Video demonstration and sheet music PDF
L’orage is French for “the storm” and it is the title for a piano piece composed by Johann Friedrich Franz Burgmuller during the Romantic era. Burgmuller lived from 1806 to 1874, and although he was born in Germany, he lived in France from 1832 onwards, hence the French title. This piece is from a set of compositions called “Etudes de Genre” – Characteristic Studies.
This colourful piece certainly deserves its description as a characteristic study – it effectively depicts the electric excitement and drama of a thunderstorm with a range of musical effects. Loud dynamics, fast rhythms and changeable timbre and registers contribute to the feeling of agitation and turbulence. Sforzandos paint a picture of sudden crashes of thunder (see my article on performance directions). Towards the end, the mood starts to become more settled and peaceful as if the storm is passing, and the use of very low bass semiquavers creates the impression of the thunder in the distance.
Another dramatic and turbulent piece is Schumann’s Romance No.1.
You may also like my recording of Venetian Gondola Song in F sharp minor.
You can listen to some of my own compositions here:
Latest Posts
A Dream in Gold and Grey — Improvisation in F♯ Mixolydian & F♯ Aeolian
This video captures a piano improvisation of mine which I named A Dream in Gold and Grey. The modes and textures brought to my mind the image and feeling of a warm radiant golden light, gently glowing through a twilight…
Keep reading
The Alternate Shade — Improvisation in F♯ Dorian, F Aeolian, F♯ Aeolian & D Major
Here is a video in which you can hear me playing a piece of music I improvised and named The Alternate Shade. The title reflects the chromatic slides into alternate modal colours, like sidestepping into an alternate universe, where the…
Keep reading
The Heart of a Ruby — Improvisation in E♭ Dorian ♯4 & E♭ Dorian
In this video you can hear me playing a piece of music I improvised and named The Heart of a Ruby. The darkness and rich deep colours of the modes and parent scales brought to my mind a ruby —…
Keep reading
Iridescence of the Sky Beneath — Improvisation in C & D Mixolydian ♭6; D Lydian & Lydian Augmented; B Dorian
Here is a video in which you can hear me playing a piece of music I improvised and named Iridescence of the Sky Beneath. The title reflects the shifting colours and angles of light in the combination of modes, and…
Keep reading
Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.
