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The forms most used are naturally either songs or dances, both of which are essentially lyrical. The many song-patterns have been described by a great variety of names, not always used consistently, such as 'song without words,' 'romance,' 'nocturne,' 'reverie,' 'ballade,' 'fantasie,' 'caprice,' 'étude,' etc. More indefinite terms are 'impromptu,' 'prelude,' 'albumblatt,' 'charakterstück,' etc. Often a picturesque suggestion is given by titles like 'kinderscenen,' 'flower-song,' and the like. The dance-patterns most used are the waltz, the mazurka, the polonaise, the galop and many others of the large class of modern round dances, most of them in triple rhythm.

The two centres from which salon music in its lighter forms was specially propagated before or near the middle of the century were Paris and Vienna, and they have continued to be prominent. But players and publishers carried it everywhere, calling out production in all countries. Furthermore, at both these centres and in Germany and northern Europe generally the making of brief, characteristic piano-pieces of decided artistic quality soon became a specialty, supplying a charming and useful element in musical literature.

Reserving for longer mention the most distinguished composers and players, it may here be noted that the French group, including Belgians, Spaniards and some others, contains names like these:—Franz Hünten of Coblentz (d. 1878) ; Pedro Albeniz (d. 1855), from 1830 active at Madrid; Camille Marie Stamaty (d. 1870), who from 1835 pushed his way into the front rank of Parisian teachers, producing important études, etc.; Henri Rosellen (d. 1876); Charles Henri Valentin Alkan (d. 1888); the accomplished Antoine François Marmontel (d. 1898), from 1832 a player of mark and from 1848 one of the best teachers at the Conservatoire, with numerous didactic works; Jacques Mathieu Joseph Gregoir (d. 1876), from 1848 teacher at Brussels; Ignace Leybach (d. 1891), from 1844 organist at Toulouse; Jean Henri Ravina, in 1834-7 a teacher at the Conservatoire and later a virtuoso and composer; Henry Charles Litolff (d. 1891), from 1851 the well-known publisher; Wilhelm Krüger (d. 1883), who, driven from Paris by the war of 1870, was then court-pianist at Stuttgart; Charles Samuel Bovy ['Lysberg'] (d. 1873), long a teacher at the Geneva conservatory; Georges Mathias, from 1862 on the Conservatoire staff; Jacob Blumenthal, from 1848 pianist to Queen Victoria; the Belgian Désiré Magnus (d. 1884); Auguste Dupont (d. 1890), from 1852 in the Brussels conservatory; the popular American Louis Moreau Gottschalk (d. 1869); Joseph Ascher (d. 1869), pianist to the Empress Eugénie; Renaud de Vilbac (d. 1884), from 1856 organist at one of the Paris churches; Martin Lazare (d. 1897), who, after wide tours, worked at Brussels; Charles Delioux, prominent from about 1850; Eugène Ketterer (d. 1870); Damaso Zabalza y Olaso (d. 1894), from 1858 at Madrid, later professor of theory at the conservatory; and Louis Gobbaerts of Brussels (d. 1886).