and 
. Players switch places on the bench midway through the work. Highly effective.O’Brien, Eugene (b. 1945), United States
Studied with Bernd Alois Zimmermann, John Eaton, and Iannis Xenakis. His works include a cello concerto and music for chamber ensemble and orchestra.
Ambages (1972)
New York: Schirmer, 1975.
A prefatory note from the composer states that “in Ambages the composer has attempted a short four-hand piano work in which each part is of equal importance and difficulty. The thematic material is shared and developed identically by both players, reaching a point of great textural complexity in the last half of the piece and returning, at the close, to a treatment similar to the beginning. Many of the rhythmic motives have been worked out in canon.” Intense serial work; motives consist of repeated notes grouped in shifting rhythmical patterns; rapid tempo; requires advanced pianism.
Level: A
Ochs, Siegfried (1858–1929), Germany
German choral conductor and writer on music. His compositions include a comic opera, choral arrangements of folk songs, and piano pieces.
‘S kommt ein Vogel geflogen, im Stile älterer and neuere Meister humoristisch bearbeitet
Heidelberg: Süddeutscher Musikverlag (Willy Müller), 1954.
Level: UE–LI
Oesten, Max (1843–1917), Germany
Germany composer. Son of Theodor Oesten.
Divertissement
Cleveland: S. Brainerd, n.d.
Oesten, Theodor (1813–1870), Germany
German instrumentalist and teacher; composed instructional piano works and a quantity of light, sentimental pieces in salon style.
Bluettes de l’opera, Op. 78
Volks-Harfe, 12 Divertissements caber deutsche Volkslieder, Op. 82
Bonn: Simrock, ca. 1852.
Ó Gallchobhair (O’Gallagher), Éamonn (1906–1982), Ireland
Irish music critic, editor, and conductor. Among his works are operas, choral and orchestral music, and works for radio, film, and dance.
Díséad piano, ceithre lámh (piano for two, four hands) (Baile’n doire, Allegro con moto; Fáinne geal an lae, Allegro)
Baile Átha Cliath (Dublin): Oifig an tSoláthair (Stationer’s Office), n.d.
Charming settings of two Irish melodies.
Level: UE–LI
Oginski, Michal Kleofas, Prince (1765–1833), Poland
Polish nobleman, diplomat, writer, musical amateur, and fervent patriot. He composed music with strong national folk flavor.
Polonaise favorite (F)
Vienna: Cappi, ca. 1823; Offenbach: André, ca. 1820.
Short work in early Romantic style.
Level: I
Ogle, Louise Godfrey (b. 1892), United States
Winding Brook
New York: Schroeder & Gunther, n.d.
Level: UE–LI
O’Hearn, Arletta, United States
Composer, teacher, and pianist.
Jazz Together
San Diego: Neil A. Kjos Music, 1983.
Includes Lullaby; Waltz; Scherzo; Nothin’ But the Blues. Colorful and refreshing jazz harmonies. Scherzo is the most complicated of the set due to syncopated rhythms, while Nothin’ But the Blues is the most accessible.
Level: I
Oldenburg, Elizabeth, United States
Country Fair
Philadelphia: Elkan-Vogel, n.d.
Instructional piece.
Level: LI
Cuckoo, Cuckoo
Boston: Boston Music, 1956.
Very easy teaching piece.
Level: LE
Woodland Frolic
Boston: Boston Music, 1954.
Instructional work
Level: E–UE
Oldroyd, George (1887–1956), England
English organist; composed church music, organ pieces, songs, and piano works in conservative style.
Miniature Suite (Tip-toe dance; Sarabande; Scherzino; Lullaby)
London: Elkin, 1914.
Inviting suite of short instructional pieces.
Level: UE–LI
Olsen, Ole (1850–1927), Norway
Norwegian organist and composer of operas, choral works, chamber and orchestral music, and piano pieces.
Scherzo (G), Op. 2
Christiana (Olso): Warmuth, ca. 1878.
