Chopin as a Virtuoso.. Chopin as a Teacher 31 VI. In B flat major. In G minor The Nocturnes With orches- tral accompaniment. Grand Concert Rondo for Piano with Orchestra. In E flat major ,, In C major The Scherzi ,, In E flat major. For Piano and Orchestra Ballade in Gi minor ,.
In A Hat major In B flat minor ,. Four Mazurkas Third Scherzo in C sharp minor. Allegro de Concert in A major In C minor ,, 72c. It is a hand- book, a kind of musical " Baedeker," a guide through the "Thoughtland and Dreamland " of Chopin's kingdom. Students of Chopin have already written volumin- ously about him, and in their writings are many pearls of criticism and gems of sympathetic insight; but these are scattered through innumerable volumes, magazine articles, and newspapers, and are therefore inaccessible to all but the most devoted students.
I have tried to collect all such passages of the greatest value, and I have grouped them under the opus numbers of the works to which they refer, so that they are here presented for the first time in their natural connection, and are available for instant reference.
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The main portion of the book consists of a brief account of each composition, its relative place amongst Chopin's works, its distinguishing features, notes of any special point of interest attaching to it and an epitome of the comments or criticisms that have been made upon it by all the great writers, critics, bio- graphers, and virtuosi who have written about Chopin and his works. Although I have begun with a brief sketch of Chopin's life, and short preliminary chapters on various aspects of the composer, this book is in no sense in- tended as a biography ; whenever the events of Chopin's career exercised a palpable influence over his works, I j 4 A Handbook to Chopin's Works have endeavoured in my comments to emphasise the fact, but any attempt to write a biography when such a work as Professor Niecks' Chopin is in existence would be lost labour.
Three years ago this book could only have met with a very limited demand, owing to the fact that the number of amateurs possessed of sufficient technique to play Chopin's music for the most part extremely diffi- cult is very small. But to-day, owing to the invention of the pianola and the fact that all Chopin's works, including even the least important of the posthumous compositions, are now available for that instrument, the whole domain of his music is for the first time open to all.
Those who wish may pass the portal hitherto guarded by the dragon of technique, and roam at will in his entrancing music-land. Nobody who has tried it will deny that the sensuous enjoyment of music like Chopin's is enormously in- creased by the intellectual interest that springs from systematic knowledge. But life is short and art is long, and there are few, even amongst those capable of doing so, who can devote the requisite time to familiar- ising themselves at the piano with the complete works of a composer, when they are dependent on their own unaided efforts.
But now the pianola has rendered it easy for any one sufficiently interested to acquire quickly and systematically an intimate knowledge oi the works of the greatest masters. Aided by the chronological table I have compiled o; the approximate dates of the compositions, the de velopment of the composer's individuality can be studr ously followed, and whether for close study or for? The book will, I trust, be found equally useful and helpful to concert-goers, for whom it forms a permanent analytical programme, to pianists, and to those ama- teurs of music who can now, owing to the pianola, pursue for the first time a systematic and co-ordinated study of Chopin's works, a delight hitherto denied to them owing to their inability to read or play the more difficult compositions.
So great have been the pleasure and profit to myself of the task of preparing this book, that whether it prove successful or not, I intend, and have indeed already begun, to write similar handbooks to the works of Beethoven, Schumann, Grieg, and other great com- posers. Should there prove to be no demand for such a series, I shall not conclude that such works are useless, but rather that others have not realised, as I have, the far- reaching educational value of the pianola, and the vastly increased artistic pleasure to be obtained from its intelligent use.
An Italian named Cristofori made the first piano in Florence in He called it the "pianoforte," because with the new hammer action it could play both loud and soft Previous to this, the tone of the harpsichord, the keyed instrument then in general use, could only be increased by means of a swell, or shutters, as now used on an organ. Three years before his death the great Bach played on a German piano made by one Silbermann, but his Preludes and Fugues were written in for the clavichord.
It was not till three years after Beethoven was born that Clementi published his three Sonatas Opus 2 , which may be said to be the first music written specially for the pianoforte. But the kind of piano for which Mozart wrote so much beautiful music at the end of the eighteenth century was very different from the magnificent instruments of to-day; for instance, it was another hundred years before the loud and soft pedals were invented by John Broadwood.
The absence of these on the instruments of that time is the reason why the Sonatas of Mozart and Haydn can be played with very little loss of effect without using the pedals, and it was to compensate for the lack of singing power in the instrument that Mozart used to embellish his music with the endless turns, trills, and ornaments that helped to fill in the intervals between the notes of a melody.
With the improvement of the piano came a different style of playing; the staccato method was abandoned, and the legato, of which Beethoven was the great ex- ponent, came to the front. His noble series of Sonatas will remain a priceless possession for all ages. But full as they are of the most noble and beautiful ideas, and abounding in sublime and inspiring melodies, Beet- hoven by no means exhausted the possibilities of the instrument There are many passages in his Sonatas which do not sound as if they were intended for the A Handbook to Chopin's Works 17 piano; they are emphatically stringed instrument music, and many of his noblest melodies seem to demand an orchestra for their due expression.
It is, therefore, not surprising that, considering the value of their musical content, he found the renderings of his Sonatas on the instruments of the period unsatisfactory. The genius of Beethoven! Whether the spirit of this in- strument breathed upon him, or he wrote upon it — hoiv he wrote for it, I do not know, but only an entire going- over of one into the other could call such composition into life..
