Click here to see the featured Chopin scholar ANGELA LEAR >>>
Work listWork list updated with quotes (12/15/07) and reorganized (04/26/08)
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:
- 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), 1824Forum
As requested by visitors since the good old yahoo message board has gone, I launched the forum to promote Chopin-related discussion and reduce the work load in the Questions section. Any questions should be directed to the forum. Please do not post new questions in the Questions section. Unregistered visitors can log in using username "guest" and password "chopin" to post questions only. Spam entries will be deleted. Visitors with serious intention to participate in the forum please email me to create an account. (09/01/2006)
Tune
New tune No.59 is available. (03/30/2008)
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 4 was closed the second time at the end of 2007 and now permanently closed. Contest 5 will be open in late 2008 and its results will be announced in late 2009 to celebrate the 10th year anniversary of this website. (12/30/2007)
Awards
This website won the Perm Heritage Award (previously known as the Historic and Cultural Heritage Award Program) (01/04/2008), the American Association of Webmasters Award (01/06/2008), the Casey's Celtic Charm Award (01/17/2008), the Nautical Award (03/07/2008), the Firestarter Award (03/13/2008); all are level-5 rated world's top awards.
Below is the list of books and articles I used as references to build this website. All references are in alphabetical order of the author's last name.- William G. Atwood, The Parisian worlds of Frédéric Chopin, Yale University Press, 1999
- Maurice J. E. Brown, Chopin: an index of his works in chronological order, Macmillan, 1972
- Józef Michał Chomiński, Katalog dzieł Fryderyka Chopina, Frederick Chopin Society Polskie Wydawnictwo Muzyczne, Kraków 1990
- Chopin Society in Warsaw, The photo library
- Alfred Cortot, In search of Chopin, translated from French by Cyril and Rena Clarke, Greenwood Press, 1952
- A. Redgrave Cripps, Chopin as a master of form, The Musical Times, Vol. 55, No. 858, 1914
- David Dubal, Chopin Works, The Vancouver Chopin Society, 1999
- Jean-Jacques Eigeldinger, Chopin: Pianist and Teacher: As Seen by his Pupils, Cambridge University Press, 1999, originally published in French 1970
- Arthur Hedley, Selected correspondence of Fryderyk Chopin, Heinemann, 1962
- James Huneker, Chopin: The man and his music, New York, Dover, 1966, originally published by Scribner 1900
- James Huneker, The classic Chopin, The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 1, No. 4, 1915
- Jeffrey Kallberg, The Chopin sources: variants and versions in later manuscripts and printed editions, 1982
- Lubov Keefer, The influence of Adam Mickiewicz on the ballades of Chopin, American Slavic and East European Review, Vol. 5, No. 1/2, 1946
- Krystyna Kobylańska, Rękopisy utworów Chopina: katalog, Kraków, 1977
- Wilhelm von Lenz, The great piano virtuosos of our time, translated from the German by Madeleine R. Baker, New York, G. Schirmer, 1899
- Franz Liszt, Life of Chopin, translated from French by Martha Walker Cook and John Broadhouse, London, W. Reeves, 1913
- Barbara Milewski, Chopin’s mazurkas and the myths of the folk, 19th Century Music, Vol. 23, No. 2, 1999
- Frederick Niecks, Chopin as a man and musician, London, New York, Novello, Ewer & Co.1888
- Philips Classics, Great Pianists of the 20th Century: The Complete Edition, Polygram Records, 1997
- Jim Samson, Chopin and genre, Music Analysis, Vol. 8, No. 3, 1989
- Jim Samson, Chopin, the four ballades, London: Cambridge, New York: Cambridge University Press, 1992
- Jeremy Siepmann, Chopin: Complete Edition, Deutsche Grammophon, 1999
- Jeremy Siepmann, Chopin, the reluctant romantic, Boston Northeastern University Press, 1995
- Barbara Smoleńska-Zielińska, Fryderyk Chopin i jego muzyka, Warszawa, 1995
- Tad Szulc, Chopin in Paris: The Life and Times of the Romantic Composer, New York, Da Capo Press, 2000
"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. This is a serious work of art and I am featuring her work in this section without compensation.
