Dances and Character Pieces for Piano

Weber’s dances and character pieces for piano can be divided into two groups: The Allemandes, Ecossaisen, Favoritwalzer as well as the Max-Walzer and Walzer belong to the ‘smaller’ and technically simpler piano literature that, as piano dances, are primarily ‘functional music’ and ‘Gebrauchsmusik [utility music]’ directed primarily at amateurs and dilettantes. On the other hand, the Momento capriccioso, the Grande Polonaise, the Rondo brillante, the Aufforderung zum Tanze and the Polacca brillante are virtuosic and aimed at audience effect, that is, as ‘brilliant’ performance music – as is sometimes already mentioned in the title or subtitle. These works provided an essential impulse for fur[1]ther developing the two genres – ‘piano rondo’ and ‘piano dance’ that were extremely popular between 1750 and 1850 – from a rather undemanding mass product for private use to a musico-aesthetically relevant concert literature. Presented together with a critical report as volume VII,3 within the Complete Works of Carl Maria von Weber.