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CHOPIN, FREDERIC FRANCOIS (1810-1849)
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See also:CHOPIN, See also:FREDERIC See also:FRANCOIS (1810-1849) , See also:Polish musical composer and pianist, was See also:born at Zelazowa-Wola, near See also:Warsaw, on the 22nd of See also:February 1810 (not the 1st of See also: Chopin's individuality and his See also:style were distinctly pronounced in that set of See also:variations on " La ci darem " which excited the wondering enthusiasn of See also:Robert See also:Schumann. In 1831 he left Vienna with the intention of visiting See also:London; but on his way to See also:England he reached See also:Paris and settled there for the See also:rest of his See also:life. Here again he soon became the favourite and musical See also:hero of society. His connexion with Madame Dudevant, better known by her See also:literary See also:pseudonym of See also:George See also:Sand (q.v.), is an important feature of Chopin's life. When in 1839 his See also:health began to fail, George Sand went with him to See also:Majorca, and it was mainly owing to her See also:tender care that the composer recovered his health for a time. Chopin declared that the destruction of his relations with Madame Dudevant in 1847 See also:broke up his life. The association of these two artists has provoked a whole literature on the nature of their relations, of which the novelist's Un Hiver d Majorque was the beginning. The last ten years of Chopin's life were a continual struggle with the pulmonary disease to which he succumbed in Paris on the 17th of See also:October 1849. The See also:year before his See also:death he visited England, where he was received with See also:enthusiasm by his numerous admirers. Chopin died in the arms of his See also:sister, who hastened from See also:Poland to his death-See also:bed. He was buried in the See also:cemetery of Pere Lachaise. A small See also:monument was erected to the memory of the composer at Wasswan in 1880. Portraits and medallions of Chopin were executed by Ary See also:Scheffer and See also:Eugene See also:Delacroix, and by the sculptors Bary and Clesinger. A distinguished See also:English See also:amateur thus records his impressions of Chopin's style of See also:pianoforte-playing compared with those of other masters. " His technical characteristics may be broadly indicated as negation of bravura, See also:absolute perfection of See also:finger-See also:play, and of the legatissimo See also:touch, on which no other pianist has ever so entirely leant, to the exclusion of that high See also:relief and point which the See also:modern See also:German school, after the examples of See also:Liszt and See also:Thalberg, has so effectively developed It is in these feature that we must recognize that Grundverschiedenheit (fundamental difference) which according to Mendelssohn distinguished Chopin's playing from that of these masters, and in no less degree from the example and teaching of See also:Moscheles. . . . Imagine a delicate See also:man of extreme refinement of mien and manner, sitting at the piano and playing with no sway of the See also:body and scarcely any See also:movement of the arms, depending entirely upon his narrow feminine hands and slender fingers. The wide arpeggios in the left See also:hand, maintained in a continuous stream of See also:tone by the strict legato and See also:fine and See also:constant use of the damper-pedal, formed an harmonious substructure for a wonderfully poetic cantabile. His delicate pianissimo, the ever-changing modifications of tone and time (tempo rubato) were of indescribable effect. Even inenergetic passages he scarcely ever exceeded an See also:ordinary mezzo-forte. His playing as a whole was unique in its See also:kind, and no traditions of it can remain, for there is no school of Chopin the pianist, for the obvious See also:reason that he could never be regarded as a public player, and his best pupils were nearly all amateurs." In looking through the See also:list of his compositions, teeming with mazurkas, valses, polonaises, and other forms of See also:national See also:dance music, one could hardly suppose that here one of the most See also:melancholy natures has revealed itself. This seeming See also:paradox is solved by the type of Chopin's See also:nationality, of which it has justly been said that its very dances are sadness intensified. But not-withstanding this strongly pronounced national type of his compositions, his music is always expressive of his individual feelings and sufferings to a degree rarely met with in the See also:annals of the art. He is indeed the lyrical composer See also:par excellence of the modern school, and the intensity of his expression finds its equal in literature only in the songs of Heinrich See also:Heine, to whom Chopin has been justly compared. A sensation of such high-strung See also:passion cannot be prolonged. Hence we see that the shorter forms of music, the etude, the nocturne, besides the