Angela Lear has edited a new publication of the rare version of Chopin's well-loved Nocturne in E flat major, Op.9 No.2. This edition contains all of the original fifteen variants and Chopin's 'replacement' Cadenza* based on extensive research this edition also includes a comprehensive commentary, detailed notes on each variant, source information and a brief article on interpreting Chopin generally. (*Featured on Angela Lear's Vol.3 CD from 'The Original Chopin' series) To obtain further details or to order a copy of the edition (14 pages) please contact: www.angelalear.co.uk at admin@angelalear.co.uk . Recommended for all Chopin listeners.
To order or listen to some excerpts: clickto go to her home page
NEW CD RELEASE
“… Chopin held strong views about the performance of his music, and the directions he left in his manuscripts are so specific that it’s astonishing how far modern performance practice has departed from his stated intentions. Most pianists over-dramatise his music, playing it too loudly and too fast, with scant attention to phrasing and dynamics and with inappropriate pedalling. Inaccuracies have crept into some of the more readily available printed editions. Chopin experts have long sought to remedy the situation and to recapture an authentic style of playing – among them Angela Lear. Her Chopin, alongside other performances, even by some of the most respected pianists, is a revelation. Hear what Chopin really intended.” - BBC Music Magazine
ANGELA LEAR has recorded the twenty-four études of Chopin, as Vol.VI in her CD series of his complete works. Angela’s Vol.VI is a two-disc set* based on her extensive research into autograph manuscripts, original editions, annotated scores and other sources. Her worldwide performances, lecture-recitals and articles on Chopin interpretation are well known and critically acclaimed. A gratis CD is also included as part of the two-disc set of the Etudes (Vol.VI), presented as an illustrated talk on the études with comparative interpretations played.
Volume 1: Polonaise in F# minor, Op.44, Nocturne in C minor, Op.48/1, Impromptu in C# minor, Op.posth., Fantaisie in F minor, Op.49, Nocturne in C# minor, Op.27/1, Barcarolle in F# minor, Op.60, Nocturne in Eb major, Op.9/2 (with original variants and Chopin’s ‘replacement’ Cadenza), Andante spianato & Polonaise in Eb major, Op.22.
Volume 2: Scherzo in C# minor, Op.39, Boléro in A minor, Op.19, Nocturne in E major, Op.62/2, Ballade in G minor, Op.23, Mazurka in B minor, Op.33/4, Polonaise-Fantaisie in Ab, Op.61, Mazurka in A minor, Op.17/4, Ballade in Ab, Op.47, Scherzo in Bb minor, Op.31.
Volume 3: Ballade in F minor, Op.52, Waltz in Eb, Op.18, Scherzo in B minor, Op.20, Nocturne in B major, Op.62/1, Polonaise in C# minor, Op.26, Mazurka in C minor, Op.56/3, Ballade in F major, Op.38, Nocturne in Eb major, Op.9/2 (with original variants), Polonaise in Bb minor, Op.posth.,Scherzo in E major, Op.54.
Volume 4: (2-disc set) Sonate funebre in Bb minor, Op.35, Impromptu in Ab, Op.29, Lento con gran espressione in C# minor, Op.posth., Nocturne in F# minor, Op.48/2, Waltz in Eb, Op.posth., Impromptu in F# major, Op.36, Marche funebre in C minor, Op.posth, Trois Mazurkas, Op.50, Polonaise in Ab, Op.53.
Volume 5: (2-disc set) 24 Preludes, Op.28, Waltzes Op. 34 No’s.1 & 3, Trois Mazurkas, Op.59, Nocturne in Db, Op.27/2, Barcarolle in F# major, Op.60.
Volume 6: (2-disc set*) 24 Grandes Études, Op.10 and Op.25
Volume 7: Sonata in B minor, Op.58, Berceuse in Db major, Op.57, Allegro de Concert in A major, Op.46, Rondo in C (solo piano version, Op.73) and group of rarities: including Contredanse in Gb, Feuille d’Album in E, Nocturne in C minor, etc.
