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TLFeBOOK
DESIGN CRITERIA FOR LOW DISTORTION IN
FEEDBACK OPAMP CIRCUITS

TLFeBOOK
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TLFeBOOK
 DESIGN CRITERIA FOR
LOW DISTORTION IN
FEEDBACK OPAMP CIRCUITS

by
Bjørnar Hernes
Nordic VLSI ASA, Norway

and
Trond Sæther
Nordic VLSI ASA, Norway and
Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway

KLUWER ACADEMIC PUBLISHERS

NEW YORK, BOSTON, DORDRECHT, LONDON, MOSCOW

TLFeBOOK
eBook ISBN: 0-306-48013-1
Print ISBN: 1-4020-7356-9

©2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers

New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow

Print ©2003 Kluwer Academic Publishers

Dordrecht

All rights reserved

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mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without written consent from the Publisher

Created in the United States of America

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TLFeBOOK
Contents

List of Figures ix

List of Tables xiii

Symbols and Abbreviations xv

Foreword xxi

Preface xxiii

Acknowledgement xxv

Chapter 1 Introduction 1

1.1 Motivation 1

1.2 Earlier Work 3

1.3 Design Issues for Low Nonlinear Distortion 4

1.4 Outline 5

1.5 Summary 6

Chapter 2 Specification and Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits 9

2.1 Linearity Specifications 9

2.1.1 Single-Frequency Excitation 11
2.1.2 Dual-Frequency Excitation 14

2.2 Volterra Series 17

v
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vi Contents

2.3 Phasor Method 20

2.3.1 Example: Nonlinear LP-Filter 22

2.4 Concluding Remarks 26

Chapter 3 Biasing and Opamp Modeling for Low Distortion 31

3.1 Biasing for Robust Linearity Performance 32

3.1.1 Transistor Model 32
3.1.2 Biasing of Current Sources 34
3.1.3 Biasing of Signal Transistors 36
3.1.4 Biasing Guidelines for Low Distortion 38

3.2 Opamp Modeling for Nonlinear Analysis 41

3.2.1 The Opamp as a Two-Input Device 42
3.2.2 Splitting of Transfer Functions 44
3.2.3 Case: Miller Opamp 45

Chapter 4 Nonlinear Analyzes of Feedback Miller Opamp 53

4.1 The Non-Inverting Configuration 54

4.1.1 Contributions to Harmonic 57
4.1.2 Contributions to Harmonic 62
4.1.3 Non-Inverting: Design Considerations for Low Distortion 68

4.2 The Inverting Configuration 70

4.2.1 Contributions to Harmonic: 73
4.2.2 Contributions to Harmonic: 75
4.2.3 Inverting: Design Considerations for Low Distortion 78

4.3 Concluding Remarks 81

Chapter 5 Opamp Circuits with High Linearity Performance 85

5.1 Measurement System 86

5.2 A 1.8V CMOS Opamp with –77.5dB HD2 and HD3 at 80MHz 90
5.2.1 Design Considerations 90
5.2.2 Contributions to Nonlinear Distortion 91
5.2.3 Measurement Results 96

5.3 A 3.3V CMOS Opamp with –80dB HD3 at 80 MHz 103

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Contents vii

5.3.1 Design Considerations 103

5.3.2 Contributions to Nonlinear Distortion 104
5.3.3 Measurement Results 108

5.4 A 3.3V CMOS Current Opamp with –63dB HD3 at 100MHz 114
5.4.1 Design Considerations 114
5.4.2 Contributions to Nonlinear Distortion 117
5.4.3 Measurement Results 121

5.5 A 3.3V CMOS Unity-Gain Opamp with –80dB HD3 at 10MHz 126

5.6 Concluding Remarks 128

Chapter 6 Conclusions and Discussions 133

6.1 Opamp Topologies Versus Linearity 135

6.1.1 One-Stage Opamp 136
6.1.2 Two-Stage Opamp 138
6.1.3 Three-Stage Opamp 139
6.1.4 Concluding Remarks 140

Appendix A Transistor Model 141

Appendix B Closed Loop Opamp Transfer Functions 145

B.1 Non-Inverting Opamp Configuration 145

B.1.1 First Order CL Response 146
B.1.2 Second Order CL Response 148
B.1.3 Third Order CL Response 149

B.2 Inverting Opamp Configuration 150

B.2.1 First, Second and Third Order CL Responses 150

Appendix C Open Loop Opamp Transfer Functions 155

C.1 First Order Responses 157

C.1.1 157
C.1.2 158

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This page intentionally left blank

TLFeBOOK
List of Figures

Figure 1-1. Typical transfer function for a one-pole opamp 2

Figure 2-1. Nonlinear system 10
Figure 2-2. The output voltage versus the input voltage. Vout_nonl is (2-1)
truncated to order and Vout_ideal is (2-1) truncated to 1st order.
The coefficients are:
0.05 11
Figure 2-3. Harmonic distortion. The “_ideal”-curves are obtained by the first
term in (2-4) to (2-6) and the “_nonl”-curve is (2-4) truncated to the
order coefficient 13
Figure 2-4. Intermodulation distortion. The plots are obtained by setting the
and equal. The “_ideal”-curves are obtained by the first
term in (2-13) to (2-15) and the “_nonl”-curve is (2-13) truncated to
the order coefficient 16
Figure 2-5. Two-dimensional nonlinear coefficient represented by Volterra
series 19
Figure 2-6. Two-dimensional nonlinear coefficient represented by the phasor
method 22
Figure 2-7. LP-filter with a voltage dependent resistor 22
Figure 2-8. Circuit for computation of order response 23
Figure 2-9. Circuit for computation of and order responses. The
parameter x is 2 or 3 for and order analysis, respectively 24
Figure 2-10. Plotting of to order responses of the LP-filter. The parameters
used are and The input
voltage is 1 and the –3dB frequency is located at 318MHz. 26
Figure 3-1. The transistor model 32
Figure 3-2. The transistor as a current source. is the gate bias voltage and
is the parasitic capacitance when looking into the drain terminal 35
Figure 3-3. Output conductance and and order nonlinear coefficients as a
function of the DS-voltage of the transistor. The gate length equals
and the threshold voltage (extracted
by Eldo) 35
Figure 3-4. Signal transistor in common source amplifier stage. is the
voltage from the previous stage and is the output conductance
from a current source 37

ix
TLFeBOOK
x List of Figures

Figure 3-5. Transconductance and nonlinear coefficients for the signal

transistor as a function of the GS-voltage. The gate length equals
and the threshold voltage (extracted
by Eldo) 37
Figure 3-6. Output conductance and and order nonlinear coefficients of
the transistor as a function of the DS-voltage. The gate length
equals and the threshold voltage
(extracted by Eldo) 40
Figure 3-7. Transconductance and nonlinear coefficients of the transistor as a
function of the GS-voltage. The gate length equals
and (extracted by Eldo) 40
Figure 3-8. The opamp with differential and CM input voltage (a) and the
model of the two-input opamp (b), where and are the input
voltages to the two-input opamp model computed from and 43
Figure 3-9. An arbitrary nonlinear current source embedded in the opamp. 45
Figure 3-10. Two-stage cascoded Miller opamp 46
Figure 3-11. Small-signal model of the opamp for use in linear and nonlinear
analysis 47
Figure 4-1. Non-inverting opamp configuration 54
Figure 4-2. order responses with high CM-gain 59
Figure 4-3. order responses with low CM-gain 59
Figure 4-4. High CM-gain, the main contributing nonlinear coefficients to
60
Figure 4-5. Low CM-gain, the main contributing nonlinear coefficients to
60
Figure 4-6. “H_Ve_Vcm_CL” and “H_Ve_Vcm_CL_apr” are the accurate and
approximated version (given by (4-11)) of
respectively. The plot is obtained using low CM-gain 62
Figure 4-7. Plots of the various order transfer functions using high CM-
gain 64
Figure 4-8. Plots of the various order transfer functions using low CM-gain 64
Figure 4-9. High CM-gain, main contributions to 66
Figure 4-10. Low CM-gain, main contributions to 66
Figure 4-11. “H_Ve_2Vcm_CL” is the accurate version of and
“H_Ve_2Vcm_CL_apr” is (4-19). Both curves are plotted with low
CM-gain 67
Figure 4-12. Inverting opamp configuration 71
Figure 4-13. Plots of the order CL transfer functions. is the main
contribution to the total order response 72
Figure 4-14. Plots of the order CL transfer functions. is the main
contribution to the total order response 72

TLFeBOOK
List of Figures xi

Figure 4-15. The main contributions to The “all”-curve is

with all nonlinear coefficients included. The other
curves is with only the denoted nonlinear coefficients
included 73
Figure 4-16. Equation (4-23) (labeled “H_2_CL_apr”) plotted together with the
total order response (“H_2_all_CL”) 75
Figure 4-17. The major nonlinear coefficients of 76
Figure 4-18. The sum of (4-26) and (4-27) (labeled “H_3_CL_apr”) and the total
order response (“H_3_all_CL”) including all order transfer
functions and nonlinear coefficients 78
Figure 5-1. Measurement system 87
Figure 5-2. Contribution from the measurement system to HD2 and HD3 89
Figure 5-3. Micrograph of the test-chip fabricated in technology 89
Figure 5-4. The 1.8V opamp in fabrication technology 91
Figure 5-5. order response, accurate expression (“H_2_all_CL”) and
approximated expression (“H_2_CL_apr”) for the 1.8V opamp 95
Figure 5-6. order response, accurate expression (“H_3_all_CL”) and
approximated expression (“H_3_CL_apr”) for the 1.8V opamp 95
Figure 5-7. HD2 of the 1.8V opamp. The curves marked “Ch1” to “Ch3” are
the measured results of three different circuit samples. The curves
marked “Maple” and “Eldo” are the simulation results from Maple
and Eldo, respectively 97
Figure 5-8. HD3 of the 1.8V opamp. The naming of the curves follows the
same “convention” as used in Figure 5-7 97
Figure 5-9. HD2 and HD3 versus output amplitude at 80MHz. The two curves
named “_IDEAL” are the weakly nonlinear values of HD2 and
HD3. The assumption made is that the circuit has weakly nonlinear
behavior at output swing 100
Figure 5-10. Linearity versus CM-voltage at 80MHz 101
Figure 5-11. Linearity versus supply voltage at 80MHz 101
Figure 5-12. Linearity versus input bias current at 80MHz 102
Figure 5-13. The 3.3V opamp in fabrication technology 103
Figure 5-14. order response, accurate expression (“H_2_all_CL”) and
approximated expression (“H_2_CL_apr”) for the 3.3V opamp 106
Figure 5-15. order response, accurate expression (“H_3_all_CL”) and
approximated expression (“H_3_CL_apr”) for the 3.3V opamp 106
Figure 5-16. HD2 of the 3.3V opamp. The curves marked “Ch1” to “Ch3” are
the measured results of three different circuit samples. The curves
marked “Maple” and “Eldo” are the simulation results from Maple
and Eldo, respectively 109
Figure 5-17. HD3 of the 3.3V opamp 109

TLFeBOOK
xii List of Figures

Figure 5-18. HD2 and HD3 versus output amplitude at 80MHz. The two curves
named “_IDEAL” are the weakly nonlinear values of HD2 and
HD3. The assumption made is that the circuit has weakly nonlinear
behavior at output swing 112
Figure 5-19. Linearity versus CM-voltage at 80MHz 112
Figure 5-20. Linearity versus power-supply voltage at 80MHz. Here, the bias
current is scaled with the power-supply voltage 113
Figure 5-21. Linearity versus bias current at 80MHz 113
Figure 5-22. The 3.3V COA in fabrication technology 115
Figure 5-23. Model of the COA used for simulations of nonlinear responses in
Maple 118
Figure 5-24. order response, accurate expression (“H_2_all_CL”) and
approximated expression (“H_2_CL_apr”) for the 3.3V COA 120
Figure 5-25. order response, accurate expression (“H_3_all_CL”) and
approximated expression (“H_3_CL_apr”) for the 3.3V COA 120
Figure 5-26. HD2 of the 3.3V COA. The curves marked “Ch1” to “Ch3” are the
measured results of three different circuit samples. The curves
marked “Maple” and “Eldo” are the simulation results from Maple
and Eldo, respectively 122
Figure 5-27. HD3 of the 3.3V COA 122
Figure 5-28. HD2 and HD3 versus output amplitude at 80MHz. The two curves
named “_IDEAL” are the weakly nonlinear values of HD2 and
HD3. The assumption made is that the circuit has weakly nonlinear
behavior at output swing 124
Figure 5-29. Linearity versus CM-voltage at 80MHz 124
Figure 5-30. Linearity versus power-supply voltage at 80MHz. The bias current
is scaled with the power-supply voltage. 125
Figure 5-31. Linearity versus bias current at 80MHz. 125
Figure 5-32. Voltage buffer, to buffer the signal from the opamp to the off-chip
load. 127
Figure 5-33. Comparison of harmonic IP2. 131
Figure 5-34. Comparison of harmonic IP3. 131
Figure 6-1. One-stage opamp capable to handle large output voltage swing 137
Figure 6-2. Two-stage Miller opamp. 138
Figure B-1. Non-inverting opamp configuration (a) and its order model (b) 146
Figure B-2. Models for derivation of CL transfer functions, order (a) and
order (b). 147
Figure B-3. Inverting opamp configuration (a), and its order model (b). 151

