Week 2: Sleeps a Song in all things! 
Welcome to the Main Thread for the second week of "The Romantic Era" challenge!
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Who is your favorite romantic lyricist?
↓ Happy Sharing! ↓
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Mertz - Op. 13 Abendlied (May 11)
Listening to Wai play some Mertz so beautifully yesterday inspired me to start poking around some of his pieces. Once I started playing them, however, I just did not want to stop.
So, I'm starting with this piece from his famous Bardenklänge, Op. 13.
The first take was not quite as successful today. There were a number of mistakes, but my biggest issue was executing the little arpeggiated texture in the accompaniment during measures 19-33. It needs to be quiet, but quick and consistent.
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Eric Phillips Beautiful, Eric! You get results so quickly, certainly, a conquer from your studies. Bravíssimo!
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Eric Phillipssoooo beautiful!
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I'm on holiday in Lanzarote so unable to practice and only just managed to log on. Back at 2 or 3am on the morning of the dress rehearsal! I have been looking at the scores and devising fingerings for Das Fischermadchen - Schubert/Mertz (@martin why is it das and not die?) And Sor , Andante Largo op 5 no 5. Hoping to work on these when I get back home.
After posting the video of Fingal's Hohle last week I performed it live. It seemed to go down well!
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Derek Can I answer.. mädchen have not grown up to female, and with what that brings, and are therefore not femininum but neutrum.
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Lars Kjøller-Hansen thanks Lars. That seems to make sense.
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Derek Lars Kjøller-Hansen more precise:: all German words ending on -chen or -lein are a diminutive form (little) and are neutral: ´das’
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joosje I never noticed, but yes thats the explaination!
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Derek :-)
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We still have a few spots left for our Dress Rehearsal, please consider signing up and perform your pieces on front of a very nice audience - YOU!
Sign up here for the Dress Rehearsal this Saturday, May 14th here!
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Mertz - Op 13 Abendlied (May 12)
I'm fairly happy with the improvement here. The repeated sextuptlet figure in measures 19-33 is still troublesome, but I found two things helped a bit. First, I needed to play it fairly slowly, not trying to rush it. Second, I found it helped if I really concentrated on the last note of the sextuplet, making sure I don't just miss it in my rush to get to the chord that comes on the beat right after the sextuplet. (Don't know if that makes sense to anyone but me!
). It's still not perfect, but it's better. -
Eric Phillips wow... the improvement is impressive! It flows very well, good work Eric
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Blaise Laflamme Thank you, Blaise! Are we going to hear from you this challenge?
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Eric Phillips yes... I think...
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Eric Phillips I agree with Blaise, your performance is greatly improved - even though your initial version was very good. Very impressive.
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Eric Phillips I really like this one and you played it so well, almost like singing.
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Wai Thank you, Wai!
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Eric Phillips really wonderful. Phrasing and tone impressive. As Wai said. It’s like singing.
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joosje Thanks, Joosje. The title means Evening Song, so I guess it does need to sing. Sorry I recorded this in the morning, though!
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Eric Phillips evening song, yes needs singing,. But you still have to do that on six strings . You did
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Eric Phillips I agree with Blaise, Jack, Wai, and Joosje, the improvement is impressive, and phrasing, tone, and interpretation are impressive. Thank you, man!
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Eric Phillips again: soo beautiful, a pleasure to listen to
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Mertz - Op 13 An Malvina (May 12)
I decided to try this well-known piece next. I have always liked it, but looking at all those endless sixteenth notes on the page would scare me off. Once I actually tried playing it, though, it wasn’t too bad. Lots of open strings.
This piece seems very representative of the style of this era. There is lots of room for rubato and ultra-expressive playing. I'm sorry I messed up the ending so badly. I'll keep working on this.
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Eric Phillips Very expressive and beautifully played, Eric
(ending aside). You really are able to achieve a high level of performance in a very short time.BTW, was that a 'hip' statement in your intro - "Once I actually tried playing it, though, it was too bad."
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Jack Stewart Oops! Error corrected.
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Eric Phillips Ah, I kinda liked the original - it had attitude.
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End of the Year Challenge: Finish Strong!
