The natural gifts of any musician need to be formed around a solid technique. The very few who are extremely gifted in composition also need plenty of room to develop their personal voice. Chopin was one of the few that was born with genius, and he also had the good fortune of having as his first professional piano teacher a man that understood his pupil's gift straight away. Wojciech Żywny was a Czech pianist, violinist and teacher that guided Chopin through the basics of music and piano practice but also gave the young boy plenty of opportunity to learn for himself and develop his already unique talents according to his own desires. The boy soon passed the teacher in skill and knowledge as he absorbed everything rapidly.
Chopin studied at home until he was thirteen and then entered the Warsaw Lyceum, but he continued to study piano under Zywny until 1826. Chopin never forgot his first teacher and was ever grateful for not only what he had taught him, but what he didn't teach him. In 1826 Chopin began a three year course of study with Józef Elsner, another teacher that recognized Chopin's gifts and allowed him to develop in his own way. With the guidance and teaching of these two selfless men, Chopin was acknowledged as the best pianist in Warsaw by the time he was 15 and developed into who many musicians think is the greatest piano composer that ever lived.
Under Elsner's tutelage, Chopin composed two piano concertos when he was about 20 years old. The concerto in E minor was actually the second one written but it was the first one published, hence the designation as Concerto No. 1. Chopin had already made his brilliant debut in Vienna in 1829 only three weeks after graduating from the Warsaw Conservatory when he premiered his Piano Concerto No.2 in Warsaw later that same year, and the premiere of Piano Concerto No.1 in 1830 in Warsaw during a farewell concert.
The star of both Chopin's concertos is quite naturally the piano. Despite a long-held tradition that Chopin was not much of a composer for the orchestra, keeping in mind Chopin's spot-lighting the piano, the orchestration is neither too much nor too little. Chopin has the orchestra support the piano where it needs it, gently accompany it when it needs it, and be silent altogether when it doesn't need it. The concertos, like any work of genius, are best judged within the confines of their own content and technique. Chopin was not trying to be formally perfect or heaven-storming like Beethoven. He was trying to express himself as best he could within his own genius. And in that task he was completely successful.
The first concerto is in three movements:
I. Allegro maestoso - Chopin always used the confines of sonata form in his own unique way. He has been criticized for his lack of skill in using the form, but he more than makes up for it by his sheer imagination and creativity. He uses unexpected modulations in this first movement and while this goes against 'classic' sonata form, it does make for interesting listening.
II. Romance - Larghetto -Chopin himself explained this movement in a letter to a friend:
“The Adagio of my new concerto is in E major. It is not meant to create a powerful effect; it is rather a Romance, calm and melancholy, giving the impression of someone looking gently towards a spot that calls to mind a thousand happy memories. It is a kind of reverie in the moonlight on a beautiful spring evening.”
III. Rondo - Vivace - This movement is a tuneful Polish dance set in the traditional rondo form.
Chopin is one of the most original and unique composers that ever lived. That needs to be taken into consideration when listening to the piano concertos. His two piano teachers recognized his genius and did all they could to allow that genius to develop in its own way. The music that Chopin wrote serves as proof that his teachers knew what they were doing.
Chopin published his second set of 12 etudes for the piano in 1837, four years after his Etudes Opus 10. The second set continues in giving musical worth to technical exercises, and remains popular today. While the opus 10 set was dedicated to Franz Liszt, the opus 25 set was dedicated to Liszt's mistress, Marie d'Agoult. Why Chopin did that is still a mystery.
1. In A-flat Major 'Aeolian Harp' - As in the first set, there are some etudes in this set that have nicknames. None of them originated with Chopin, as he didn't like to put names on his works, and he didn't like others doing it either. Robert Schumann supposedly nicknamed this etude. An aeolian harp is essentially a box that has strings stretched across the top of it between two bridges that is put into a window or outside where the breeze goes over the strings and make them sound. This etude has a simple melody played in the top notes of the right hand while an arpeggiated accompaniment is played in the right hand and left hand.
Stretches in both hands as well as musical balance is the problem, as the grace note arpeggios need to be in the background while the melody is accentuated. 2. In F Minor - This piece is in cut time, essentially 2/2, but with eighth note triplets in the right hand and quarter note triplets in the left hand, so a slight rhythmic ambiguity arises. A kind of optical illusion for the ear. The dynamics are mostly subdued, and played legato throughout.
The main technical problem with this piece is playing in the correct time with both hands.
3. In F Major - An etude that challenges the player with different rhythmic patterns in each hand. The opening 8 bars are repeated, and made even more complex with added notes in the right hand. The difficult rhythmic scheme runs throughout the piece.