TLFeBOOK
List of Tables

Table 3-1. Extracted parameters obtained from the transistor model MM9 for a
fabrication technology for the opamp in Figure 3-10. The
parameters will be used in simulations of nonlinear distortion in
Maple, carried out in Chapter 4. 50
Table 3-2. Parameters for the opamp in Figure 3-10 obtained from the small-
signal parameters in Table 3-1 and the equations for the opamp. 51
Table 5-1. Estimated result for the 1.8V opamp. The estimated values are from
simulations carried out in Eldo (*) and equation given in previous
chapters (**). The simulations include the effects from the output
pad, package and external load (see Figure 5-1). Additionally,
parasitic capacitances are extracted from layout. 92
Table 5-2. Extracted parameters from the transistor models for the 1.8V opamp
for use in simulations of nonlinear distortion in Maple. 93
Table 5-3. Worst case HD2 and HD3 of three measured samples at some test
frequencies. 99
Table 5-4. Estimated result for the 3.3V opamp. The estimated values are from
simulations carried out in Eldo (*) and equation given in previous
chapters (**). The simulations include the effects from the output
pad, package and external load (see Figure 5-1). Additionally,
parasitic capacitances are extracted from layout. 104
Table 5-5. Extracted parameters from the transistor models for the 3.3V opamp
for use in Maple simulations of nonlinear distortion. 105
Table 5-6. Comparison of the attenuation of nonlinear responses between the
1.8V and 3.3V opamps. The equations are quoted from section 4.2. 108
Table 5-7. Worst case HD2 and HD3 of three measured samples at some test
frequencies. 110
Table 5-8. Estimated results for the 3.3V COA. The estimated values are from
simulations carried out in Eldo (*) and equations given above, and in
previous chapters (**). The simulations include the effects from the
output pad, package and external load (see Figure 5-1). Additionally,
parasitic capacitances are extracted from layout. 116
Table 5-9. Extracted parameters from the transistor models for the 3.3V opamp
for use in Maple simulations of nonlinear distortion. 119

xiii
TLFeBOOK
xiv List of Tables

Table 5-10. Comparison of the attenuation of nonlinear responses between the

COA and the 3.3V opamps. 121
Table 5-11. Worst case HD2 and HD3 of three measured samples at some test
frequencies. 123
Table 5-12. Estimated result for the 3.3V unity-gain opamp. The values are from
Eldo simulations, which are done with parasitic capacitances
extracted from layout. 126
Table 5-13. Simulated result for the 6.5V voltage buffer. The simulations are
carried out in Eldo with the effects from the output pad, external
load and parasitic capacitances extracted from layout. 128

TLFeBOOK
Symbols and Abbreviations

closed loop gain of the opamp circuit

ADC Analog to Digital Converters
Feedback factor
BP Band Pass
BSIM Berkeley Short-channel IGFET Model,
transistor model for MOS-transistors
DB capacitor of the transistor
GS capacitor of the transistor
CL Closed Loop
CM Common Mode
CMOS Complementary Metal Oxide Semi-
conductor
COA Current OpAmp
SB capacitor of the transistor
DAC Digital to Analog Converter
DB Drain-Body of MOS transistor
DC Direct Current, used to express zero
frequency
DS Drain-Source of MOS transistor
FFT Fast Fourier Transform
FPBW Full Power Bandwidth
GBW Gain Bandwidth
GD Gate-Drain of MOS transistor
gd the drain conductance of the transistor
gm the transconductance of the transistor

xv
TLFeBOOK
xvi Symbols and Abbreviations

GM Gain Margin
gmb the transconductance due to the body-
source voltage of the transistor
GS Gate-Source of MOS transistor
order response of the two-input opamp
model
order response of the two-input opamp
model
order response of the two-input opamp
model
order OL and CL transfer functions,
respectively, of the two-input opamp
model due to
order OL and CL transfer functions,
respectively, of the two-input opamp
model due to
order OL and CL transfer functions,
respectively, of the two-input opamp
model due to
order OL and CL transfer functions,
respectively, of the two-input opamp
model due to
order OL and CL transfer functions,
respectively, of the two-input opamp
model due to
order OL and CL transfer functions,
respectively, of the two-input opamp
model due to
order OL and CL transfer functions,
respectively, of the two-input opamp
model due to
order OL and CL transfer functions,
respectively, of the two-input opamp
model due to
order OL and CL transfer functions,
respectively, of the two-input opamp

TLFeBOOK
Symbols and Abbreviations xvii

model due to
order OL and CL transfer functions,
respectively, of the two-input opamp
model due to mixing of harmonic and
fundamental frequency in order
transfer functions in the two-input opamp
model
HD2 order Harmonic Distortion
HD3 order Harmonic Distortion
IF Intermediate Frequency
IM2 InterModulation of order
IM3 InterModulation of order
harmonic Intercept Point of order
intermodulation Intercept Point of
order
harmonic Intercept Point of order
intermodulation Intercept Point of
order
JFET Junction Field Effect Transistor
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
SB and DB capacitances, respectively
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the DS-voltage
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the GS-voltage
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the BS-voltage
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the GS- and DS-voltages
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the BS- and GS-voltages
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the BS- and DS-voltages

TLFeBOOK
xviii Symbols and Abbreviations

The order nonlinear coefficient of the

SB and DB capacitances, respectively
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the DS-voltage
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the GS-voltage
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the BS-voltage
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the order GS-voltage
and DS-voltage
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the GS-voltage and
order DS-voltage
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the order BS-voltage
and GS-voltage
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the BS-voltage and
order GS-voltage
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the order BS-voltage
and DS-voltage
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the BS-voltage and
order DS-voltage
The order nonlinear coefficient of the
transistor due to the GS-, BS- and DS-
voltages
LP Low Pass
MM9 MOS Model 9, transistor model for MOS
transistors
frequency in rad./sec.
gain-bandwidth frequency of the opamp
OL Open Loop

TLFeBOOK
Symbols and Abbreviations xix

PCB Printed Circuit Board

PM Phase Margin
SB Source-Body of MOS transistor
SR Slew-Rate
THA Track and Hold Amplifier
THD Total Harmonic Distortion
Signal value, disregarding the DC value
Signal value, including the DC value
Phasor representation
Phasor representation of the output
voltage at the fundamental frequency,
and harmonics, respectively
Phasor representation of the differential
and common-mode input voltages,
respectively, to the two-input opamp
model
Phasor representation of the differential
input voltage at the fundamental
frequency and harmonic, respectively
Phasor representation of the common
mode input voltage at the fundamental
frequency and harmonic, respectively

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TLFeBOOK
Foreword

An increasing number of analog integrated circuits suffer from distortion.

It limits the signal swing, subject to the supply voltage available. Together
with noise, it thus establishes the ultimate dynamic range. Distortion is a
difficult topic however. Too few books and papers are devoted to it. This is
why this new edition deserves our full attention.
It is even more difficult to handle distortion at high frequencies. Volterra
series can be used but the phasor method is much more practical indeed.
This book provides an excellent example on how to use the phasor method
towards the analysis of distortion in analog circuits such as operational
amplifiers. It is shown that the Miller opamp with folded-cascode at the
input, is certainly one of the best contenders for high-speed and low
distortion.
In a separate chapter, the non-linear coefficients are examined versus
frequency. They are analyzed in much greater detail than ever before. The
slopes of the distortion versus input amplitudes and versus frequencies are
predicted by means of hand calculations and verified by means of
simulations. Finally experimental data is added, which is of utmost
importance in designs with low distortion.
It can be conculded that a new generation of low-distortion opamps has
been designed and realized with distortion as one of the most important
specifications. This work therefore deserves being read and studied. Since
hand calculations are given, followed by simulations and experiments, it is
clear that this book is of use for both novice designers and for experts, who
want to deepen their knowledge and insight.

09-2002

Willy Sansen

xxi
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TLFeBOOK
Preface

Broadband operational amplifiers (opamps) for multi-channel

communication systems have strong demands on linearity performance.
When these opamps are integrated in deep sub-micron CMOS technologies,
the signal-swing has to occupy a large part of the rather low supply voltage
to maintain the signal-to-noise-ratio. To obtain opamps with low distortion it
is necessary to do a thorough analysis of the nonlinear behavior of such
circuits. This is the main subject of this book.
The biasing of each transistor in the circuit is a major issue and is
addressed in this work. It is important to bias the transistor such that the
distortion is low and stable in the entire range of its terminal voltages. This
will ensure high linearity and robustness against variations in circuit
conditions such as power supply voltage, bias current and process variations.
Further, a general two-input weakly nonlinear model of the opamp is
developed, with the differential and the common-mode voltages as the
inputs. This model accounts for the effect that the input common-mode
voltage has on the linearity performance. The model describes the opamp
with a set of linear and nonlinear transfer functions. The linear transfer
functions are the well-known differential gain and common-mode gain of the
opamp. The nonlinear transfer functions depend on the two input voltages,
the input frequency and the nonlinear sources embedded in the opamp.
The two-input model, applied on a folded cascode Miller opamp, is
further used to explore the non-inverting and inverting opamp
configurations. For each of the configurations, the strongest contributions to
nonlinear distortion are found. Simplified expressions for the closed-loop
nonlinear responses are presented as a function of the input frequency. From
the closed loop expressions, design equations are extracted, which show how
the distortion can be suppressed in the different ranges of frequency. For
computation of the nonlinear transfer functions, a method based on the
Volterra series is used. The method, which in this book is referred to as the
phasor method, results in a subset of the Volterra series.
The analysis of the nonlinear behavior results in a design procedure for
achievement of highly linear opamp circuits. The design procedure is used in
design of three opamps connected in the inverting configuration. The
measurements show that HD2 and HD3 are both less then –77.5dB at
80MHz for an opamp with 1.8V supply voltage and signal swing.

xxiii
TLFeBOOK
xxiv Preface

Additionally, a unity-gain opamp is designed, which uses a tail-current-

compensation-circuit to suppress the effect of large common-mode voltage
swing.
This book is based on a Ph.D. project initiated by Nordic VLSI ASA and
performed at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology
(NTNU), dept. of Physical Electronic, both located in Trondheim, Norway.

09-2002
Trondheim, Norway

Bjørnar Hernes
Trond Sæther

TLFeBOOK
Acknowledgement

This work had not been possible without the financial support from
Nordic VLSI ASA and the Norwegian Research Council (under the project
number 130946/221). In addtion, I am grateful to my colleages at Nordic
VLSI ASA, dept. for Dataconverters, including Rune Kvernland.

