Burgmuller Op. 105 and 109

[heller]

If there is anyone out there who has used these studies, could you be kind enough to please explain what the point of these etudes might be? What kind of techniques etc do they aim at cultivating?

Thank you in advance,
H.

[kau]

Hi!

I am just starting  one etude from op. 109.  I only know that the no.12 from op.109 is good for practising  broken octaves and no. 6 is for hand stretching.  No.2 has scales.  Each etude consentrates on a certain technical difficulty.  What I like about these etudes is that they're also very melodical;  they are much more than exercises. 
I haven't seen the op. 105. 
I hope someone else will reply, too because I really know very little about them. I just got the book couple of days ago.

K.

[morton]

I am an adult learner who was told about these pieces. I too am clueless. The op. 105 is clearly tougher than the op. 109 (I may be wrong). Hope someone comments on these pieces.

Thank you,
Morton

[cfortunato]

If there is anyone out there who has used these studies, could you be kind enough to please explain what the point of these etudes might be? What kind of techniques etc do they aim at cultivating?

Thank you in advance,
H.

I can't answer your question, but I've often wondered, and your post made me decide to go buy these (as soon as there is less snow on the ground, anyway).  I have always been a big fan of Burgmuller's Opus 100, but I've never looked at the other two that are supposed to be in the same vein.

[sarahlein]

I'm no expert but this is what I have on them:

op109:

Composed as a sequel to op100 and dedicated to Heller. They are less difficult to the ones op105. They fit to an upper-intermediate level. They make a fine material to study prior to the preludes and walzes of Chopin

No 1 Confidence: Excellent for teaching voicing of a melody within a single hand

No 2 The Pearls: Primarily a study in right-hand scale playing

No 3 The Shepherd's Return: Could serve as fine preparation to one of the easier Chopin waltzes

No 4 The Gypsies: Appropriate for practising in playing chords

No 5 The Spring: A miniature version of the Chopin Etude op25 no 1

No 6 Light-Hearted Maiden: A study in right-hand double notes. Needs a relatively large hand span

No 7 Lullaby: Voicing of melody over accompaniment

No 8 Agitato: Rapid alternation of 16ths between hands.

No 9 Matin Bell: frequent left-hand crossing over right. Some playing of countermelodies in the right. Expressive and lyrical writting.

No 10 Velocity: Patterned and rapid right-hand passagework above repeated chord accompaniment. Sounds more difficult than it is.

No 11 Serenade: Simulation od strummed chords on a guitar. Grace-notes

No 12 Awakening the Woods: Rapid broken octaves in both hands

No 13 The Storm: Helpful in developing control of soft playing and brilliant passagework.

No 14 Lay of the Gondolier: Lyrical right-hand line with broken chords in the left

No 15 Sylphs: Rapid light right-hand figures. Looks more difficult on the page than it is.

No 16 Parting: Chordal work. Left-hand octaves.

No 17 March: Full chords

No 18 At the Spinning Wheel: A fine study in passage-playing

Op 105:

Sorry but all I know is that they have no titles as the other 2 sets. Perhaps someone else can shed some light? Bernhard??

[heller]

Thank you very much sarahlein for your kind reply. This is much helpful.

Speaking of Bernhard, I saw some posts by him. He is indeed back. Let's hope he comments on these; Burgmuller is his favorite too 

Just in case you do show up, welcome Mr. Bernhard. We hope all's well with you. You were missed, so was the tip of the iceberg   

Best Regards,
H

[bernhard]

I like Op. 100 the best, because there aren´t many interesting “pieces” at that level. I very rarely use Op. 105 / 109, because any student who is ready to tackle these, is ready to tackle a much more musical repertory (e.g., Mendelssohn´s Songes without words, Grieg´s Lyric pieces, etc.). Of the two sets. I like op. 109 the best  - it is also easier than op. 105 – mostly because they don´t sound so much like exercises. Amongst them my favourites are:

No. 2 – The Pearls – a good show off piece that is not that difficult, but will impress the laymen amongst one´s friends.

No. 4 – La source – I just love this type of figuration where the melody weaves in an out of thhe right-left hand with a murmur of arpeggios/broken chords in the background.

No. 7 – Berceuse – A most beautiful, lyric piece.

No. 8 – Agitato – My favourite amongst the set. Physically exhilarating to play (and to watch).

No. 9 – La cloche de matines – Another beautiful piece that does not deserve being classified as an “exercise”.

No. 14 – Refrain du gondolier – A wonderful song without words of the highest musical quality.

No. 18 – My second favourite of the set.

In general, the musical quality of Op. 109 is higher than Op. 100; Op 100 still sounds like children´s pieces, but op. 109 sounds like real music. The reason is simple, many of the technical limitations of op. 100 have been lifted (e.g. none of the op. 100 spans more than a 7th, to allow for little hands), and as technique and musicality go hand in hand, we find these pieces far more satisfying.
Personally I don´t think Op. 105 is musically on the same level as Op. 109. Possibly with this set, Burgmuller decided to keep close to the etude form, and explore particular technical difficulties on each (while on op. 109 each piece addresses several technical problems). I only really like (as pieces of music) no. 4, no. 8 and no. 11.

