Salon music

Salon music was a popular music genre in Europe during the 19th century. It was usually written for solo piano in the romantic style, and is often performed by the composer at events known as "Salons". Salon compositions are usually fairly short and often focus on virtuoso pianistic displays or emotional expression of a sentimental character. Common subgenres of salon music are the operatic paraphrase or fantasia, in which multiple themes from a popular opera are the basis of the composition, and the musical character-piece, which portrays in music a particular situation or narrative.

Salon composers

Many popular composers wrote at least a few pieces which fall into the category of salon music. Some pianists composed only salon music, but many of these specialists have become highly obscure. The following is a list of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century composers in whose work salon music was predominant.

Well known performers

References

^ Copyright entry 1 August 1925: Uila: Valse Francaise, Rudolph G. Kopp (Palma Music Publishers, Chicago, Illinois).

[1] Copyright entry 1 August 1925: Uila: Valse Francaise, Rudolph G. Kopp (Palma Music Publishers, Chicago, Illinois).

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