Die beiden hier vorgelegten Beiträge sind als Vorträge am 23. und 27. Februar 2010 gehalten worden. Anlass waren die Kongresse im Jubiläumsjahr zum 200. Geburtstag von Frédéric Chopin an der Uniwersytet Muzyczny Fryderyka Chopina Warszawa und der Uniwersytet Warszawski zusammen mit der Polska Akademia Chopinowska. Sie werden hier beide in deutscher Sprache im Vorgriff auf die Tagungsberichte zusammen veröffentlicht, da sie einen gewissen inneren Zusammenhang aufweisen, der bei getrennter Publikation verloren geht.:Vorbemerkung . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Schumann und Chopin – noch einmal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Chopin im Spiegel der Briefe Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdys . . . . . . 17

Frédéric Chopin produced a remarkable body of piano works. Even though most of his works are essential repertoire in piano literature, some of them remain less familiar. One such significant work is the Allegro de Concert in A major, op. 46, which was apparently intended to be the first movement of a third piano concerto. Despite the praise the work has received, it is rarely heard, and references to performance are lacking in the scholarly literature. Some reasons include the substantial technical challenges, such as risky skips, trills in double notes, thick harmonic textures, complex passagework, and the perpetual motion. This study provides a performance guide for the Allegro de Concert, looking at various perspectives of an informed musical performance. The historical backstory of the intended third concerto and a detailed form analysis demonstrate that the work has a combined form, incorporating elements of both concerto and sonata-allegro form. The chapter on performance presents the technical issues and a comparative analysis of various editions and arrangements of this work to inspire musical ideas and suggest appropriate solutions to the musical and technical difficulties.

When Frédéric Chopin, starting his international career, visited the music festival at Aachen in 1834, he was portraited by Jan Willem Pieneman (1779‒1853), Royal painter, director of the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam and chief of the Academy of Art (J. W. Pieneman, Portrait F. Chopin, age 24, oil/ wood, 22 x 27 cm, sign., officially sigell. by town of Amsterdam). The young man got the chance to present himself with some of his own works. The reaction was enthusiastic. The new portrait also won the sympathies of the public, since it was understanding of the curious situation of the young aspirant full of hope. At this time an objective picture was still possible, since the ideal picture of F. Chopin was just in the beginning of his career. The idealization which comes near to the romantic stereotype of genius in disease is shown in detail.

This study examines what Busoni meant by "formal deficiencies" when he described his 1884 version of Chopin Variations, and reveals that changes made to the 1884 version during its process of revision in 1922 correct the "formal deficiencies" and show a fundamental change in Busoni's compositional style and perception of musical motion. Including a detailed analysis of the modifications, omissions, and additions made to the 1922 version (including an examination of the Chopin Prelude in C minor, op. 28, No. 20 as a theme to reveal aspects of its construction used in the variation process), which shows how these changes affect the work's compositional structure.

Both of the Chopin concertos are the earliest of his works to be found in the ordinary piano repertoire, and they possess the direct influences and inherited traits of the composer. Since he did no more orchestral work after completing these two works, it is evident that he thought only in terms of pianistic expression. Probably one of the reasons for Chopin's ineffectiveness as an orchestral writer is due to his inability to conform to the classical form: sonata allegro. The e minor concerto is representative of his treatment of the larger forms. Analyzing the elements of an early work of the composer reveals the degree of maturity in individual traits. Elements of basic chord structure and use of harmony, melodic characteristics, and pianistic expression mark the style of a composer. This concerto demonstrates the beginning of chromatic harmony in his time and in his own writing; it contains melodic beauty and pianistic features which make it acceptable in standard concerto repertoire in spite of its many defects.

Cette thèse s’intéresse à une période stylistique particulière du compositeur Frédéric Chopin. Les années 1840 manifestent une évolution importante dans son langage musical et correspondent à un tournant esthétique marqué par un contexte historique et biographique difficile. Tout au long de ce travail, nous allons tenter d’ériger une définition transversale du « dernier style » de Chopin, en recherchant les éléments caractéristiques récurrents de cette période. Dans ce but, un corpus de vingt-deux œuvres musicales sera analysé selon plusieurs niveaux (traditionnel et formel, sémiotique, narratif et thymique) afin de saisir tous les enjeux de la dernière période du compositeur polonais. / This thesis focuses on a particular stylistic period of Frederic Chopin. The 1840s show an important evolution of Chopin’s musical language and correspond to an aesthetic turning point, characterized by a difficult historical and biographical context. All along our research, we will try to build a transversal definition of Chopin’s last style by highlighting the recurrent characteristics of this period. In this purpose, a corpus of twenty-two works will be analyzed through several levels (traditional and formal, semiotic, narrative and thymic), to grasp all the issues of the last period of the polish composer.

The romantic piano literature contains three important collections of nocturnes. The nocturnes of John Field (1782-1837) were the first to appear, and were followed by collections from Frederic Chopin (1810-1849) and Gabriel Faure (1845-1924). While the relationship of the nocturnes of Field to those of Chopin is well documented, the corresponding relationship between Faure and Chopin is not. This study contains a detailed examination of this relationship, and shows the precise nature of Chopin's strong influence on Faure's early nocturnes, as well as the nature of Faure's growth from that influence. Chopin's influence was strongest in the area of harmonic language, as Faure carried certain of Chopin's techniques to logical extremes. Faure also adopted ternary form as the important form for the piece from Chopin. Faure's use of this form shows both similarities and differences from that found in Chopin. Faure's early nocturnes employ the same basic textures as Chopin's nocturnes, but Faure's later works abandon this in favor of increasingly contrapuntal writing. Chopin's influence is weakest in the area of melodic construction, as Faure's melodies often show a rigorous motivic construction which is not found in Chopin.

The late chromatic music of Chopin is often difficult to analyze, particularly with a system of Roman numerals. The study examines Schoenberg's Grundgestalt concept as a strategy for explaining Chopin's chromatic musical style. Two short Chopin works, Nocturne in E-flat major. Op. 9, No. 2, and Etude in E major, Op. 10, No. 3, serve as models in which the analytic method is formulated. Root analysis, in the manner of eighteenth-century theorist Simon Sechter, is utilized to facilitate harmonic analysis of chromatic passages. Based upon the analytic method developed, the study analyzes the last three polonaises of Chopin: Polonaise in F-sharp minor, Op. 44, Polonaise in A-flat major, Op. 53, and Polonaise-Fantasie in A-flat major, Op. 61. The Grundgestalt-based analysis shows harmonic, melodic and rhythmic connections in order to view Chopin's chromaticism and formal structure from a new perspective. With this approach, the chromaticism is viewed as essential to the larger form.