Work list updated with quotes
(12/15/07, the first time online), reorganized (04/26/08), and grouped by genre in Complete
music (05/15/08), updated with year of publication (10/12/08, the first
time online).
Complete music
The Complete Chopin Music and Score site has all music sheets are available next to music files
in the collection. A great asset! New music sheets of Songs Op.74 (04/18/08)
New addition in the above complete music collection: - Nocturne
"Oubliée" in C sharp minor (10/20/07 sheet music only --
recording not yet available)
- Andantino
"Wiosna" in G minor (12/16/07) - Allegretto in F sharp major
(12/15/07) - Partial recording of Canon in F minor (Br.129), 1839
(08/19/07) - Variations on a theme from Rossini's 'La Cenerentola' for piano & flute in
E major (Br.9), 1824
Tune
New tune No.76
is available. (11/10/2012)
Quiz
New quiz No.9 about the waltzes is up! Quizzes 1,2,3,4,5,6 are now self-scored. (1/1/2008)
Congratulations to Annunziata Mattioli, the winner of quiz 6 (06/25/2007)
Contest
Contest 5 is extended to accept submissions. (4/17/2011)
Awards
This website was awarded "Website of the year 2008"
by two World's Top Awards: O.N.Z.C.D.A. and
Internet Beacon Award in January 2009.
feature Chopin scholar
"Chopin: the poet of the piano" website proudly presents Angela
Lear, a classical pianist and Chopin scholar who has undertaken
extensive research studies into Chopin�s manuscripts and related
sources to provide an interpretation of Chopin's piano works as
close as possible to the way Chopin intended. In Angela Lear's
words:
Notes on
Interpreting Chopin
by Angela Lear
Chopin�s music has
always posed a challenge to pianists. His compositions have retained
a universal popularity and continue to be performed worldwide. They
have been recorded and re-recorded in their thousands, so Chopin is
apparently well-represented - but has the challenge to his
interpreter been successfully met?
To gain further insight into his unique musical language and
stylistic practices it is essential to comprehend as far as possible
his expressed intentions. Our knowledge and appreciation of this
most elusive and poetic of composers is greatly enriched by the
combined study of not only his autograph manuscripts and related
material (i.e. draft scores, early editions and annotated
scores), but also statements made by his associates, friends and
pupils, who knew his playing and teaching principles. In addition to
general correspondence, reviews and reports of his concerts are
revealing, although not always laudatory! notably from supporters of
the �piano pounders�, as Chopin called them. To this list I feel it
essential to include Polish folk-music and historical development of
the Polonaise, Rondo, Krakowiak and Mazur.
As concert pianists
lead busy lives is it really necessary to undertake the
time-consuming task of such studies? To answer that question so
often addressed to me I would like to cite just one example of the
wide disparities that exist between Chopin�s expressed intentions
and the interpretative approach commonly adopted when executing his
famous �Black Keys� Study in G flat major, Op.10 No.5.
Performances of this remarkable Study are generally executed in
brilliant style: Allegro con brio/Presto with highly-charged
forte dynamics, heavily accented and liberally pedalled to
suit the desired virtuosic display. This approach is, however, in
direct opposition to Chopin�s original score markings and his
concept of its interpretation. His score markings clearly show
leggierissimo e legatissimo (extremely light and delicate with a
very smooth effect), carefully balanced against the staccato l.h.
accompaniment. The first forte marking appears at bar 33,
lasting two bars. Exaggerated dynamics and excessively fast tempo
markings imposed on this Study are not to be found in the autograph
manuscript. Chopin�s performance directions are certainly easier to
ignore than achieve. There is also the problem of maintaining too
fast a tempo from the outset to include the closing double-octaves
that descend in a flourish of triplets. No slowing down of pace is
indicated, not even a poco rit.! The illustration shown below
of the opening bars of this Study is from Chopin�s autograph
manuscript and is reproduced by kind permission of The Chopin
Society, Warsaw.