national dances already alluded to, are chosen by Chopin in preference. Even when he treats the larger forms of the See also:concerto or the See also:sonata this concentrated, not to say pointed, See also:character of Chopin's style becomes obvious. The more extended dimensions seem to encumber the freedom of his movements. The concerto for pianoforte with See also:accompaniment of the See also:orchestra in E may be instanced. Here the See also:adagio takes the See also:form of a See also:romance, and in the final See also:rondo the See also:rhythm of a Polish dance becomes recognizable while the See also:instrumentation throughout is meagre and wanting in See also:colour. Chopin is out of his See also:element, and even the beauty of his melodies and harmonies cannot wholly banish the impression of incongruity. Fortunately he himself knew the limits of his See also:power, and with very few exceptions his works belong to that class of See also:minor compositions of which he was an unrivalled See also:master. Barring a collection of Polish songs, two concertos, and a very small number of concerted pieces of chamber music, almost all his works are written for the pianoforte See also:solo; the See also:symphony, the See also:oratorio, the See also:opera, he never attempted. Chopin's works See also:group themselves firstly into the See also:period from Op. r to 22, which includes nearly all his attempts at large or classical forms, e.g. the works with orchestra, Op. 2 (variations on La ci darem), Opp. 11 and 14 (concertos), Op. 13 (Polish See also:fantasia), Op. 14 (Krakowiak, a concerto-rondo in See also:mazurka-rhythm), and Op. 22 (See also:Andante spianato and See also:Polonaise), besides the solo rondos Opp. 1, 5, 16, and the variations Op. 12 and the essays in chamber music Opp. 3, 8, 65. Meanwhile, however, the mature lyric style of his second period already began with Op. 6 (4 mazurkas), and though it is not confined to small forms, the larger mature works (beginning with the See also:ballade Op. 23 and excepting only the sonata Op. 58 and the See also:Allegro de See also:Concert Op. 46) are as See also:independent of tradition as the smallest. It is well to sift the See also:posthumous works from those published under Chopin's direction, for the last three mazurkas are the only things he did not keep back as misrepresenting him. On these principles his mature works are summed up in the 42 mazurkas (Opp. 6, 7, 17, 24, 30, 33, 41, 50, 56, 59, 63, and the beautiful contribution to the collection Notre temps) ; 7 polonaises (Opp. 26, 40, 53, 61); 24 preludes (in all the See also:major and minor keys) Op. 28, and the single larger prelude Op. 45; 27 etudes (12 in Op. 10, 12 in Op. 25, and 3 written for the Methode See also:des methodes) ; 18 nocturnes (Opp. 9, 15, 27, 32, 37, 48, 55, 62) ; 4 ballades, in forms of Chopin's own invention (Opp. 23, 38, 47, 52) ; 4 scherzos (Opp. 20, 31, 39, 54) 8 waltzes (Opp. 18, 34, 42, 64) ; and several pieces of various description, notably the See also:great fantasia Op. 49 and the impromptus Opp. 29, 36, 51. . The posthumous works number 35 pieces, besides a small See also:volume of songs a few of which are of great See also:interest. See also:Franz Liszt wrote a charming See also:sketch of Chopin's life and art (F. Chopin, par F. Liszt, Paris, 1851), and a very appreciative though somewhat See also:eccentric See also:analysis of his See also:work appeared anonymously in 1842 (An See also:Essay on the Works of Frederic Chopin, London). The See also:standard See also:biography is the English work of See also:Professor F. Niecks (See also:Novello, 1888). See also W. H. Hadow, Studies in Modern Music, second See also:series (1908). The See also:editions of Chopin's works by his See also:pupil Mikuli and by Klindworth are full of valuable elucidation as to methods of performance, but unfortunately they do not distinguish the commentary from the See also:text. The See also:critical edition published by Breitkopf and Hartel, with all its mistakes, is absolutely necessary for students who wish to know what Chopin wished to put into the hands of players of independent See also:judgment. Additional information and CommentsDear Sir/Madam I have just visited your excellent website and would like to offer one of my articles on Chopin interpretation to complement the essay about the composer. The article that is currently displayed on the 'Chopin page' of my website: www.angelalear.co.uk was originally published some years ago in 'Piano' magazine and is based on my extensive research into Chopin's autograph manuscripts and all available original source materials. My career as a professional pianist and freelance lecturer has almost exclusively been devoted to Chopin and I am in the process of writing a book on the interpretation of his music - in addition to completing my series of Chopin CD's. I would be very pleased to hear from you if you require any further details. Thank you. Yours faithfully Angela Lear www.angelalear.co.uk
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