Piano And Romance

Piano And Romance

There is nothing that fills one's heart like music. Music sooths, excites, alters one's mood, tickles one's heart and stirs up emotions in the innermost realms of human existence. With its characteristic features it resonates very well with the notion of romance. Piano music has that unequivocal capacity to bring out the most subtle to the most raw of emotions compatible to that of a deep romantic relationship. Needless to say then the deep connection between piano and romance are as old as the origin of the instrument itself. Let us explore some of the nuances of this relationship.

Romance:

This term is used mainly to denote the courtship escapades of a budding love relationship. But this term has a long history. The narrative ballads of Spain were called romance/romanza. The 18th century simple lyrical pieces for voice and for instruments were known as romance. Then the 19th century Russian sentimental art song was also called 'romance'. The medieval renaissance of art, literature, music and architecture- everything is came to be known as that of romantic period. Of all these, the piano and the piano music generated romance in its multifarious aspects -in its epistemological, existential, technical etc.

Piano Romance:

For the second movement of his piano concerto no. 20 in D minor Mozart gave the subtitle "Romance". It is the first of piano instrumental romances. He includes a romanze and Rondo in his Horn Concerto. Robert Schumann liked the title "Romance" for lyrical piano pieces. Antonio Dvøák and Clara Schumann include the term Romance to their violin and piano music album. Greeting cards come with exquisite images of a red rose laid on the keyboard of a grand piano or on musical notation for piano. There any number of short stories, novels, movies centered on a piano. New age music is the most romantic of all. Its quality of seeping into the heart without bothering the head much about the classical categorizations puts it closer to the notion of romance than anything else. The inner moods are expressed in the swaying of the keys of the piano that penetrate the untouched nooks of the heart and transports one to the levels of exhilaration equal to mystical experiences. The romance happens, then with the human and the divine.

Piano Playing