Channel logo

Great Piano Works Explained

Season 1
In this course, you’ll study key works of many composers, from Bach and Mozart through music written in the 21st century, and unpack their structure, the musical materials that drive them, and the specific features that affect listeners so strongly, giving you a clear grounding in how to approach and hear this great music.
202324 episodesTV-PG
Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy

Prime membership required

Terms apply

Episodes

  1. S1 E1 - J. S. Bach and The Well-Tempered Clavier

    October 31, 2023
    30min
    TV-PG
    Begin the course with the sublime keyboard works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Learn about the musical form of the fugue, based in the interplay of different musical lines or “voices,” employing a basic musical idea or subject in successive variations. Study two of Bach’s fugues and contemplate his genius in using their formal materials to create music of astonishing beauty and dramatic power.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  2. S1 E2 - Bach’s French Suites

    October 31, 2023
    36min
    TV-PG
    Delve into the riches of Bach’s dance suites, multi-part works built on simple musical elements. In his French Suite No. 5 in G major, study the individual movements, from the peaceful Allemande and the lively Courante to the pensive Sarabande and the final, joyous Gigue. Grasp how Bach creates endless variations of motion, rhythm, texture, and tension/resolution in this magical keyboard piece.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  3. S1 E3 - Joseph Haydn’s Early Classical Piano

    October 31, 2023
    35min
    TV-PG
    Take a first look at sonata form, a key formal structure in classical music. In Haydn’s brilliant Sonata in C Minor, see how the first movement leads from the opening exposition through development and recapitulation, and how Haydn uses musical detours, transitions, and tonal modulations to create an engrossing and often surprising musical narrative, bearing his own unique expressive signature.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  4. S1 E4 - Mozart’s High Classical Piano

    October 31, 2023
    31min
    TV-PG
    Enter the world of Mozart’s superlative writing for the piano. In excerpts from his piano sonatas, observe how he creates perfectly balanced phrases, making exquisite use of the musical conventions of the classical era. Find the essence of his musical voice in his use of melodies, drawing on the lyricism of opera, and his ability to move seamlessly from one emotional state to another.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  5. S1 E5 - Mozart’s Sonata in C Minor, K. 457

    October 31, 2023
    36min
    TV-PG
    From the dramatic opening of the great C Minor Sonata, hear how the sonata functions as a dynamic conversation between opposing ideas, expressed in the interaction of different musical voices and themes. Learn about the uses of the pedals in piano music, about Mozart’s markings in the score, and the harmonies and modulations that give this passionate work its power.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  6. S1 E6 - Beethoven’s Sonata in F Minor, Op. 2, No. 1

    October 31, 2023
    37min
    TV-PG
    See how the composer challenged expectations by enlarging the structure of the sonata and infusing it with more drama and contrast than previous composers. See how Beethoven uses small musical ideas to create huge structures, fusing logic and emotion with unforgettable expressive force, and using longer forms, louder dynamics, and combustible energy to distinguish himself from his predecessors.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  7. S1 E7 - Beethoven’s Sonata No. 31, Op. 110, Movt. 1

    October 31, 2023
    38min
    TV-PG
    In this late Beethoven masterpiece, travel into the architecture of the first movement, to see how the composer creates a compelling musical narrative. Follow the unfolding themes, their development through multiple modulations, and the uncanny return to the original tonality that make the movement a remarkable journey. Then hear the complete movement, in Professor Kautsky’s sensitive playing.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  8. S1 E8 - Beethoven’s Sonata No. 31, Op. 110, Movts. 2–3

    October 31, 2023
    29min
    TV-PG
    In the majestic conclusion of the sonata, Professor Kautsky guides you through the short and dramatic second movement, leading into the mournful melody which begins the finale, and from there to the great concluding fugue. In Professor Kautsky’s playing, hear how the earlier lament returns, before the fugue surges back to life, ending the sonata on a glorious note of triumph and victory.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  9. S1 E9 - The Songs of Franz Schubert