The celebrated E major �tude,
Op.10 No.3, also shows the disparities that exist when comparing
Chopin�s autograph manuscripts with various edited publications. It
was originally given the tempo Vivace by Chopin, who later
added ma non troppo. (Illustrated below) A labouring
or variable pulse that disregards the 2/4 time signature
(notated in quavers and semiquavers) is incorrect, even if widely
accepted. It is not in 4/4 time and the passages (from bar
46) have no fortissimo or doppio movimento
indications. The poco pi� animato (often marked at bar 21) is
not given in the original ms. Chopin�s ardent dislike of the
sentimentalis� approach and exaggerated tempo deviations are
well known. Additional tempo changes also break down the musical
logic and structure of the whole, subverting Chopin�s expressed
intentions.
Where Chopin�s
score markings are correctly stated in publications his
compositions still fall prey to alterations in performance,
perpetuated by generations of pianistic �tradition� and stylisation.
Unfortunately the various �revisions� imposed on Chopin�s scores
from pianists seeking to remould or �re-compose� his music remain
unchallenged. Chopin had very definite views on adherence to his
score details: "Chopin could not bear anyone to interfere with
the text of his works. The slightest modification was a gross error
for which he would not pardon even his closest friends, not even his
fervent admirer Liszt. The composer considered these alterations as
a veritable act of sacrilege". (Reported by Marmontel) [Chopin:
Pianist and Teacherby Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger]
He would
occasionally pencil an altered dynamic or variant into the scores of
selected pupils but it was only his prerogative as the
composer-pianist to make any such alterations. On the subject of the
sentimentalis�/Romantic approach, we know that he shunned all forms
of excess and was not a Romantic composer in the Lisztian sense. His
unique musical language and aesthetic belongs to earlier forms of
art-music and Classicism. He revered the music of Bach and Mozart
above all other composers - the significance of which should not be
underestimated. To perceive Chopin as the archetypal Romantic
languishing in a violet-scented mist of indecision about his scores
is a misconception borne of spurious legend.
It is vital from an
artistic and aesthetic standpoint that interpreters remain within
the �guidelines� marked on scores by the composer. To clarify these
�guidelines�, albeit simplistically, I refer to score indications
that form the basis of an interpretation: e.g. that given
sotto voce/pianissimo markings are not substituted for a
preferred mezzo forte/forte, or broad largo/lento
tempos exchanged for the faster pace of an Allegretto.
Uncontrolled tempo
deviations, which appearunder the guise of unwritten
accelerandos alternating with ritenutos, are a poor
substitute for the subtle use of rubato. It is evident from
his manuscripts at least that Chopin left nothing to doubt, crossing
out rejected score details with thick webs of diagonal lines that
render it impossible to decipher previously written details. To
further avoid misunderstanding he would write a message on his score
for the engraver to clarify his precise intentions.
Wayward
performances showing an obvious ambivalence towards the text are
often acclaimed, perhaps due to obvious misunderstandings about
Chopin�s music, or for commercial reasons.
Displays of meaningless digital dexterity
and the flashiness of excessively fast tempos and dramatised
dynamics that debase his music are facile recipes for acceptable
Chopin interpretations. They are not only seriously misleading to
the public but commit a grave disservice to the composer. The true
art of Chopin playing presents a challenge that needs to be reviewed
and reassessed.
"Simplicity is
everything.. After having played immense quantities of notes, and
more notes, then simplicity emerges with all its charm, like Art�s
final seal. It is no easy matter."
[From a statement made by Chopin to his pupil Friedrike Streicher-Muller,
who studied with the composer from October 1839 to March 1841]
Great music should
surely ennoble the spirit, create a moving experience and provide a
lasting impression to reflect upon after the final notes have been
heard. To allow the composer to be revealed through the re-creation
of his music must be the ultimate aim of an interpreter.
� Angela Lear
"... Hear what Chopin really intended."
BBC Music Magazine [Performance Awarded 5 Stars] Go to:
www.angelalear.com
Program notes on how to play Chopin by Angela Lear >>>
Grandes Etudes
references
Below is the list of books, articles, and other sources I used as
references to build this website. All references are in alphabetical
order of the author's last name.