Tragic,- romantic, lyric, heroic, dramatic, fantastic, soulfulj sweet, dreamy, brilliant, grand, simple, all possible expressions are found in his com- positions, and are all sung by him upon this instrument in perfect beauty. The only other name worthy to stand beside his is that of Schumann, the genius whose almost prophetic insight led him to acclaim his fellow genius as the noblest poetic spirit of the age. Than these two, said Rubinstein, the art of music can no further go, and as far as regards pianoforte music, there can be no gainsaying this dictum. Writing in , a year after the death of Chopin, Liszt said that posterity would rank him far higher than his contem- poraries had done, and the last fifty years have seen a steady increase in his popularity.
Except in the case of recitals devoted entirely to Beethoven, no pro- B 1 8 A Handbook to Chopin's Works gramme is complete without its group of Chopin works; whatever other composer is omitted, he is always in- cluded, and yet out of his works how many can fairly be said to be familiar to the general public. A few of his easier compositions are perhaps too well known as forming part of the gradiis-ad-pamassiim of the young person. Some others are heard too often at concerts; but there are many pieces, perhaps not the most beautiful, but by no means the least interesting, which are not heard from year's end to year's end.
Even in his easier works there generally occur one or two rather difficult passages, as if Chopin had intended to warn off bunglers, and the greater number of his compositions are technically very difficult. It is not too much to say that 80 per cent, of his works are a sealed book to the average amateur, and the knowledge to be gained by hearing occasional isolated perform- ances at concerts can give not the faintest idea of the range and power of Chopin's work.
There can be no greater mistake than to think that because Bach, Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven were great masters, therefore they must be superior to every- body in everything. Bach in his organ fugues, Handel in his choral writing, Wagner in music drama, Beet- hoven in his symphonies, each touched the highest pin- nacles of art. Chopin in his pianoforte works, with the sole exception of Beethoven, stands as the unchal- lenged master. Even then it is a case of honours divided, for if in fundamental brain-stuff and majesty of musical material Beethoven is the superior, in the actual expression and in the choice of subject most fitly to be expressed on the piano, Chopin has the decided advantage.
The last fifty years have produced no rival to him in his own kingdom. Rubinstein maintained that Chopin was the last of the great original composers, but in Mendelssohn, Brahms, Grieg, and Wagner, we A Handbook to Chopin's Works 19 have masters who each in his special department have been as supreme as the older men. The delightfully unconventional American critic Finck, in a most stimu- lating and sympathetic essay, declares that Chopin is as superior to all other piano composers as Wagner is to all other writers of dramatic music, and warns us against what he calls " aesthetic Jumboism," or worship of mere size as constituting superiority in art.
If only one work of Chopin's were left us, such as the first book of Etudes, or the Preludes, his fame would be im- mortal. If Chopin ranks below Bach, Beethoven, and Wagner, it is not because he wrote only for the piano and for the most part small works, but because in- trinsically he was a man of lesser mental calibre.
But the fact remains that as a composer of works for the piano that are matchless for originality, sheer beauty and felicity of expression, works which, to quote Finck, revealed for the first time the infinite possibilities of varied and beautiful tone-colour inherent in the piano, Chopin is the supreme master. Chopin's chief superiority lies in this genius for tone-colour. He was the first composer who thoroughly realised the subtleties of which the piano is capable in the hands of an artist who understands the real use of the sostennto and una corda pedals.
The evil habit of describing these as the loud and soft pedals is respon- sible for much misunderstanding on the part of the average amateur. Chopin in one of his letters said contemptuously of Thalberg, that he played "forte and piano with the pedals, not with his hands. Chopin was fully aware of his own limitations. When he was pressed by the Comte de Perthuis to write an opera, he said, "Ah, Count, let me compose nothing but music for the pianoforte, I am not learned enough to compose operas! He never became master of orchestration even sufficiently to write the accompaniment to his Concertos with due effect.
But his work for the pianoforte is so marvellously perfect in its adaptation to the idiosyn- crasies of the instrument, that it becomes historically important on that ground alone. His work is not often great in conception, or noteworthy in design, but it is the spontaneous expression of a poetical, refined, and sensitive temperament. He lacks the dignity, the breadth, the high seriousness of Palestrina and Bach and Beethoven; he no more ranks beside them than Shelley beside Shakes- peare, or Andrea beside Michael Angelo. But to say this is not to disparage the value of the work that he has done.
In structure he is a child, playing with a few simple types, and almost helpless as soon as he advances beyond them ; in phraseology he is a master, whose felicitous perfection of style is one of the abiding treasures of the art. There have been higher ideals in music, but not one that has been more clearly seen or more consistently followed. This date has been the subject of much dispute, but is now finally settled. Chopin's father kept a private school, and Frederic received a good education there and later at the Warsaw Lyceum. At a very early age he displayed great musical ability as a pianist and composer.
When he was nine years old he appeared with success at a charity concert. At twelve he was already a composer, and a polonaise is extant to which the date is attached. His Opus 1, a Rondo in C minor, was published in , and his Opus 2 appeared in This latter was the set of variations on " La ci darem," which attracted the attention and earned the warm praise of Schumann. During his boyhood Chopin's holidays were passed in the country, where he absorbed the national song and dance forms in which he heard the peasants in- dulging, for the Poles as a nation are almost as natur- ally musical as the Hungarians.