Olson, Kevin, United States
Pianist, composer, piano faculty member at Utah State University, and director of the Utah State Youth Conservatory. A prolific composer of educational piano music, he has published over 100 books and solos.
Jazz Suite
Fort Lauderdale, FL: FJH Music, 2004.
I. A Swing Thing; II. A Little Latin; III. Ballad for Julia; IV. Blue Waltz. An absolute delight to perform, this suite is a treasury of jazz styles and explores a wide range of jazz rhythms and extended harmonies. A sure hit for performers and audiences alike.
Level: LA
Rags to Riches
Fort Lauderdale, FL: FJH Music, 2008; published in Duet Treasures, Volume 2 and In Recital throughout the Year, Volume 2, Book 6.
An exhilarating, high-energy rag. Engaging interplay between the parts complete with foot stomping.
Level: UI
Reflections of America
Fort Lauderdale, FL: FJH Music.
A medley of familiar American patriotic songs, including “The Star Spangled Banner,” “America the Beautiful,” and “Yankee Doodle.” In the overall key of B-flat major with the middle section in G major. Rich sonorities; would be an effective finale.
Level: I
Rockin’ the Boat
Fort Lauderdale, FL: FJH Music, 2007.
Driving rhythms and explicit articulations and dynamics are hallmarks of this electrifying duet. An excellent rhythmic study for intermediate students.
Level: UI
Santa’s Wild Ride
Fort Lauderdale, FL: FJH Music.
A dazzling, rhythmically energized arrangement of “Jingles Bells” combined with Schumann’s “Wild Rider.” Features polymetric rhythms of and . Players switch places on the bench midway through the work. Highly effective.
Level: A
Fort Lauderdale, FL: FJH Music, 2005.
Teacher-student duets Olson composed with wife, Julia. Includes: My Pet Mouse; Important Questions; Rumble Grumble; The Friendly Bee; A Nose Always Knows; Grampa’s Teeth; Ode to Snoring; Snails, Wails, and Pentascales; A Place in Outer Space; I Am a Superhero.
Level: E
Song of the Sahara
Fort Lauderdale, FL: FJH Music, 2008; also published in Duet Treasures, Volume 1 and In Recital throughout the Year, Volume 1, Book 3.
Exotic quality. Static in position.
Level: UE
The Dirty Dish Rag
Fort Lauderdale, FL: FJH Music, 2004; published in In Recital throughout the Year, Volume 1, Book 2.
A witty rag for early-level pianists. The melody lies entirely in the primo part while the secondo provides an accompaniment on beats one and three.
Level: E
The Legend of Pirate Pete
Fort Lauderdale, FL: FJH Music, 2003; available as a sheet and is also included in Spotlight on Duets, Book 2.
This swashbuckling and boisterous pirate duet is sure to please the early intermediate student. The melodic material is memorable and is balanced nicely with a patterned accompaniment.
Level: LI
The Two-Headed Monster
Fort Lauderdale, FL: FJH Music, 2004; published in In Recital throughout the Year, Volume 1, Book 1.
Equal parts, pattern oriented. Unison rhythms between parts throughout.
Level: LE
Olson, Lynn Freeman (1938–1987), United States
American pianist, educator, and composer. Studied at the MacPhail School of Music and the University of Minnesota. Composed for the radio show It’s Time for Music and the television show Captain Kangaroo, among others. He has written numerous instructional piano pieces of high quality and has collaborated on piano methods for both children and college music students.
The Ash Grove
New York: Carl Fischer, 1971.
Tasteful arrangement of the well-known Welsh folk song; interest in both parts.
Level: E
Two by Two
New York: Carl Fischer, 1979.
A collection of six elementary duets: We Love a Parade; Copycat; Quiet Corner; Puppet Show; When the Saints Go Marching In; She’ll Be Comin’ Round the Mountain.
Level: E
O’Neill, Norman (1875–1934), England
English conductor and teacher; successful composer of incidental music to stage works, choral and orchestral compositions, songs, chamber music, and piano pieces.
All Fours
London: Oxford University Press, 1930.
Attractive, well-written teaching pieces.
