Friedrich Burgmüller (1806–1874)

Friedrich Burgmüller was born in Regensburg in 1806 into a family of musicians; his brother Norbert was a promising composer who died young. Around 1832 he settled in Paris, where he stayed for the rest of his life; he died in 1874 at Beaulieu-sur-Layon.

In Paris he taught piano in fashionable homes and wrote light music and music for ballet: notably La Péri (1843), and a number of his was inserted into Adolphe Adam’s Giselle (the peasant pas de deux).

His fame rests on three collections of studies: Op. 100 (25 easy and progressive studies), Op. 109 (18 characteristic studies) and Op. 105 (12 brilliant studies). Each piece carries an evocative title — Candour, Arabesque, The Knight Errant — and paints a small romantic picture.

With Burgmüller, young pianists discover that technique serves expression: a character, a mood, a story in one page.