Two mazurkas bear the date of , Chopin's fifteenth year, and about this time he wrote a set of variations on a popular German air, and two polonaises. In all probability he wrote a great many more pieces than have survived, for he was always a severe critic of his own work. His musical education was carried on first by one Zywny, and then by Joseph Eisner, a composer of some repute.
Both his teachers seem to have recognised that they had to deal with a boy of strikingly original genius, and under Eisner Chopin was allowed to develop his own musical individuality practically uncontrolled. Young Frederic had had the advantage of asso- ciating with the children of the Polish nobility who attended his father's school, and amongst his intimate 22 A Handbook to Chopin's Works friends were the well-known family of the Radziwills.
To these aristocratic surroundings and associations Chopin owed the delicate refinement for which he was distinguished all his life. His first long journey was a trip to Berlin in , and in July he visited Vienna, where he gave two concerts with conspicuous success. Chopin was an im- pressionable youth ; he had a boyish affection for a Miss Blahetka, but his first serious love affair was his devotion to a beautiful young opera singer, Constantia Gladkowska, whom he met in Vienna.
Nothing is known of the unfortunate attachment, nor why it ter- minated, but on Chopin's side it was a very pure and genuine devotion, and undoubtedly had its influence in deepening the emotional side of his character. He was again in Vienna in , and this time he remained there for eight months, till July 1. At his concerts he had relied chiefly on the compositions he had written to show off his powers as a virtuoso, These were the " La ci darem " variations, his two con- certos, the Krakowiak, and a fantaisie on Polish national airs.
He went out a great deal into society, and perhaps owing to this, the uncertainty of his plans, and his unfortunate attachment to the beautiful Glad- kowska, he composed very little. After prolonged hesitation he finally set out for Paris, where he arrived early in October He already enjoyed a considerable reputation as a virtuoso with a particularly refined and individual style, and although he modestly intended to take lessons of Kalkbrenner, he decided after his first inter- view not to do so. In a short time his position was assured, and he became one of the most admired pianists and fashionable teachers of the day.
In December he published his first book of mazurkas, Opus 6, and from that time till failing health put an end to his creative powers in , he A Handbook to Chopin's Works 23 wrote separate works, large and small, or every year an average of eight compositions, of which it is not too much to say that each is a masterpiece.
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The only exceptions to this high level are a few pieces com- posed about , which seem to reflect in their light and essentially French style, the shallowness of the Parisian society life into which Chopin at first plunged con amore. These pieces include the Bolero, the varia- tions on an air of Halevy's, the third Rondo, and a Duo on airs from Robert le Diable. It seems as if his facile salon triumphs had for a brief time lowered his ideals, and perhaps his want of success as a per- former before large audiences at public concerts was the blessing in disguise that drove him back upon himself, and led to the composition of his finer and more elevated work which may be said to begin anew with the B minor Scherzo and the first Ballade.
Chopin was never so much at his ease before a large audience as he was when playing to a select few in a drawing- room. The knowledge that he was not doing himself justice led him to withdraw increasingly from what he called " the intimidation of the crowd. We are told nothing of the way the news affected him, but it is undeniable that from this time onward his music shows a deeper note of feeling.
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Chopin usually spent his annual holiday in travel- ling. In he visited Dresden, and there fell in love with Marie Wodzinska, the pretty daughter of a wealthy Polish count. This was the Mdlle. Marie, to whom he dedicated one of the smaller valses. In he proposed, but the family did not approve of the engagement, and her refusal does not seem to have caused Chopin very serious unhappiness. When he re- ceived a copy of Schumann's " Carnival," he put it down after looking at the title-page only, and all he said was: His friendship with the celebrated authoress lasted for eight years and is the most discussed episode of his life.
No two authorities agree either on the extent or quality of the friendship, or as to the character of George Sand, some presenting her as a dissolute heart- less monster, and others as a charming woman, a good mother, and a faithful friend. Even Niecks, although no admirer of the authoress, whom he thinks incapable of telling the exact truth, is bound to admit that no one can pronounce authoritatively on the moral aspect of this extraordinary friendship. Hadow accepts George Sand's version that it was purely platonic, and on her side exclusively a maternal affection; but what- ever the truth, there is no doubt as to the result.
Chopin certainly suffered cruelly towards the end, although at first and for long intervals he enjoyed a happiness and a sense of completion in his life that had till now been lacking; and this in spite of the first serious break- down in his health, which occurred in the winter of after an attack of influenza. As usual, when people go abroad for their health, the winter climate proved ex- ceptional. After a fortnight of lovely gardens, orange groves, olive woods, and beautiful and romantic scenery, it turned cold and began to rain, and went on A Handbook to Chopin's Works 25 raining for months, till in February, at the first oppor- tunity, they took ship for Marseilles, where Chopin spent the spring in convalescence, nursed devotedly by his loving friend.
