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Henri Herz: 12 Récréations illustrées, Op.215: Book 2

532 views · Published 28 May 2014 · 4:49 · Indexed 7 October 2026

Channel: PSearPianist · 2014 · Music

4 - La fête du village; 5 - La procession; 6 - Les bavardes.
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Austrian composer Henri Herz (1803-88) was one of the foremost travelling piano virtuosi of the first part of the 19th century. His compositions were very popular in the salons and drawing-rooms of Europe and the Americas. In 1872 he self-published four books each of three illustrated 'recreations' - pieces designed to be played at home by young ladies with small hands, but strong fingers - presumably trained on studies by Czerny and Herz himself. These are really charming, and full of humour and musical interest. Each book is really a mini-suite with fast-slow-fast pieces, and each piece is prefaced by an illustration, somewhat in 17th century woodcut style, and I have reproduced these pictures before each of the pieces in my videos. The first piece in Book 2 - 'the village festival' - is pretty self explanatory. The second - 'the procession' - appears (from the illustration, which shows girls walking in bridal attire) to illustrate a 'first communion'; and the third - 'the gossips' - illustrates a popular theme in salon music, typically illustrated by rapid chordal movements, as here.

Thumbnail image created with Wombo Dream ( t.ly/zhJa ).

#herz
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Henri Herz: 12 Récréations illustrées, Op.215: Book 2

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