It is difficult, however, to establish any clear causality in these musical genealogies,
having regard to the range of influences on great pianists and their strong personalities.
Another framework might suggest a Russian national school and a French national school
as a determinant of performing styles:
Russian national school: Anton Rubinstein, Russian pianist, taught Polish pianist Josef
Hofmann and included in that line might be Russian pianist and composer Sergei
Rachmaninoff and Safonov pupil Josef Lhevinne.
French national (Chopin) school affected by Conservatory traditions: Planté, Cortot,
Casadesus and Long; and in a later generation Perlemuter and François.
There were different technical traditions stemming from Lebert-Stark, Deppe,
Leschetizky, Breithaupt and Mathay.
It is likely that Chopin playing was influenced more by the changing fashions of
successive generations than by teacher-pupil relations, nationality or schools.
TRANSPOSITION
Changing the key of a piece of music is called transposition. A piece in a major key can
be transposed to any other major key. A piece in a minor key can be transposed to any
other minor key. A piece will sound higher or lower once it has been transposed.
Pianists, accompanists, composers and arrangers benefit by having skills in transposition.
Brahms once transposed at sight for a concert the piano part a semitone higher for the
Beethoven ‘Kreutzer’ sonata. The piano on which Brahms had to play was a semitone
low and it was not practicable for his violinist Ede Reményi to retune.
César Franck once transposed a piece at sight when undertaking a sight-reading test in an
examination but he seems to have been penalised for his brazenness rather than being
rewarded for his skill.
Schubert’s song cycle ‘Winterreise’ was probably written for a tenor with a wide range.
A baritone uses an edition in which a number of the songs are transposed down a tone or
so. The second last song in a well known edition for low voice is in A major which is a
little too high for a baritone voice and benefits from a transposition into G major.
TUNING
Pianos need regular tuning to keep them up to pitch and to produce a pleasing sound. By
convention they are tuned to the internationally recognized standard of A4 = 440Hz. It
was to be 439 but as that is a prime number the next highest integer waschosen. A4 is the
A above middle C.