#frederic chopin
This collection of Chopin’s nocturnes has been my study music since Highschool. I’m close to finishing grad school now and I am still in love with Brigitte Engerer’s performance.
(Yes, I called my headphones Nigel because something that spends so much time with me deserves a name)
“As this cough will choke me, I implore you to have my body opened, so that I may not be buried alive.”— Frédéric Chopin, The last words which Chopin wrote, in pencil, on a sheet of letter paper.
Chopin-Variations in A, “Souvenir de Paganini”(1829)
Every now and then I fall into a listening rabbit hole where I explore music from one composer for a few days, sometimes spilling into weeks or months. Right now, I’m back with Chopin. Odd choice, because I’m already familiar with him, and there’s tons of works in my “to listen to” list that are gathering dust while I replay the same nocturnes again and again. Chopin was the first composer that got me into classical music, so maybe because of how stressful the world is to live in right now, I’m turning back to something comfortable and familiar. And despite the familiarity, some Chopin has been hitting my ears as if for the first time. This “souvenir” is a set of delicate variations on Paganini’s Carnaval of Venice. Instead of virtuosic scratching violin solos, we get Chopin’s delicate nocturne-style piano writing and compact variations over a simple repeating bass. A precursor to his later more elaborate Berceuse. And it’s probably the mix of being a charming melody with a simple harmony (I-V-V-I almost throughout) that got this piece stuck in my head. The earworm’s been living in my brain for three days, but I don’t mind too much. Each variation adds a new arabesque figure into the mix, new ornaments, glittering extra-notes, and baroque figurations. And the calmer atmosphere makes me feel like I’m listening to music that could go on forever, constantly playing around with the melody. Feeling like one of those summer afternoons you wish wouldn’t end.
Ogiński-Polonaise in a minor, “A Farewell to the Homeland” (unknown arrangement) (1794)
I’m not above using a Harry Potter reference, but remember when Hermione picked up that brick of a book and said she was doing some “light reading”? That’s how I feel carrying Alan Walker’s ~700 page biography “Fryderyk Chopin, A Life and Times” out of the library. The name Ogiński comes up in the early chapters on Chopin’s childhood compositions and performances. Prince Michał Ogiński was a diplomat, military leader, and national hero for late 18th/early 19th century Poland. He also composed polonaises for the piano, and this one “A Farewell to the Homeland” is the most popular. The impressionable Chopin was greatly influenced by this music. I was listening to this and struck by how much of a resemblance to his mature style is here…except this *isn’t* the original polonaise. I cannot find any information on this arrangement, but it is a lightly Chopin-ized version of the more simple original, with little ornamentations, modulations, and added voices. Unfortunately since this was my introduction to the piece, the original is somewhat disappointing (although, historically, more believable). Even with these post-Chopin elaborations, you can still hear the strong influence on Chopin’s style, and makes me wonder about the nature of a “piece” of music. Is this arrangement inauthentic for trying to recreate Chopin’s style? Or is it a loving performance of a traditional polonaise that tries to retroactively translate it into Chopin’s style because he defines the idiom of 19th century polonaise? It is a shame that I can’t find more information on who arranged this, and makes me think of a downside to the Internet where so much information is shared but can easily be severed from its source and be left to float around as a digital mystery. As far as I can tell, this youtube video is the only evidence of this arrangement existing. If anyone knows more, please reach out to me! The polonaise opens with a melancholic melody, and the phrase ends with a gorgeous sighing cadence. We jump up the keyboard a bit into a B section that features a very flashy, more Lisztian cadenza that even evokes cimbalom mallets. The trio is charming, bright, and more classical. It continues its homage to Chopin’s style by recreating military fanfare. I am disappointed that I’ve fallen in love with this obscure rendition of the work, where there are no other recordings and where it wrongfully presents itself as the 1794 Ogiński original. But at least this arrangement is its own act of composition, even while being derivative of Chopin’s ‘juvenile’ style (which despite using this word, is nowhere near “juvenile” in its musical brilliance).
Parody of the movie ‘Death in Venice’ starring Mahler as Aschenbach and Chopin as Tadzio
Ah yes
Happy birthday, Frederic Chopin!
Chopin-Allegro de concert in A Major, op.46(1841)
This is among Chopin’s more ‘bizarre’ pieces, only because of the mystery around its origins. I think what makes the most sense is to see this as a revision of a draft of what would have been a third piano concerto. Back in 1830, Chopin claimed to be planning a concerto for two pianos that he would play with one of his best friends on a return to Poland after (hopefully) a victory…would probably be something exhuberant and of nationalistic character. However he never got around to writing this double concerto. A decade later, he publishes this, which sounds a lot like an opening movement of a piano concerto without orchestra. There are a lot of moments where it sounds like the orchestral interlude, as opposed to moments that sound like the “soloist” elaborating on the main melodies. Anyone who is familiar with Alkan’s fiendish concerto for solo piano would probably agree that they can ‘hear’ the invisible orchestra as well. Either way, this is probably Chopin’s most outwardly virtuosic piece and among his most difficult, for its dense textures and multiple voices (again, writing for both soloist and orchestra). Critics seem to find this work less compelling than Chopin’s other masterpieces, and it is rarely performed or even talked about. I think there is more appeal beyond the historic curiosity. The themes are fun, and their transformations are powerful.
Quite Interesting! Yes, it does evoke the feeling of the presence of an invisible orchestra, which creates an atmosphere without playing a single note. It sounds a bit like a blend of a Mozart Sonata and concerto.
