# Noteworthy Non-pianist Composers of Piano Music



## nefigah (Aug 23, 2008)

Out of curiosity, are there such composers? The limited piano repertory I'm familiar with was composed by (generally amazing) pianists.


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

Haydn. He wasn't and isn't primarily known for his wizardry with the keyboard, but he has written a lot of piano sonatas. (Just like he did with every other genre.)

I have heard that Tchaikovsky's solo piano works are decent, but one doesn't get to hear about them nor listen to them often.


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## Taneyev (Jan 19, 2009)

Dvorak had a lot of beautiful piano music nobody ever plays outside his country. Contrary, Taneyev was (they say) a really virtuoso pianist who played first live Tchaikovsky's first, but he wrote very little for
the piano.


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## nefigah (Aug 23, 2008)

Interesting. I was pretty sure Haydn at least played the piano fairly well; I seem to recall hearing anecdotes about him and Mozart fooling around on it. 

I guess I was just wondering how composers who were pianists seemed to be able to compose for any instrument, whereas somehow non-pianists tended to not write for the piano. (At least, that was my initial pondering.)

Just in general it blows my mind that one could compose for instruments that are not one's own.


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## alan sheffield (Oct 26, 2007)

*Non-Pianist Composers*

Carl Nielsen was apparently not a great pianist but wrote some great pieces notably Suite Op 45 and Chaconne. Get album by John Ogdon.


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

nefigah said:


> Interesting. I was pretty sure Haydn at least played the piano fairly well


In that case, I think you would need to provide us with a working definition of a non-pianist composer. As far as I've read (albeit very little), there has been no composer who didn't start by playing a keyboard instrument very early in his or her life. And some even composed the first drafts of a grand symphony sitting at one, like Brahms. But only some of them made a lot of money out of playing such instruments. Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, etc.



> I seem to recall hearing anecdotes about him and Mozart fooling around on it.


I've read in a few places that the two frequently played as members of a string quartet. Haydn on the violin and Mozart on the viola. But that's beside the point, so moving on...



> I guess I was just wondering how composers who were pianists seemed to be able to compose for any instrument, whereas somehow non-pianists tended to not write for the piano. (At least, that was my initial pondering.)


I find that interesting.



> Just in general it blows my mind that one could compose for instruments that are not one's own.


That's true of virtually every composer, isn't it?


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

nefigah said:


> Just in general it blows my mind that one could compose for instruments that are not one's own.


Well, the implications of this sentence are manifold... Mahler wrote for violins violas, cellos, basses, horns, trumpets, tubas, trombones, harps, celesta, piano (which he did play), organ, tympani, oboes, flutes, bassoons, glockenspiels, posthorns, hammers, clarinets, piccolos, etrc. etc. etc... I'm sure he didn't professionally play ALL of them...


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## opus67 (Jan 30, 2007)

World Violist said:


> Well, the implications of this sentence are manifold... Mahler wrote for violins violas, cellos, basses, horns, trumpets, tubas, trombones, harps, celesta, piano (which he did play), organ, tympani, oboes, flutes, bassoons, glockenspiels, posthorns, hammers, clarinets, piccolos, etrc. etc. etc... I'm sure he didn't professionally play ALL of them...


Not to mention John Cage who composed for unpredictable environmental sounds.


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## danae (Jan 7, 2009)

What about Charles Ives? I'm not really sure if he was a very good pianist. And he did write a very pianistic work, namely the Piano sonata no.2 "Concord, Mass."


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## World Violist (May 31, 2007)

danae said:


> What about Charles Ives? I'm not really sure if he was a very good pianist. And he did write a very pianistic work, namely the Piano sonata no.2 "Concord, Mass."


I'm quite sure Ives was quite the competent pianist; I'm not sure HOW competent, but he must have known his way around a piano to have written that piece.


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