Frederick Chopin Essay Research Paper The 1830s

Frederick Chopin Essay, Research Paper

The 1830s have been called "the decade of the piano" because during

that period the piano and the music written for it played a dominant role in

European musical culture. The piano had, of course, already been popular for

more than half a century, but by the third decade of the nineteenth century,

changes in the instrument and its audience transformed the piano’s role in

musical life. As the Industrial Revolution hit its stride, piano manufacturers

developed methods for building many more pianos than had previously been

feasible, and at lower cost. Pianos ceased to be the exclusive province of the

wealthy; an expanding middle class could also aspire to own them and make music

at home. Thousands of amateur pianists began to take lessons, buy printed music,

and attend concerts. Virtuosos like Friedrich Kalkbrenner, Sigismund Thalberg,

and Franz Liszt became the first musical superstars, touring Europe and

astonishing audiences with music they had composed to display their piano

technique. Frederick Chopin was born in a small village named Zelazowa Wola

located in Poland on March 1st, 1810. His passionate love of music showed itself

at an early age. There are stories, for instance, of how when his mother and

sister played dances on their grand piano he would burst into tears for the

sheer beauty of the sounds he heard. Soon he began to explore the keyboard for

himself and delighted in experimenting. By the age of seven he had become

sufficiently good for his parents to try and find him a teacher. Their choice

fell on Adalbert Zywny, a Bohemian composer then aged sixty-one and now

remembered solely as Chopin.s first teacher. Within a few months of beginning

his studies with Zywny, Chopin began to play in public, and by the end of 1817,

at the age of seven, had already been described by many as .Mozart.s

successor.. Chopin began to compose around this time, and continued to do so

throughout his student years, but only a handful of these works were printed. In

the autumn of 1826, Chopin began studying the theory of music, figured bass, and

composition at the Warsaw High School of Music. Its head was the composer J.zef

Elsner. Chopin, however, did not attend the piano class. Aware of the

exceptional nature of Chopin’s talent, Elsner allowed him, in accordance with

his personality and temperament, to concentrate on piano music but was unbending

as regards theoretical subjects, in particular counterpoint. Chopin, endowed by

nature with magnificent melodic invention, ease of free improvisation, and an

inclination towards brilliant effects and perfect harmony, gained in Elsner’s

school a solid grounding, discipline, and precision of construction, as well as

an understanding of the meaning and logic of each note. This was the period of

the first extended works such as the Sonata in C minor, Variations, on a theme

from Don Juan by Mozart, the Rondo . la Krakowiak, the Fantaisie, and the Trio

in G minor. Chopin ended his education at the High School in 1829, and after the

third year of his studies Elsner wrote in a report: "Chopin, Fryderyk,

third year student, amazing talent, musical genius". After completing his

studies, Chopin planned a longer stay abroad to become acquainted with the

musical life of Europe and to win fame. Up to then, he had never left Poland,

with the exception of two brief stays in Prussia. In 1826, he had spent a

holiday in Bad Reinertz (modern day Duszniki-Zdr.j) in Lower Silesia, and two

years later he had accompanied his father’s friend, Professor Feliks Jarocki, on

his journey to Berlin to attend a congress of naturalists. Here, quite unknown

to the Prussian public, he concentrated on observing the local musical scene.

Now he pursued bolder plans. In July 1829 he made a short excursion to Vienna in

the company of his acquaintances. Wilhelm W.rfel, who had been staying there

for three years, introduced him to the musical environment, and enabled Chopin

to give two performances in the K.rtnertortheater. He enjoyed his tremendous

success with the public, and although the critics censured his performance for

its small volume of sound, they acclaimed him as a genius of the piano and

praised his compositions. Consequently, the Viennese publisher Tobias Haslinger

printed the Variations on a theme from Mozart (1830), a piece he performed at

the K.rtnertortheater. This was the first publication of a Chopin composition

abroad, for up to then, his works had only been published in Warsaw. Upon his

return to Warsaw, Chopin, already free from student duties, devoted himself to

composition and wrote, among other pieces, two Concertos for piano and

orchestra: in F minor and E minor. The first concerto was inspired to a

considerable extent by the composer’s feelings towards Konstancja Gladkowska,

who studied singing at th

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