Not Only Fur Elise: Gorgeous Unknown Compositions by Well-Known Composers
by Dr. Peter Mack, NCTM

In this standing room-only workshop, Dr. Mack entertained, educated, and inspired us with performances of some of his favorite mostly-unknown works. He began the workshop with a lovely playing of Rachmaninoff’s Fragments. He then proceeded to play little snippets of many other selections. Dr. Mack expressed his affinity for slow, sad, sentimental pieces, letting us know that most of his selections would be of this flavor. Here are a few of the highlights.

Bach, Johann Sebastian – Four Duets, BWV 802-805 (publ. Konemann/Mel Bay; also in Henle 139). Also available from Konemann is a book of preparatory pieces for the Well-Tempered Clavier.
Bach/Marcello – Transcription of Concerto for Oboe, BWV 974 (Konzertbearbeitungen, pub. Konemann/Mel Bay K171)
Bartok, Bela – Fifteen Hungarian Peasant Songs (pub. Boosey and Hawkes)
Beethoven, Ludwig van – 5 Variations on “Rule Britatania” WoO 79 (from Variationen, Vol. III, pub. Konemann/Mel Bay K201)
Chopin, Frederic – Contredanse (Paderewski edition of complete works, Vol. XVIII)
Chopin/Liszt – “Chants Polonais,” Spring (Pub Editions Durand DC0987300)
Debussy, Claude – “Pour la Danseuse avec Crotales” from “Six Epigraphes antiques” (Etudes, Children’s Corner etc.; pub. Dover 0-486-27145-5)
Faure, Gabriel – Improvisation, Op. 84, No. 5, 3 (Faure Selected Pieces; pub. J.B. Cramer)
Grieg, Edvard – “In Ola Valley” Op. 66, No. 14 from Norwegian Folk Songs (Pub. Konemann/Mel Bay K175
Haydn, Joseph – Variations on “Gott, erhalte” Hob. III: 77/II, (“Klavierstucke, Vol. 2,” Pub. Konemann/Mel Bay, K 219)
Liszt, Franz – “Au Lac de Wallenstadt” from “Annees de Pelerinage” (Pub. Dover 0-486-25627-8)
Mendelssohn, Felix – Gondellied in A major (in Complete Works for piano solo, Vol I”, Pub. Dover 0-486-23136-4)
Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus – Menuett, KV355 (594a) (Klavierstucke, Pub. Henle 133)
Prokofiev, Sergei – “Mephisto Waltz” (Pub. Dover 0-486-28551-0)
Ravel, Maurice – “ A la Maniere de Borodine” (Pub. Dover 0-486-29806-X)
Satie, Eric – “Sonatine Bureaucratique” (Pub. Masters Music Publications M 2116)
Scarlatti, Domenico – Sonata in a minor, K.3, L. 378
Schubert, Franz – Allegretto in c minor (Klavierstucke Vol. II; pub. Konemann/Mel Bay)
Schumann, Robert – Faschingsschwank aus Vienne; Esp. Romanze and Intermezzo (Pub. Peters 2312)
Scriabin, Alexander – “Prelude for the Left Hand Alone, Op. 9, No. 1” from “Piano Music for One Hand” (Pub. Schirmer)
Tchaikovsky, Peter – Der Puppe Grablegung/Die neue Puppe (in “Leichte Klavierstucke, Vol 2; pub Henle 135)

Dr. Mack concluded his presentation with a “Name that Tune” game designed to root out “the real piano nerds.” His witty sense of humor and anecdotal comments coupled with many gorgeous pieces made the whole workshop truly delightful!

Yesterday, I shared a little bit about the Galaxy of Composers group class that we held in the studio last week. In preparation for this each student selected (or was given) a composition by a composer of interest to them. I tried to keep the duplicate composers to a minimum, but of course we did still end up with several of the more famous names!

I used to be opposed to using simplified arrangements of classics, but now I love them! I’m still not a huge fan of simplified arrangements of piano repertoire, but I love using themes from other instrumental and symphonic works to help familiarize the students with music they might otherwise never hear. I’ve compiled a list below of the pieces that were prepared for the Galaxy of Composers group class, along with links to the books in which they are located (these represent some of my favorite collections for both piano and simplified classical arrangements!). Hope it’s helpful!

Prelude – Isaac Albeniz

Kind im Einschlummern (Child Falling Asleep) – Robert Schumann

The Village Prophet – Jean Jacques Rousseau

Theme from New World Symphony – Antonin Dvorak

Theme from Trepak – Pyotr Tchaikovsky

Maple Leaf Rag – Scott Joplin

Rondo Alla Turca – Frederic Burgmuller

Solfeggieto – C.P.E. Bach

Fur Elise – Ludwig Van Beethoven

No Fear – Luke Wisner (original composition by the brother of a student)

Theme from Eine Kleine Nachtmusik – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Pop! Goes the Weasel – Benjamin Schweitzer

Theme from Symphony in C Minor – Ludwig Van Beethoven

Wedding March – Felix Mendelssohn

Caprice No. 24 – Niccolo Paganini

The Magic Fountain – Szidor Bator

Firefly – Nancy and Randall Faber

In the Hall of the Mountain King – Edvard Grieg

Night of the Tarantella – Nancy Faber

Country Dance – Ludwig Van Beethoven

Theme from Fantasy-Impromptu – Frederic Chopin

German Dance and Allemande – Michael Praetorius

Stars and Stripes Forever – John Philip Sousa

Romance – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Taps – Daniel Butterfield

Theme from Spring – Antonio Vivaldi

D’Net has produced another amazing resource for her students – customized assignment pages with a little bit of info about a composer on each page. In her studio, they have a composer of the month, so each month of pages features one composer with a colorful picture of the composer and a different fun fact about that composer on each page for that month. There are enough for 41 weeks with the following composers featured: Bach, Handel, Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Wagner, Rossini, Grieg, Gershwin, Williams.

I absolutely love this design!

For our Mid-Winter Ball, the theme was “an evening of serious music – experience the masterpieces of yesteryear composed by world famous musicians.” Each student played a classical piece and shared a biographical sketch of their composer. The games centered around the composers represented in the performances. Here’s a game that was a favorite!

Composer Trading Game
1. Print and cut out out 8 copies of the Composer Trading Cards
2. Separate each of the composers into his own stack. (There are 20 different composers.)
3. Select as many composers as you have students playing the game and mix them into one deck. (e.g. If you have 10 students, select 10 of the composers and include all 8 cards with that composer in the final deck of cards.)
4. Pass out 8 cards to each player or pair. (I paired students up at the beginning of the evening and they played this game in pairs.)
5. When you give the signal to begin, every player has to try to trade cards with the other players in an effort to collect all of the same composer. This is accomplished by holding out the cards they desire to trade face down and calling out the number of cards they are trading. (If you’re familiar with the game, Pit, that’s what this is patterned after.) Only cards picturing the same composer may be traded in a single trade. (e.g. A player may hold out a set of 3 cards with Schubert, but not 3 cards with Schubert, Grieg and Mozart.)
6. Players may change the number of cards they are trading at any time in order to complete a trade with another player.
7. Once a player has collected all 8 cards for one composer, they must ding a bell (or, I had them run to the piano and play the middle C).
8. Check to be sure they have collected all 8 cards!

Here’s a video of the Composer Trading Game in action!