Bjørnar Hernes

xxv
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TLFeBOOK
Chapter 1

Introduction

1.1 Motivation

Broadband operational amplifiers (opamp) with low nonlinear distortion

are important building blocks in many applications. Examples of such
applications are multi-channel communication systems, multi-channel video
systems, and buffers for broadband Analog-to-Digital and Digital-to-Analog
Converters (ADC and DAC). These systems are moving towards higher
level of integration in low-cost technologies, such as deep sub-micron
CMOS processes.
Analog design in modern CMOS technologies suffers from the low
supply voltage that is required by these processes. To make the signal-to-
noise ratio as high as possible the signal swing has to occupy a large part of
the available supply voltage. This means that the voltage left to bias the
circuit is small. This represents one of the bottlenecks in achieving low
distortion for opamps implemented in deep sub-micron technologies.
When increasing the loop gain of a feedback circuit the nonlinear
distortion will decrease. Thus, a well-known method to obtain low distortion
in feedback circuits is to design for high loop gain. However, the loop gain is
only high in a limited frequency range. For opamp circuits, the loop gain is
decreasing for frequencies above the dominant pole. This is shown in Figure
1-1, where is the low frequency open loop gain and is the dominant
pole of the opamp. Thus, the maximum loop gain at a specified frequency is
set by the maximum Gain-Band-Width (GBW) of the opamp. The maximum
GBW is a result of the opamp topology and fabrication technology.
Another challenge in the design phase of linear analog circuits is
estimation of the nonlinear distortion. The harmonics and intermodulation
1
TLFeBOOK
2 Design Criteria for Low Distortion in Feedback Opamp Circuits

products depend on higher order derivatives of the drain current of the

transistors. The higher order derivatives are often poorly modeled in the
transistor models available in SPICE-like circuit simulators, especially for
sub-micron CMOS devices [1], [2]. Further, when simulating nonlinearity in
SPICE-like simulators it is not possible to get any information about the
strongest contributions to nonlinear distortion and what parameters to use for
minimizing it.
Facing the problems described above, it was necessary to develop a
design method to achieve linear opamp circuits. The method is twofold.
First, careful biasing of each transistor in the circuit such that the higher
order derivatives of the drain current is on a minimum and, further, stable in
the entire range of the transistor’s terminal voltages. This results in high and
robust linearity performance. Next, find the largest contributions to nonlinear
distortion and derive symbolic expressions for these. It is then possible to
optimize the circuit for low distortion even without accurate modeling of
higher order derivatives.
The method sketched above is used in design of three opamps in a
CMOS fabrication technology, two with 3.3V supply voltage and
one with 1.8V supply voltage. Additionally, a 3.3V opamp in
technology is designed. Measurement results from the opamps are presented
in this book.

TLFeBOOK
Chapter 1 Introduction 3

1.2 Earlier Work

To derive symbolic expressions for nonlinear distortion, a mathematical

analyzing tool is needed. Since the linearity performance at frequencies
above the dominant pole of the opamp is important, the requirement for the
analyzing tool is to include the frequency response of the distortion. This is
done by the Volterra series. The Volterra series has since 1967 been used to
compute the nonlinear behavior of weakly nonlinear analog circuits as a
function of frequency. In [3] and [4] Volterra series is used to model
distortion in bipolar transistors and in [5] the issue is JFET-transistors. The
derived models are further applied on one-transistor amplifiers.
Feedback systems are also presented in terms of Volterra series in
literature. In [6] the Volterra series is applied to a feedback amplifier and the
effect of the feedback is explained. Similar derivations are done in [1] and
[7]. In [8] cross-modulation and intermodulation is found for a two-transistor
bipolar amplifier with feedback.
Additionally, the Volterra series are used to find the nonlinear distortion
in many other applications. For example, distortion in log-domain filters is
described in [9] and distortion analysis of larger analog systems is addressed
in [10].
Volterra series represents a general representation of the nonlinearity, but
leads to complex derivations with many unnecessary kernels when the
circuit is excited by only one or two frequencies or when the circuit has two
inputs. In [11] a technique called the probing method is described. This
method computes the terms in the Volterra series by iterative solving the
same differential equations with different excitations for the circuit. In [12] a
simplified version of the probing method is presented. This method exploits
the fact that the circuit performance often is measured by applying one or
two frequencies at the input. The method uses phasors to represent currents
and voltages, and is in this book referred to as the “phasor method”.
To include the effect that the input Common-Mode (CM) voltage has on
the linearity performance, the opamp is considered as a two-input device
with the differential voltage and the CM-voltage as the inputs. The nonlinear
responses for the two-input opamp are computed and further used to derive
the nonlinear responses for the Closed-Loop (CL) circuits, the inverting and
non-inverting opamp configurations. The phasor method is simpler to use for
analyses of two-input devices then the Volterra series. In [13] the phasor
method is described for a double-balanced mixer and in [2] for a CMOS up-
conversion mixer. Further, in [2] and [14] the phasor method is applied on a
CL Miller opamp and simplified expressions are shown for and
harmonics, including the strongest contribution to distortion.

TLFeBOOK
4 Design Criteria for Low Distortion in Feedback Opamp Circuits

The book of Wambacq and Sansen [1] describes both the Volterra series
and the phasor method. Additionally, it shows many useful examples on how
nonlinear analysis of electrical circuits can be done. This source has been the
most useful reference for the work presented in this book.

1.3 Design Issues for Low Nonlinear Distortion

The approach of this work is to achieve a design method for obtaining

low nonlinear distortion in feedback opamp circuits. Distortion in transistor
circuits is mainly due to non-zero higher order derivatives of the transistor
drain current. These higher order derivatives can be viewed as nonlinear
sources in the circuit. Thus, it is important that the strength of the nonlinear
sources is low and that they are attenuated as much as possible to the output
of the circuit. These are the key issues of the design method, which can be
summarized as follows:

1. Biasing each transistor in the circuit such that the higher order derivatives
of the drain current are small and stable in the entire range of the terminal
voltages.
2. Find the strongest contributions to nonlinear distortion for the CL circuit
and derive symbolic expressions for these. From the symbolic
expressions, design equations can be obtained.
3. Use the biasing point obtained in 1 as a starting point for the optimization
for minimum nonlinear distortion of the CL circuit. The optimization is
carried out in a circuit simulator with the design equations as guidelines.

How to bias the transistor is found by plotting the higher order

derivatives of the transistor drain current and find at what range of the
terminal voltages they are small and stable. This is done in a circuit
simulator with transistor parameters given by the fabrication technology to
be used. The accuracy of these derivatives is less important as long as the
shapes of the curves are approximately correct.
The strongest contributions to nonlinear distortion are found by
implementing the phasor method in a symbolic mathematical tool. Maple6
[15] is used in this work. The phasor method is further applied on a weakly
nonlinear model of the circuit. The nonlinear behavior of this model is due to
the higher order derivatives of the transistor drain current. Each of the higher
order derivatives represent a source to nonlinear distortion and it is important
to detect the strongest contributing sources. This is done by plotting the
contribution from each source in the same plot as a function of frequency. It
is then easy to compare them and pick out the most important sources.

TLFeBOOK
Chapter 1 Introduction 5

By using a two-input model of the opamp, it is further possible to view

the effect that the CM-voltage has on the linearity performance. This is
especially important when the opamp has large swing in the input CM-
voltage, which is the case for the non-inverting opamp configuration.
Further, Maple6 can be used to derive simplified CL responses of the
distortion, including the strongest contributing nonlinear sources. From these
responses, it is possible to obtain design equations that show what circuit
parameters to alter to suppress the distortion.
Finally, the design equations are used to optimize the circuit for
minimum distortion. The optimization is carried out in a circuit simulator
using the biasing obtained in point 1 above as a starting point. The equations
show which parameters to use to enhance the linearity performance of the
circuit.
Because that the phasor method is a series, the simulations in Maple6 and
the simplified expressions for the nonlinear distortion are under the
assumption that the circuit is weakly nonlinear. The phrase “weakly
nonlinear” means that the nonlinear behavior is mainly determined by 2nd
and 3rd order nonlinearity. This can be a good approximation in feedback
opamp circuits, design for high linearity performance. However, the issue is
not accurate modeling of distortion, but to provide insight and understanding
of how distortion occurs and how to minimize it. The phrase “weakly
nonlinear” is more thoroughly explained in Chapter 2.

1.4 Outline

In Chapter 2 the basic of nonlinear specification and analyses are

described. First, some measurement parameters are presented for one- and
two-frequency excitation of the circuit. Second, the Volterra series and
phasor method are described and an example is given to show the difference
between the two methods. Further, the phasor method is applied on a simple
circuit example, where the nonlinear responses for 2nd and 3rd harmonics are
found.
Chapter 3 presents some important issues in modeling, symbolic analysis
and design of weakly nonlinear circuits. First, the nonlinear model of the
transistor is presented, where the drain current and currents through the
diffusion capacitances are expressed as Taylor expansions. Further, based on
the transistor model, the biasing technique for obtaining low higher order
derivatives of the transistor drain current is presented. Second, the opamp as
a two-input device is described in general terms and further the principle of
splitting of nonlinear transfer functions. At the end of Chapter 3 the
cascoded Miller opamp and its model are presented. This model will further

TLFeBOOK
6 Design Criteria for Low Distortion in Feedback Opamp Circuits

be used to derive nonlinear responses for the CL opamp circuits in Chapter

4.
In Chapter 4 the non-inverting and inverting opamp configurations are
explored regarding nonlinear behavior. The main contributions to nonlinear
distortion are shown by plotting. The expressions for 2nd and 3rd harmonics
are given including the strongest contributions. From these expressions, it is
possible to give guidelines and design equations for obtaining low distortion
in feedback opamp circuits.
The design guidelines achieved in Chapter 3 and Chapter 4 are further
used in design of several opamp circuits. These are presented in Chapter 5.
Here, also the measurement system is described, which is used for testing the
opamp circuits. Further, the opamp with the best linearity performance, as
regards the supply voltage, is compared to previous reported results and
some commercial available opamps with high linearity performance.
Chapter 6 summarizes this book and gives proposal to further work.
Here, also a comparison between the presented opamp circuits is carried out.
These are further compared to some commercial available opamps with high
linearity performance.

1.5 Summary

The main contributions in this work are as follows:

Method for biasing CMOS transistors to obtain low and stable higher
order derivatives of the drain current of the transistor and thus high and
robust linearity performance.
Thoroughly description of the nonlinear behavior of feedback opamp
circuits. This work is an evolution of the work presented in [2] and [16]
for feedback opamp circuits. The work consist of the following parts:
Describing the opamp as a two-input device, one input for the
differential voltage and one for the CM-voltage. This makes it possible
to take into consideration the effect of swing in the CM-voltage. This
swing can be damaging for the linearity performance of the circuit.
Exploiting the phasor method to split-up the nonlinear responses of
distortion. For the CL circuit, these responses tend to be very complex.
By using the iterative nature of the phasor method, in conjunction with
the two-input model of the opamp, it is possible to factorize the
responses in many terms. This makes it simple to do simplification on
each term and to obtain surveyable expressions for the nonlinear
responses as a function of frequency. This is done for both the
inverting and non-inverting opamp configurations by using a folded
cascode Miller opamp.

TLFeBOOK
Chapter 1 Introduction 7

Extracting design equations from the CL nonlinear responses. These

equations show what circuit parameters that minimize the nonlinear
distortion.
Design procedure for opamps circuits to obtain low nonlinear distortion.
Design of highly linear opamps in modern CMOS technologies:
A 1.8V CMOS opamp with –77.5dB HD2 and HD3 at 80MHz. The
input voltage swing was and the circuit is fabricated in a
process.
A 3.3V CMOS opamp with –80dB HD3 at 80 MHz. The input voltage
swing was and the circuit is fabricated in a process.
A 3.3V CMOS current opamp with –63dB HD3 at 100MHz. The input
voltage swing was and the circuit is fabricated in a
process.
A 3.3V CMOS unity-gain opamp with –80dB HD3 at 10MHz. The
input voltage swing was and the circuit is fabricated in a
process. This circuit uses a new tail-current-compensation-
circuit to suppress the effect of large CM-voltage swing [17].

REFERENCES
[1] P. Wambacq, W. Sansen, “Distortion Analysis of Analog Integrated Circuits,” Norwell,
MA: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1998.
[2] P. Wambacq, G. G. E. Gielen, P. R. Kinget, W. Sansen, “High-Frequency Distortion
Analysis of Analog Integrated Circuits,” IEEE Tr. on Circuits and Systems—II: Analog
and Digital Signal Processing, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 335-345, Mar. 1999.
[3] S. Narayanan, “Transistor Distortion Analysis Using Volterra Series Representation,”
The Bell System Technical Journal, vol. 46, pp. 991-1024, May-June 1967.
[4] S. Narayanan, H. C. Poon, “An Analysis of Distortion in Bipolar Transistors Using
Integral Charge Control Model and Volterra Series,” IEEE Transaction on Circuit
Theory, vol. CT-20, no. 4, pp. 341-351, Jul. 1973.
[5] A. M. Khadr, R. H. Johnston, “Distortion in High-Frequency FET Amplifiers,” IEEE
Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. SC-9, no. 4, pp. 180-189, Aug. 1974.
[6] S. Narayanan, “Applications of Volterra Series to Intermodulation Distortion Analysis of
Transistor Feedback Amplifiers,” IEEE Transaction on Circuit Theory, vol. CT-17, no.
4, pp. 518-527, Nov. 1970.
[7] H. Jardon, R. Gomes, O. Golovin, “Nonlinear Analysis of Amplifiers with Local and
Global Negative Feedback,” IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and Systems
1997, June 9-12 1997, pp. 965-968.
[8] R. G. Meyer, M. J. Shensa, R. Eschenback, “Cross Modulation and Intermodulation in
Amplifiers at High Frequencies,” IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. SC-7, no. 1,
pp. 16-23, Feb. 1972.
[9] C. Beainy, R. A. Baki, M. N. El-Gamal, “Distortion Analysis of High-Frequency Log-
Domain Filters Using Volterra Series,” IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and
Systems 2001, vol. 1, 2001, pp. 472-475.