After this he spent four months of every summer at George Sand's chateau at Nohant, and it was here that the bulk of his best work was pro- duced. In came the rupture between the friends, and the ensuing winter was one of illness, inaction, and consequent financial embarrassment. The revolution of broke out in Paris, and Chopin came to Eng- land. He stayed in London till the summer, when he went for a tour in Scotland. It is a curious fact that he and Mendelssohn are the only musical geniuses of the first rank who have visited that country.
Poor Chopin was very ill all this time. When he played in London he had always to be carried upstairs to the first floor, and in Scotland he complains incessantly of the weather, which he said was killing him. He found nothing to his taste and declared all Scotch women were ugly. Towards the end, the self- control and reserve of the sick man began to give way. He writes from Dover Street to his friend Grzymala: But she suffers too, and suffers more because she grows daily older in wickedness. I hoped at least for the old age on which I was entering the recom- 26 A Handbook to Chopin's Works pense of great sacrifices, of much work, fatigue, and a whole life of devotion and abnegation.
I asked for nothing but to render happy the objects of my affec- tion. Well, I have been repaid with ingratitude, and evil has got the upper hand in a soul which I wished to make the sanctuary and the hearth of the beautiful and the good. All her biographers seem to agree that the authoress had a marvellous capacity for self-deception, and sympathy with Chopin leads one to think the stinging epigram of Alfred de Musset was not too severe on her: He resigned himself to the prospect of death with a noble courage, and was tenderly nursed by his sister and his faithful friends Gutmann and Franchomme.
To the latter he murmured towards the end: The anecdote of the Countess Delphine Potocka singing to the composer is undoubtedly true, but there is the most extraordinary discrepancy in the accounts of those who were actually present, as to what she sang. Sentiment and cheap romance, however, have made the most of its opportunity. An anonymous writer in an extinct periodical says: Indeed, many people would seem to believe that Chopin spent his life dying, with the composition of A Handbook to Chopin's Works 27 his own funeral march by way of recreation.
At his best they conceive him as an adorable invalid, an anaemic sentimentalist. Therefore, it is always a Chopin Nocturne that the mooney women of second- rate fiction dream over at black pianos in great dim rooms with French windows. His funeral march was arranged for orchestra for the occasion, and Lefebure Wely played two of the Preludes on the organ: His first master Zywny taught him up to the age of twelve, when his progress was so extraordinary that they decided to allow him to follow the dictates of his instinctive genius. Like Schumann, he endeavoured to increase the flexibility of his hands by a mechanical device, but fortunately it was not attended in his case with the dire results that befell Schumann, whose attempt in this direction ended in a permanent crippling of his fingers, and stopped his career as a virtuoso.
Chopin positively created a 28 A Handbook to Chopin's Works new school of technique, and developed pianoforte playing to a remarkable extent. The contemporary criticisms on his playing when he gave concerts in Vienna all go to prove that he was an artist of great individuality and of fine artistic conscience. One of the leading critics of the day wrote: The ad libitum, which with his interpreters degenerates into bad time, is, when he himself performs, the most charming originality of execution; the harsh and dilettante-like modulations, which I could never get over when playing his compositions, ceased to offend when his delicate, fairy-like fingers glided over them; his piano is so delicate that no very strong forte is required to give the desired contrast.
Thus we do not miss the orchestral effects which the German school demands from a pianist, but feel ourselves carried away as by a singer who, paying little heed to the accompaniment, abandons himself to his feelings. He is quite unique in the pianistic world. When he and Moscheles played to Louis Philippe at St. Cloud, the latter wrote: Sartoris in Eaton Place; he tells us he paid a guinea for his ticket, and that Chopin's performance was "the most perfect example of poetry in sound which ever greeted my ears.
Were Chopin alive now, every seat would sell for five guineas within two hours of the announcement of a recital by him. I sat entranced, filled with wonderment, and if the room had suddenly been peopled with fairies I should not have been astonished. The marvellous charm, the poetry and originality, the perfect freedom and absolute lucidity of Chopin's playing at that time cannot be described.
It was per- fection in every sense. In listening to him you lost all power of analysis; you did not for a moment think how perfect was his execution of this or that difficulty ; you listened, as it were, to the improvisation of a poem and were under the charm as long as it lasted. Chopin carried you with him into a dream- land, in which you would have liked to dwell for ever. When he embellished — which he very rarely did — it was always a species of miracle of good taste.
He was the delicate, refined virtuoso of small gatherings of groups of in- timate friends; but Liszt was at his very best with two thousand hearers to conquer. But you are destined for it, for when you do not win your public you have the power to over- whelm it. A whole book of appreciations might be culled from the writings of those who were fortunate enough to have heard the poet-composer play his own com- positions. To conclude, we will take the evidence of an anony- mous writer who heard Chopin play during his last visit to London: I have seen him look fifty when he took his place, and twenty-five when he quitted it; sit down a meagre, worn, livid, panting man his face, as some one described it, seamed with pain and anxiety , and as he proceeded, shadow after shadow gradually dissolve, and fold after fold soften, and the flush of health come back into the cheek, and the dim, glassy eyes brighten with a cheerful and living intelligence.
His fee for giving a lesson to pupils, of whom he, as a rule, had as many as he wanted, was twenty francs, but he never taught more than five hours a day, and every year he spent several months in the country. Although at one time he made quite a good income, he was generous and unbusinesslike, and con- sequently never saved money.