4. In A Minor - Both hands play staccato chords with a melody line emerging here and there. An atypical piece for a composer known for his love of singing piano tone.
5. In E Minor 'Wrong Note' - Of course Chopin didn't write 'wrong' notes, but this etude is full of minor second intervals, an interval that can give the impression of incorrect notes. The left hand plays large rolled chords while the right hand plays the stumbling, wrong note theme.
The initial theme is played twice before a new theme enters in E major. This new theme is in the left hand and played in chords and octaves while the right hand plays an accompaniment in thirds that goes up and down the keyboard. This new theme is played twice and followed by the opening theme , this time in a more complex form. Chopin was a composer that seldom repeated himself verbatim in music. The ending changes things again, with wrong notes and chords. Chords are held while the inner voices of both hands play a trill. An arpeggio played triple forte leads to the ending note on G-sharp, implying the music has ended in E major. 6. In G-sharp Minor 'Thirds' -Thirds are played throughout in the right hand, with the difficulty being playing them smoothly and at a relatively soft volume. The left hand compliments the thirds and make the etude more musical while at the same time adds to the difficulty. The phrasing of the left hand groups in the beginning slur over the bar line.
7. In C-sharp Minor - Next to the piano, the cello may have been Chopin's favorite instrument. He wrote some pieces that have the melody in the bass and remind the listener of the range and character of music for the cello. This etude is one of those pieces, and is sometimes referred to as the 'cello' etude.
It begins with a solo in the bass. Soon it is joined by an accompaniment played in the right hand along with a counter melody at the top of the treble clef, essentially making this an etude in three parts. Towards the middle of the piece, the left hand displays runs as the right hand plays the accompaniment and melody. To bring out the two melody parts as the accompaniment plays in the background makes this difficult musically in itself, while the technical side of the music is no easy matter.
8. In D-flat Major 'Sixths' -As the nickname implies, this etude consists of the interval of a sixth in both hands until the very last bars. It is difficult to play scales and arpeggios in sixths of course, and that is what the music demands of the player.
9. In G-flat Major 'Butterfly' -One of the most recognizable of the etudes because of the nickname. The bouncing nature of the music can give the impression of a butterfly if the listener uses some imagination.
The difficulties of this etude are the jumps in the left hand, the bringing out of the melody in the right. hand, and bringing it all up to tempo. It is the shortest of the 24 etudes, and if played up to tempo lasts just under a minute. 10. In B Minor 'Octaves' - The piece begins with brutal triplet chromatic octaves in each hand. After the opening bars, notes are added between the octaves in both hands and add to the difficulty.
After the first few bars, notes are added between the octaves as a counter melody. This increases the difficulty tremendously as these notes are held down as the octaves are played around them. The middle section has the music shift to B major along with a slower tempo. Octaves continue in the right hand, and this section also has notes in between the octave notes. The right hand plays a two-part accompaniment, then there is a short transition back to a shortened version of the original material. 11. In A Minor 'Winter Wind' - The etude begins in a quiet mood, but it is deceptive. After the first four bars, the music takes off as the right hand plays a complex pattern that is played throughout the piece while the left hand makes great leaps from playing low bass notes to chords.
The technical demands are considerable, the interpretive demands are no less so. It takes a great deal of endurance to play this etude. The final bars are a 4 - octave run of the A minor scale. There is no etude in this set (or the first set) that is less than difficult, and the 'Winter Wind' is one of the most difficult. 12. In C Minor 'Ocean' - Chopin ends the last etude of this series in the same key as the last in the first series, C minor. Both hands play in a unique arpeggio pattern, and after the first bars Chopin throws in a melody in the top note of the right hand.
Snatches of melody interlace between the hands and are to be accented and brought out from the maelstrom of sound of the arpeggiations. The two sets of etudes have a sea of technical and interpretive difficulties that are summed up with this last one.
An etude is a composition written for keyboard that explores a specific aspect of technique, such as double notes, arpeggios, etc. The origin of the word is French, and means study or exercise. There were etudes written before Chopin wrote his opus 10 set, but his are not only studies for specific aspects of technique. They are works that weld technique, musical expression, and substance into a new art form that revolutionized piano playing.
In 1829, Niccolò Paganini played some concerts in Warsaw, and a teenage Chopin saw and heard him play. The influence of Paganini's revolutionary playing of the violin had an influence on Chopin, and inspired him to try and do the same for the piano. Chopin wrote 27 etudes for the piano in his career; opus 10 and opus 25, both containing twelve etudes each, and three separate ones with no opus numbers. The opus 10 set was published in 1833 and dedicated to his friend Franz Liszt (also influenced by the virtuosity of Paganini). The opus 10 etudes made a profound influence on the dedicator as Liszt revised his own set of etudes after studying Chopin's. Chopin's etudes were the first to become staples of the recital literature and have never lost their appeal.