TLFeBOOK
8 Design Criteria for Low Distortion in Feedback Opamp Circuits

[10] P. Wambacq, P. Dobrovolný, S. Donnay, M. Engels, I. Bolsens, “Compact modeling of

nonlinear distortion in analog communication circuits,” Proceedings of Design,
Automation and Test in Europe Conference and Exhibition 2000, pp. 350-354, 2000.
[11] J. J. Bussgang, L. Ehrman, J. W. Graham, “Analysis of Nonlinear Systems with Multiple
Inputs,” Proceedings of The IEEE, vol. 62, no. 8, pp. 1088-1119, Aug. 1974.
[12] P. Wambacq, G. Gielen, W. Sansen, “Symbolic Simulation of Harmonic Distortion in
Analog Integrated Circuits with Weak Nonlinearities,” Proceedings of ISCAS90’, May
1990, pp. 536-539.
[13] P. Wambacq, J. Vanthienen, G. Gielen, W. Sansen, “A Design Tool for Weakly
Nonlinear Analog Integrated Circuits With Multiple Inputs (Mixers, Multipliers),”
Proceedings of the IEEE 1991 Custom Integrated Circuit Conferance, 1991, pp. 5.1/1-
5.1/4.
[14] G. Gielen, P. Wambacq, W. Sansen, “Symbolic Approximation Strategies and the
Symbolic Analysis of Large and Nonlinear Circuits IEEE International Symposium on
Circuits and Systems 1991, vol. 2, 1991, pp. 806-809, 1991.
[15] Maple 6, See http://www.maplesoft.com/
[16] F. O. Eynde, P. Wambacq, W. Sansen, “On the Relationship Between the CMRR or
PSRR and the Second Harmonic Distortion of Differential Input Amplifiers,” IEEE
Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 1740-1744, Dec. 1989.
[17] B. Hernes, Ø. Moldsvor, T. Sæther, “A –80dB HD3 Opamp in 3.3V CMOS Technology
using Tail Current Compensation,” IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and
Systems 2001, vol. 1, 2001, pp. 216-219.

TLFeBOOK
Chapter 2

Specification and Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits

This chapter describes some of the theoretical background for

specification and analysis of nonlinear systems. First, the measurement
parameters that describe the nonlinear performance of an analog circuit are
addressed. An example of a nonlinear system is presented, which is further
used to define the measurement parameters obtained when the circuit
excitation consists of one or two frequencies. Second, the Volterra series is
defined. The Volterra series is an analysis tool for obtaining symbolic
expressions for weakly nonlinear analog systems. The Volterra series can
also be transformed to the frequency plane in a similar way as the well-
known Laplace transform (e.g. [1] and [2]). However, the Volterra series
leads to cumbersome analysis and complex symbolic expressions, especially
for large circuits and high order nonlinearities. Thus, a simpler method is
described, which throughout this book is called the phasor method. The
phasor method uses phasor representation for currents and voltages in the
circuit and results in a subset of the equations obtained by the Volterra
series. This method is visualized by an example, which is a simple Low-Pass
(LP) filter with a nonlinear resistor. The phasor method will also be used
further in this book.
Most of the definition and theory in this chapter are taken from [3]. The
Volterra series are further described and used in [4] to [13]. The phasor
method is applied in [14], [15] and [16].

2.1 Linearity Specifications

Figure 2-1 shows a nonlinear system with as the circuit excitation and
as the output variable applied to the load Disregarding the constant
term, the output variable can be expressed by (2-1). Here, the nonlinear
9
TLFeBOOK
10 Design Criteria for Low Distortion in Feedback Opamp Circuits

system is approximated by a Taylor series [1]. The requirement for the

Taylor expansion is that the series converge, which means that the terms in
the series decrease with increasing order. Additionally, the series must
represent with small error in the specified range of which is to
The coefficients in (2-1) are given by (2-2). These coefficients are in general
a function of frequency, but will in this section be considered constant. is
the desired gain of the circuit. The other coefficients cause distortion and are
further called nonlinear coefficients. Figure 2-2 shows (2-1) truncated to
order (Vout_nonl) and the ideal output voltage (Vout_ideal) disregarding all
higher order terms in (2-1). Both are plotted versus the input voltage. The
value of the coefficients are and
0.05. The plot shows that the output voltage deviate from the ideal value at
low and high input voltage, which is typical behavior for many analog
circuits. The nonlinear system, with the DC-response plotted in Figure 2-2,
will further be used to define and plot the various nonlinear measurement
parameters.

TLFeBOOK
Chapter 2 Specification and Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits 11

2.1.1 Single-Frequency Excitation

The single-frequency test is carried out by applying a signal containing

only one frequency component at the input of the nonlinear system. The
same frequency component will occur at the output, where it is called the
fundamental frequency. However, the output signal will also contain
unwanted frequency components at multiples of the input frequency. These
are called harmonic frequencies and are caused by the nonlinear behavior of
the circuit.
In (2-3) the input voltage is shown, where is the amplitude and
is the input frequency. When (2-1) represents the nonlinear system, the
amplitude of the fundamental frequency on the output of the system can be
expressed by (2-4). Equation (2-4) shows that this amplitude is primarily a
function of the order coefficients in (2-1), which is the gain of the system.
Further, (2-4) is also a function of all odd order nonlinear coefficients of the
system. When the input amplitude increases, the fundamental component on
the output will increase or decrease, depending on the sign of the nonlinear

TLFeBOOK
12 Design Criteria for Low Distortion in Feedback Opamp Circuits

coefficients. If it increases it is called expansion and if it decreases it is

called compression.
The equations (2-5) and (2-6) are the amplitudes of the and
harmonics, respectively. The harmonic depends on all even order
nonlinear coefficients, while the harmonic depends on all odd order
nonlinear coefficients. The ratios between the levels of and harmonics
and the level of the fundamental frequency are called HD2 and HD3,
respectively. HD2 and HD3 are widely used parameters to describe
nonlinear behavior for an analog system. When the higher order terms in (2-
4) to (2-6) are small, and decreases with increased order, the system is called
weakly nonlinear. The phrase “weakly nonlinear” will be further and more
rigorously defined in terms of Volterra series in section 2.2. When the
system is weakly nonlinear, HD2 and HD3 can be approximated with (2-7)
and (2-8) below. In (2-9) another measurement parameter is defined, the
Total Harmonic Distortion (THD). THD is the square root of the ratio
between the quadratic sum of the harmonic amplitudes and the amplitude of
the fundamental frequency.

TLFeBOOK
Chapter 2 Specification and Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits 13

Figure 2-3 shows the output power versus the input power for the
fundamental frequency and the and harmonics. The curve
P_out_1_nonl is obtained by plotting (2-4) truncated to the order
coefficient. At low input levels, the system has weakly nonlinear behavior.
This means that the level of the fundamental frequency and the and
harmonics can be expressed by the first term in (2-4) to (2-6), respectively.
By extrapolating the first terms of these equations and plotting them versus

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14 Design Criteria for Low Distortion in Feedback Opamp Circuits

the entire input range, the curves P_out_1_ideal, P_out__2_ideal and

P_out_3_ideal are obtained. The input and output levels are in dBm, which
are the levels referred to lmW in a 50 Ohm resistor. For all curves, the
coefficients are the same as for the plots in Figure 2-2.
When is approximately 9dBm the P_out_1_nonl-curve
deviate from the ideal output signal power with ldB. This is called the –1dB
compression point and is shown in Figure 2-3. Further, also a –3dB
compression point can be defined in the same way. The deviation from the
ideal curve is caused by the nonlinear behavior of the system. There will also
be compression or expansion of the and harmonics caused by the
higher order terms in (2-5) and (2-6). Thus, a deviation from the extrapolated
curves will occur for high input levels.
The and order intercept points are defined to be the input level that
causes the extrapolated and harmonics to be equal to the level of the
extrapolated level of the fundamental frequency. The harmonic intercept
points are given by (2-10) and (2-11) below and visualized in Figure 2-3. By
knowing the intercept points and the linear gain of the system, it is possible
to compute the and harmonics for a specific input level. Further, to
obtain low harmonic distortion the and order intercept points need to
be as high as possible.

Another parameter that is used to characterize analog systems is the

dynamic range. In [3] the input dynamic range is defined as the ratio of the
input level causing the –1 dB (or –3db) compression point and the input
referred noise. This ratio is usually given in dB.

2.1.2 Dual-Frequency Excitation

Another test of the nonlinear behavior of an analog system can be done

by applying two sinusoid signals with different frequency at the same input
terminal. The total input signal can be represented as (2-12), where
and are the input amplitudes and frequencies, respectively, of the
sinusoids. The difference between the two frequencies is assumed small

TLFeBOOK
Chapter 2 Specification and Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits 15

compared to the absolute value of each of them. At the output of the

nonlinear system several frequency components appear. First, both
fundamental frequencies are present. The amplitude at can be expressed
as (2-13). As for the single frequency excitation, (2-13) shows that the
fundamental response depends on the gain factor and the odd order nonlinear
coefficients. Further, it depends on the amplitude of both input frequency
components. Similar equation can be obtained for the response at by
interchanging and in (2-13).
Second, as for the single frequency excitation, the harmonics of the input
frequencies are present at the output terminal. Further, mixing of the two
signals is performed, and the sum and the difference of the various frequency
components appear at the output terminal. These responses are called
intermodulation products. The second order intermodulation product, shown
in (2-14), is located at As for the harmonic, the order
intermodulation product depends on all even order nonlinear coefficients.
Further, it also depends on the amplitudes of both input frequencies, and
The order intermodulation product, located at can be
expressed as (2-15). As for the harmonic, the order intermodulation
product is a function of the odd order nonlinear coefficient. In addition, it
also depends on the amplitude of the input frequency components. The
responses at and can be obtained by interchanging
and in (2-14) and (2-15). When assuming that the system behaves
weakly nonlinear, the and order intermodulation distortion can be
approximated by (2-16) and (2-17).

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16 Design Criteria for Low Distortion in Feedback Opamp Circuits

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Chapter 2 Specification and Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits 17

In Figure 2-4 the extrapolation of the weakly nonlinear gain and and
order intermodulation products are plotted. The plots of the
intermodulation products are obtained by setting and equal. As for
the single frequency excitation, a compression point can be defined and
further and order intercept points. Due to larger higher order terms in
the order response (2-13), the –1dB compression point occur at lower
level than when the system excitation is single-frequency. The
intermodulation intercept points represent the input amplitude that make the
extrapolated intermodulation products equal to the extrapolated order
response. These are defined in (2-18) and (2-19).

2.2 Volterra Series

In (2-1) the nonlinear system is represented by a Taylor series. Taylor

series can be used to approximate weakly nonlinear systems without
memory. Most nonlinear systems have memory, or in other words, the
response of the system depends on the frequency contents of the input signal.
For describing weakly nonlinear behavior of analog systems with memory,
the Volterra series can be used.
The Volterra series can be defined by (2-20), where the terms are called
Volterra operators. The index numbers are the order of the operators. The
Volterra operators can further be expressed as (2-21). Here, are called
Volterra kernels, where the order of the kernel is given by The order
Volterra operator in (2-21) can be recognized as the convolution integral of
the impulse response of the linearized system, and the input signal
The impulse response can be converted to the s-plane by doing a
Laplace transform ([1], [2]). Then in (2-22) is achieved, which is the
well-known s-plane representation of the linearized system. The s-plane
representation is widely used in design of analog circuits. The higher order
Volterra kernels in (2-21) are multidimensional impulse responses. Thus,
they can also be transformed to the s-plane by using a multidimensional
Laplace transform. In (2-22) the multidimensional Laplace transform is

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18 Design Criteria for Low Distortion in Feedback Opamp Circuits

applied to the and order Volterra kernels. The s-plane representations

of the kernels are called nonlinear transfer functions. Similar transformation
can be done by the Fourier transform ([1], [2]). These issues are thoroughly
explained in [3].

