Ballade No.6 (Rzewski, Frederic)

Contents

Performances

Recordings

MP3 file (audio)
Reccmo (2011/11/20)

Performer Pages Frederic Rzewski (Piano)
Publisher Info. Frederic Rzewski
Copyright
Misc. Notes These file(s) are part of the Werner Icking Music Collection.
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Sheet Music

Scores

PDF scanned by Frederic Rzewski
Elaine Fine (2011/8/29)

Publisher. Info. Brussels: Sound Pool Music (BMI)
(autograph manuscript)
Copyright
Misc. Notes These file(s) are part of the Werner Icking Music Collection.
Purchase
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General Information

Work Title Ballade No.6
Alternative. Title The Housewife's Lament
Composer Rzewski, Frederic
I-Catalogue NumberI-Cat. No. IFR 96
Year/Date of CompositionY/D of Comp. 1980
Composer Time PeriodComp. Period Modern
Piece Style Modern
Instrumentation Harpsichord or Piano

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Composer's comments:

The Housewife's Lament was written in 1980 at the request of the harpsichordist Judith Norell. It is a set of variations on a 19th-century song of the same name with words from the diary of Mrs. Sarah Price:

Life is a toil and love is a trouble,
Beauty will fade and riches will flee;
Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double,
And nothing is as I would wish it to be.

Although the piece was intended for the harpsichord, I find that it works just well when played on the piano. Perhaps the ideal instrument would be an old upright piano of the kind that could be found in middle-class homes across America in the early part of the century.