Chopin

Frédéric Chopin (1810–1849), Nocturne Op. 9, no. 2

 * __Historical Background (including biography)__ **

Life and Career of Chopin
 * Born in the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland: father French, mother Polish
 * Studied piano and composition in Warsaw
 * Child prodigy: performances in private salons and public recitals in Poland and abroad
 * Travels to Paris in 1830--cannot return due to unstable political situation in Warsaw
 * Relationship with Georges Sande
 * Establishes a career composing (publishing) and teaching rather than performing
 * The revolution of 1848 destabilizes Paris society--loses students
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Attempts to revive a concert career but very sick (TB) by that time

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Compositions by Chopin
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Solo piano music: sonatas, ballades, polonaises, mazurkas, scherzos, waltzes
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Concerto and other works for piano and orchestra
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Songs (in Polish)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chamber Music

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Warsaw in the early 19th century
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">"Triple Partition" since the late 18th century: division of Poland among Russia, Prussia, and Austria (Warsaw was part of the Russian Empire)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Multiple attempts at insurrections and other fights for independence unsuccessful including the Warsaw uprise of 1830: Chopin had already left Poland at this time.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Paris in the early 19th century
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Politicaly turbulent time
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Restoration of the Bourbon monarchy after the Congress of Vienna in 1815
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">July Revolution of 1830 deposes Charles X and replaced him with his cousin Louis-Philippe, Duke of Orléans
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Revolution of 1848 deposes Louis-Philippe, eventually replaced by Napoleon III (Second Empire)


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Cultural Context__ **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Nationalism in Poland
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Development of a strong urge for independence
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cultivation of cultural nationalism based on language, music, dance, history, religion (Catholicism although sizable Jewish population in Poland), literature, etc.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Artists in exiles included the poet Mickiewic who influenced Chopin (and later Mahler)

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Paris as a cosmopolitan musical capital
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The ascendancy of a powerful middle class that emulated the culture of the old aristocracy who demanded new kind of musical entertainment: grand opera
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Competing aristocratic salons: private gatherings for writers, artists, and important social figures who conversed and exchanged artistic ideas; performances of music often took place featuring professional as well as amateur (often aristocratic) musicians.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Paris attracted talents from all over Europe (and in some case the New World like Gottschalk). Most important Italian opera composers eventually came to Paris including Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti, and (temporarily at least) Verdi.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">German composers also were active in Paris most notably Meyerbeer (and less succsessfully so Wagner)


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; vertical-align: baseline;">__Analytical Commentaries__ **

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Nocturne (night piece): short composition usually for the solo piano popularized by Chopin and other early Romantic composers characterized by embellished melody over chordal accompaniments evoking a mysterious and contemplative mood.

Listen for the following characteristics:

Texture
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Clear division of the labor between the right hand the left hand
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Idiomatic writing for the piano

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Right-Hand Part
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Plays contrasting 4-measure melodies
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Chopin repeats the melodies by adding chromatic embellishments (trills, turns, mordents, appoggiaturas)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The variety of embellishments gives an impression of improvisation

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Left-Hand Part
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Plays the chordal accompaniments spanning a wide range
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The use of pedal makes it possible to sustain the harmony

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Tempo and Rhythm
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Flexible tempo that slows down and speeds up giving an impression of improvisation
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This approach to manipulate the tempo is called tempo rubato (stolen time)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Try to follow the performer's tempo by conducting or tapping the beat

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Cadenza
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The third the last measure consists of the right hand repeating the same chromatic figuration over a dominant harmony (V chord)
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This resembles a cadenza in a concerto or an aria in an opera
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">It showcases the technical virtuosity of the performer

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Coda
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The melody disappears in the last two measures
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">You hear repeating chordal figuration and finally three chords
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-family: Times; font-size: 15px; font-size: medium; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Provides a contrast with the cadenza and gives a sense of winding down


 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Listening Examples: **
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Please compare the following two performances - especially how they handle the embellishments and the tempo rubato.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Which performance do you prefer and why?
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Video with commentary  [Jean Yves Thibaudet, 2000 ]
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Arial; font-size: 15px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Audio only of Sergei Rachmaninoff's performance [recorded in 1927]