As for all series expansions, the Volterra series has limited radius of
convergence. Thus, the Volterra series will diverge if the input signal
become large enough. At what level of the input signal this happens,
depends on the Volterra operators and thus on the nonlinear transfer
functions. Another issue is how high the order of the Volterra series should
be to describe the nonlinear system accurate. In this book, only weakly
nonlinear systems are considered. In [3] the phrase “weakly nonlinear” is
defined to be:

TLFeBOOK
Chapter 2 Specification and Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits 19

“A circuit behaves weakly nonlinear if, for the applied input signal, it
can be accurately described by the first three terms of its (converging)
Volterra series ”
Thus, further in the book it is assumed that the circuits, in conjunction
with the input signal, are weakly nonlinear as described above. The
nonlinear behavior of the systems will be described in the frequency plane
by the and order nonlinear transfer functions.
In the introduction of this chapter, it was mentioned that Volterra series
can be cumbersome to derive and results in complex expressions. This
assertion will now be visualized by an example. In Figure 2-5, a order
two-dimensional nonlinear coefficient is shown. The signals A and B
have two different transfer functions from the input, and
respectively. Further, is the transfer function from the nonlinear
coefficient to the output of the system. The order nonlinear transfer
function of the entire system is given by (2-23), which cover both harmonics
and intermodulation product of second order. The expression is rather large
and becomes larger when inserting for the various transfer functions. For
higher order, the nonlinear transfer functions contain even more terms,
including all harmonic responses and intermodulation products. This is the
main drawback of the Volterra series. Because of the generality, all
nonlinear responses are found, which is overkill when e.g. only the harmonic
responses are requested.

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20 Design Criteria for Low Distortion in Feedback Opamp Circuits

The phasor method described in the next section provides only the
required subset of the Volterra series, e.g. the harmonic responses. Thus, the
derivation and expressions for nonlinear responses will be simpler and
provide more insight and understanding of the nonlinear behavior of a circuit
than Volterra series does.

2.3 Phasor Method

When a circuit is in steady state, all currents and voltages are sinusoids.
The output voltage of the system can be expressed as the input voltage with
a change in amplitude and phase represented by and
respectively. This is shown in (2-24), where and is the amplitude and
frequency of the input signal, respectively. Further, are the order
transfer function of the system and is the phase of In (2-25) the
output voltage are represented in the frequency plane as a phasor [2], where
P represents the phasor transform. The requirement for the phasor
representation is that the circuit is in steady state.

The frequency components that is caused by the nonlinear behavior of

the system, are also sinusoids. Thus, since the circuit is in steady state, the
nonlinear responses can also be represented by phasors, with the excitation
frequency equal to the frequency of the wanted harmonic or intermodulation
product. The excitation of the system is now the nonlinear coefficients
embedded inside the system. This is the idea of the phasor method.

TLFeBOOK
Chapter 2 Specification and Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits 21

The phasor method, carried out on an analog circuit, can be explained by

the following procedure:

1. Find the order response and all voltages/currents that control nonlinear
coefficients in the circuit. These will be further used to find nonlinear
responses of higher order. The circuit excitation is the input voltage to
the circuit, which runs at one or more frequencies.
2. Find the desired order nonlinear response and all voltages/currents
that control nonlinear coefficients in the circuit. The circuit excitation is
the nonlinear coefficients of order, which depends on the order
voltages/currents found in 1. The excitation frequency is the frequency of
the desired order nonlinear response, e.g. for the harmonic it
equals
3. Find the desired order nonlinear response. The circuit excitation is the
nonlinear coefficients of and order. Further, the nonlinear
coefficients depend on voltages/currents found in both 1 and 2. The
excitation frequency is the frequency for the desired order nonlinear
response. E.g. for harmonic it equals For order
intermodulation product it equals the frequency for the desired product.

The procedure shows that the order nonlinear response depends on

voltages/currents of lower order. Thus, it is necessary to begin with the
order response, continuing with the order and so on. The procedure can
be extended to orders higher than 3, but the computation becomes complex.
The main advantage of the phasor method compared to the Volterra
series is that only the necessary kernels are found. For example, when using
a single-frequency test it is the and harmonic that are the desired
nonlinear responses. These can be found directly by the phasor method,
omitting the rest of the responses that the Volterra series provide. This can
be visualized with a simple example. In Figure 2-6 the same system as
described in Figure 2-5 is shown, but expressed by the phasor method. When
using the procedure above the signals A and B are obtained by point 1, and
the output voltage is achieved by point 2. The desired nonlinear response is
the harmonic, which is expressed in (2-26). When (2-26) is compared to
(2-23) it shows that (2-26) corresponds to the first term of (2-23), except for
the factor ½. This factor is due to the phasor representation [3]. If the
order intermodulation product is to be found, it will correspond to the second
term in (2-23). The nonlinear transfer functions, obtained by the phasor
method, are thus a subset of the Volterra series. The phasor method provides
less complex derivations and expressions at the cost of generality. Especially
the harmonic nonlinear responses are simple.

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22 Design Criteria for Low Distortion in Feedback Opamp Circuits

Next, a simple example is shown to demonstrate how the phasor method

can be used for computation of nonlinear transfer functions of electrical
circuits.

2.3.1 Example: Nonlinear LP-Filter

In Figure 2-7 a simple LP-filter is shown. The filter consist of a linear

capacitor and a nonlinear resistor can for example be a simple
model of a transistor used as a switch. The current through the resistor is
given by (2-27), where is the small-signal conductance of the resistor.
Further, and are the and order nonlinear coefficients,
respectively. The phasor method will now be applied to find the harmonic
nonlinear responses for the circuit in Figure 2-7.

TLFeBOOK
Chapter 2 Specification and Analysis of Nonlinear Circuits 23

To compute the order response, the circuit in Figure 2-8 is used. Here,
is replaced by the conductance The output response is given by (2-
28) and the order controlling voltage for the nonlinear coefficients of
is shown in (2-29). will further be used in computation of the
nonlinear responses. is the –3dB frequency of the LP-filter and is
expressed in (2-30).

For computation of the nonlinear responses, the circuit in Figure 2-9 is

used. The input voltage is shorted and the excitation for the circuit is the
current This current represents the order nonlinear behavior of the
resistance in phasor representation. Equation (2-31) shows the order

TLFeBOOK
Other documents randomly have
different content
quartets, the masterly quintet, Op. 44, the quartet, Op. 47, for piano
and strings, and a trio. To 1845 belong the “Variations” for two
pianos, and a large choral work, “Paradise and the Peri.” In 1844,
Schumann began the music to Goethe’s “Faust,” but ill-health
interrupted him for more than a year. However, in 1845 he
completed the piano concerto, wrote several works for pedal piano,
and in 1846 finished his second symphony. In 1847, he began his
opera “Genoveva,” which was not given until 1850. Late in 1850 he
went to Düsseldorf to take a position as director. While here he
composed his third symphony. In the following years he wrote
several overtures, works for solo instruments and orchestra, the
overture and incidental music to Byron’s “Manfred,” “The Pilgrimage
of the Rose” and many other choral works, including a Mass and a
Requiem. Early in 1854, symptoms of a mental disorder, which had
been increasing of late years, culminated in an attempt at suicide.
He passed the remaining years of his life in an asylum near Bonn,
where he died July 29, 1856.
 Robert Schumann.

Schumann’s Personality.—By reason of his two-fold activity as

critic and composer, Schumann was a new force in music. Highly
cultivated in literature, philosophy and poetry, he possessed a keen
and discerning critical taste, and a literary style that was picturesque
and eloquent. Schumann was shy and reserved by nature, he talked
little but observed and reflected abundantly. He was never fond of
society, and as years went by he lived more and more like a hermit,
absorbed in composition and family life. For ten years, however, he
was in touch with the public by reason of his editorship of the “New
Journal,” and by his championship therein of all that was good and
progressive in the music of the day, did much for the encouragement
of true art. His articles on Schubert, Mendelssohn, Gade, Chopin,
Berlioz, Liszt, Brahms and others formed a new epoch in musical
criticism, and helped the cause of Romanticism immeasurably. No
estimate of Schumann’s character is complete without taking into
account these distinct tendencies as critic and composer. His
collected writings give a graphic illustration of his views on music,
and form a supplement to his personality as expressed in his music.
Schumann’s Compositions.—Schumann’s most representative
works include four symphonies and the “Overture, Scherzo and
Finale,” the overtures “Genoveva” and “Manfred”; three string
quartets, a piano quintet, a piano quartet, three piano trios and two
sonatas for piano and violin; the music to “Faust” and “Manfred”;
“Paradise and the Peri,” “The Pilgrimage of the Rose” and other
works for solos, chorus and orchestra; more than two hundred
songs; the piano concerto and two smaller works for piano and
orchestra, besides a monumental series of works for piano alone. In
addition there are duets, part-songs, choruses, pieces for piano
duet, a concert piece for four horns and orchestra, a concerto for
’cello and orchestra, a fantasy for violin and orchestra, besides short
pieces for oboe, viola, clarinet and ’cello with piano accompaniment,
the opera “Genoveva,” the overtures “The Bride of Messina,” “Julius
Cæsar” and “Herman and Dorothea,” the Mass, Op. 147, and the
Requiem, Op. 148.
It will be seen that Schumann wrote much in the sonata or
symphonic form, yet his command of it was far from complete. In
this respect and in instrumentation, Schumann was inferior to his
romantic contemporary, Mendelssohn. On the other hand, he was far
more original and his music has a much greater depth of sentiment,
a higher sense of beauty and a noble human breadth that forms one
of the highest points in the development of romanticism. What he
lacked in technical attainment, he more than made up in beauty of
themes, vigor and spontaneity of treatment, and thorough-going
romanticism in moods. It is difficult to say which is his best
symphony, they all have merits of their own; of the overtures, that
to “Genoveva” (almost the only surviving portion of the opera) and
“Manfred” are examples of Schumann’s ardent romanticism at its
best. The string-quartets are not always in quartet style and their
structure is sometimes open to criticism, but they are individual and
contain much that is beautiful. The piano-quartet is a genial work of
great spontaneity that took Europe by storm. It was immediately
hailed as the greatest work since Beethoven, although its position
might now be assailed by the piano quintets by Brahms and César
Franck. The piano quartet, as well as the quintet, is a pioneer in this
form of chamber-music, but has not the same flow of melody as the
former. The trios and sonatas for violin and piano, although not on a
level with the other chamber-music, have nevertheless striking
qualities to commend them. Schumann’s choral music is decidedly
unequal, but the “Paradise and the Peri,” and portions of the “Faust”
and “Manfred” music display the same breadth of human emotion so
characteristic of his best music. In the field of song, Schumann is a
worthy successor to Schubert. Schumann’s songs have not the
inexhaustible melody of Schubert’s, but they are richer harmonically,
the accompaniments more individual, and the character of the
poems more subtly brought out.
Schumann’s Contribution to the Short Piece.—Perhaps
Schumann’s most conspicuous service to music lies in his
development of the short piece. In this direction he has cultivated a
branch of expression, with an originality, a freedom and a richness
that have no parallel in the Romantic movement except in Chopin.
Mendelssohn undoubtedly did something for the short piece, but his
“Songs Without Words” are limited to a few types, while Schumann
made the short form serve every variety of expression. He
undoubtedly owed much to the examples of Schubert with his
waltzes and other dances, the impromptus and moments musicals,
but in richness of resource and spontaneity of expression he went
much beyond the older master. His piano style is highly distinctive; it
does not offer much that is new in finger technic, but in polyphonic
treatment of melodies, in striking rhythms and harmonic effects and
in original use of the pedal it is remarkable. Both in the sets of small
pieces, such as the “Papillons,” Op. 2, the “Davidsbund Dances,” Op.
6, the “Carnival,” Op. 9, or the Flower pieces, Op. 19, and in the
Novellettes, Op. 21, the Fantasie pieces, Op. 12, the Symphonic
Studies, Op. 15, the Toccata, Op. 7, and the great Fantasy, Op. 17,
Schumann displays a wealth of imaginative poetry that makes him
one of the greatest romanticists in piano music. His piano works
from Op. 2 to Op. 28 are matchless, although the sonatas, Op. 11
and 22, suffer from lack of coherence. The variations for two pianos,
Op. 46, and the concerto, Op. 54, are models of their type. The
“Album for the Young,” Op. 68, the “Forest Scenes,” Op. 82, the
“Varied Leaves,” Op. 99, and the “Album Leaves,” Op. 124, are all
admirable, and contain a great variety of short pieces, many of
which were composed early in his career. Schumann’s songs and
piano pieces are the best examples of his contribution to
romanticism.
Schubert and Jean Paul Richter (the romantic novelist and poet)
were the earliest influences in Schumann’s studies, nevertheless he
admired Beethoven greatly, and shut himself up with his quartets as
a preparation for his own chamber-music. As a student in Leipzig, he
was devoted to Bach’s clavier works, and later in life he renewed his
enthusiasm for Bach while writing the works for pedal piano and the
piano fugues. Fugal form and romantic sentiment do not go well
together, however, and Schumann’s compositions in this form are not
his greatest. Schumann’s influence is strongest upon composers of
songs and short piano pieces. It would be difficult to name even the
most representative, but the most signal example is Brahms, whose
songs and piano pieces could hardly exist but for Schumann. In
many of the modern Russian composers we find distinct traces of
Schumann, as well as among the Frenchmen Gabriel Fauré and
Vincent d’Indy, the German Adolf Jensen, the Italian Sgambati, and
many others.
 Compositions Suggested for Study.—The symphonies,
overtures, the chamber-music and the larger choral works are all
characteristic of Schumann at his best, but for more detailed study
of his piano music and songs the following are suggested. Of the
piano works, the “Papillons,” Op. 2; the “Paganini Caprice,” Op. 3,
No. 2; the “Davidsbund” dances, Op. 6, Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11, 12,
16, 17, 18; the “Toccata,” Op. 7; the “Carnival,” Op. 9; the Sonata,
Op. 11, especially the “Aria” and “Scherzo”; the “Fantasy Pieces,” Op.
12, entire except the “Fable”; the “Symphonic Studies,” Op. 13; the
“Scenes from Childhood,” Op. 15, Nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 9 and 13; the
“Kreisleriana,” Op. 16, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8; the “Arabesque,” Op.
18; the “Flower Pieces,” Op. 19; the “Humoreskes,” Op. 20; the
“Novellettes,” Op. 21, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8; the Sonata, Op. 22;
the “Night Piece,” Op. 23, No. 4; the “Carnival Prank,” Op. 26, Nos.
1, 2, 3 and 4; the “Romance,” Op. 28, No. 2; the Variations for two
pianos, Op. 46; the Concerto, Op. 54; the “Album for the Young,”
Op. 68; “The Happy Farmer,” “May, Lovely May,” “First Loss,” “Small
Romance,” “Remembrance,” November 4, 1847 (the date of
Mendelssohn’s death); “Canonic Song,” “Theme,” two pieces without
name, “Northern Song”; Op. 76, Nos. 1, 3 and 4; “Forest Scenes,”
Op. 82; “Entrance,” “Lovely Flower,” “Inn,” “Bird as Prophet,”
“Hunting Song,” “Elves”; Op. 99, Album Leaf, and Novellette; “Album
Leaves,” Op. 124, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4, 10, 13, 15 and 17. Of the songs:
“Dedication,” “The Nut Tree,” “The Lotus Flower,” “Highland Cradle
Song,” “Two Venetian Songs,” “Thou Art like a Flower,” and
“Conclusion,” “The Boy with the Magic Horn,” “To the Sunshine,”
“Forest Dialogue,” “Moonlight,” “Spring Night,” “Woman’s Love and
Life,” “Spring Journey,” “In the Wondrous Month of May,” “From My
Tears,” “The Roses, the Lily,” “When I Look into Thine Eyes,” “I
Grudge it Not,” “The Two Grenadiers,” “Folk-Song.”

