WORKS WITHOUT OPUS : INDEXED WORKS | UNINDEXED WORKS
WORKS WITH OPUS : 01-05 | 06-10 | 11-15 | 16-20 | 21-25
26-30 | 31-35 | 36-40 | 41-45 | 46-50
51-55 | 56-60 | 61-65 | 66-70 | 71-74
Concerto op. 11
for pianoforte & orchestra in E minor, Op. 11 (Br. 53, KK. 164-177)
composed in 1830/4-8, published in 1833
dedicated to Monsieur Friedrich Kalkbrenner
�Emermann paid me a visit and judged that the First Allegro is better in the new Concerto � [�] the task is urgent; I have to write in a hurry.�
17 April
�The Rondo for the new Concerto is not completed � and to do this I need inspiration; I am not in a particular hurry since having completed the first Allegro and am not anxious about the rest. [�] The Adagio to the new Concerto is in E major. It is not supposed to be emphatic, but more in a sentimental vein, tranquil and melancholic, and should produce the impression of gazing at a spot which brings to mind a thousand pleasant memories. � It resembles beautiful springtime reflections, albeit by moonlight. This is the reason why I accompany it be means of sordini, in other words, violins muffled with kind of combs which, by bestriding the strings, produce a nasal, silver tone. - This might be wrong, but why should one be ashamed of writing faultily despite knowledge � only the outcome will disclose the error.�
15 May
�[�] I am to rehearse the whole Concerto with a quartet already this week, so that the quartet could first become acquainted with me � to grow somewhat familiar, without which, Elsner claims, a rehearsal with an orchestra would not succeed. Linowski is copying hurriedly, but he has already started the Rondo.�
31 August
�Last Wednesday I rehearsed my Concerto with a quartet. I was content but no very much so � people say that the last finale was the most pleasant (since it was the most comprehensible). I shall write to you next week how it will sound with an orchestra because I shall rehearse it this Wednesday.�
18 September
�[...] today I am rehearsing the second Concerto with the whole orchestra, with the exception of trumpets and kettledrum, [�] I have already completed the second Concerto, but am still as foolish as I was before I learned the keyboard. [�] I must fly to once again assure myself about Elsner, [�] the music stands and sordini, about which I totally forgot yesterday; without them the Adagio, whose success, I suppose, does not se, em to be great anyhow, would fail. The Rondo is effective, the Allegro is forceful. O, cursed self-love!�
22 September
�After an orchestra rehearsal of the second Concerto it was decided to perform it in public; I shall present it next Monday, that is, on the eleventh of the month. On the one hand, I am not very pleased with this, but, on the other, hand, I am curious about the general effect. I believe that the Rondo will make an impression on everyone. It is about his Rondo that Soliva told me: �il vous fait beaucoup d�honneur� [it does great credit to you], Kurpinski mentioned originality, and Elsner spoke about rhythm.�
5 October
�I hasten to tell you that yesterday�s concert was a success. I inform your Lordship that I was not at all nervous, and played as I do when I am alone, and that everything went well. Full hall. First, Gorner�s symphony, followed by my lordship, the Allegro in E minor, which I reeled off with ease, was presented on a Streicher piano. Tumultuous applause. Soliva was delighted; he conducted because of his air with chorus, beautifully sung by Mlle Wolkow dressed prettily like a cherub in blue; after the air came the Adagio and the Rondo; then a pause between the first and second parts. � [�] I really do not know how things would have gone yesterday if Soliva had not taken my scores home, read them and conducted so that I did not have play rapidly as though to break my neck, but he managed so well to hold us back that, I assure you, I have never succeeded in playing so comfortably with an orchestra. The piano, it seems, was much liked, and Mlle Wolkow even more so.�
12 October
From the letters of F. Chopin to Tytus Woyciechowski in Poturzyn, Warsaw 1830.
�We found ourselves at the Resource where kappelmeister Schnabel requested that I be present at the rehearsal of a concerto to be performed in the evening. [�] Schnabel, who has not heard me for four years, asked me to try the piano. It was difficult to refuse, so I sat down and played several variations. [�] they started to ask me to play in the evening. Schnabel in particular insisted so earnestly that I did not dare to refuse the old man. [�] I went, therefore, with his son to get the music and played to them the Romance and the Rondo from the second Concerto. During the rehearsal, the Germans were astonished by my performance: �Was fur ein leichtes Piel hat er� [What a light touch he has], but said nothing about the composition. [�] Since I still do not have an established reputation they were surprised and, simultaneously, afraid to be surprised; they did not know whether the composition is good or whether it only appeared to be so.
