Cover of the Freedman copy of La Rève, Op. 113
The Freedman Collection holds a copy of Kalkbrenner's Le Rêve, Grande Fantaisie pour le Pianoforte avec Accompagnement d'Orchestre ad libitum, Op. 113. The piece, composed in 1833, is a fantasy for piano with orchestral accompaniment, which is similar in style to a piano concerto. The RBI copy is the complete work, including all of the instrumental parts and the piano solo score. The piece is dedicated to Charles Czerny, a contemporary pianist on the rise in the Viennese scene at the same time, who may have been his friend (Kalkbrenner was six years his senior).
Although like a concerto in juxtaposing the solo piano with orchestra, La Rêve deviates from typical three-movement concerto. Kalkbrenner wrote the work as a single movement in several contrasting sections. Kalkbrenner reflects this in the title as well, calling the work a "fantasy," as opposed to simply calling it a concerto. Fantasies (or fantasias) were not uncommon at the time but were usually written for solo piano, such as Schubert’s Fantasie in C Major (Wanderer Fantasy) or Chopin’s Polonaise-Fantasie in Ab Major.
The work is quite virtuosic, reflective of a style similar to Beethoven’s, and is of a markedly Viennese sound. It begins with quiet tremolos in the orchestra before a grandiose quarter note arpeggiation descends in F# minor. After this orchestral introduction, the piano plays a cadenza which leads into the first section of the work. The dotted 8th plus 16th rhythm permeates this section in the right hand and the tonality changes to the relative major before returning to minor once more. The piano diminuendos and gives way to an orchestral ritenuto; the piano interjects an arpeggiation, and leaves once more, with the orchestra leading into the next section from this point. A main rhythmic drive in this faster section are the last three 8th notes from a 4/4 bar leading into the downbeat of the next bar. The piano and orchestra exchange this idea back and forth until the piano exits. The next section, which is more stately and now in A minor, has the piano enter from the start and reintroduces the dotted 8th plus 16th rhythm. The section later turns to C major, a pedal on G leads to E major chords, and the section ends with a return to A minor. Throughout the following section, chromatic mediants are an idea used on multiple occasions, where a given chord moves up or down a third and the quality does not change; certainly, reflective of its time, chromatic mediants became increasingly popular throughout the romantic period. The next section is more tender and expressive and is now in A major. An extended E pedal leads to the next section, which is in A minor and features fast triplets, teased at in the previous section. A C major subsection leads to an E pedal, returning to A minor once more. A G pedal goes through a C pedal, which then leads to G minor, proceeds to a D# chord, then down to a C# chord, which leads to the next section, which is in F# minor. This section is slower but has a very similar sound to the section after the earlier piano cadenza, with dotted 8th plus 16th rhythms. After the orchestra plays off of this idea, a coda section begins which features virtuosity in the piano part. The rhythms are faster, and scalar and arpeggiated material can be found all across the sections. The piece ends dramatically with several quick dominant to tonic movements.
Homophonic texture is primarily used, with several instances of homorhythm in the solo piano sections. Multiple meter changes occur, and the meters used are 4/4, ¾, and 2/4. When the left-hand doesn’t engage in homorhythm with the right, it mainly uses quarter notes and 8th notes in an accompanimental style. It is diatonic in the keys of F# minor, A major, and C major with consonant-sounding harmony. Although there are repeats in some sections, the same themes do not return in later sections, even when they are sometimes hinted at. The through-composed nature of this piece is certainly a product of Romanticism – the through-composed form of the piece demonstrates the impact of the Romantic style on Kalkbrenner's view of Classical forms such as concerto.