Frederic Chopin 18101849 39 years

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Frederic Chopin1810-1849 (39 years)
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Chopin

• Wrote almost exclusively for the piano
• Born and raised in Poland
• Worked in Paris, France

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Chopin

• Earned his living teaching piano lessons to the
  children of the rich
• Lived well

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Chopin

• Wrote many small pieces for intimate gatherings
• Nocturnes
• Waltzes
• Preludes
• Mazurkas
• Polonaises

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Chopin

• Associated with Novelist Aurore Dudevant
• Pen name George Sand
• Benefactor and lover
• Dressed as a man

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Chopins Music

• No literary programs or titles
• Beautiful melodies
• Graceful and delicate ornamentation
• Colorful harmony

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Nocturne in E-flat Major Op. 9, No. 2

• Composed at age 20
• Nocturne Night piece
• Slow, lyrical, intimate composition
• Graceful melody with wide upward leaps
• Wider leaps and more ornamentation as melody
  unfolds

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Nocturne in E-flat

• Main melody,sweetly, expressively, waltzlike
  accompaniment.

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Nocturne in E-flat

• Main melody, p, embellished with decorative notes
  and trills

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Nocturne in E-flat

• Subordinate melody, p, played with rubato
• Fluctuations of tempo (slows down and speeds up)
• Crescendo to . . .

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Nocturne in E-flat

• Main melody, with more elaborate decorative notes
  and trills
• Chromatic descent leads to cadence
• Cadence Closing chords

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Nocturne in E-flat

• Subordinate melody, p, played with rubato
• Crescendo to

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Nocturne in E-flat

• Main melody with more elaborate decorative notes
  and trill
• Chromatic descent lead to cadence

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Nocturne E-flat

• Concluding melody, p, then pp

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Nocturne in E-flat

• Concluding melody varied
• Crescendo with ascent to high register
• Melody played forcefully in octaves, ff
• High trill-like figure, decrescendo and descent
  to gentle, rocking close, pp, the ppp

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Etude in C Minor, Op. 10, No. 12Revolutionary,
1831?)

• Etude
• Study piece designed to help a performer master
  specific technical difficulties
• Revolutionary etude
• Develops speed and endurance in the left hand
• Tension mounts
• Coda relaxes the tension
• Torrential passage sweeps down the keyboard to
  come to res in powerful closing chords.

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Revolutionary Etude

• High accented chords, f
• Answered by downward rushing passages
• Low running notes introduce

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Revolutionary Etude

• Passionate main melody in octaves, f, dotted
  rhythm, minor
• Decrescendo . . .

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Revolutionary Etude

• Repetition of main melody, p, with different
  continuation, syncopated chords
• Crescendo to cadence in major

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Revolutionary Etude

• Lyrical melody in dotted rhythms, minor,
  crescendo and downward running notes
• Very high descending phrases lead ot return of .
  . .

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Revolutionary Etude

• High accented chords, f, answered by downward
  rushing passages, low running notes introduce

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Revolutionary Etude

• Passionate main melody intensified, f,
  decrescendo low running notes introduce

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Revolutionary Etude

• Repetition of intensified main melody leads to

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Revolutionary Etude

• Majestic downward phrases in major, ff,
  decrescendo, p, return to minor, low running
  notes rise and fall, ritardando to

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Coda

• Gentle, upward phrase repeated with ritardando.
• Sudden ff, downward rushing passage
• Powerful closing chords, fff