was blowing
