Julian Horton

Offering a concise introduction to one of the most important and influential piano concertos in the history of Western music, this handbook provides an example of the productive interaction of music history, music theory and music analysis. It combines an account of the work’s genesis, Schumann’s earlier, unsuccessful attempts to compose in the genre and the evolving conception of the piano concerto evident in his critical writing with a detailed yet accessible analysis of each movement, which draws on the latest research into the theory and analysis of nineteenth-century instrumental forms. This handbook also reconstructs the Concerto’s critical reception, performance history in centres including London, Vienna, Leipzig and New York, and its discography, before surveying piano concertos composed under its influence in the century after its completion, including well-known concertos by Brahms, Grieg, Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninov, as well as lesser-known music by Scharwenka, Rubinstein, Beach, Macdowell and Stanford.