    October 31, 2023
    25min
    TV-PG
    As a core element of Schubert’s keyboard writing, look at his use of modulations, the changes of key and tonality that infuse his music. Grasp how he uses modulations for expressive purposes, to evoke the boundaries between emotions. See this at work in two of his famous songs, as they move between minor and major, and also in the beautiful and haunting Impromptu Opus 90 No. 4.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  10. S1 E10 - Schubert’s Sonata in B-flat Major, D. 960

    October 31, 2023
    31min
    TV-PG
    Find the expression of Schubert’s genius in the first movement of this beloved and iconic sonata. From the luminous opening theme, hear how the music moves from serenity to joy, passionate exultation, sorrow, and beyond—a journey through unexpected keys, silences, unfinished thoughts, and unpredictable outcomes, raising questions rather than offering answers.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  11. S1 E11 - Robert Schumann’s Romantic Dream World

    October 31, 2023
    31min
    TV-PG
    As a first encounter with Romantic piano music, learn about Schumann’s piano “cycles,” multipart episodic pieces that allowed him to express himself freely. In his great Kreisleriana, Papillons, and Carnaval, hear how he speaks through different musical personas and musical “codes,” creating solo piano works of profound sentiment; harmonic freedom; and wild, unbridled imagination.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  12. S1 E12 - Clara Schumann and the Plight of Women Composers

    October 31, 2023
    32min
    TV-PG
    Look into the phenomenon of women composers, particularly in the 19th century, and take account of the cultural thinking and lack of musical education that barred most women from composing music. Hear nocturnes by Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelssohn, noting their originality of phrase structure and harmonies, and consider whether these works may represent promise not wholly fulfilled.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  13. S1 E13 - Frédéric Chopin: Piano’s Quintessential Romantic

    October 31, 2023
    33min
    TV-PG
    Travel into the poetic and passionate universe of Chopin’s piano music, and his unique, sensuous use of the instrument. In sampling the astonishing expressive range of his piano writing, hear the otherworldly dissonance of his Prelude No. 2, and the undulating waltz Opus 69 No. 1, before concentrating on his mazurkas, iconic Polish dances which reveal Chopin’s emotionally complex sensibility.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  14. S1 E14 - Chopin’s Nocturnes and Ballades

    October 31, 2023
    36min
    TV-PG
    Contemplate the ethereal beauty of Chopin’s famous Nocturne in Db major. Grasp how the use of rubato (rhythmic flexibility), pedaling, and exquisite modulations contribute to the piece’s hypnotic atmosphere. In the majestic Ballade in F minor, hear how Chopin propels two themes through a richly diverse musical journey filled with longing, leading to a fiery, transcendent conclusion.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  15. S1 E15 - Johannes Brahms: Piano’s Dark Poet

    October 31, 2023
    38min
    TV-PG
    As an exemplar of the expressive landscape of Brahms’s piano music, delve into the six pieces of his Opus 118. Begin with the heartfelt Intermezzo No. 2 whose sinuous melodies, counterpoint, and inner voices flow so naturally. Take in the enormous range of emotion and mood in these pieces, from the turbulent No. 1 to the eerie No. 6, as they reveal Brahms’s incomparable musical voice.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  16. S1 E16 - Franz Liszt: The Consummate Pianist

    October 31, 2023
    28min
    TV-PG
    Take the measure of Franz Liszt as a larger-than-life pianistic showman, the greatest virtuoso of his age, and an innovative composer with a vast command of the resources of the instrument. Experience Liszt’s piano writing in his Hungarian Rhapsody No. 6, drawn from Roma themes, and his Petrarch Sonnet No. 104, a haunting tone poem on unrequited love which dazzles with its sonic textures.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  17. S1 E17 - The Rise of the Russian Pianists

