Essential Repertoire,
Piano Sheet Music Essentials: Franz Schubert
In our Piano Sheet Music Essentials series, we aim to offer recommendations for some of the most popular piano pieces by a selection of celebrated composers, broken up into general difficulty level, so pianists of all ages and abilities can begin to explore the works of great classical composers. This article focuses on the work of Franz Schubert, Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras.
Franz Schubert
Born in a poor district of Vienna in 1797, Schubert was the son of a well-known school-master who taught him to play piano and violin. He composed from an early age, and despite his short lifetime, he left behind a vast oeuvre, including more than six-hundred secular vocal works, sacred works, seven symphonies, operas, incidental music, piano works, and chamber music. Schubert is most often linked to the German Art Song (or Lied); although he certainly did not invent the genre, he did tranform it profoundly.
Easy - Intermediate Pieces
The pieces listed below are suitable for beginner to early intermediate pianists. As with all sheet music, some basic music theory, and an understanding of how to read and interpret sheet music is required. Including arrangements of more difficult pieces, this collection provides accessible choices for beginners and offers an introduction into the world of Franz Schubert.
Noted for his technical finesse and his fondness for experimentation, Franz Schubert was one of the leading composers of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. This collection includes a wide variety of his most beloved pieces in simplified arrangements, making them a satisfying and accessible introduction to the Austrian composer's work for beginners. Presented in gradually increasing order of difficulty, the pieces feature simplified keys and suggested fingerings.
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Twenty of Schubert's best-known works arranged for easy playing. Includes Ave Maria, Marche Militaire and Who Is Sylvia?.
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Santorella Edition (Minstrel Press). An Easy piano arrangement of Schubert's Ave Maria by Alexander Cole.
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Simplified Masterwork Solo of the theme from Schubert's March Militaire.
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Intermediate – Early Advanced Pieces
The following pieces are suitable for intermediate to early advanced pianists. Some publications will include pieces that are easier to master, and some that are much more advanced. Our selections below include popular pieces from Moments Musicaux, a selection of Ländler, German Dances, and Ecossaises.
Of the twelve composers in the series At the piano, Franz Schubert was undoubtedly the least at home at the piano – but nevertheless what masterpieces he left us for this instrument! There is hardly any pianist who is not immediately captivated by the cheerful yet melancholy atmosphere of Schubert’s Impromptus and Moments musicaux. Even the simple pieces by Schubert at the beginning of this volume have surprising twists in store that afford them a profundity of their own.
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Selected masterpieces composed for or arranged for solo piano. Intermediate to advanced level.
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This collection contains the most beautiful and technically easy of Schubert's piano pieces and dances. These miniatures can be used to enliven piano instruction and convey valuable insight into the richness of the composers´ music.
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The graceful and delicate pieces in this collection have been selected from the many dances Schubert composed for the piano. Thoroughly researched back to their original form, editor Margery Halford has included the composer's notations and added her own comments either in footnotes or lighter print. For ease of reading, the engraving has been widely spaced. These nineteen delightful pieces are presented as a lovely and informative introduction to Schubert for early-intermediate students.
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Edited by Oscar Beringer. Contents include Ländler D.420, No.1, Ländler D.734, No.15, Andante from Sonata in A minor, D.845, Ecossaise D.529, No.8, Ecossaise D.783, No.1, No.2 of Three Keyboard Pieces, D.946, and Menuet from Sonata in E-flat, D.568.
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This collection contains twenty-five selections including dances, Moment Musicaux, an impromptu, a set of variations and various other works. Schubert's compositional output, musical style and use of ornaments are discussed in the preface. Original editions and more recent editions were consulted and significant discrepancies appear as footnotes.
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Advanced – Professional Level Pieces
Lastly, these selections are most suited for advanced to professional level musicians and contain some of the most challenging Schubert compositions. The publications below include complete works, and collections of popular pieces.
Unique comprehensive edition of Schubert’s early piano sonatas. Many drafts and early versions reproduced for the first time in a performing edition
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Schubert's famous Trout Quintet arranged for piano solo.
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Franz Schubert's Impromptus and Moments musicaux are among the milestones of piano music and are a regular feature in music lessons and concert performances. This edition brings all Impromptus and Moments musicaux together in one volume in a practice-focused manner. The musical text of the Impromptus is based primarily on the composer's autographs as well as on a copy of the Witteczek-Spaun Collection which was very important to Schubert. As no autograph sources for the Moments musicaux exist, the first and early editions of individual pieces were used as reference material.
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Printed with spacious engraving, this edition unites Schubert’s great fantasies for solo piano in a single volume and presents the early work Fantasy in C minor for the first time in a scholarly-critical Urtext edition. It offers advanced pupils, students and professional pianists a richly varied, musically and technically thrilling addition to their repertoire. The edition features notes on performance practice, an informative preface, practical page turns and an elegant engraving.
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Thirty-three dances by composer Schubert is published within ABRSM's Signature Series - a series of authoritative performing editions of standard keyboard works, prepared from original sources by leading scholars. Includes informative introductions and performance notes.
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Ellena Taylor - Sheet Music and Books Manager