Level: UE–LI
Onslow, George (1784–1853), France
French musical amateur of English French noble ancestry (grandson of Lord Onslow); studied in London with Dussek and Cramer and in Paris with Reicha. He spent most of his life at his family estate in Clermont-Ferrand, except for a few winter months each year in Paris to try out his chamber music. His compositions are of strongly individual and well-defined character, and include thirty-four string quintets; thirty-six string quartets; six piano trios; four symphonies; and violin, cello, and piano sonatas. The two sonatas listed below are exceptionally fine works, representing one of the high points of piano four-hand sonata composition in the first half of the nineteenth century. Fresh and inventive, they are especially noteworthy for their fastidious structure, contrapuntal ingenuity, and unusual resolutions. They are well distributed for four hands and demand sure-handed technique and sensitive pianism. Well worth investigating.
Sonata (e), Op. 7
Paris: Pleyel, ca. 1815; New Edition reprint in series Unbekannte Werke der Klassik und Romantik (München-Gräfelfing: Verlag Walter Wollenweber, 1970).
The opening Allegro espressivo has a soaring theme in the primo against the propulsive energy of an agitato triplet figure in the secondo accompaniment. The Romanza is lyrical with a contrasting, darker middle section with dotted notes. The Finale Agitato is fast-paced, brilliant, and exciting.
Level: UI–A
Sonata (f), Op. 22
Leipzig: Breitkopf & Härtel, ca. 1820; New Edition reprint in series Unbekannte Werke der Kiassik und Romantik (München-Gräfelfing: Verlag Walter Wollenweber, 1971).
The first movement, Allegro moderato e patetico, opens with dramatic, fervent theme accompanied by a striking, chromatic rising and falling sixteenth-note motive in the secondo. The second movement, Minuetto, moderato, is restrained, tinged with sadness, and gently moving—a minuet in form only. A short Largo, with dotted notes and some extraordinary modulations, leads into the animated Finale: Allegro espressivo.
Level: UI–A
Pièces inédites
Found ca. 1972 at the Chateau (now Musée) d’Aulteribe by Carl de Nys and Helen Salome, who performed them on a program entitled “Homage à George Onslow,” Châteaux en Auvergne, Château de Valprivas, 22 September 1974.
Oosterzee, Cornélie van (1863–1943), Netherlands
Dutch composer of operas, chamber music, songs, orchestral works, and piano pieces.
6 Leichte Stücke (Lenzesmorgen; Malaiisches Wiegenlied; Geburtstag; Weihnachten; Javanischer Tanz; Puppenball), Op. 55
Middelburg: A. A. Noske, ca. 1904.
Instructional pieces in neat, refined traditional style.
Level: UE–LI
Orban, Marcel (1884–1958), Belgium
Belgian; composed orchestral pieces, chamber music, songs, and piano works.
Pour les petits, six pièces faciles
Paris: Rouart, n.d.
Ore, Harry (1885–1972), Latvia
Latvian pianist and composer.
Albumleaf
London: Curwen, n.d.
Level: I
Three Latvian Folk Songs, Op. 27
London: Curwen, 1958.
Resourceful, well-crafted recreations of Baltic folk song material; attractive and carefully balanced.
Level: I
Old Russian Polka
London: Curwen, n.d.
Level: I
Orem, Preston Ware (1865–1938), United States
Composer, organist, and critic; wrote a variety of works in late Romantic salon style.
Romanze (D)
Philadelphia: R. C. Schirmer, 1889.
Level: I
Vase brillante
New York: Schirmer, 1889.
Level: I
Orgad, Ben-Zion (1926–2006), Germany/Israel
Original last name was Buschel. Studied violin and composition with Rudolph Bergmann and Paul Ben-Haim in Tel Aviv and Josef Tal in Jerusalem. Later took part in the composition courses at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood with Aaron Copland and at Brandeis University. Employed by the Israeli Ministry of Education in the School of Music. Works consist largely of songs and choral music, although he also wrote for orchestra and chamber ensembles.