1. In C Major 'Waterfall' - Over the years there have been names attached to some of the etudes, but none of them originate from the composer. The first etude is a study in extended arpeggios for the right hand that cover 4 octaves or more. Chopin has lead off the set with one of the most difficult etudes, and follows in the tradition of J.S.Bach's Well Tempered Clavier. Prelude No. 1 In C Major by beginning with a piece in broken chords:
2. In A Minor - A study in chromatic runs for the 3-4-5 fingers of the right hand while fingers 1-2 of the same hand play two note chords. The left hand plays a staccato accompaniment of bass alternating with chords. This etude is not only technically difficult, but the musical problem of keeping the chromatic runs in the forefront (complete with crescendos and diminuendos) while cleanly playing the accompaniment is considerable:
3. In E Major 'Tristesse' (Sadness) -This etude is also known by the name 'L'adieu' (Farewell) Chopin recommended that his students hear the leading singers of his day so they could try and emulate the voice at the piano. This etude is a good example of what Chopin was trying to convey, as the lyrical melody sings above the accompaniment. An agitate middle section in parallel sixths brings the music back to the beginning. Structurally this etude resembles the slow movement of Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 8 In C Minor 'Pathetique' in the first and last part. Whether Beethoven's music was a model or merely a coincidence, this etude is one of Chopin's most well known works:
4. In C-sharp Minor -This melody of this etude switches from right to left hand throughout. With cascades of sixteenth notes, this etude embodies some of the difficulties of the first three. The pace is relentless, and ends with a downward chromatic run in both hands and arpeggios in the right:
5. In G-flat Major 'Black Key' -This etude has a melody played in chords of the left hand while the right hand plays an accompaniment in triplets using only the black keys. Chopin didn't think this etude one of his best, but it has been one of his most popular.
6. In E-flat Minor -A melancholy melody plays over an accompaniment of a middle voice in sixteenth notes that winds under the melody while the bass gives support. The technical problems involve keeping the middle voice balanced as a secondary melody with the main melody in the right hand. The sadness of the music is lifted with the very last chord in E-flat major.
7. In C Major -A study in double notes for the right hand as the left hand plays the melody. The combination of shifting harmonies and repeated notes in the right hand makes this a difficult etude to make musically satisfying.
8. In F Major -Rapid sixteenth note runs scamper up and down the keyboard throughout while the melody is played in the left hand. The middle section darkens as the key changes to D minor, but only briefly. The piece ends with rolled chords in both hands in F major.
9. In F Minor - A somber melody in the right hand is played over a wide spaced accompaniment in the left. In every six note figure in the left hand there is embedded a third element; a secondary melody in the 3rd and 5th note. The recognizing and playing of this secondary melody balanced with the main melody is a test of the ear and musicality of the performer. The ending of this etude is very quiet.
10. In A-flat Major -Written in apparently consistent patterns in both hands, Chopin mixes things up by shifting accents, touch and phrasing. One of the most difficult etudes musically.
11. In E-flat Major -An etude made up of rolled chords in each hand. The melody is in the top note of the right hand and is difficult to bring out when the piece is played up to tempo. Many of the chords are widely spaced and give added difficulty. The generally quiet dynamics of the piece make the rolled chords more difficult as well. The music reaches a crescendo with the closing notes and ends loudly.
12. In C Minor 'Revolutionary' - Tradition has it that this etude came about after Chopin learned about the Russian takeover of Warsaw. Whether this is fact or legend, the music itself is passionate and unsettling. It can be thought of as a summing up of the previous eleven etudes of opus 10, as it has many elements from each within it. The left hand has a relentless figuration of sixteenth notes as the melodyin chords shrieks from the right hand.
The piece grows more and more complex and passionate until the left hand figuration is heard in both hands fortissimo, in parallel motion before the piece ends in an unsettling C major:
The opus 28 preludes by Chopin were first published in 1839, a date that coincides with the winter of 1838-1839 in which he spent inMajorca with George Sand and her children. This has led some to believe that Chopin wrote the preludes in Majorca over that winter, but while some of theme were no doubt written then, there is evidence that some of the preludes were begun as early as 1831. Each of the 24 major and minor keys are represented by a prelude. Some of them are quite short, with the longest lasting under 6 minutes.
