Composed by François Couperin Series: Dover Edition Category: Piano Collection Format: Book Instrument: Piano

Editor: Ursula Kersten Fingering: Hans-Martin Theopold Pages: 101

Series: Piano Collection Publisher: Editions Salabert Format: Softcover Composer: Frédéric Chopin Editor: Alfred Cortot Study Edition with commentary by Alfred Cortot.

The instrumental ballad was a popular musical form in the 19th century and these four pieces for piano are Brahms’s only contribution to the genre. The composer wrote the ballades during the time of his close friendship with Clara Schumann, and they exude an intimacy more typical of a vocal ballad. The pieces, which Schumann enthusiastically praised, were described by Brahms as being “not too difficult to play and even less difficult to understand.”