References.
Grove’s and Riemann’s Dictionaries.—Article on Schumann.
Grieg.—Robert Schumann (Century Library of Music).
Hadow.—Studies in Modern Music. (Chapter on Schumann.)
Maitland.—Schumann.
 Wasielewski.—Life of Schumann.
Finck.—Chopin and Other Essays. (Chapter on Schumann.)

Questions.
Who represented the Romantic movement prior to Schumann?
Give the important events in Schumann’s early life.
Give the important events in Schumann’s professional career.
Give an account of Schumann as a man and as a critic.
How did Schumann help in musical progress?
What composers influenced him in his development?
In what forms did Schumann write?
Name representative works in the different forms.
What contribution did Schumann make to the development of the
short piano piece?
What composers did Schumann influence?
Frederic Chopin.
 LESSON XLV.
Frederic Chopin.

Schumann and Chopin.—Among Schumann’s many able

reviews of new music, showing the keenest critical insight, none
exhibit a more just appreciation of an original talent than his article
on some variations by a young composer who was destined to exert
so deep and widespread an influence on piano style and piano
composition. Chopin’s romanticism, somewhat affected at first by
both Hummel and Field, is one of the most individual developments
of the entire period.
Chopin’s Early life.—Frederic Chopin was born at Zelazowa-
Wola, near Warsaw, in Poland, on March 1, 1809. His father, who
had served in various positions as a teacher, finally established a
boarding-school in Warsaw. Chopin showed great sensitiveness
towards music at an early age. His first lessons on the piano were
given him by a Polish teacher of some celebrity, Adalbert Zwyny. He
soon became famous as a pianist, and from the age of nine, played
constantly at the houses of the nobility, and was eagerly received by
them. In 1824, he entered the Warsaw Lyceum in order to pursue
his general studies. About the same time he began lessons in
composition with Elsner, who had a high reputation as a teacher. He
had already composed pieces for the piano on his own account, and
continued with such success that as early as 1825 his Op. 1, a
Rondo, was published. In 1827, he left the Lyceum, and gave
thereafter all his time to playing and composing. Soon after, he
made great strides in composition, and many of his studies and
smaller pieces, as well as his two concertos, belong to this period, or
were begun then. Early in 1829, Hummel played in Warsaw, and the
influence of his piano style is evident in the works of Chopin for
some time to come. Later in this year, Chopin went to Vienna, where
he gave two concerts, winning instant recognition both as pianist
and composer. After his return to Warsaw he continued to compose
much.
Chopin’s Manhood.—A second visit to Vienna occurred toward
the end of 1830. He gave concerts, came into contact with many
musicians, and even found time to compose; but being dissatisfied
with conditions in Vienna, determined to go to Paris. Early in 1831,
after giving concerts on the way, he arrived at Paris, which was
henceforth to be his home. Here he was soon thrown with many of
the leading musicians, his playing caused an immediate sensation,
and as at Warsaw, he was welcomed in the most exclusive society.
In 1832, he began to acquire fame as a piano teacher, especially of
pupils from the aristocracy. From 1833 to 1835, his compositions
began to appear, and gained him much approval as a composer. In
1835, he went to Leipzig, where he saw Wieck and his daughter,
afterwards Clara Schumann, Mendelssohn and Schumann. In 1837,
he met Madame George Sand, the famous writer, whose influence
on his life was so great. During this year the first sinister symptoms
of ill-health made their appearance. With the idea of benefiting his
health, Chopin passed the winter of 1838-39 on the island of
Majorca, with Madame Sand and her two children. The climate had a
bad effect upon him; he could compose but little, and the condition
of his lungs obliged a return to France. He was so ill as to be obliged
to spend several months at Marseilles, recuperating. After a summer
at Nohant, Mme. Sand’s country home, he was again at Paris in the
fall of 1839. From 1840 to 1848, he lived in Paris, with occasional
visits to Nohant in the summer, teaching as much as his health
would allow, passing much time in the most aristocratic society. He
seldom played in public, and would only play for pupils, or when
persuaded by devoted friends to display his extraordinary gifts as a
pianist. During these years, however, his health grew more and more
precarious.
 The Last Years of Chopin.—In 1847, the intimacy of Chopin
and Madame Sand came to an end, for various causes, but largely
because of a character caricatured from Chopin in one of Madame
Sand’s novels, and because she was tired of taking care of him. Ill as
he was, he went to England, after a farewell concert in Paris,
arriving in the spring of 1848. He gave two concerts in London with
some success, besides playing at friends’ houses. He went to
Scotland at the instance of a pupil, Miss Stirling, gave concerts at
Edinburgh and Glasgow, besides one in the interval at Manchester.
During this entire tour he suffered greatly from ill-health and
exhaustion, and after one more appearance in London, he returned
to Paris, exceedingly ill, in January, 1849. He was not able to teach
and was obliged to depend upon the generosity of friends; among
them his pupil, Miss Stirling. After several months of hopeless
struggle to regain his health, he died of consumption on October 17,
1849, surrounded by devoted friends.
Chopin’s Personality.—Chopin was extremely refined and
delicate by nature. He was fastidious about the color and fit of his
clothes, the furnishing and arrangement of his rooms, and other
details of everyday life. He was always extremely fond of society and
moved in the highest circles. As a rule, he was averse to seeing
much of musicians, in spite of his friendship with Liszt, Hiller, Berlioz
and Schumann. As a young man he was fond of dancing, acting and
practical jokes; though sensitive, he was well and strong, and able to
endure rough stage-journeys. He was a capital mimic all his life, and
a witty companion who pleased by his gentle irony or sarcasm. He
was extremely reserved in spite of his sociability, his intimate friends
(either Polish or favorite pupils) even quarrelled as to which knew
him best. He was genuinely confidential only in his music. Chopin
was exceedingly patriotic; he was always ready to appear in concert
in behalf of Polish refugees, he corresponded untiringly with his
Polish friends, and gave many proofs of his devotion to Poland,
which he never forgot in spite of years of absence.
Chopin as Pianist.—Chopin was a pianist of extraordinary
distinction, in spite of the preëminence of Liszt. His technic, founded
in the school of Clementi and Cramer, with great attention to Bach,
was influenced to some extent by Hummel and Field, but later
became highly original, and expressive of great individuality.
Although he possessed great brilliancy, the most prominent trait in
his playing was its all-pervading and inexhaustible fund of poetry. It
had nothing harsh, unmelodious or ungraceful. His sense of rhythm
was unusually piquant, and one of its features was the skilful use of
tempo rubato, a slight variance from strict time without disturbing it
fundamentally. In later life, Chopin became disinclined to appear in
public, his performances were limited to the drawing-rooms of
aristocratic friends, where he would play or improvise for hours. He
was never a robust pianist at his strongest, and the transparent
delicacy of his playing during his last years was almost incredible.
Chopin’s Compositions.—Chopin’s music constitutes the true
revelation of himself. His life, not full of action, was, however, rich in
emotion and sentiment of great variety and subtlety. Its mainsprings
were his patriotic love of Poland and everything connected with it,
and the poetic impressionability of his temperament, which were all
transferred to his music. Although Chopin composed a number of
works in which he uses the orchestra, some chamber-music, and a
set of Polish songs, he was first and last a composer for the piano.
In addition to the works referred to, he wrote three sonatas, four
ballades, four scherzos, ten polonaises, fourteen waltzes, twenty-
eight studies, fifty-five mazurkas, twenty-five preludes, seventeen
nocturnes, three impromptus and a fantasie-impromptu, three
rondos, besides a superb fantasy, a concert allegro, a barcarolle, a
berceuse, a tarantelle, a bolero, a rondo for two pianos, and a few
trifles.
Of his two concertos, the second published (although the first
composed) is the finer. It is riper and more poetic, the slow
movement reaches a high point of lyric style, and the treatment of
form throughout the concerto is less awkward. Chopin is not at
home in the sonata form, the concertos are interesting in spite of,
rather than on account of, their treatment of form. The piano
sonatas, Op. 35 and 58, have faults of structure, and occasional
incoherence, but they are so full of poetry, romantic melody and
dramatic mood that one almost overlooks their technical
shortcomings.
Chopin Most Successful in Free Forms.—The most
representative works of Chopin are those in which he adopts no
conventional form, but follows his own instinct entirely. Thus, in his
ballades, scherzos, and especially in the fantasy, Op. 49, one finds
freedom of invention and variety of treatment combined with logical
development and real coherence. The ballads are dramatic poems in
which sentiment and virtuosity are happily united. The scherzos are
original conceptions quite distinct from the accepted type; they have
bold outlines, variety of mood and demand virtuosity in their
performance. The fantasy is instructive in its logical structure, there
is no sign of the constraint of the sonatas, and its contents are both
dramatic on a large scale and lyric by contrast. The impromptus are
shorter pieces of a lyric nature, although the element of virtuosity is
not lacking. The nocturnes are lyric pieces of simple form but
intimate style. Their general plan was at first copied from Field, but
the imitator went so far ahead of his model as almost to eclipse it.
Some of them portray idyllic moods, others are sentimental or even
dramatic in their outlines. The studies, Op. 10 and 25, epitomize in a
remarkable way Chopin’s technical innovations, and piano style.
They are brilliant, poetic and highly dramatic by turns, and in their
contents are the most musical studies composed up to their time.
National Spirit in Chopin’s Music.—Chopin, the patriot, was
devoted to the dances and Folk-melodies of his own country. He was
thoroughly national as a composer; hence in some respects his
mazurkas and polonaises are the most characteristic of his
compositions. The mazurkas with their vital rhythms and novel
harmonies, contain much poetry of mood and variety of expression
within small limits. The polonaise, as treated by Chopin, was less a
dance form, and more an independent form with characteristic
rhythms. The polonaises, Op. 44 and 53, are virtually patriotic
poems. The preludes are sketches of varying size; some are genuine
lyrics; some frankly technical in their object; others have a distinct
touch of the dramatic. Some of the waltzes suggest the salon, but in
others Chopin has individualized the type until it has risen above its
origin. Among the single pieces, the Concert Allegro is large in
dimensions, very interesting technically and musically. The
Barcarolle, in nocturne-form on a larger scale, is almost heroic in its
outlines, and a superb example of his mature style. Another piece
equally deserving of distinction is the Berceuse, an ingenious series
of variations on a persistent bass. The Tarantelle and Bolero are
merely fascinating salon pieces.
Of the youthful works with orchestra, the variations on a theme
from Mozart’s “Don Juan” are more interesting from the novelty of
their piano styles than as variations; the Fantasie on Polish themes
attracts attention chiefly on account of its Folk-song character, while
the “Krakowiak” rondo is remarkable for its spirited national-dance
rhythms. The orchestral accompaniments to these pieces are not
significant; in fact, Chopin’s use of the orchestra was his weakest
point. The Polish songs are unequal, and at best add little to his
fame. Liszt, however, has transcribed six, of which two are
frequently heard in concert, while Sgambati has arranged one.
Originality and Freshness of Invention.—The most
extraordinary trait of Chopin as a composer is that, in spite of the
limitations imposed by repeating the same form over and over again,
he is almost inexhaustible in variety of expression. As the poet of
lyric mood he accomplished almost as much as Schumann for the
development of the short piece, while in his longer pieces of
dramatic mood and large contours he has shown that the sonata-
form is not the only structure by which to convey heroic sentiment.
His was the most subtle originality, the most personal style which
stamped itself indelibly on nearly every composition. He
immeasurably broadened the technical treatment of the piano, not
only as a virtuoso, but in the direction of variety of expression,
delicate accentuation and exquisite tone. Among romantic
composers he has done more for the advancement of piano style
than anyone except Liszt. In spite of the latter’s gigantic
achievement, the value of Chopin’s contribution is still unimpaired.
From the point of view of expression, Chopin is more individual even
than Schumann, but the honors as the most important composer for
the piano during the Romantic period must be divided between
them. Chopin’s influence has been immense not only on the
composers and pianists of France and Germany but also markedly
among living composers in Russia. Chopin is the preëminent poet of
the piano.
Representative Compositions.—The following list for the
student contains the works and pieces most thoroughly characteristic
of his genius: The sonatas, Op. 35 and 38; the scherzos, Op. 20, 31
and 39; the ballades, Op. 23, 38, 47 and 52; the polonaises, Op. 22,
26, 40, 44 and 53; the waltzes, Op. 18, Op. 34, Nos. 1 and 2; Op.
42, Op. 64, Nos. 1, 2, and Op. 69, No. 1; the studies, Op. 10, Nos.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10 and 12; Op. 25, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11 and
12; the mazurkas, Op. 6, Nos. 1, 2; Op. 7, Nos. 1, 2, 3; Op. 17, Nos.
2, 3, 4; Op. 24, Nos. 1, 3, 4; Op. 30, Nos. 2, 4; Op. 33, Nos. 1, 3, 4;
Op. 41, Nos. 1, 2; Op. 56, No. 2; Op. 59, Nos. 2 and 3; Op. 63, No.
3; Op. 68, No. 2; the nocturnes, Op. 9, Op. 15, Nos, 2, 3; Op. 27,
Op. 37, Op. 48, No. 1; Op. 55, Op. 62, No. 1; the preludes, Op. 28,
Nos. 1, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 20, 21, 23 and 24; the
prelude, Op. 45; the impromptus, Op. 29, Op. 35, Op. 51, and the
Fantasie-Impromptu, Op. 66; the Fantasy, Op. 49; the Tarantelle,
Op. 43; the Berceuse, Op. 57; the Barcarolle, Op. 60, and the
Concert Allegro, Op. 46.

