''Frühlingsrauschen'', Op. 32, No. 3 ('Rustle of Spring') is a solo

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

piece written by the Norwegian

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

Christian Sinding Christian August Sinding (11 January 18563 December 1941) was a Norwegian composer. He is best known for his lyrical work for piano '' Frühlingsrauschen'' (Rustle of Spring, 1896). He was often compared to Edvard Grieg and regarded as his succ ...

(1856–1941) in 1896. It is Sinding's most popular piece of music. It is written in Salon style as a piece meant for entertainment. It was very popular in the United States. Bearing the expression marking ''agitato'', much of the piece is played with a rapid

arpeggio A broken chord is a chord broken into a sequence of notes. A broken chord may repeat some of the notes from the chord and span one or more octaves. An arpeggio () is a type of broken chord, in which the notes that compose a chord are played ...

in the right hand part, while the left hand carries the melody. The work's title indicates that its sense of constant motion is symbolic of the excited restlessness of springtime. The score has some technically challenging sections, but is, for the most part, easier to play than it sounds, with most of the rapidity made up of simply arpeggiated passages. For its popularity and ability to impress, the piece is a common part of many pianists' repertoires. The piece is in D-flat major, and several times shifts to related keys such as F minor and

A-flat major A-flat major (or the key of A-flat) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has four flats. The A-flat major scale is: : Its relative minor is F minor. Its parallel minor, A-flat minor, ...

, as well as modulating via chromatic harmonies to more remote keys like G minor and

A major A major (or the key of A) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The key of A major is the only k ...

. Its form may be summed up thus: * (a) 16-bar main theme, starting in B-flat minor, passing through F minor, and ending in A-flat major (the dominant); * (b) 14-bar extension to main theme, beginning in F minor, and further developing the theme, and moving via sequence through G minor and A major, before shifting suddenly back to D-flat major as a climax; * (c) Varied repetition of (a); * (d) Varied repetition of (b); * (e) Near-exact repetition of (a) (except for first 4 bars, which are varied yet again); * (f) Exact repetition of (b); * (g) Coda, consisting of shortened version of (a) (varied in the same manner as (c)), this time staying in D-flat major instead of modulating, followed by a cadence based on this theme, and decorated by extensive scale and arpeggio passages. It appears in the second episode of

Dennis Potter Dennis Christopher George Potter (17 May 1935 – 7 June 1994) was an English television dramatist, screenwriter and journalist. He is best known for his BBC television serials '' Pennies from Heaven'' (1978), ''The Singing Detective'' (198 ...

's 1986 TV series '' The Singing Detective'', and as a quoted version in a few parts of

Meredith Willson Robert Reiniger Meredith Willson (May 18, 1902 – June 15, 1984) was an American flutist, composer, conductor, musical arranger, bandleader, playwright, and writer. He is perhaps best known for writing the book, music, and lyrics for the 195 ...

's 1957 musical ''

The Music Man ''The Music Man'' is a musical with book, music, and lyrics by Meredith Willson, based on a story by Willson and Franklin Lacey. The plot concerns con man Harold Hill, who poses as a boys' band organizer and leader and sells band instruments and ...

''. It also appears very prominently in the 1939 Hollywood film '' Intermezzo'', first in an orchestral arrangement, then its main melody is hummed by

Ingrid Bergman Ingrid Bergman (29 August 191529 August 1982) was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films, television movies, and plays.Obituary ''Variety'', 1 September 1982. With a career spanning five decades, she is often ...

and played on the piano by Bergman. The London Philharmonic's orchestral version of the piece came to notoriety in Canada for its use as wait time music by the CRA.

External links

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Auditory Illusions (Clips)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fruhlingsrauschen Compositions by Christian Sinding Compositions for solo piano 1896 compositions Compositions in D-flat major