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.

Rrowzer! is a piece for solo clarinet composed by Eric P. Mandat in 2005. It was premiered at the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium on June 17, 2005. The composer has stated that he sought in this piece to immediately capture the audience’s attention through intensity and energy. What makes this work distinct is that the composer gives the performer certain freedoms to experiment by means of choosing how many times to repeat various small segments of music. The performance note in the score implores: “Experiment with a wide variety of repetition lengths – it’s your opportunity to build unique structures.” The following thesis consists of three sections. The introduction and Chapter 1 will explore the influences and inspiration behind the piece, as well as consider biographical background information about the composer. Chapter 2 will provide a musical and structural analysis of the piece, focusing on three main compositional aspects: the organic development of the piece through the transformations of a single pitch-class cell with emphasis on the interval content of that sonority; long-range voice leading and linear connections articulated by adjacent quarter tones; and the relationships of the four climactic moments of the piece with one another.

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In his short essay about Chopin (1945), Pasternak poses the question:What does realism in music mean?The answer to this question is far from obvious. And certainly the answer given byPasternak, in which he points to Chopin, together with Bach, as one of the great realistsin music; realist, that is, in the same meaning of the word as was Lev Tolstoj  - this answer can of course be disputed. But perhaps even more interesting than theanswer is the question, what it was in Chopin's music that for Pasternak made it into analmost paradigmatic example of realism, not only in music, but in art in general?To try to get an understanding of the possible motives behind such a view, we need totake a closer look at the biography of Boris Pasternak, the development of his views ofart and music in particular, his philosophical view of reality (the possible lastinginfluence from Hermann Cohen and the Marburg school), his idea of realism in generaland his relationship to the ruling idea of socialist realism. In particular, analyzingPasternak's view of realism, as it is expressed in Lejtenant Shmidt (1927), and theviews expounded in Shopen (1945) we will try to discern the development - if any -that has taken place in the 18 years that separate these two works. Other works byPasternak that are central to getting closer to understand his views on realism are Neskol'ko polozhenij (1922), Okhrannaja gramota (1931), which is a kind ofminiature autobiography, as is also Ljudi i polozhenija (1956), equally important.

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.

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Den här uppsatsen handlar om det som inom västerländsk konstmusik benämns interpretation eller tolkning, d.v.s. den process som börjar med artistens studium av musikverkets noterade förlaga och slutar med det klingande resultatet. Uppsatsens fokus är det sistnämnda – artistens musikaliska gestaltning av ett verk. Syftet är att studera det estetiska spänningsfält som finns inom interpretationskonsten: å ena sidan hyllas det personliga och unika; å andra sidan finns konventioner om vad som är rätt och fel i en tolkning. Materialet för uppsatsens undersökning är fyra världspianisters inspelningar av Frédéric Chopins postuma Nocturne KK IVa Nr.16 i ciss-moll. Pianisterna är Wladyslaw Szpilman, Claudio Arrau, Roland Pöntinen och Garrick Ohlsson. Undersökningen är komparativ; de fyra pianisternas inspelningar jämförs utifrån ett antal förutbestämda variabler med målsättningen att dels få grepp om den personliga dimensionen i deras interpretationer, dels fastställa eventuella gemensamheter i desamma. Det sistnämnda skulle då kunna betraktas som exempel på interpretationskonventioner, vilka sätter gränser för det personliga i en tolkning. Den musikanalytiska metod som används är den auditiva musikanalysen, d.v.s. analysen utgår från ett aktivt lyssnande på musikens förlopp. Chopins noterade förlaga utgör dock en viktig referens. Resultatet av interpretationsanalyserna visar att de fyra pianisterna gör fyra olika, personligt färgade tolkningar av Chopins komposition. Men de visar samtidigt att mycket av det ”personliga” sker inom ramar för musikaliska ställningstaganden som verkar vara gemensamma för de fyra. Här är det motiverat att tala om interpretationskonventioner i frågan om Chopins pianomusik. Men då inspelningarna är hämtade från en tidsperiod på närmare 60 år vore begreppet interpretationstradition lika korrekt. Slutsatsen blir att de fyra pianisternas personligt färgade tolkningar är resultatet av individuella förhållningssätt till såväl det noterade som till icke-noterade interpretationstraditioner. Uppsatsen visar också att konstmusikens ”notbundenhet” ändå öppnar för stor personlig variation, liksom att det inom genren existerar ”gehörstraditioner” där var och en sätter sin prägel utifrån det som han eller hon har hört andra göra. / This paper deals with what we in Western Art music call interpretation or practice, that is, the process that begins with the artists’ study of the notated model of the musical piece and ends with the sounding result. The focus of the paper is the latter - the artists’ musical performance of a piece. The purpose is to study the aesthetical divergence that is contained within the art of interpretation: on one hand the personal and unique is celebrated; on the other hand there are conventions about what is considered right and wrong in an interpretation. The material that is used in the study is four recordings by world-class pianists of Frédéric Chopin’s posthumous Nocturne KK IVa Nr.16 in C sharp minor. The pianists are Wladyslaw Szpilman, Claudio Arrau, Roland Pöntinen and Garrick Ohlsson. The investigation is comparative; the recordings of the four pianists are compared from several predetermined variables with the goal on one hand being to understand the personal dimension of their interpretations and on the other hand, to define possible commonalities of the same. Thus, the latter could be regarded as an example of conventions of interpretation, which define the boundaries regarding the personal dimension of an interpretation. The method of musical analysis that is used is the auditive musical analysis, that is, the analysis is based upon an active listening to the sequence of the music. However, Chopin’s notated model makes for an important reference. The result of the interpretation analyses indicates that the four pianists make four different, individual interpretations of Chopin’s composition. At the same time, however, they demonstrate that the personal dimension in an interpretation takes place within the boundaries regarding musical standpoints that the four pianists seem to have in common. Here, it is justified to talk about conventions of interpretation regarding the piano music of Chopin. However, because the recordings are collected from a period of almost 60 years, it would also be sufficient to talk about tradition of interpretation. The conclusion is that the individual interpretations of the four pianists are the results of individual approaches to the notated as well as non-notated traditions of interpretation. The paper also shows that the constraints of notation within art music still leave room for great individual variation, and that “by ear- traditions” exist within the genre, in which everyone personalizes the piece based upon what he or she has heard others do.

International Fryderyk Chopin Piano Competition and Chopin Festival in Mariánské Lázně The annual Chopin festival in Mariánské Lázně is an event of a supreme significance. Its dramaturgy and diverse selection of performers bring the listeners an interesting and extraordinary experience of Chopin's music. Chopin Festival is one of our most treasured cultural events. It became a meeting point for artists from all over the world, but the core group consists of Polish interpreters, mostly laureates of the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. Besides the time-proven compositions, the organizers include some infrequently played and unknown pieces, the works of Czech and foreign composers or contemporary artists. They also attracted the audience by inviting popular performers, amateur ensembles, holding golf and tennis tournaments, exhibitions or film projections. Lately, the festival has been getting back to its traditional image and the purpose of celebrating Chopin's music. The piano competition, interpreter seminars and musicologist seminars are still a part of the event. The Chopin Festival is the only one in Czech that has been listed by UNESCO and is widely popular. It is necessary to point out the efforts and credit of the main organizers, the Fryderyk Chopin Society in Mariánské...