The two-piano concerto is evidently not a form used very much in the Romantic period - one imagines for the fairly obvious reason that the piano virtuoso of the period was not going to want to share the on-stage glory. Obvious examples are limited to Mendelssohn and Bruch. Then it is on to the 20th C.
Any obscure examples that can be pointed out?
Well, there's the Thieriot Op.77 concerto... by the way, you say "on to the 20th c". The Bruch concerto is from the 20th century- written ca.1912. I'm not positive whether the Thieriot was (c) 1893 or 1903 frankly but it was before the Bruch :)
Kalkbrenner and Dussek are the first ones that come to mind. I suspect there are more, but not many.
The Field 5 used to require 2 pianos in one of the movements, but the power of the modern instrument means this is no longer a requirement.
As you say, the 20th Century are littered with two piano concertos and a vast number from Dutch composers, for some reason which is beyond me.
Thal
Thanks- also Kalkbrenner op.125 pub.1833, thanks for the reminder, and Dussek Op.63/Craw 206 (1805-6, maybe a little early for this.)
Maybe time to do a bit of clever HMB searching, though... hrm.
There are actually many more of these than is generally known. Quincy Porter's Concerto Concertante won the Pulitzer Prize in 1954.
I've heard the Porter, there've been good recordings. The question was specifically about the period 1830-1900 or so (so even the Bruch wasn't admissible, since it was composed in 1912.)
The dangers of mentally pigeon-holing composers by centuries when they overlapped ...
Oh, no doubt. I'm rather a fan of Quincy Porter's though I doubt much of his music would be considered Romantic (maybe late-Liszt Romantic, since late-Liszt is considered Romantic, right? Of course right, by our definition... ok, not going there-but have to, eventually, because it's just plain*mrph* *gags self*) by the standards of this forum - not a sentence for too much to be read into; his 3rd string quartet, like Prokofiev's 1st, is powerfully elegiac, as I recall from the LP (there have also been at least 3 CD recordings, two of them parts of complete sets), a lot of his music on the warmer, less Stravinskian (phew!!) side of "neo-Classical" (no, I am not much fond of Stravinsky, with some exceptions)- then getting harsher harmonically as I recall, though always expressive, toward the end of his career. A student of Ernest Bloch and a friend of Roger Sessions (though not like the latter's middle or later work in sound.)
The Concerto for two Pianos by Ralph Vaughn Willams is simply stunning.
http://www.allmusic.com/composition/concerto-for-2-pianos-amp-orchestra-in-c-major-revised-version-of-piano-concerto-mc0002357005
...but it's not really for this forum.
Frank Tapp wrote a Prelude and Fugue for two pianos and strings which I think dates from the 1890s. I might be wrong. I'll check.
According to piano-concertos.org there's also a movement for 2 pianos and orchestra by Sterndale Bennett and a Grand Allegro by Brzowski. (F.J. Frohlich didn't but did write one for piano duet and orchestra.) Gyula Mayor wrote one (2pf/orch) too, from possibly ca.1888?...
(To my surprise, Emanuel Moor, who wrote a harp concerto, several piano, and violin, and cello, concertos, a piano and violin and orchestra concerto, and a triple concerto- did not write one of these... did Röntgen, I wonder?) (There's also Joszef Wieniawski's Fantasia, fwiw.)
I cannot resist pointing out a fascinating fact about Dussek's Double Piano Concerto. He completed it in 1806 while working for Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia. They were travelling from battlefield to battlefield in the Prussian fight against Napoleon. The prince was himself a fine pianist and composer (Beethoven dedicated his Third Piano Concerto to him) and, on 9th October, he and Dussek gave the first performance, accompanied by string quartet, at the home of Prince Schwartzburg in Rudolstadt. Astonishingly, the very next day, the prince, at the head of his troops, was killed in the Battle of Saalfeld. (Moral: Battle plans before piano practice!)
Something of that history is recounted in the notes to the one recording (that I know of) of Dussek's 3 string quartets Op.60, which were also performed in that pre-battle concert, I believe. I'd gotten the impression somehow that they were actually played in Saalfeld, though, not in Rudolstadt. I misread *sigh* Thanks for the correction!
At the risk of being accused of another 'laundry list' here are the ones that I know of from composers born before 1880. This list could be doubled if it included 1 piano 4 hands. I have a list of composers in both categories, born up to 1921 which I would be happy to send as an attachment with an email if anyone is interested.
Umlauf, Ignaz 1746-1796 concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra
Mozart, Wolfgang 1765-1791 concerto for 3 pianos and orchestra, concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra 1776/79
Dussek, Jan 1760-1812 concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra in B flat major 1805
Kalkbrenner, Friedrich 1785-1849 concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra
Brzowsky, Joseph 1803-1888 Grand allegro for 2 pianos and orchestra 1846
Mendelssohn, Felix 1809-1847 two concertos for 2 pianos and orchestra
Bennett, Willian Sterndale 1816-1875 1 movement of concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra 1835
Dutsch, Otto 1823-1863 Sonata for 2 pianos and orchestra
Wieniawski, Josef 1837-1912 Fantasia for 2 pianos and orchestra
Bruch, Max 1838-1920 concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra in A flat
Mayr(Major) Jacob 1858-1925 concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra 1888
Robyn, Alfred 1860-1935 concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra in C minor 1900
Hutcheson, Ernest 1871-1951 concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra 1933
Hill, Edward 1872-1960 Scherzo for 2 pianos and orchestra1924
Pferdemonges, Maria 1872-19xx concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra
Vaughan-Williams Ralph 1872-1958 concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra in C major 1946
Heintz, Gustav 1891-1946 concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra 1933
Alfred George Robyn's in the list? (AKA Nybor...) Neat. Published work or in ms, do you know? (Large-scale orchestral music was not, I think, what he was famous for!...)
(Ah. Though I see he did write a symphony in D minor and a concerto for solo piano and orchestra, too. My bad.)
'...Robyn, Alfred 1860-11935..."
Very good genes in that family.
David
Quote from: giles.enders on Monday 13 May 2013, 11:51Bruch, Max 1838-1920 concerto for 2 pianos and orchestra in A flat
Hill, Edward 1872-196 Scherzo for 2 pianos and orchestra1924
The Bruch is in A-flat minor - a key celebrated for underuse.
And the same thing can be said for Hill as can be said for Robyn Alfred, except that he seems to have been descended from PDQ Bach. Perhaps on his mother's side? ;D
Alfred George Robyn's dates are 29 April 1860 — 18 October 1935. This is easily checked and double and triple-checked. It was a simple and easily-made typo, sheesh. Use a Dutch-English translator on his Dutch Wikipedia article...
Unfamiliar with Edward Hill- unless it's Edward Burlingame Hill? His dates were 1872-1960 too. Oh. Hrm. Might be! So yeah, 9 September 1872 - 9 July 1960 - see Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Burlingame_Hill).
About the Bruch concerto: This concerto was adapted from his Suite for organ and orchestra No.3. He adapted it for the American Sutro sisters to play, however they rewrote it and copyrighted their version. There are now two versions of this concerto, Bruch's and theirs. The Sutro sisters were sharp operators and not particularly trustworthy.
Indeed they were. Sharp as knives.
It's some time since I've listened to either work, but Bruch's two piano concerto version is, IMHO, much to be preferred to the original for organ and orchestra, which I remember as a lacklustre, going-though-the-motions affair, at least in the recording which I have. The revisions are quite major I think and Bruch transformed the material in the Piano Concerto to produce a sunny, warmly romantic piece, possibly the best of his last years.