One of the local connoisseurs approached me and praised the novelty of form, saying that he had never heard anything similar; I do no know who he was, but he probably understood me best of all.�
F. Chopin to his family in Warsaw. Wroclaw 9 November 1830.
�Chopin had the fortunate idea of playing the Adagio [Romance, Larghetto] from his last Concerto. Placed between two orchestral compositions maintained in a turbulent style, this enchanting work, in which irresistible charm is combined with most profound religious thoughts, submerged the listeners into a specific joy � serene and ecstatic � to which we have not become accustomed in a similar situation. All this differs greatly from the endless adagios, which usually fill the middle movement of a piano concerto; in this case, there is so much simplicity used with such freshness of imagination, that when the last note was heard, in the manner of a pearl cast into a golden vase, the audience, immersed in contemplation, continued to listen, and for a few moments restrained itself from applauding. In the same way, while observing the harmonious descent of twilight semi-shadows, we remain motionless in the darkness, with our eyes still focused on that point of the horizon, where the light has just faded.�
Hector Berlioz �Le Renovateur� 3 (IV), 5 January 1835.
�The pianist should become here the first tenor and the first soprano, but, predominantly, a singer and an excellent one in all those arpeggios which � in accordance with Chopin�s will � should be performed in the cantabile style. This is the way he taught his beloved Filtsch to understand this movement. At the time (1842) Chopin no longer performed the composition, since he had resigned from public appearances. Nonetheless, he played to us the themes in an indescribably beautiful way and outlined the passages. He wanted them to be executed cantabile, with a certain moderation of loudness and bravura, by emphasizing each motif particle and with extraordinarily delicate sounding even in the transitory passages, which here is regarded as an exception. No mention was ever made about the second and the third movement. [�] Filtsch studied the first movement working on each solo separately; Chopin had never permitted him to perform this movement from the beginning to the end, because he became excessively stirred.
He was also of the opinion that each solo contained the whole composition.
When he finally allowed Filtsch to play the whole work [�], the Master declared:
�You have prepared this movement so splendidly that he can perform it: I shall be your orchestra�. [In the Chopin salon, they performed the first movement of the Concerto in E minor on two pianos for a specially invited audience, whose majority was composed of pupils of aristocratic families].
Chopin recreated the whole well-devised, ephemeral instrumentation of this composition in his incomparable accompaniment. He played by heart. Never before have I heard anything to equal the first tutti, performed by him on the piano. The boy worked miracles. The overall effect produced an impression to last a lifetime.�
Wilhelm von Lenz, Uerbersichtliche Beurtheilung der Pianoforte-Kompositionen von Chopin [�], �Neue Berliner Musikzeitung� 4 September 1872Introduction and Variations on the 'Ronde' from Herold's 'Ludovic' op. 12
for pianoforte B Flat Major, Op. 12 (Br. 80, KK. 178-180)
composed in 1833/summer, published in 1833
dedicated to Mademoiselle Emma Horsford
"I'm now learning the variations from Ludovic for miss Horsford; I like them very much." - Izabela Chopin in a letter from Warsaw to Chopin in Paris, 26 Apr 1834
Grand Fantasia on Polish Airs op. 13
for pianoforte & orchestra in A Major, Op. 13 (Br. 28, KK. 181-187)
composed in 1828/11, published in 1834
dedicated to Johann Peter Pixis
- Among the Polish airs used are:
- 1. the folk song 'Juz miesiac zaszedl, psy sie uspily'
('Already the moon had set, the dogs were asleep')- 2. an air by Karol (Kasimir) Kurpinski
- 3. a Kujawiak (see: Abraham, Gerald, "Chopin's musical style", London 1939, p. 23)
Krakowiak: Grand Concert Rondo op. 14
for pianoforte & orchestra in F Major, Op. 14 (Br. 29, KK. 188-197)
composed in 1828/11-12, published in 1834
dedicated to la Comtesse Anna Czartoryska Sapiech�w
- A Krakowiak is a Polish dance in 2/4 time of the Krakow district.
Nocturne op. 15, 1
for pianoforte in F Major, Op. 15, 1 (Br. 55, KK. 198-215)
composed in 1830-31, published in 1833
Nocturne op. 15, 2
for pianoforte in F Sharp Major, Op. 15, 2 (Br. 55, KK. 198-215)
composed in 1830-31/spring, published in 1833
Nocturne op. 15, 3
for pianoforte in G minor, Op. 15, 3 (Br. 79, KK. 198-215)
composed in 1833, published in 1833
three nocturnes dedicated to Ferdinand Hiller
"They say [...], after the day he attended the performance of Hamlet at the theatre he wrote the nocturne op. 15 no. 3 and inscribe it: At the cemetery, but when it came to having it printed, he erased the inscription, saying: Let them work it out for themselves." - M.A.Szulc, Echo muzyczne, 1880
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