Contemporary critics and musicians were somewhat baffled by the preludes, as illustrated by the words written by Robert Schumann:
The Preludes are strange pieces. I confess I had imagined them differently, to be designed in a grand style like the Etudes. But almost the opposite is true. They are sketches, beginnings of Etudes, or, so to speak, ruins, eagle wings, a wild motley of pieces. But each piece, written in a fine, pearly hand, shows: 'Frederick Chopin wrote it.' One recognizes him in the pauses by the passionate breathing. He is and remains the boldest and proudest poetic mind of the time. The collection also contains the morbid, the feverish, the repellent. may each search what suits him; only the philistine stay away!
No. 1 In C Major - Agitato -Chopin studied the set of preludes and fugues The Well -Tempered Clavier by Johann Sebastian Bach, and the opus 28 set was in some ways inspired by it. But Chopin made his own way artistically in his set. This first prelude shows a vague similarity in that it is in the key of C major and acts as a type of introduction to the set. But from the start, Chopin's set shows a marked difference in mood and approach. This prelude is short and rhythmically complex, and just as the listener's ear begins to discern distinct voices within the music, it is over:
No. 2 In A Minor - Lento - One of the peculiarities of the set was in Chopin's use of the term prelude. The name implies that a prelude comes before something else, as in Bach's prelude and fugue pairs. Chopin's preludes introduce nothing. They are entities unto themselves. When they are played as a set however, each prelude does lead to something; another prelude of varying distinction. The second prelude is brooding, melancholy, and full of dissonances in marked contrast to the opening prelude:
The melody as such is repeated in different pitches and accompaniment until the bleakness of the end.
No. 3 In G Major - Vivace -The mood shifts to brightness with the 3rd prelude. It begins with a widely spaced figure in the left hand that continues in a few differing harmonies, but stays in the home key of G major for the most part:
Chopin also makes his own way in key progression of the preludes. Unlike Bach who progressed chromatically and alternating major with minor, Chopin progresses on the circle of fifths alternating major and minor. No. 4 In E Minor - Largo -A prelude that looks very simple on paper. A single voice in the right hand has the melody while block chords are played in the left. But simple does not always equate to easy. To bring out the descending bass line while keeping the right hand melody singing its intense song is not an easy task to do:
No. 5 In D Major - Molto allegro -A one-page prelude that has sixteenth notes moving throughout in an accompaniment while an eighth note theme appears within the accompaniment as shown by the notation. A quite rhythmically complex prelude:
No. 6 In B Minor - Lento assai -This sad prelude has the melody in the left hand that is reminiscent of the cello, with a repeating accompaniment in the right:
No. 7 In A Major - Andantino -A wisp of a prelude that is only 16 bars long, this is a miniature mazurka, a dance of Chopin's native Poland. It provides a short period of respite before the onslaught of the next prelude:
No. 8 In F-sharp Minor - Molto agitato -A most challenging prelude, one of the most difficult technically in the set. Scholarship has this as one of the earliest written preludes in 1831, around the same time as the first set of opus 10 etudes:
A dotted rhythm melody in the low part of the right hand plays against eight sixteenth notes in the same hand, while the left hand plays a sixteenth triplet-eighth note accompaniment for the entire piece. The harmonic structure is no less complex as it modulates to remote keys of E-flat minor and others. No. 9 In E Major - Largo - A very slow prelude with a bass line almost as important as the melody in the right hand. The right hand melody is entrusted mostly to the little finger of that hand and must be more pronounced than the accompaniment in the lower right hand:
No. 10 In C-sharp Minor - Molto allegro -This odd prelude is quite short and consists of a few runs down the keyboard in the right hand with arpeggiated chords spanning a tenth in the left hand:
No. 11 In B Major - Vivace -although written in 6/8 time, this prelude drifts into short sections of 3/4 time, which is hemiola. This gives a hesitant, not quite right rhythmic feeling to this prelude, something which Chopin was fond of:
No. 12 In G-sharp Minor - Presto -The two-note slurs in the right hand along with the tempo make this prelude one of the difficult ones. The impression I get from this prelude is a great struggle, an effect that Chopin might well have had in mind:
No. 13 In F-sharp Major - Lento -This prelude is a mini-nocturne, with a deceptively simple rolling bass in the left hand and melody in the right. There is a section a little over half way through the piece where the accompaniment changes and the melody gets more pensive, but overall the mood remains tender. The dynamic range is marked piano at the beginning, with a sensitive performance keeping the dynamic range within subtle shades of it:
No. 14 In E-flat Minor - Allegro - This prelude is marked to be played pesante (heavy). With the hands playing the same notes an octave apart, it may seem at first like a finger exercise, but the raising and lowering of pitch and volume as well as the unpredictability of what's coming next goes beyond finger work. There is difficulty in determining any definite melody. The mood of the piece is just as indefinite. This isi one of the most enigmatic of the preludes:
No. 15 In D-flat Major - Sustenuto 'Raindrop' -The longest in duration of all the preludes, this one is also the most well known single prelude of the set. The name of 'raindrop' was given to it either by Chopin's lover George Sands, or the pianist/conductor Hans von Bülow. There are a few sets of nicknames by performers for all the preludes, (including von Bülow's) by way of interpreting their individual mood. Chopin himself only put a name to one of his works, that being the slow movement of his Piano Sonata No. 2 in B♭ Minor, Op. 35, the famous Funeral March.
