Stylistic Studies on the Piano Pieces of Theodor Kirchner

Kyung-Sun Lee
October 1998

Theodor Kirchner (1823-1903) composed almost solely for piano - the primary instrument of the 19th century - and in doing so, he left more than 1000 lyric character pieces for it. Until now they were dismissed to being imitations of Schumann's. (This is probably reminiscent of his overt and eternal adoration for Schumann which began in Kirchner's youth.) But by analysing Kirchner's oeuvre, it becomes clear that his works for piano are fundamentally different from Schumann's, although there may be some similarities concerning tone-colour and the appearance of notes on paper. The most distinguished features of Kirchner's piano miniatures lie within the thoroughly measured constructions of themes in formal parts. It is this compressed structure that makes his compositions a kind of Precursor to Brahms' late lyrical pieces for piano - Brahms, with whom Kirchner remained in a lifelong friendship.