Pianist, Composer, Teacher

FRYDERYK CHOPIN1810-1849 (39)

• Born in Warsaw (Polish mother, French father)

• Mother was musical and his first teacher

• Child prodigy, published first polonaise by age 7

• Almost his entire output was for solo piano

THE PIANO MAN

• Piano had grown to 88-keys (Liszt writing for all 88 by 1830s)

• Double-escapement action (Érard) of 1821

• The sustain pedal (right) expanded harmonic and tonal possibilities

• Composers (esp. Liszt and Chopin) pushed virtuosity to its very limit

INNOVATIONS IN PIANO BUILDING

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTnULry74dc&list=PLEyB2rXsXl96u8gTEw_bSNgJk8qOGRiz0&index=

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PIANO MECHANICS (ACTION)

Virtuoso: one who excels in the technique of an art; especially: a highly skilled musical performer (merriam-webster online dictionary)

Examples: Liszt (piano), Chopin (piano), Paganini (violin), Rachmaninoff (piano)

Who are the Virtuosi of today?

ROMANTIC VIRTUOSI

Chopin in Radziwills Salon (Siemiradzki, Henryk)

CHOPIN AND THE SALON

“Chopin, F., third year student, exceptional talent, musical genius.” – high school report card, 1829 (Kornel & Samson)

“Hat’s off, gentlemen! A genius.” – Robert Schumann

“A genius of the right-hand.” Ferruccio Busoni

CHOPIN THE “GENIUS”

“He does not want any posters, he does not want any programs, he does not want a large audience. He does not want anyone to talk about it. He is frightened of so many things that I have suggested to him that he should play without candles or audience on a dumb piano.” – Sand in a letter to a friend (1841)

“You cannot imagine a person who can be colder and more indifferent to everything around him….he is polite to excess, and yet there is so much irony, so much spite hidden inside it. Woe betide the person who allows himself to be taken in…he is heavily endowed with wit and common sense, but then he often has wild, unpleasant moments when he is evil and angry, when he breaks chairs and stamps his feet. He can be as petulant as a spoiled child, bullying his pupils and being very cold with his friends. Those are usually days of suffering, physical exhaustion or quarrels with Madame Sand.” – Chopin’s student in a letter to friend

GOSSIP ON CHOPIN

• Self-conscious (hated concert performance)

• Wore hand-gloves (white or lilac)

• Incredibly nervous/suffered from extreme anxiety

• Exquisite taste in clothes (expensive, elaborate)

• Anti-Semitic and anti-German

CHOPIN THE PERSON

• Though not the first to write Polish dances for solo piano, he was known for writing Mazurkas and Polonaises.

• Mazurkas (59)

Polish dance in 3

• Polonaises (17) also in 3

Poland’s most famous and patriotic dance. Polonaise means “Polish” in French

CHOPIN THE NATIONALIST

GUSTAV MAHLER1860-1911

• Austrian late-Romantic

• Known for his lengthy symphonies (9) with large orchestration

• One of the most influential and important conductors during late 1800s early 1900s

COMPOSER, CONDUCTOR

• Mahler’s worked primarily as a conductor (Prague, Leipzig, Hamburg, Budapest, Vienna, New York)

• Frustrated with the anti-Semitic politics in Vienna, Mahler came to NYC to conduct the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera

CONDUCTING AND MORE CONDUCTING

• Death of Younger brother (1874)

• Death of youngest daughter at age 5 (1907)

• Wife cheated on him (repeatedly) Mahler went to Sigmund Freud for psychoanalysis

• Diagnosed with heart condition in 1907

MUCH SUCCESS, MUCH HEARTACHE

Mahler’s wife, Alma Schindler

“The symphony must be like the world; it must embrace everything.” –Mahler

Written in 1901-1902, enormous in scale and emotional scope

4th movement written as a gesture or love to his new wife, Alma

Movements:

1. Funeral March (trumpet solo)

2. Moving stormily, with greatest vehemence

3. Scherzo

4. Adagietto (harp and strings only)

5. Rondo-Finale

THE 5TH SYMPHONY

Large orchestration for the 5th symphony includes:

• 6 horns• 4 trumpets• snare drum, tam-tam,

whip, glockenspiel• 4 flutes• 3 of all other winds

EVERYTHING + KITCHEN SINK

My God, I’ve forgotten the motor horn! Now I shall have to write

another symphony!

“How much I love you, you my sun, I cannot tell you that with words. I can only lament

to you my longing and love.”

MOV. 4 “ADAGIETTO”