OURCHOPIN FORUM

[enchantedpianist]

Chopin lived in the romantic era of classical music but Chopin did not consider his music "romantic" in the sense of other composers especially Schumann. What was Chopin's thought about his music? Was it classical like Mozart, or pre-romantic like Schubert? Why do people nowadays always say that Chopin's music is romantic music?

[Pianoman1992]

Chopin is the definition of romantic!! He was one of the first composers to factor his home country into his music (mazurkas and polonaises), which is what almost every other Romantic Era composer later did. Just listening to Chopin's music, you just have a romantic feeling wash over you. Even though he didn't like to use it often, he still used rubato in his works, which allows the player to express themselves more freely, a prime example of what Romanticism is about.

As much as Chopin adored Mozart and Bach, the time he was living in was so radically different that his music just had to be too. Right now I'm listening to the Adagio sostenuto movement of the Trio in G Minor, and it is so beautiful and expressive there is absolutely no other category I could classify it in than Romanticism!

[wanderer]

But why do people say that Chopin's music is not "romantic" in its true meaning? They say his music does not paint pictures, tell stories...

[Pianoman1992]

Because his piece titles all followed the structure _____ in ___ Major/Minor. This is contrary to composers who did "paint pictures" like Debussy, who wrote works like The Joyous Isle, Reflections in the Water, and Gardens in the Rain.

[chopin]

[Pianoman1992]

Most of the time I actually like it when pieces don't have specific titles. I think that when there is a title it almost tells the listener what to think of when hearing pieces. With Chopin's format for piece titles, the piece can sound like anything to anybody. He probably felt that people should interpret them their own way, not his.

[wanderer]

So, what does "romantic" mean anyway?

[baroquevn]

[nocturne]