Theodor Kirchner

2 Scherzi

The two scherzos presented here were composed around 30 years apart. The Scherzo op. 8 was published by Rieter-Biedermann in Winterthur in 1857, but was probably composed much earlier, at least in part. The 2nd Scherzo op. 54 was published by Friedrich Hofmeister in Leipzig in 1881, so it dates from Kirchner's extremely productive time in Leipzig. If one compares the two works, one notices the later Opus 54's more virtuosic handling of the piano writing; stylistically, however, little has changed in the 30 years.
In their motoric impetus, both scherzos have more points of contact with Beethoven and Brahms (Opus 4) than with Chopin's scherzos. (Jürg Löffler)