Part 8 (1/2)

The na a play of fancy, rather than an especially playful mood in the sense of mirthfulness; in fact, it is not easy to find a rational explanation of the grounds upon which Chopin named his pieces, especially as between the ballad and the scherzo Probably, however, he called those ballads which begin with a lyric melody and depend for their interestat tiic elevation; but even with this explanation the line between the nocturnes and ballads will be very difficult to draw, since the Nocturne in G major, of which we shall speak presently, lacks only a more brilliant treatrade of a ballad On the whole, we may as well confess that all these names are more or less fanciful and perhaps applied without any very deep reason, but simply because it was necessary to call the pieces by some title in particular

The Nocturne in Gof all the compositions of this kind in the works of Chopin It is also rather difficult, since the principal subject runs in thirds and sixths more or less chroures are carried into a large nu quality of tone in the soprano and a very clean and legato style of perfor indeed The ression, soentle, peaceful, rocking ain the principal subject returns It will be seen that in spite of the quite considerable length to which this nocturne is developed, it never rises to the impassioned diversification which Chopin see to the ballad For all his ballads, nosubject, become more or less dramatic before they are completed

The Ballad in A-flat is one of the most frequently played co and melodious subject, which, by the aid of various subordinate ideas, is carried out to the extent of fifty-two ins and a very pleasing second subject, of a more playful character, perhaps, than the first Later on, in ain, still farther on, where the signature changes to four sharps, the second subject appears in the treble, so work in the bass; and then begins a char up to the cliht back in fortissimo form For the player and for the hearer this piece, ell treated, is one of thepiano solos possible to mention I do not knoever, that it is necessary to turn it wrong side out in the effort to find so and well made rather than deeply impassioned, and it is a mistake to overdo the contrasts in it

The studies of Chopin form a literature by themselves In all, there are twenty-seven published The first book, opus 10, containing twelve studies, was composed when Chopin was a boy of sixteen or seventeen, and I do not think the history of music shows any similar case of precocity These studies were vastlythe fugues of Bach, and they spring out at once, fully armed as it were, with a well-developed style in , and especially in the application of the hands to the piano; thus they turned over an entirely new leaf; and what is enius, is that he seeic points ofas it was to be, so that in spite of these works having now been before theentered into conservatory and boarding-school curricula to an almost universal extent, the pianist who can play them all in the manner in which Chopin intended is already an artist They belong to the aciously conceived compositions for the instrument The five here selected are not particularly better than the five next following, or the last numbers of this same opus, and perhaps no better than those in the second set, the opus 25 The first study, in C major, has for its object to accustoure nearly always covering a tenth and sometimes an eleventh This extension should be accoers the the wrist To play this study well betokens first-class execution The second study, in A minor, has a chromatic scale for soprano with staccato chords below, and its technical object is to ireater flexibility and usefulness to the fourth and fifth fingers of the right hand The third, also, is a cantabile in a beautiful singingcontrasts in the ain, Chopin addresses hiht hand, since these are the ones which will experience the greatest difficulty in securing a proper effect in this study No 4 is a very ile notes and octaves occur, along with an insistent and very rapid sixteenth-noteand striking, and esthetically considered it belongs to the dramatically conceived moods of Chopin

No 5, in G-flat major, is commonly known as the ”black-key study,” and its object is to accustoes fro piece, producing the effect of a delightful scherzo

It is interesting to note in this connection that all of these studies andto this set have, in recent times, been rewritten for the left hand This has been done in various ways Mr

Phillippe, of Paris, has siht-hand part to the left, and left the right hand with nothing or with but little to do

Mr Leopold Godowsky, the distinguished Russian pianist, has taken a different course The first study he has placed with the arpeggio figure in both hands simultaneously, and a heavy ives the chroers of the left hand The black-key study also is written for the left hand, while an entirely new part has been coht

One of the eanist, August Haupt, of Berlin, who arranged this fourth study in C-sharp an for Mr

Clarence Eddy, by whom it is often played in concerts with an effect extremely remarkable, especially when the pedals have the sixteenth-note otten that all these five studies, as well as the others in the whole collection, are tone-poems no less than exercises for the pianoforte, and they can not be said to have been played until this poetic sense is derived from them

The romanza from the Concerto in E iven with an accompaniment of second piano, or, better still, a very soft accohtful effect

The Iht just as well have been called a study, since the essential part of it is a rapidfor its object, in part at least, the freer and more delicate treatreat deal of practice to play well, but when so played it produces a very pleasing pianoforte effect It belongs to the same class of Chopin's works as the Fantasia Impromptu in C-sharp minor, already mentioned The middle part of this impromptu, as in the case of the other, is essentially a nocturne-like movement

The Nocturne in D-flat, opus 27, No 2, is very often played It is a very beautiful co a number of serious technical difficulties, esthetically considered, it is perhaps sufficiently plain to any student capable ofit In all these cases it is to be observed that Chopin takes the implication of the ter the idea with considerable force and dramatic spirit

One of the most celebrated of all the compositions of Chopin is the famous Polonaise in A-flat major, which seems in the fullest manner to illustrate the description of the polonaise already quoted above, from Liszt's Chopin This re introduction, the principal subject entering in the seventeenthIn the forty-ninth ins which presently, in the fifty-seventh ives place to a more quiet melody The most remarkable part of this piece, and the one which has had much to do with its use by virtuoso pianists, is the middle part in E major Here, after a series of heavy chords, a sixteenth-note ht hand a melody, which is at first soft and afterward built up This octave ure continues without interruption for sixteen measures, and then, after the chords are repeated, is continued again for the sae begins quite softly and works up by degrees until the very i cli takes place again The difficulty consists in this insistent repetition of the saure in the left hand, and a very clear note of Chopin's genius is seen when he changes this bass figure froh apparently not significant on paper, has the keyboard peculiarity of giving the left hand a rotary motion in the opposite direction from that necessitated in the E major, and in three measures of it the player unwinds hiinal figure

Still another pleasing Chopin peculiarity is noted at the close of this strong part, where there is a page or htful dreamy work, at first in G inal subject is resunitude adhts as to estive merely, and such, in fact, is the intention of the present coht to expression

CHAPTER IX

BACH, BEETHOVEN, SCHUMANN, AND CHOPIN

There are endless selections of coether into a single chapter enough of the ive a taste of their individualities, style, and senti are exaue in C minor, Clavier, No 2

Beethoven, Sonate Pathetique, opus 13

Schumann, Forest Scenes; ”Entrance”

”Wayside Inn”

”Prophetic Bird”

”Homeward”

Bach, Fantasia in C minor Loure in G (Heinze)

Chopin, Nocturne in G minor, opus 37, No 1

Waltz in A-flat, opus 42

PROGRAM II

Bach, Prelude and Fugue in D major, Clavier, No 5

Beethoven, Sonata in D, opus 10, No 3