It has been urged against his merits as a teacher that none of his pupils ever attained to the first rank amongst virtuosi This, however, can easily be accounted for by the fact that a large majority of his pupils were amateurs. Two of his most promising professional pupils died young, Charles Filtsch and Paul Gunsberg. The former was a prodigy of marvellous musical organisation, and, indeed, by contemporary accounts he was as a pianist what the boy, Von Vecsey, is as a violinist. Amongst his most prominent pupils were George Mathias, pro- fessor of the piano at the Paris Conservatoire; Tel- lefsen, a Norwegian; and Adolph Gutmann, the master's favourite pupil par excellence as Niecks terms him.
Chopin also taught Brinley Richards and Lind say Sloper. He was always kind to his pupils, but occasionally very irritable; and a pupil tells us that he used, when teaching amateurs, to break up pencils as a method of venting his annoyance. His pupils simply idolised him. Smoothness of execution, beauty of tone, and intelligent phrasing were the points on which he most insisted. In furtherance of the last two details, he always urged his pupils to hear good singing, and even to take singing lessons themselves, in order that they might develop a true and expressive method of cantabile playing.
What resembled it pleased him, what differed from it hardly received justice from him. Chopin esteemed Mozart above all other composers. Liszt explains this by saying "that it was because Mozart condescended more rarely than any other com- poser to cross the steps which separate refinement from vulgarity. It is curious that he adored Bach while seemingly neglecting Beet- hoven.
When he wished to prepare himself for one of his concerts, it was not his own music that he played, but that of the great organist, whilst he always grounded his pupils on the Preludes and Fugues, and adjured them always to study Bach. Halle narrates how he played Chopin " at his request, in his own room, Beethoven's Sonata in E flat, Op.
This was in the Paris air! People knew the symphonies, the quartets of the middle period but little, the last ones not at all. The former had been an admiration of his youth, and the concertos particularly show that Hummel exercised a formative influence on Chopin. From Field, too, he adopted the form of the nocturne, although he infused into it a warmth, a distinction, that are absent from even the best work of the Englishman. He was especially fond of playing the duets of Moscheles, and certain pieces of Schubert also found favour with him. Of Weber he apparently did not entertain a high opinion, and notwithstanding Schumann's extravagant admiration and sincere affection for him, Chopin never displayed the least admiration for the work of his great romantic contemporary.
Chopin hated virtuoso music, and with the exception of a few pieces of Liszt's, none of the efforts of this school were ever to be found on his music desk. HTHERE are a very great many editions of Chopin's works from amongst which the amateur or student may take his choice. To avoid confusion it will be advisable not to give a complete list of these, but to say at once that the three best are those published by Bote and Bock, edited by Karl Klindworth ; Schlesinger Robert Lienau , edited by Theodor Kullak; and Breitkopf and Hartel, of Leipzig.
The last is the most complete ; it has several editors, viz. It contains the orchestral parts to the six pieces with orchestra, the works for stringed instru- ments, and the songs, besides more posthumous works than any other edition. Klindworth's is a purely pianoforte edition, and is generally considered the best from an editorial point of view, i. Kullak's edition has the advantage of many notes and much interesting com- ment on the works. It contains the songs but not the trio and 'cello duets.
Chopin, although he wrote and re-wrote his pieces with the utmost pains until he was satisfied with them, prepared his manuscript very neg- ligently for his publishers. He often did not see the proofs, which were sometimes corrected for him by his friends. The consequence is that the original editions are often full of mistakes and misprints. The first complete edition of the works was issued in by Gebethner and Wolff, of Warsaw, edited by Kleczynski. London and New York. There is a leisurely completeness about it, but the material is well arranged and it is never diffuse.
The professor not only examined every scrap of documentary evidence in existence, but he had the advantage of personally in- terviewing the friends and pupils of Chopin who were alive at the time he began his researches. As far as dates and the facts of Chopin's life go, no other bio- graphy of the composer is worth reading; Professor Niecks's book not only embraces everything of value in the works published before his, but all succeeding bio- graphers have had perforce to follow in his footsteps, and their books are but a rearrangement of his material.
But apart from biographical details, it is always in- teresting to read what a musician of critical insight has to say about Chopin's position and capacities as a composer, and here the essays of Hadow and Finck, and the more elaborate works of Huneker, show their value; whilst of variety of opinion in regard to the actual works, there is naturally no end. Shortly after Chopin's death, Liszt published a memoir of his friend of curiously unequal merit. As far as regards facts and dates it is most inaccurate and misleading, but as a sympathetic, critical appreciation of his work and position as a composer it is invaluable.
It is the work of a great artist, and as full of insight, delicate discrimination, and justifiable enthusiasm as are Liszt's writings on Wagner. George Sand described it as " tin pen exuberant en style, mais rempli de bonnes choses et de tres belles pages'" Certain chapters, particularly those describing the Mazurka and the Polonaise, are worse than exuberant in style, they are positively grotesque and nauseating in their sentimental extravagance.
The researches of Mr. Ashton Ellis have made it quite clear that it is to the flowery pen of the Princess Carolyne Wittgenstein that these blemishes are attributable. Liszt allowed her to embellish his work at her own sweet will, with the result that the book, at any rate, for English readers, is quite spoilt. It cannot, however, be over- looked by the Chopin student, for the personal reminis- cences of one of the greatest composers by one of the A Handbook to Chopin's Works 37 greatest executive artists of the world must be invaluable.