Tonegestures III
Tel Aviv: Israel Music Institute, 2006.
Rhythmically sophisticated and dissonant harmonic idiom. Approximate performance duration: nine minutes.
Level: A
Ornstein, Leo (1893–2002), Russia/United States
Russian-born American composer and pianist. He made frequent concert tours in the United States and Europe, often performing his own compositions. His works, which include orchestral, chamber, and piano pieces, are written in a strikingly dissonant, often strident, idiom that earned him the title of “enfant terrible of modern music.”
Two Improvisations (Berceuse triste; Valse buffon), Op. 95 (1921)
Manuscript.
Pièce pour piano, Op. 19/1 (1913)
Manuscript.
Seeing Russia with Teacher; ten descriptive duets
New York: Schirmer, 1925.
Imaginative, colorful, descriptive pieces written in the composer’s nonconformist, “futuristic” idiom. Although the style is no longer as shocking as it may have been to 1925 ears, it is nonetheless pungent and vividly chromatic. Contains early use of tone dusters.
Level: I/E-5
Orr, Mrs. M. Gascoigne (1821–1981)
Old Spanish Dance
Boston: Miles & Thompson, 1892.
Salon piece.
Level: I
Orthel, Léon (1905–1985), Netherlands
Dutch pianist and composer of works in neo-Classical style.
Five Small Pieces, Op. 47 (1963)
Amsterdam: Donemus, 1974.
Short, attractive works effectively set in polished, economical style with twentieth-century French influences and faint suggestions of Stravinsky.
Level: LI–I/LE–E
Osborne, George Alexander (1806–1893), Ireland
Irish-born English pianist, composer, and teacher; wrote chamber music and piano pieces. Studied with Johann Peter Pixis, Friedrich Kalkbrenner, and Francois-Joseph Fetis in Paris.
Duo (G♭), Op. 69
Mainz: Schott, 1850.
Oscar, J. C.
Petite fantaisie sur un air russe favori
Mainz: Schott, 1857.
Features parallel motion sixteenth note passagework and dotted-rhythms.
Level: UI–LA
Souvenir de [sic] amitié
New York: Pond, 1865.
Salon waltz.
Level: L-I
Oser, Hans (1895–1931)
Liederbuch für Regina
Zürich: Hug, 1940.
Osieck, Hans (b. 1910), Netherlands
Dutch composer. His orchestral works, chamber music, and piano pieces are written in an eclectic idiom, influenced by his extensive travels.
Acht korte karakterschetsen (Eight Short Character Sketches) (1950)
Amsterdam: Donemus, 1950.
Suite concertante, for piano four hands and orchestra
Publisher and date missing.
Otto, Ernst Julius (1804–1877), German
German conductor; composed oratorios, operas, songs, and instructional piano music.
3 Leichte Rondos (Auf dem Wasser; Im Freien; Auf den Bergen)
Leipzig: Merseburger, ca. 1852.
Level: LI–I
d’Ourville, Léon
The details of his life remain shrouded in mystery.
Soirées musicales, eighteen pieces (Book 1: Spring; Rustic Dance; In the Garden; Polonaise; Reaper’s Song; Gondolina; The Lake; Hunting Song. Book 2: Slumber Song; Swing Song; Gavotte; Hungarian; Cavatine; Spinning Song; The Mill; Styrian; The Smithy; Valse-impromptu)
New York: Carl Fischer, 1910 (Book 1, permanently out of print).
Facile, light, instructional pieces.
Level: LI–I
A Selection from the Celebrated “Soirees Musicales”
Humphrey, Graeme, comp. and ed. www.fourhandsplus.com, 2011.
A handsome new edition of selections from Soirees Musicales. Includes: Slumber Song; Spring; Rustic Dance; In the Garden; Polonaise; The Lake; Gondolina; Valse-impromptu; Reaper’s Song; The Smithy; The Mill.
Level: LI–I
Owen, Harold (b. 1931), United States
Metropolitan bas cantata, for chorus and piano four hands (1960)
Los Angeles: Western International Music, n.d.