Monday, September 9, 2024 by Mary O'Connor | history

The manuscript of Mozart's A major piano sonata K331 has recently been discovered in Budapest. Having spent the majority of its life in the Budapest’s National Széchényi Library for decades, the coveted manuscript was rediscovered by Haydn scholar Balazs Mikusi.

"When I first laid eyes upon the manuscript, the handwriting already looked suspiciously 'Mozartish'," said Mikusi, who is the head of the music collection at National Szechenyi Library. "Then I started reading the notes, and realised it is the famous A Major sonata ... My heart rate shot up."

The piece was composed in 1783 and contains Mozart’s most popular jam, “Turkish March,” which has become a piano lesson staple all over the world.

Although, unfortunately, Mikusi can’t say how or when these pages found their way to Hungary; they reveal subtle differences from the published editions of the sonata. The key variances are seen in the phrasing, dynamics and occasionally the notes themselves.

"It is very rare that a Mozart manuscript pops up. Moreover the A Major Sonata had no known manuscript, so it is a really big discovery," he said.

The library has only released teasing images of the manuscript, nothing more.

From Manuscript of Mozart's Piano Sonata K331 Discovered in Budapest's National Széchényi Library : Classical : Classicalite.

The whole sonata:

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Sunday, September 8, 2024 by Mary O'Connor | piano

   

The making of a Steinway piano is a time-honored process involving the hands of many skilled craftspeople over the course of almost a full year. Steinway & Sons pianos are built in just two factories worldwide - one in Astoria, NY and one in Hamburg, Germany.

Both factories have been building pianos for well over a century, and although Steinway has always been at the cutting edge in utilizing and perfecting the latest technology where it could make the piano better, we have found that certain things are simply better when done by skilled craftspeople than by a machine.

For that reason, many parts of the process in building a Steinway have remained essentially unchanged for generations. So much so, that we were able to take decades-old audio from a narrated factory tour by the late John H. Steinway (great-grandson of Henry E. Steinway, who founded our great company in 1853) and use it as the narration for footage shot at the Steinway NY factory in 2011 by Ben Niles, producer of the documentary film "Note by Note" (http://www.notebynotethemovie.com).

Enjoy this look inside the Steinway New York factory, narrated in detail by the late, great John Steinway.

To learn more about Steinway & Sons, visit http://www.steinway.com.

Mary and Michael playing in the original Steinway Hall

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Saturday, September 7, 2024 by Mary O'Connor | parents

We have established that regular practice routines will not happen without proactive piano parents. So, how can parents be proactive practice assistants even if they have never touched a piano?

Day 1. The Practice Practice Bouncer: Let’s begin with the simplest of tasks for piano parents. To encourage effective daily practice, proactive parents must act as the Piano Practice Bouncer.

This job requires parents to keep family pets, siblings, and friends out of the piano room.

Even more importantly for older students, this job requires keeping cell phones quiet during practice sessions.

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