..an excerpt from a booklet from one of our publications... 0011

The "Titan" meets the prince of Lieder
The performance of Chamber music held in private houses
and salons (Hausmusik, as it was called in German) are
two typical manifestations of 19th Century musical culture.
At that time, music presented the Bourgeoisie with an
opportunity to affirm their social standing not only in public
concerts, but also in private performances. Throughout the
century the number of amateur musicians increased, while
the piano became an essential piece of furniture in
Bourgeois living-rooms.
Between the 18th and 19th centuries, the European
Bourgeoisie, whose aspiration was to become the leading
social class, saw music as a way to assert its own prestige.
Along with the increasing popularity of public concerts,
opposed to the private ones of aristocratic tradition, the
growing tendency to play at home for pleasure or
entertainment was consolidated. The salon and the piano
thus became the symbols of this new musical practice
enabling the Bourgeois class to embrace all musical
literature, including symphonic and operatic forms, through
the use of transcription for the piano.
Although Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) and Franz
Schubert (1797 – 1828) may be considered two opposite
figures, they both fit perfectly into this social picture; from
the moment of his arrival in Vienna in 1792, Beethoven was
a familiar habitué of the leading aristocrats of the day (as
well as a fair number of enthusiastic music-lovers of the
Bourgeoisie), from whom he received important patronage
and gratification; not only was he highly sought after by the
main printers and publishers of the imperial capital, he
was also meticulous in the writing and revision of his own
works; Schubert, on the other hand, surrounded himself
with friends and intellectuals from the Bourgeoisie rather