    October 31, 2023
    29min
    TV-PG
    Learn about the riches of the Russian school of piano playing, through two remarkable composers. Taste the lush melodies and grand pianism of Sergei Rachmaninoff through his Prelude in G minor, Op. 23 No.5. Also, hear the piano creations of Aleksandr Scriabin, from his early, Romantic-inspired Étude Op. 2 No. 1 to his late, strikingly modernist preludes, in Professor Kautsky’s evocative playing.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  18. S1 E18 - Arnold Schoenberg, Alban Berg, and Anton Webern

    October 31, 2023
    43min
    TV-PG
    Experience the music of three Viennese modernists, reflecting the dislocations of the early 20th century. Hear Schoenberg’s Sechs kleine Klavierstücke from 1911 with its rejection of traditional tonality and aura of psychic disorder. Continue with Berg’s neo-romantic and dreamlike Piano Sonata, Op.1, and taste Webern’s austere yet expressive Piano Variations.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  19. S1 E19 - Claude Debussy’s “Clair de lune”

    October 31, 2023
    37min
    TV-PG
    In approaching Debussy’s sensual Claire de Lune, learn about the artistic climate of Belle Époque Paris that influenced the composer, and his own musical personality, which sought new sounds and forms. Hear how Claire de Lune seems to exist outside of time, and note how Debussy uses supple rhythm, undulating lines and sustained pedaling to evoke a sonic atmosphere of dreams and the unknowable.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  20. S1 E20 - The Preludes of Debussy

    October 31, 2023
    36min
    TV-PG
    Investigate the sensibility that imbues Debussy’s music; his attraction to apparitions, reverie, and exoticism, and how he makes these manifest in his piano Preludes. See how he uses harmonies suggesting Javanese music in Voiles (Veils) and evokes Egypt in Canope and Spain in La Puerta del Vino. Finish with the mercurial “General Lavine” - excentric -, portraying a famous Parisian circus clown.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  21. S1 E21 - French Piano in the Early 20th Century

    October 31, 2023
    32min
    TV-PG
    France produced a spectrum of groundbreaking piano music in the new century. Encounter the striking originality and tonal beauty of Maurice Ravel in his Valses Nobles et Sentimentales and Tombeau de Couperin. Then, come to grips with the wildly eccentric Erik Satie and meet the whimsical Francis Poulenc, who created piano music that often chooses irony, parody, and humor over introspection.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  22. S1 E22 - Charles Ives, Sergei Prokofiev, and Béla Bartók

    October 31, 2023
    26min
    TV-PG
    Begin with the contemplative third movement of Ives’s iconic Concord Sonata, evoking the family home of Bronson and Louisa May Alcott. Continue with Prokofiev’s Sonata No. 3, blending romanticism with dissonant modernism, and the percussive, modal textures of Bartók’s Rumanian Folk Dances and Mikrokosmos.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  23. S1 E23 - Marginalized Composers

    October 31, 2023
    31min
    TV-PG
    First, hear the remarkable Adagio in F minor by Le Chevalier de Saint-Georges, an 18th-century Black composer. Follow with the eerie Prelude No. 6 by Ruth Crawford Seeger; works by the African American composer Florence Price; and Frederic Rzewski’s musical homage to Oscar Wilde, which uses both music and spoken text.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy
  24. S1 E24 - New Sounds for a New Century

    October 31, 2023
    36min
    TV-PG
    First, hear Spatials, by African American composer George Walker, an electric and atonal set of variations on an original theme. Follow that with George Crumb’s Makrokosmos, in which the pianist plays with thimbles and metal chains on the inside of the piano. Conclude with Jörg Widmann’s dreamlike Idyll and Abyss, which evokes the spirit of Schubert in 21st-century language.
    Free trial of The Great Courses Living or buy

Details

More info

Subtitles

None available

Producers

The Great Courses

Cast

Catherine Kautsky

Studio

The Great Courses
By clicking play, you agree to our Terms of Use.