How Classical Pianists Play Multiple Pieces At Once

How can one pianist play three Chopin etudes at the same time? Or three Strauss waltzes at once? What about a mashup of Beethoven's "Appassionata" Sonata with Chopin's "Aeolian Harp" Etude? To play polyphonic music on the piano takes good technique, but to stack multiple borrowed melodies that were never meant to be played together takes ingenuity. This essay traces the centuries-long tradition of combining multiple borrowed themes at the keyboard. Beginning with roots in the Renaissance and Baroque quodlibet, we'll find curious combinations of well-known themes by Bellini, Beethoven, Chopin, Strauss, and many more at the piano. Some combined themes are relatively simple, while others push the limits of what one pianist can express. Liszt, Thalberg, Schumann, Alkan, Gottschalk, Heller, Godowsky, Rosenthal, and Hamelin are among the many pianist-composers who have engaged in this tradition, which lives on today. Support my channel: Buy me a coffee: (https://buymeacoffee.com/pianocurio) I played all unattributed piano excerpts on a modeled 1922 Erard (Pianoteq 9). 0:00 Intro 5:58 Origins 8:40 Pair-aphrases 13:18 Classic Combinations 23:10 The Waltz Craze 30:43 20th-century Collages 33:12 Strange Sculptures