References.
Grove’s and Riemann’s Dictionaries.—Article on Chopin.
Finck.—Chopin and Other Musical Essays.
Hadow.— Studies in Modern Music. (Chapter on Chopin.)
Huneker.—Chopin: The Man and His Music.
Niecks.—Frederic Chopin.

Questions.
Give an account of Chopin’s early life.
Name the important events in his manhood and later life.
 What were the striking traits of Chopin as a man?
What were Chopin’s qualities as a pianist?
In what forms did Chopin compose?
In what form was Chopin most successful?
In which of his compositions is the national spirit strongly
evident?
What characteristics do we note in Chopin as a composer?
Name some representative compositions.
What composer influenced Chopin’s piano style in his early life?
What celebrated musicians were friends of Chopin?
 LESSON XLVI.
Franz Liszt.

The piano music of Chopin and Schumann reached the highest

level attained during the Romantic period, in subtle originality of
style and deep human sentiment, respectively. Notwithstanding their
preëminence in these particulars, a master was destined to come
who summed up the entire development of piano technic in his
achievements, the greatest virtuoso of the century, to whose
influence all piano playing since has been obliged to acknowledge its
indebtedness. In addition, his services in breaking away from
symphonic tradition, in achieving propaganda for various composers
of epoch-making works, including Wagner, in giving up himself as
teacher without remuneration, are equally significant.
Liszt’s Early Life.—Franz Liszt was born October 22, 1811, at
Raiding, Hungary. His mother was of Austrian birth; his father, a
Hungarian, occupying an official position on the estates of Prince
Esterhazy, was devoted to music. Liszt was a somewhat delicate
child of acute sensibilities, especially in the direction of music. At the
age of six he received piano lessons from his father. The intensity of
his interest in music and his phenomenal progress soon showed the
uncommon extent of his gifts. At the age of nine, he gave his first
concert before an audience composed largely of Hungarian nobility.
His performance was so extraordinary that some of those present
agreed to give Liszt a pension for six years to insure his proper
education. Accordingly, father and son went to Vienna, where the
boy studied the piano with Carl Czerny and composition with Salieri.
Czerny put Liszt through so thorough a course of discipline that at
eleven years of age Liszt was known for his playing from scores, and
reading the most difficult compositions at sight. In 1823, he gave
two successful concerts; Beethoven was present at the second, and
publicly kissed the boy in token of his approval. Liszt’s father now
took him to Paris to study at the Conservatory, but the director,
Cherubini, refused to allow him to enter because he was a foreigner.
Liszt studied composition, however, with Paer and afterwards with
Reicha. In the meantime, letters of introduction from Liszt’s
Hungarian patrons soon sufficed to make him known throughout the
most aristocratic circles, where he created an absolute furore. A
public concert produced the same results on a larger scale. Later,
Liszt made two visits to England; he was received at the Court of
George IV, played in private, and gave concerts. On returning to
Paris, he completed an opera, which was performed in Paris. This
opera and other compositions of this period have entirely
disappeared. Tours through France and a third visit to England
followed. In 1827, Liszt’s father died, and his mother came to Paris
to live; he supported her by giving lessons, and was soon in great
demand as a teacher. An unfortunate love-affair caused him to
consider entering the church. He lost interest in music, fell ill, and
was supposed to be dead. Liszt gradually recovered, however. He
now underwent a remarkable series of formative influences; he read
widely, formed the acquaintance of many celebrated personages,
including Chateaubriand, Lamartine, Victor Hugo and George Sand,
became interested in the principles of St. Simonians, a somewhat
socialistic sect, dallied with free-thinking and revolutionary
tendencies, formed a friendship with the Abbé Lamennais, and
became intimate with Berlioz and Chopin.
 Franz Liszt.