Scattered throughout the collected criticisms that Schumann published in the musical papers which he edited, are very many references to Chopin and his various compositions. These will be found incor- porated in their natural connection in the body of this book. Amongst those who have written about Chopin's music, Schumann has the unchallenged right to the first place. Himself a genius of the highest rank, he discerned even in the earliest work of Chopin a kin- dred spirit. His admiration never wavered, he greeted every new composition of Chopin's with sympathetic appreciation, and his critical remarks are not only in- teresting from the point of view of musical history, but they are of real value to the student of Chopin's works.
They are to be found in their translated form in the two volumes mentioned above. Of works on Chopin published since Niecks' life, this is by far the most important. From a biographical point of view, like all who come after Niecks, Huneker can have nothing new to say ; but his comments on the works are fresh, varied, and stimulating.
The chief faults of the book are a want of method in the arrange- ment, rendering quick reference very difficult and a tendency to exaggeration in style. The third essay in this book, a series of studies on modern musicians, is devoted to a study of the Polish 38 A Handbook to Chopin's Works composer, entitled "The Greater Chopin. The book is interesting throughout, and has the gift of enthusiasm. This was the first serious attempt at a biography of Chopin, and the letters that the author obtained from the composer's relatives give it value.
In the Polish edition published in are some till then unpub- lished letters from Chopin to Fontana. Niecks criti- cises Karasowski's "unchecked partiality and bound- less admiration for his hero, his uncritical acceptance and fanciful embellishments of anecdotes and hear- says, and the extreme paucity of his information con- cerning the period of Chopin's life which begins with his settlement in Paris. This essay on Chopin, which gives its title to the book, is a most brilliant bit of work. The writer is a daring and unconventional critic, never hesitating to give utterance to his most original ideas, whatever the weight of authority against him, and, as a consequence, he is always worth reading.
Here in a short space he has put together more of value and interest than in many long works on the subject. In this fascinating book, covering a field in which hardly anything has been accomplished in a similar line, the student will find an admirably written chapter on Chopin's songs. This is a brief biography, in Novello's series of Primers of Musical Biography, which can be com- mended to those who have not the time to read Niecks' substantial volumes.
The second essay in this book on Chopin appeared originally in the Fortnightly Magazine in September It is brief, and has been quite superseded by other and more important works. The arrangement of this book is rather unsatisfac- tory. Descriptions of Chopin's music are introduced rather arbitrarily into the biographical portion of the volume. The criticisms are interesting from a per- sonal point of view, but strangely unappreciative of certains facets of Chopin's genius.
This volume is one of a series published under the title of "The Master Musicians," a set of musical bio- graphies of varying merit. This particular contribu- tion is, however, one of the most satisfactory of the set. The second study in this book on Frederic Chopin is the most sympathetic, discriminating, and truly critical essay that has appeared in England. It has personality and distinction, and makes one wish that the writer could see his way to a larger work on the subject.
This book consists of three valuable lectures, contain- ing many interesting hints on " How to play Chopin. This is a brief and readable life of the composer founded on the work of Karasowski, but now of little value. This book which, as Niecks says, is more of the nature of a novel than of a biography, deals primarily with A Handbook to Chopin's Works. Essai de critique musicale. It is interesting as containing a de- tailed contemporary criticism of the whole of the works by one who had the advantage of often hearing Chopin perform. In this book will be found a rhapsody on Chopin's mazurkas.
The concluding essay on Chopin is a valuable con- tribution to the literature of the subject. This, short volume contains many interesting com- ments on the music. This celebrated virtuoso edited an edition of the Etudes and Impromptus in which there is much valu- able instruction as to performance, and some interesting critical opinions. This well-known teacher edited an edition of Chopin, published by Schlesinger.
The professor's notes are 42 A Handbook to Chopin's Works. Published by Charles F. This little book contains Rubinsteins opinions on many composers ; naturally he had a very high opinion of Chopin and expressed it very vigorously. This is a brief but very interesting sketch of Chopin's fascinating personality, illustrated by extracts from his diaries and correspondence. Of writers on musical history who have naturally said more or less interesting things about Chopin, it will be sufficient to mention the names of Sir Hubert Parry, who sums up Chopin with his usual felicity of diction and unerring insight in his invaluable work, "The Evolution of the Art of Music"; Oscar Bie, who has a good deal to say about Chopin in his " History of the Pianoforte and Pianoforte Players"; and H.
Statham, in his "My Thoughts on Music and Musi- cians. Niecks has transmitted to us the personal reminis- cences of Stephen Heller, Ferdinand Hiller, Ernst, and other friends of Chopin, and also tells us of Chopin's pupils and their remembrances of their beloved teacher. Prominent amongst these are Mathias and Gutmann. A Handbook to Chopin's Works.
Von Lenz, a German, who made a cult of piano vir- tuosi has left us a very full account of Chopin's genius as a pianist. Amongst critics who have incidentally said much that is interesting about Chopin, one must mention J. Runciman; whilst in America, in addition to Huneker and Finck, H.