To complete Sarahlein´s post above:

Burgmuller op. 105:

No. 1 – Arpeggios, octaves and skips. The piece has two sections, on the first the arpeggios are in the right hand, and the octave and skips to chords are in the left. In the second part, this is reversed so that both hands get to work on the same figurations.

No. 2 – Accurate jumps, repeated staccato chords (most covering the span of an octave), all at breakneck speed.

No. 3 – Fast and nimble chromatic scales (mostly on the right hand) with  repeated chords (mostly on the left hand). One of the nicest of the set (and good preparation for Flight of the Bumblebee). Learn it with a variety of chromatic scale fingerings. The comparison will be enlightening.

No. 4 – Another nice lyrical piece, with octaves and skips on the left hand (typical nocturne accompaniment – and therefore good preparation for Chopin´s, Field´s and Fauré similar pieces). The right hand has a pattern of repeated notes and octave skips that gives the piece a nice lilt. Half way through the piece the hands briefly change figurations before going back to the original 2/3 down the way, this way both hands have a chance to play the same patterns.

No. 5 – The problem here is to bring forth the melody (little finger of the right hand and thumb of the left) over a pattern of alternating octaves and smaller intervals, where the hands are only together on the first beat of each bar, but otherwise are staggered in relation to each other. Requires a specific complex of motions.

No. 6 – Fast repeated notes on the right hand (teaches 4321 and its associated motion), skips between octaves and chords on the left. Later on, the right hand takes on the slow octaves. While the left hand does tremolos.

No. 7 – Another nice piece on its own right. Lots of different techniques are covered, but the main one is rotation of the forearm to negotiate the grace note pattern on the right hand. Also accuracy on skips.

No. 8 – My favourite of the set. A beautiful melody based on arpeggios on the left hand while the right hand creates a mist of sound with fast arpeggio figurations. Main difficulty is to bring out the melody (LH) and later the counter melody (RH). Good preparation for many similar figurations in the Romantic literature (e.g. Chopin´s op. 25 no. 1)

No. 9 – Fast (sometimes repeated) octaves on the right hand, skips between octave and chord on the left. Halfway, hands exchange figurations. Besides the difficulties inherent in fast octave playing, it also addresses co-ordination between hands.

No. 10 – Left hand: huge skips. Right hand: thirds and single notes alternate in a tricky pattern. The hands go together only on the beats, alternating in between, which will develop good co-ordination between the hands.

No. 11 – A really nice song without words. The Adagio reminds one of Phillip Glass, with fast repeated broken chords on both hand in contrary motion (forearm rotation), and the cantabile that follow is a good preparation for Mendelssohn SSW and Fauré Romances sans Paroles, where both hands must provide by turns the melody and arpeggio accompaniment. One of the best of the set, both as a piece and as a preparatory exercise.

No. 12 – While the left hand provides a stately accompaniment (with lots of skips between octaves and chords and spanning both clefs), the right hand weaves fast ornamented figurations that are repeated one octave higher. Besides each hand particular difficulties, the co-ordination between hands is also taxing.

These pieces (op. 100, op. 105 and op. 109) also present a unique opportunity to introduce the student to harmonic (and other) analysis, since mostly they follow a orthodox, textbook harmony.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[sarahlein]

Thanks Bernhard!!

[bernhard]

You are welcome.

[heller]

Wow! Thank you very much Bernhard. As always, you amaze and inspire.  Speaking of Burgmuller, have you seen any other music by Burgmuller that you might recommend?

Best Regards,
Heller

[bernhard]

Wow! Thank you very much Bernhard. As always, you amaze and inspire.  Speaking of Burgmuller, have you seen any other music by Burgmuller that you might recommend?

Best Regards,
Heller

You are welcome

The general critical opinion, is that as a composer, his greatest achievements were op. 100, 105 and 109.

Although he tried to compose non-pedagogical music, it was considered mostly mediocre and derivative.

There are other sets of studies, most notably op. 68, op. 76 (no.1 - "Rondoletto" is quite nice) and op. 97. these are not as well known and may be difficult to find. (Schirmer publishes them).

Have a look at this CD where Ramiro Schiavoni has recorde 125 (!) of Burgmuller´s studies:

http://www.ramiroschiavoni.com/

However, his brother, Norbert Burgmuller (1810 – 1836) - talk about a neglected and obscure composer! - was generally considered a musical genius. Friedrich recognized this, and apparently displayed no ill-feelings, eventually becoming a champion of Norbert´s music, working on it, and after Norbert´s death tried with great enthusiasm to get Norbert´s works published.

Norbert wrote two symphonies, a piano concerto, four string quartets and various lieder and piano pieces.

There is a CD of Norbert´s Piano concerto op. 1. You can read a review here:

http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=1965

His Piano Sonata op. 8 has also been recorded by Adrian Ruiz. Have a look here where you can listen to samples and read a review:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000005WWO/102-3116072-0806556?v=glance&n=5174

His (complete) piano solo pieces (Rhapsody b minor op.13, Polonaise F major op.16 and Waltz E flat wo.op.) are published by Rasmus-Verlag  (Dusseldorf) .You can listen to them here:

http://www.burgmueller.com/werke_e.html

Best wishes,
Bernhard.