Period of Preparation.—Of far deeper result was the

appearance of Paganini in Paris during 1831. Liszt bent all his
energies towards devising a transcendent piano technic to reproduce
Paganini’s caprices on the piano. It was at this time that he laid the
foundations of his gigantic achievements in piano technic, not
merely in the interest of virtuosity, but for extending the limits of
expression. He was also much affected by Chopin’s poetic
individuality. In 1834, Liszt entered into an intimacy with the
Comtesse d’Agoult, which lasted for several years. Three children
were born of this union, of whom two survived. One daughter
married M. Ollivier, a French statesman, the other became
successively Mme. von Bülow and Mme. Wagner. During this period
Liszt composed much for piano, made many transcriptions, and
began his literary activity on musical subjects. He gave concerts,
chiefly for charity. In 1837, he made a trip to Paris to contest the
supremacy of the piano with Thalberg. Among his compositions of
this period may be mentioned the etudes, the Rossini transcriptions,
many arrangements of Schubert’s songs, the piano scores of several
Beethoven symphonies, besides opera-fantasies, original pieces for
piano, etc.
Professional Activity.—In 1838, Liszt created an extraordinary
sensation by his concerts in Vienna, and from 1839 to 1847 lived the
life of a traveling virtuoso, giving an unparalleled series of recitals
throughout the length and breadth of Europe, which were a series of
triumphs such as no artist had ever before experienced. In 1832, he
was made court music-director at Weimar, his duties only requiring
his presence for three months in the year. In 1847, Liszt met the
Princess von Sayn-Wittgenstein, who exercised a remarkable
influence over him. She persuaded him to give up his career as a
virtuoso, and turn to composition. From 1848 to 1861 Liszt passed
the most significant period of his life at Weimar. From his position as
conductor he was of inestimable service to the cause of romantic
music through his performance of operas and orchestral works by
Wagner, Berlioz, Schumann, Raff, Cornelius and others. He was
equally active with his pen in deference to the new artistic principles.
To this epoch belong Liszt’s most important orchestral works, the
concertos and other compositions for piano and orchestra, many
transcriptions and editions of the classics.
Later Life.—In 1859, opposition to Liszt’s progressiveness
became so pronounced that he resigned. He did not leave Weimar,
however, until 1861. The rest of his life was somewhat irregularly
divided between Rome, Weimar and Budapest. During the first few
years at Rome he composed chiefly church music and oratorios; in
1865, he took minor orders in the Church of Rome. From 1869 on,
persuaded by the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Weimar, he passed
portions of every year at Weimar in a beautiful house especially
furnished for him by the Duke. Pupils flocked to him, he held a sort
of musical court, and was treated with the respect due to royalty. His
later years were full of activity, and generous sympathy to all that
was worthy, and he was the constant object of homage and
affection. In 1886, Liszt became overtaxed by a series of trips to
hear his own works performed, including a reception in his honor at
London. He also made exceptional effort to attend a performance of
“Tristan and Isolde” at Bayreuth. A cold was speedily followed by
pneumonia, from which he died on July 31, 1886.
Liszt’s Personality and Character.—Liszt’s character was
remarkable for its conspicuous virtues and almost equally prominent
faults. His was a large, noble nature, with deep humanitarian traits.
His life was one long service to his art, accompanied in his later
years by devotion to the church. Though not highly educated, except
in experience of men and the world, he had an extremely keen
mind, omnivorous in its tastes, and his interests were wide and
penetrating. Perhaps his salient characteristics were generosity and
unselfishness. Often during his career as a virtuoso he gave freely of
the proceeds of his concerts to charity. After the close of his concert-
tours he taught for years without remuneration. His help to younger
artists was incalculable in its extent. As conductor at Weimar his
motto was to help living composers first, and by his energy he did
valiant work in helping Wagner’s cause. Largely endowed with wit, a
fund of irony and charm of manner, men and women alike almost
literally fell at his feet, and it is all the more admirable that in spite
of the homage so unsparingly lavished upon him, he did not swerve
from his artistic purposes. The strain of mysticism so marked in his
youth, became later so pronounced that he felt compelled to give it
expression by entering the church.
Liszt as a Pianist.—Liszt was the most phenomenal pianist in
the history of music. Other pianists have surpassed him in single
qualities, but no one has united in so stupendous fashion as much as
he. Beginning with a strictly classical education, Liszt evolved a new
technic which completely summed up the difficulties of piano
playing. In velocity, wide stretches, double-notes, octaves, and a
whole system in itself of interlocking passages, he all but attained
the impossible. He carried independence of fingers, especially in
fugue playing, to a pitch hitherto unequalled. His performance of
brilliant music represented the last word in bravura; in the classics
his interpretation was, as Wagner says: “not reproduction, but
production,” so vivid and glowing was it. His so-called “orchestral
style” in its bold color and rich pedal effects was as distinct from the
piano playing before him as the modern orchestra was from that of
Mozart and Haydn. As he assimilated everything in the field of piano
playing before him, so has everything since him been forced to take
his method into account.
Liszt’s Compositions.—Among Liszt’s chief compositions are
the “Faust” and “Dante” symphonies, with choral epilogues; twelve
symphonic poems, a form which he invented, and which is epoch-
making in the development of music; many shorter orchestral works;
two concertos, the Hungarian fantasy, the “Dance of Death” for
piano and orchestra, besides several compositions for the same
combination on themes of other composers; the oratorios “St.
Elizabeth” and “Christus,” a Solemn Mass, the Hungarian Coronation
Mass, several other masses, twelve sacred hymns for chorus, five
psalms, and many other pieces of church music, choruses for men’s
voices, several compositions for solos, chorus and orchestra for
various festival occasions; fifty-five songs for voice with piano
accompaniment; three collections containing twenty-five pieces for
piano, entitled “Years of Pilgrimage,” a collection of the piano pieces
named “Poetic and Religious Harmonies, ” twelve “Etudes of
Transcendent Technic,” three concert studies, a sonata, two ballades,
two “Legends,” a concert solo, afterwards arranged as a “Pathetic”
concerto, a Valse Impromptu, two polonaises, six Consolations, a
Spanish Rhapsody, and nineteen Hungarian Rhapsodies are the best
known of the piano music. There are five ballades for declamation
with piano accompaniment. For organ, there is a fantasy and fugue
on a choral from Meyerbeer’s “Prophet,” a fugue on B. A. C. H., and
variations on a theme from a Bach cantata.
Liszt’s Arrangements.—Of almost equal importance with Liszt’s
original compositions are his matchless transcriptions. Instead of a
trivial and literal process of transcribing, he penetrated the intimate
spirit of the piece, and translated it into his own piano idiom, often
adding considerably but always with supreme artistic effect. What is
lost in fidelity of transfer is more than gained in added charm, new
harmonic significance and a subtle enhancing of individuality. Liszt
started the evolution of his epoch-making technic while
experimenting with his arrangement of Paganini’s caprices, and of
Berlioz’ “Fantastic Symphony.” He made easy arrangements from
operas of Rossini, Mercadante and Donizetti. Then he turned to
setting Schubert’s matchless songs for the piano, arranging in all
fifty-seven; he continued by making piano scores of Beethoven’s
symphonies, of Rossini’s overture to “William Tell,” and to Weber’s
overtures “Jubilee,” “Freischütz” and “Oberon.” He also made many
transcriptions from Wagner’s operas, including “The Flying
Dutchman,” “Tannhäuser,” “Lohengrin,” “Die Meistersinger,” “Tristan
and Isolde” and “Parsifal,” besides a fantasy on themes from
“Rienzi,” and an arrangement of the “Walhalla” motive from “The
Ring of the Nibelungs.” Liszt’s arrangements of six preludes and
fugues as well as the fantasy and fugue in G minor by Bach are not
only remarkable for the extent to which they reproduce organ-effect,
but as pioneers in the transfer of organ pieces to the piano, in which
Liszt has been followed by Tausig, d’Albert and Busoni. In addition
he transcribed fourteen songs by Schumann, thirteen by Franz, eight
by Mendelssohn, seven by Beethoven, six by Chopin and two by
Weber, besides an arrangement from Mendelssohn’s music to “A
Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and “piano scores” of the septets by
Beethoven and Hummel. Liszt arranged Weber’s “Polacca Brillante,”
Op. 72, and Schubert’s Fantasy, Op. 15, for piano and orchestra.
There are also many transcriptions of pieces by Palestrina, Di Lasso,
Arcadelt, Mozart, Glinka, Dargomischky, Saint-Saëns, Verdi, Raff,
Gounod, Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky, César Cui and others. Liszt scored
the accompaniment of several Schubert songs for orchestra, he also
orchestrated several of the Schubert four-hand marches. He also
arranged many of his own songs, orchestral and choral works for
piano and for organ. His transcriptions as a whole are monumental
not only on account of their artistic merit, but because they served
an educational purpose in spreading the works of little known
composers. In this way Liszt cultivated the public taste for Schubert’s
songs, and brought Wagner within the reach of the average concert-
goer.
Liszt as Writer.—As a critic, Liszt must stand as a pioneer
although in a different direction from Schumann. Liszt’s early essay
on the position of the artist is extremely significant; his criticisms
during the Weimar period, especially his analyses of Wagner’s operas
were of great value; his “Life of Chopin,” while untrustworthy in
detail and somewhat overdrawn, is nevertheless graphic; “The
Gipsies and Their Music” is picturesque if not entirely accurate.
Liszt’s letters contain glimpses of his high qualities as well as vital
presentations of his musical views. The correspondence between
Wagner and Liszt gives conclusive evidence of the latter’s
unselfishness in Wagner’s behalf.
Liszt’s Position and Influence as a Composer.—Liszt’s rank
as a composer was undoubtedly overshadowed by his fame as a
pianist and teacher, and by his facility as an arranger. For many
years neither critics nor public would acknowledge his creative gifts.
Whatever our opinion of the symphonies, the symphonic poems and
the concertos, there is no doubt that Liszt rendered an inestimable
service to the development of music in breaking away from the
sonata form, and in demonstrating that form and substance can go
hand-in-hand without detriment to organic unity and coherence. His
forms are novel, his orchestration highly effective in spite of the
achievements of Berlioz and Wagner in this direction. Liszt’s church
music and his oratorios are worthy efforts towards a reform of
ecclesiastic music. His songs are truly spontaneous lyrics, which are
not appreciated at their true value. In spite of Liszt’s unquestioned
attainments as a composer, there is a suggestion of skilful
assimilation in his individuality rather than of unique and
unquestioned personality. Nevertheless his influence has been vast.
In his old age he encouraged Borodin and Glazounoff, he conducted
works by Rimsky-Korsakoff, he made his pupils play Balakireff’s
“Islamey.” In turn, the “new-Russian” school owes much to him.
Tchaikovsky could hardly have written his symphonic poems without
Liszt’s pioneer work to show the way. Saint-Saëns admits a similar
influence. In fact, the entire development of the symphonic poem is
directly due to Liszt; it is so considerable in extent that the details
cannot be examined here, but while both Wagner and Berlioz
contributed much to the growth of orchestral style and individuality
of expression, the originality of the symphonic poem form belongs
entirely to Liszt. Thus Liszt’s share in the evolution of ultra-modern
orchestral music, as well as in the development of piano playing, is
very important, and the greatest living composer, Richard Strauss,
although also influenced by both Berlioz and Wagner, frankly avows
himself to be a disciple of Liszt.

References.
Grove’s and Riemann’s Dictionaries.—Article on Liszt.
Newman.—A Study of Liszt. (Century Library of Music.)
Ramann.—Franz Liszt as Artist and Man.
Saint-Saëns.—Franz Liszt. (Century Magazine, Feb., 1803.)

Questions and Suggestions.

What was the nature and extent of Liszt’s early musical
education?
What was the effect of his wide travels and meeting with notable
persons on his character?
What set him to perfecting his technic?
Name the most important events in his career.
What educational work was the feature of his later years?
Sketch Liszt’s personality and character.
 Give an account of Liszt’s contribution to piano technic.
In what styles and forms of composition did Liszt write?
What works did he transcribe for the piano?
What literary work did he do?
What composers did he influence?
What song composer was brought into greater prominence by
Liszt?
Whose symphonies did he arrange for the piano?
What opera composer did he assist greatly?
What important form did Liszt originate?
What has been Liszt’s share in the development of the “modern
school”?
The student who wishes to examine Liszt’s works for himself,
should study the symphonies and symphonic poems in Liszt’s own
arrangement for two pianos. They require, however, a technic
beyond the average player. The same difficulty applies to his piano
music, but the following may serve as guides to Liszt’s style: The
“Lake of Wallenstadt,” and “Eclogue,” Nos. 2 and 7, in the Swiss
“Years of Pilgrimage”; the “Gondoliera” and “Tarantelle” from “Venice
and Naples,” the “Valse Impromptu,” “Ave Maria,” “Waldesrauschen”
and “Gnomenreigen,” the pieces for Lebert and Stark’s Piano School,
the Concert Studies in F minor and D-flat, the Love Dreams, the
Consolations, Nos. 1, 2 and 4; the Legends, the “Benediction of God
in the Solitude” and “Love Song” from “Poetic and Religious
Harmonies,” and the Fantasie on “Rigoletto.” For the more advanced
player may be suggested the Etudes, Nos. 3, 4, 5, 7, 9, 11 and 12;
the Mephisto Waltz, the Second Ballad, “Au Bord d’une Source” from
the Swiss “Years of Pilgrimage,” the Second Polonaise, the
“Funerailles” from “Poetic and Religious Harmonies,” the Sonata, the
Hungarian Rhapsodies, Nos. 2, 4, 6, 10, 11, 12, 15, and the Spanish
Rhapsody; the two concertos in E-flat and A, the Hungarian Fantasy,
and the concert piece “The Dance of Death,” the Fantasy on “Don
Juan.” Among the transcriptions, the Schubert songs, “Hark! Hark!
the Lark,” “Du bist die Ruh,” “Frühlingsglaube,” “The Wanderer,” “By
the Sea,” “Meeresstille,” “Barcarolle,” “Trockne Blumen,” “Wohin,”
“Ungeduld,” “Erl-King”; the Mendelssohn song, “On Wings of Song”;
the Schumann songs, “Dedication,” “To the Sunshine,” and “Spring
Night”; the Weber “Slumber Song” may be suggested. Of the
Wagner arrangements, “The Evening Star”, from Tannhäuser, the
“Spinning Song,” from “The Flying Dutchman,” and “Isolde’s Love
Death,” are the most characteristic. The Paganini Studies, Nos. 2, 3
and 5; the waltz from Gounod’s “Faust,” the Tarantelle after Auber,
and the Overture to “Tannhäuser” are among the best. Of the songs,
“Mignon’s Lied” and “Ueber allen Gipfeln,” “Comment disaient-ils,”
“Angiolin dal biondo crin,” “Es muss ein wunderbares sein,” “Die drei
Zigeuner,” and “Der du von dem Himmel bist” and “Die Lorelei” are
the best.
 LESSON XLVII.
Pianists and Teachers Since Liszt. I.

Introduction.—The achievements of Liszt in developing piano

technic, in enlarging the scope of piano playing through his masterly
transcriptions, in variety and intensity of interpretation, have brought
results that are enormous in extent and far-reaching in their
developments to the generations that have succeeded him. When
Liszt was in the height of his career as a virtuoso, few could master
the difficulties which his epoch-making works presented. Gradually
the secrets of his technic were revealed to the ambitious few; now
they are almost common property. The great concert pianists of
today possess a technic that would have been unique forty years
ago. The repertory which all pianists worthy the name play from
memory (a practice which Liszt initiated) is exceedingly extensive,
while the endurance which they display and the facility with which
they reproduce the masterpieces of piano literature is stupendous.

Pupils of Liszt.
Liszt was undoubtedly the greatest revealer of the secrets of
piano playing in the 19th century, and his pupils and those who have
assimilated his teachings occupy a large part of the pianistic activity
of today. Among the first of Liszt’s pupils to become famous were
Tausig and von Bülow. Carl Tausig, born in 1841, died in 1871, was
trained by his father, and later studied with Liszt, under whose
guidance he achieved a phenomenal accuracy of technic, and a
commanding power of interpretation. His short life was spent mainly
in concert tours. He established a school of music in Berlin for
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