Henderson must be remembered. Amongst German and Polish writers whose con- tributions to Chopin literature are of little value, may be mentioned Niggli, La Mara, Sowinski, Tarnow- ski, etc. Henry James has an interesting article on her in his " French Poets and Novelists," and Bertha Thomas has written a life of this extraordinary woman.
The thematic catalogue published by Breitkopf and Hartel is a model compilation, and is invaluable to the earnest student. CD 43 5jC a. On a German Air ? G major Mazurka.
B flat major Mazurka. D major Mazurka. A remodelling of the preceding Mazurka Mazurka. C major Mazurka. D6diee a son ami Emile Gaillard Valse. E minor Polonaise. D6diee a Mme. Of doubtful authenticity Polonaise. Franch- themes from " Robert le Diable. B flat major Rondo.
C minor 1 1 Polonaise. B flat major 7i- No. D flat major F minor 21 ! Variations on an Air by Hal6vy 12! E flat 16 Four Mazurkas 17 Valse. E flat major 18 Bolero 19 First Scherzo. B minor 20 Mazurka. G flat major B flat minor 3i Two Nocturnes 32 First Impromptu. A flat 42 Tarantelle 43 Polonaise. A minor " Notre temps " Polonaise. A flat 53 Valse.
No 2 Fourth Scherzo. G minor 6 7. Dedicated to obtainable E. Probably about Valse. Probably about Trois nouvelles Etudes. Schumann, who had in 1 83 1 reviewed Chopin's Opus 2 the variations on Mozart's air, "La ci darem" with lyric fervour, evi- dently inquired for and obtained his Opus 1, for early in the next year he wrote to Wieck the father of Clara Wieck, who subsequently became Madame Schumann: But I believe you will make Clara study it, for there is plenty of Geist in it and few difficulties.
These are the Polonaise in G sharp minor, to which the date is assigned, and the Variations on a German national air, "Der Schweizerbub," dated in the Breitkopf and Hartel edition, There are also two mazurkas of the same year, , but doubtless there were several other early efforts that Chopin destroyed.
The publication of this rondo was for Chopin the event of this year: Madame de Linde, to whom the piece was dedicated, was the wife of his father's friend, the rector, and Chopin often used to play duets with her. Although quite a boy when he wrote his first rondo he was only fifteen , there is immense promise shown in the inven- tive power and in the technical ability displayed in the writing; the leading subjects are well contrasted, and we see at once that it is the work of one who thor- oughly understands the instrument for which he is writing.
Niecks says of these earlier works: They can hold their ground without difficulty and honourably among the better class of light drawing-room pieces. There are traces of the in- fluence of Weber, and perhaps even more of Hummel, whom we know Chopin admired immensely. Karasowski thinks this rondo Chopin's weakest work. It is no disparagement of his talent to say this, for every young pianist of that period made Hummel his model, and, moreover, every genius, however independent, begins by unconsciously imitating his favourite com- posers and artists.
As an instance of this, we need only mention Beethoven. No doubt a concert rondo should not be criticised with the same severity as the rondo movement of a sonata ; yet even with all laxity of concession we can find passages and even pages through which Eisner ought to have drawn his pencil. There is lightness, joy in creation, which contrast with the heavy dour quality of the C minor Sonata, Opus 4. Dedicated to Titus Woyciechowski.
He saw at once that here was something entirely removed from the mere mechan- ical trills and arpeggios of Kalkbrenner, Herz, and their school. Chopin undoubtedly wrote these variations in order to show off his own powers as a virtuoso, but his genius shone through the mere technical aim, and the various 62 A Handbook to Chopin's Works.
In the concluding sentence of Schumann's criticism lies its true value, " I bend before Chopin's spontaneous genius, his lofty aim, his master- ship. Chopin unfortunately never attempted this form when he had fully developed his powers. If he had, there is but little doubt that he would have given us a supreme example of the style. The orchestral accompaniment, according to Niecks, "shows an inaptitude in writing for any other instrument than the piano that is quite surprising considering the great musical endowments of Chopin in other respects.
It begins with a long intro- duction, a free improvisation on the air. Schumann speaks of it admiringly as "so self-concentrated. The first variation, according to Schumann, "ex- presses a kind of coquettish courteousness — the Spanish grandee flirts amiably with the peasant girl in it. It is at once mischievous and beautiful that Leporello listens behind the hedge, laughing and jesting, that oboes and clarionettes en- chantingly allure, and that the B flat major in full bloom correctly designates the first kiss of love.
Leporello's voice be- tween, the grasping, torturing demons, the fleeing Don Juan — and then the end that beautifully soothes and closes all. Dedicated to Joseph Merk. It is nothing more than a brilliant drawing-room piece suit- able for the ladies. I should like Princess Wanda to practise it. I am supposed to have given her lessons. Merk, as usual, made them more beautiful than they really were by his playing, which is so full of soul.
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He is the only vio- loncellist I really respect. The Polonaise is nothing but a brilliant salon piece. Indeed, there is very little in this composition, one or two pianoforte passages and a -finesse here and there excepted— that distinguishes it as Chopin's. The opening theme verges even dangerously to the common- place. More of the Chopinesque than in the Polonaise may be discovered in the introduction, which was less of a piece d' occasion. What subdued the composer's individuality was no doubt the violoncello, which, how- ever, is well provided with grateful cantilene" Niecks.
