According to the ''
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
''The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language ''Die Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart'', it is one of the largest reference works on the history and theo ...
'', there are two kinds of piano duet: "those for two players at one instrument, and those in which each of the two pianists has an instrument to themself." In American usage the former is often referred to as "
piano four hands
Piano four hands (french: À quatre mains, german: Zu vier Händen, Vierhändig, it, a quattro mani) is a type of piano duet involving two players playing the same piano simultaneously. A duet with the players playing separate instruments is ...
".
Grove notes that the one-piano duet has the larger repertory, but has come to be regarded as a modest, domestic form of music-making by comparison with "the more glamorous two-piano duet".
[Dawes, Frank]
"Piano duet"
''Grove Music Online'', Oxford Music Online, accessed 31 March 2012 The latter is more often referred to as a piano duo.
[Bellingham, Jane]
"piano duet"
''The Oxford Companion to Music'', Ed. Alison Latham, Oxford Music Online, accessed 31 March 2012
The piano duet came to popularity in the second half of the 18th century.
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...
played duets as a child with his sister, and later wrote sonatas for four hands at one piano;
Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
was another composer who composed for the genre, notably with his
Fantasy in F minor, D. 940. Jane Bellingham in ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' lists other composers who wrote piano duets, including
Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped with ...
,
Dvořák,
Grieg,
Debussy
(Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...
,
Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky (6 April 1971) was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century clas ...
, and
Bartók.
[ In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries French piano duets included ]Bizet
Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, ''Carmen'', which has become on ...
's ''Jeux d'enfants
' ("Children's Games") Opus number, Op. 22, is a Suite (music), suite of twelve miniatures composed by Georges Bizet for piano four hands in 1871.Curtiss, Mina. ''Bizet and His World.'' Vienna House, New York, 1958, p. 311. The entire piece has a d ...
'', Fauré's ''Dolly Suite
Dolly may refer to:
Tools
*Dolly (tool), a portable anvil
* A posser, also known as a dolly, used for laundering
* A variety of wheeled tools, including:
**Dolly (trailer), for towing behind a vehicle
**Boat dolly or launching dolly, a device fo ...
'' and Ravel
Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...
's '' Ma mère l'oye''.[
]
See also
* List of compositions for piano duo
This article lists compositions written for piano duo. The list includes works for piano four-hands and works for two pianos. Catalogue number and date of composition are also included. Ordering is by composer surname.
A list of notable performe ...
* List of classical piano duos (performers)
The term piano duo can refer both to a genre of music, written for two pianists to play at either one or two pianos, or to the two pianists themselves.
This is a list of notable performers who appeared as piano duos in classical music. Most of the ...
References
Duets
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