The prelude begins with a bitter sweet melody in D-flat Major. Many times the major mode in music denotes a certain mood, but with Chopin the mood between major and minor could be blurred. An A-flat 'rainsrop' repeats and is the reason for the nickname.:
In the contrasting middle section in C-sharp Minor (the enharmonic equivalent of D-flat Minor was used to make the music easier to read) the 'rainsdrop has enharmonically changed to G-sharp as the left hand brings forth chords in a steady progression in volume until the eruption of a climax with the left hand in octaves with the raindrops also in octaves plus inner voices. This section is repeated, and after a section of transition the opening of the prelude returns with some minor changes. The A-flat continues right up to the quiet ending of one of Chopin's most demanding and well-known works.
No. 16 In B-flat Minor - Presto con fuoco -The prelude begins with six startling chords that bring the listener to attention for what follows. And what follows is music of immense difficulty. The right hand plays runs that are not conventional scales or arpeggios, but unconventional configurations of intervals, accidentals and snatches of scales while the left hand part is no less difficult due to the leaps required from octaves to chords. All of it to be played at an incredibly fast tempo that can seem like chaos ensues. But that is an illusion for this is a very difficult prelude. Chopin was no proponent of chaos in music:
No. 17 A-flat Major - Allegretto -A very melodic prelude not given to any overt virtuoso display. When the main section is repeated, there are recurring low notes in the bass that are reminiscent of a bell that accompany the music to the end:
No. 18 In F Minor - Molto allegro -This prelude may bethought of as a spiritual brother in mood to the 14th prelude as this one snarls and snaps its way through less than a minute of dissonance, runs and sections where the hands play in unison an octave apart. Four bars from the end, each hand plays a trill that is followed by sixteenth note staccato triplets that are spit out with great vehemence before the final chords:
No. 19 In E-flat Major - Vivace -This prelude is designated to be played semper legato, an incredibly difficult thing to do considering the leaping triplets (up to 2 octaves) both hands must make throughout. And this is to be done at a low dynamic and rapid tempo as well. Very poetic music in the guise of great difficulty:
No. 20 In C Minor - Largo - Thick chords give the impression of a funeral march to this shortest by number of bars (only nine) of all the preludes. Not a particularly difficult one technically, it does require richness of tone, especially in the fortissimo sections as well as an ability to balance chords so the melody is heard:
No. 21 In B-flat Major - Cantabile -A simple melody begins this prelude with a steady two-part accompaniment:
After the opening there is a section that gives the impression of G-flat major that creates a marked contrast. The mood of the piece, as with many of the preludes, has more than one possibility. This has lead to many different interpretations by pianists, and has helped to keep the opus 28 preludes in the repertoire for so many years. No. 22 In G Minor - Molto agitato -A fiery, tempestuous prelude that has the melody in octaves in the left hand with the right hand answering in chords. Rapid in tempo, it is all too easy to pound the music out of the piano. Struggling in mood and impatient by nature, there is little if any resolution within the ending:
No. 23 In F Major - Moderato -As previously stated, there is no evidence that Chopin intended opus 28 to be played as a set at one sitting. But this prelude does shows how he composed preludes of contrast that followed one another. This 23rd prelude sits between two passionate preludes and avoids drama with a benign melody that plays out in the bass as the right hand passes up and down the keyboard. The addition of an E-flat to the arpeggiated F major chord in the next to the last measure is kind of a mystery. it implies a modulation to B-flat major, but there is no modulation. The note is accented and is clearly intended to be there. To what specific purpose has been open to conjecture:
No. 24 In D Minor - Allegro appassionato - The final prelude of the set is a wild, impassioned virtuosic piece that has a widely spaced accompaniment in the left hand while the right hand plays arpeggios up and down the keyboard, chromatic triplet thirds, and a buildup of near chaos that at the end descends from the top of the keyboard to three low D's hammered out in the left hand:
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