It is now not even that, for it sounds antiquated and threadbare. The passage work at times smacks of Chopin and Weber a hint of the Mouvement Per- petuel , and the 'cello has the better of the bargain, evidently written for my lady's chamber. He himself says of it: Chopin learnt more from Eisner than he did from his other teacher, Zwyny, although he had a good opinion of both his masters.
Zwyny and Eisner even the greatest ass must learn something," he is reported to have said to some Viennese gentleman who told him that people were astonished at his having learnt all he knew at Warsaw. Liszt wrote of the master, " Joseph Eisner taught Chopin those things that are most difficult to learn and most rarely known: The exigencies of the form overburdened the composer and crushed all individuality out of him.
Nowhere is Chopin so little himself, we may even say so unlike himself. The distribution of keys and the character of the themes show that the importance of contrast in the construction of larger works was still unsuspected by him. The two middle movements, a Minuetto and Lar ghetto, although in the latter the self-imposed fetters of the f time prevent the composer feeling quite at his ease, are more attractive than the rest. In them are discernible an approach to freedom and something like a breath of life, whereas in the first and in the last 5 66 A Handbook to Chopin's Works.
The most curious thing, however, about this work is the lumbering passage writing of our graceful, light-winged Chopin. The third movement is most worthy of notice, but this does not satisfy us completely; it sounds rather forced and laboured, probably on account of the unusual - measure. Little of Chopin's precious essence is to be tasted in the first sonata.
The first movement is wheezing and all but lifeless. The Minuetto is excellent, its trio being a faint approach to Beethoven in colour. Above all, there is movement, and the close is vigorous though banal. The sonata is the dullest music penned by Chopin, but as a whole it hangs together better than its two successors.
So much for an attempt at strict devotion to scholastic f orm. A few early pieces may legitimately be termed weak, but they are always brilliant. This Allegro, however, is tedious, and the criticism showered on it with regard to lack of contrast in key and thematic material is amply justified. With the Minuetto things improve.
It is derivative but well written, and not uninteresting. The experi- ment in the always difficult and risky f time of the Larghetto is a failure. There is no rhythmic beat in it, such as makes the barbaric second movement of Tchai- kovsky's " Pathetic " Symphony so fascinating. It has simply the effect of having no backbone, no structure, and the chief thing to be thankful for is that Chopin evidently felt this too, and brought the movement to a rapid conclusion that cannot be considered untimely.
Barbedette and Huneker are more right about the last movement, and the brilliant passages in the bass do not deserve Niecks's epithet of lumbering. Never- theless we have much to be thankful for to Eisner. He does not strictly adhere to the customary method, but he has one of his own, and he will reveal in his works an originality such as has not been found in any one. Dedicated to Mile, la Comtesse Alexandrine de Moriolles.
Both this and the first Rondo first saw the light at Warsaw, but they did not become known outside Poland till they were published in Germany in Schumann, reviewing it then, thought it probable that it was the work of Chopin's eighteenth year. He who does not yet know Chopin had best begin the acquaintance with this piece. It is the only one of the rondos not written in the traditional f time.
It is, as the title implies, a maxurka in rondo form, and as such it naturally has a touch of that national feeling which was from now on to become so striking a char- acteristic of much of Chopin's music. After his four- teenth year Chopin passed his summer holidays in the country round Warsaw, and there, listening to the peasants singing and dancing their mazurkas, his sensi- tive musical intelligence absorbed those national ele- ments of the music of the countryside which, passing through the alembic of his own personality, issued in a refined and idealised form in the Mazurkas and Polonaises.
It is the work of a poetical and impres- sionable youth, as opposed to the first Rondo, which is that of a light-hearted boy. It has not the same mastery of. The first subject has the rustic tang of a true mazurka redolent of the countryside, while the secondary theme is of refined and graceful beauty. It is highly indi- vidual, there is no hint of imitation of any other com- poser, and more than an indication of one of Chopin's most marked characteristic — widespread chords and skips.
The Comte de Moriolles, to whose daughter this Rondo is dedicated, was tutor to the adopted son of the Grand Duke Constantine, then governor of War- saw. Chopin frequently visited at the palace, his talents and charming manners rendering him always a welcome guest amongst the most wealthy and culti- vated people in the capital. This environment acting on his innate refinement gave him the aristocratic tastes and nature that he exhibited throughout his life in so marked a degree. Kleczynski, who is never tired of combating the idea that Chopin's music is all melancholy, draws attention to the " brilliant passages, cascades of pearly notes, and bold leaps which we find in this Rondo.
Is it not rather youth exuberant with intensity and life; is it not happiness, gaiety, love for the world and men? The harmonies are often novel and the matter is more homogeneous and better welded into oneness. It is sprightly, 7o A Handbook to Chopin's Works. In ballrooms the Mazurka became more animated and graceful, and although it has never been much in vogue in England it is much affected in St.
Petersburg, where its votaries display an amazing grace and dexterity. In its essence, however, it is the dance of the people, as opposed to the Valse, the dance of society. In Chopin's hands, however, the Mazurka ceased to be an actual dance tune, and became a tone poem, a mirror of moods, an epitome of human emotions, joy and sadness, love and hate, tenderness and defiance, coquetry and passion. Product details File Size: April 25, Sold by: Share your thoughts with other customers.
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