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song. His pianoforte works are very numerous, and their artistic 

 value very great. 



Mendelssohn and Schumann were horn at a time when the 

 musical art appeared to he deteriorating. The former opposed this 

 deterioration with all the energy of liis nature ; it was he who 

 revived the memory of Bach, who seemed to have heen completely 

 forgotten. Schumann fought against the shallowness of the art- 

 world of his period, not only hy his compositions, hut hy founding 

 a musical paper, which has done immense service, and exists to the 

 present day. "With Mendelssohn and Schumann must be 

 mentioned a third master — Chopin — who was almost exclusively 

 a pianoforte-composer. 



In Mendelssohn's pianoforte works there is a nervous, 

 passionate excitement, which forms a strong contract to the plastic 

 repose and happy contentment which characterise the works of 

 Haydn, of Mozart, and of Beethoven. A speciality of Mendels- 

 sohn's was the musical jjainting of nymphs and elfins ; Sliakes- 

 peare's ^lidsummer-Xight's Dream Avas a subject which attracted 

 liim more than any other ; he composed the magnificent overture to 

 tliis drama when he was but sixteen years of age, aiid hy this 

 composition, these airy beings, born of liuman fancy, made their 

 triumplial entry into the domain of music. 



Chopin principally cultivated the smaller forms of music, sucli 

 as nocturnes, valses, mazurkas, ballades, polonaises, &c. He Was 

 a pianist of the first order, and his Avorks represent an immense 

 amount of care and labour. 



Liszt is a master who is yet living. He ranks sui)reme over 

 all others as a pianoforte player, and is at the same time a most 

 prolific composer for tlie instrument. He is so great a player that 

 the concert tours he undertook tlirough all luiropean countries 

 wliere music is appreciated, were so many triumphal processions. 

 His works are admired by every true musician, and he holds an 

 entirely unique position among the modern representatives of the 

 pianoforte. His studies, fantasias, impromptus, rhapsodies, and 

 numberless other pieces for the instrument, are one and all truly 

 marvellous productions. Xot least among them are his W(.)nderful 

 arrangements of orchestral and vocal pieces for tlie piano. 



